The "Essential Tenets" (or teachings) below come from The Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians. They present a clear and concise explanation of what Presbyterians believe.
Presbyterians have been of two minds about essential tenets.
We recognize that just as there are some central and
foundational truths of the gospel affirmed by Christians
everywhere, so too there are particular understandings of the
gospel that define the Presbyterian and Reformed tradition.
All Christians must affirm the central mysteries of the faith,
and all those who are called to ordered ministries in a
Presbyterian church must also affirm the essential tenets of
the Reformed tradition. Recognizing the danger in reducing
the truth of the gospel to propositions that demand assent, we
also recognize that when the essentials become a matter
primarily of individual discernment and local affirmation, they
lose all power to unite us in common mission and ministry.
Essential tenets are tied to the teaching of the confessions as
reliable expositions of Scripture. The essential tenets call out
for explication, not as another confession, but as indispensable
indicators of confessional convictions about what Scripture
leads us to believe and do. Essential tenets do not replace the
confessions, but rather witness to the confessions’ common
core. This document is thus intended not as a new confession
but as a guide to the corporate exploration of and
commitment to the great themes of Scripture and to the
historic Reformed confessions that set forth those themes.
The great purpose toward which each human life is
drawn is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Each
member of the church glorifies God by recognizing and
naming His glory, which is the manifestation and revelation of
His own nature. Each member of the church enjoys God by
being so united with Christ through the power of the Holy
Spirit as to become a participant in that divine nature,
transformed from one degree of glory to another and escorted
by Christ into the loving communion of the Trinity. So we
confess our faith not as a matter of dispassionate intellectual
assent, but rather as an act by which we give God glory and
announce our membership in the body of Christ. We trust
that when God’s glory is so lifted up and when His nature is
thus made manifest in the life of the body, the church will be a
light that draws people from every tribe and tongue and nation
to be reconciled to God.
I. God’s Word: The Authority for Our Confession
The clearest declaration of God’s glory is found in His Word,
both incarnate and written. The Son eternally proceeds from
the Father as His Word, the full expression of the Father’s
nature, and since in the incarnation the Word became flesh all
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are offered to His
disciples. The written Word grants us those treasures,
proclaims the saving gospel of Jesus Christ, and graciously
teaches all that is necessary for faith and life.
We glorify God by recognizing and receiving His authoritative self-revelation, both in the infallible Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments and also in the incarnation of God the Son.
We affirm that the same Holy Spirit who overshadowed
the virgin Mary also inspired the writing and preservation of
the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit testifies to the authority of
God’s Word and illumines our hearts and minds so that we
might receive both the Scriptures and Christ Himself aright.
We confess that God alone is Lord of the conscience, but this
freedom is for the purpose of allowing us to be subject always
and primarily to God’s Word. The Spirit will never prompt
our conscience to conclusions that are at odds with the
Scriptures that He has inspired. The revelation of the
incarnate Word does not minimize, qualify, or set aside the
authority of the written Word. We are happy to confess
ourselves captive to the Word of God, not just individually,
but also as members of a community of faith, extending
through time and around the globe. In particular, we join with
other members of the Presbyterian and Reformed community
to affirm the secondary authority of the Book of Confessions as a
faithful exposition of the Word of God.
II. Trinity and Incarnation: The Two Central Christian
Mysteries
A. Trinity
The triune nature of God is the first great mystery of the
Christian faith. With Christians everywhere, we worship
the only true God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – who is
both one essence and three persons. God is infinite,
eternal, immutable, impassible, and ineffable. He cannot be
divided against Himself, nor is He becoming more than He
has been, since there is no potential or becoming in Him. He
is the source of all goodness, all truth and all beauty, of all love
and all life, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. The
three persons are consubstantial with one another, being both
coeternal, and coequal, such that there are not three gods, nor
are there three parts of God, but rather three persons within
the one Godhead. The Son is eternally begotten from the
Father, and the Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father and
the Son. All three persons are worthy of worship and praise.
God has no need of anyone or anything beyond Himself. Yet
in grace this Triune God is the one Creator of all things. The
ongoing act of creation is further manifested in God’s gracious
sovereignty and providence, maintaining the existence of the
world and all living creatures for the sake of His own glory.
