The First General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America,
meeting at the Briarwood Presbyterian Church, Birmingham, Alabama, December 4-7, 1973,
adopted the Confession of Faith, the Larger Catechism and the Shorter Catechism as the
doctrinal standards of the Church.
The Presbyterian Church in America received the same Confession
and Catechisms as those that were adopted by the first American Presbyterian Assembly of
1789, with two minor exceptions, namely, the deletion of strictures against marrying one's
wife's kindred (XXIV,4), and the reference to the Pope as the antichrist (XXV,6).
Other than these changes, and the American amendments of Chapter
XXIII on the civil magistrate (adopted in 1789), this is the Confession and Catechisms as
agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster which met from 1643-1647. The
Caruthers edition of the Confession and Catechisms, which is based upon the original
manuscript written by Cornelius Burgess is the Edition presented to and adopted by the
First General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America.
The Scripture proof texts are essentially those of the Westminster
Assembly, which have been approved by the Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America,
but which are not a part of the Constitution itself. At the direction of the General
Assembly these texts are presented in full. The King James Version has been used, since
this is the English text that was in use at the time of the Westminster Assembly, the
language of which is at times reflected in the Confession and Catechisms.
The inclusion of the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, the
Apostle's Creed and the footnote regarding them with the Shorter Catechism goes back to
the Westminster divines, though these are not a formal part of the Standards themselves.
In addition to the Confession, we have included with permission of
the Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church in the United States a historical sketch
entitled "The Origin and Formation of the Westminster Confession of Faith." This
statement was first ordered printed by the 1906 General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church in the United States. It has been revised only in the last two paragraphs as it
refers to the Presbyterian Church in America.