He is the Holy One, the ground of all being, whose glory is so
great that for us to see Him is to die. Yet He has made the
creation to reflect His glory, and He has made human beings
in His own image, with a unique desire to know Him and a
capacity for relationship with Him. Since our God is a
consuming fire whom we in our sin cannot safely approach,
He has approached us by entering into our humanity in Jesus
Christ.
B. Incarnation
This is the second great mystery of the Christian faith,
affirmed by all Christians everywhere: that Jesus Christ is
both truly God and truly human. As to His divinity, He is
the Son, the second person of the Trinity, being of one
substance with the Father; as to His humanity, He is like us in
every way but sin, of one substance with us, like us in having
both a human soul and a human body. As to His divinity, He
is eternally begotten of the Father; as to His humanity, He is
born of the virgin Mary, conceived by the Holy Spirit. As to
His divinity, His glory fills heaven and earth; as to His
humanity, His glory is shown in the form of a suffering
servant, most clearly when He is lifted up on the cross in our
place.
We confess the mystery of His two natures, divine and
human, in one person. We reject any understanding of the
communication of attributes that must result in a blending of
the two natures such that Jesus Christ is neither truly God nor
truly human. We insist upon sufficient distinction between the
two natures to preserve the truth of the incarnation, that Jesus
Christ is indeed Immanuel, God-with-us, not one who used to
be God, nor one who has merely been sent from God. Rather,
in His coming we have seen God’s glory, for Jesus is the exact
imprint of God’s very being and in Him the fullness of God
was pleased to dwell. The divinity of the Son is in no way
impaired, limited, or changed by His gracious act of
assuming a human nature, and that His true humanity is
in no way undermined by His continued divinity. This is a
mystery that we cannot explain, but we affirm it with joy and
confidence.
This mystery of the incarnation is ongoing, for the risen
Jesus, who was sent from the Father, has now ascended
to the Father in His resurrected body and remains truly
human. He is bodily present at the right hand of the Father.
When we are promised that one day we will see Him face to
face, we acknowledge that it is the face of Jesus of Nazareth
we will someday see. The one who, for us and for our
salvation, was born of Mary, died at Calvary, and walked with
disciples to Emmaus is the same Jesus Christ who is now
ascended and who will one day return visibly in the body to
judge the living and the dead.
Jesus promised His disciples that He would not leave them
comfortless when He ascended into heaven, but would ask the
Father to send them the Holy Spirit as a comforter and
advocate. We are able to confess Jesus Christ as Lord and
God only through the work of the Holy Spirit. He comes
to us as He came to the gathered disciples at Pentecost: to
kindle our faith, to embolden our witness, and to accompany
us in mission.
III. Essentials of the Reformed Tradition
A. God’s grace in Christ
God declared that the world He created was good and that
human beings, made in His own image, were very good. The
present disordered state of the world, in which we and all
things are subject to misery and to evil, is not God’s
doing, but is rather a result of humanity’s free, sinful
rebellion against God’s will. God created human beings
from the dust of the earth and His own breath, to be His
images and representatives, conduits of God’s grace to the
creation. Since the fall our natural tendency is to abuse and
exploit the creation, preferring evil to goodness. God also
created human beings to speak His grace and truth to one
another, to be helpers who are fit for one another, so that our
social relationships would strengthen our ability to serve and
obey Him. Since the fall, our natural tendency is to engage in
relationships of tyranny and injustice with one another, in
which power is used not to protect and serve but to demean.
God further created human beings with the capacity for
relationship with Him, with His law written on our hearts so
that we had the ability to worship Him in love and obey Him
by living holy lives. Since the fall, our natural tendency is to
hate God and our neighbor, to worship idols of our own
devising rather than the one true God.
As a result of sin, human life is poisoned by everlasting death.
No part of human life is untouched by sin. Our desires
are no longer trustworthy guides to goodness, and what
seems natural to us no longer corresponds to God’s
design. We are not merely wounded in our sin; we are dead,
unable to save ourselves. Apart from God’s initiative,
salvation is not possible for us. Our only hope is God’s grace.
We discover in Scripture that this is a great hope, for our God
is the One whose mercy is from everlasting to everlasting.
This grace does not end when we turn to sin. Although we
are each deserving of God’s eternal condemnation, the eternal
Son assumed our human nature, joining us in our misery and
offering Himself on the cross in order to free us from slavery
to death and sin. Jesus takes our place both in bearing the
weight of condemnation against our sin on the cross and in
offering to God the perfect obedience that humanity owes to
Him but is no longer able to give. All humanity participates in
the fall into sin. Those who are united through faith with Jesus
Christ are fully forgiven from all our sin, so that there is
indeed a new creation. We are declared justified, not because
of any good that we have done, but only because of God’s
grace extended to us in Jesus Christ. In union with Christ
through the power of the Spirit we are brought into right
relation with the Father, who receives us as His adopted
children.
Jesus Christ is the only Way to this adoption, the sole path
by which sinners become children of God, for He is the
only-begotten Son, and it is only in union with Him that a
believer is able to know God as Father. Only in Jesus Christ is
the truth about the Triune God, fully and perfectly revealed, for
only He is the Truth, only He has seen the Father, and only He
can make the Father known. Only Jesus Christ is the new Life
that is offered, for He is the bread from heaven and the
fountain of living water, the one by whom all things were made,
in whom all things hold together. The exclusivity of these
claims establishes that God’s love is not impersonal, but a
particular and intimate love in which each individual child of
God is called by name and known as precious; that God’s love
is not only acceptance, but a transforming and effective love in
which His image within us is restored so that we are capable of
holy living.
B. Election for salvation and service
The call of God to the individual Christian is not merely an
invitation that each person may accept or reject by his or her
own free will. Having lost true freedom of will in the fall,
we are incapable of turning toward God of our own
volition. God chooses us for Himself in grace before the
foundation of the world, not because of any merit on our
part, but only because of His love and mercy. Each of us
is chosen in Christ, who is eternally appointed to be head of
the body of the elect, our brother and our high priest. He is
the one who is bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, our divine
Helper who is also our Bridegroom, sharing our human nature
so that we may see His glory. We who receive Him and
believe in His name do so not by our own will or wisdom, but
because His glory compels us irresistibly to turn toward Him.
By His enticing call on our lives, Jesus enlightens our minds,
softens our hearts, and renews our wills, restoring the freedom
that we lost in the fall.
We are all sinners who fall short of God’s glory, and we all
deserve God’s eternal judgment. Apart from the saving work
of Jesus Christ, we are incapable of being in God’s presence,
incapable of bearing the weight of His glory. We rejoice that
Jesus Christ offers us safe conduct into the heart of God’s
consuming and purifying fire, shielding us with His perfect
humanity and transforming us by His divine power. Having
received such grace, we extend grace to others.
We are not elect for our own benefit alone. God gathers His
covenant community to be an instrument of His saving
purpose. Through His regenerating and sanctifying work,
the Holy Spirit grants us faith and enables holiness, so
that we may be witnesses of God’s gracious presence to
those who are lost. The Spirit gathers us in a community
that is built up and equipped to be light, salt, and yeast in the
world. Christ sends us into the world to make disciples of all
nations, baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that Christ has
commanded us. We are now in service to God’s plan for the
fullness of time: uniting all things in heaven and earth to
Himself. To this end, we preach Christ, calling all persons to
repent and believe the gospel. We also care for the natural
world, claim all areas of culture in the name of Jesus, serve the
poor, feed the hungry, visit the prisoner, and defend the
helpless. We do this work not with any thought that we are
able to bring in the kingdom, but in the confident hope that
God’s kingdom is surely coming, a day when suffering and
death will pass away and when God will live among His
people.
C. Covenant life in the church
We are elect in Christ to become members of the community
of the new covenant. This covenant, which God Himself
guarantees, unites us to God and to one another. Already in
the creation, we discover that we are made to live in
relationships to others, male and female, created together in
God’s image. In Christ, we are adopted into the family of
God and find our new identity as brothers and sisters of
one another, since we now share one Father. Our faith
requires our active participation in that covenant community.
Jesus prays that His followers will all be one, and so we both
pray and work for the union of the church throughout the
world. Even where institutional unity does not seem possible,
we are bound to other Christians as our brothers and sisters.
In Christ the dividing wall of hostility created by nationality,
ethnicity, gender, race, and language differences is brought
down. God created people so that the rich variety of His
wisdom might be reflected in the rich variety of human beings,
and the church must already now begin to reflect the
eschatological reality of people from every tribe, and tongue,
and nation bringing the treasures of their kingdoms into the
new city of God.
Within the covenant community of the church, God’s
grace is extended through the preaching of the Word, the
administration of the Sacraments, and the faithful
practice of mutual discipline. First, through the work of
the Holy Spirit, the word proclaimed may indeed become
God’s address to us. The Spirit’s illuminating work is
necessary both for the one who preaches and for those who
listen. Second, the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s
Supper are signs that are linked to the things signified, sealing
to us the promises of Jesus. In the Baptism of infants, we
confess our confidence in God’s gracious initiative, that a
baby who cannot turn to God is nonetheless claimed as a
member of the covenant community, a child of God, cleansed
by grace and sealed by the Spirit; in the Baptism of adults, we
confess our confidence that God’s grace can make us new
creations at any stage of our lives. In the Lord’s Supper, we
confess that as we eat the bread and share one cup the Spirit
unites us to the ascended Christ, so that His resurrection life
may nourish, strengthen, and transform us. Third, the
community of the Church practices discipline in order to help
one another along the path to new life, speaking the truth in
love to one another, bearing one another’s burdens, and
offering to one another the grace of Christ.
D. Faithful stewardship of all of life
The ministries of the church reflect the three-fold office
of Christ as prophet, priest, and king – reflected in the
church’s ordered ministries of teaching elders, deacons,
and ruling elders. We affirm that men and women alike are
called to all the ministries of the Church, and that every
member is called to share in all of Christ’s offices within the
world beyond the church. Every Christian is called to a
prophetic life, proclaiming the good news to the world and
enacting that good news. Every Christian is called to extend
the lordship of Christ to every corner of the world. And every
Christian is called to participate in Christ’s priestly, mediatorial
work, sharing in the suffering of the world in ways that extend
God’s blessing and offering intercession to God on behalf of
the world. We are equipped to share in these offices by the
Holy Spirit, who conforms us to the pattern of Christ’s life.
Jesus teaches us that we are to love the Lord our God
with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our
mind. There is no part of human life that is off limits to
the sanctifying claims of God. We reject the claim that love
of any sort is self-justifying; we affirm that all our affections
and desires must be brought under God’s authority. We reject
the claim that human souls are unaffected by the fall and
remain naturally inclined to God; we affirm that soul and body
alike must be cleansed and purified in order to love God
properly. We reject the claim that the life of the mind is
independent from faith; we affirm that unless we believe we
cannot properly understand either God or the world around
us. Historically, the Presbyterian tradition has been especially
called to explore what it is to love God with all our minds,
being committed to the ongoing project of Christian
education and study at all levels of Christian life.
E. Living in obedience to the Word of God
Progress in holiness is an expected response of gratitude
to the grace of God, which is initiated, sustained, and
fulfilled by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. The
first response of gratitude is prayer, and the daily discipline of
prayer – both individually and together – should mark the
Christian life. The life of prayer includes praise to God for His
nature and works, sincere confession of our sin, and
intercession for the needs of those we know and for the needs
of the world. As we practice the discipline of regular self-examination and confession, we are especially guided by
the Ten Commandments. We therefore hold one another
accountable to:
1. worship God alone, living all of life to His glory,
renouncing all idolatry and all inordinate loves that
might lead us to trust in any other help;
2. worship God in humility, being reticent in either
describing or picturing God, recognizing that right
worship is best supported not by our own
innovative practices but through the living
preaching of the Word and the faithful
administration of the Sacraments;
3. eliminate from both speech and thought any
blasphemy, irreverence, or impurity;
4. observe the Sabbath as a day of worship and rest,
being faithful in gathering with the people of God;
5. give honor toward those set in authority over us
and practice mutual submission within the
community of the church;
6. eradicate a spirit of anger, resentment, callousness,
violence, or bitterness, and instead cultivate a spirit of gentleness, kindness, peace, and love; recognize
and honor the image of God in every human being from conception to natural death.
7. maintain chastity in thought and deed, being
faithful within the covenant of marriage between a
man and a woman as established by God at the
creation or embracing a celibate life as established
by Jesus in the new covenant;
8. practice right stewardship of the goods we have
been given, showing charity to those in need and
offering generous support of the Church and its
ministries;
9. pursue truth, even when such pursuit is costly, and
defend truth when it is challenged, recognizing that
truth is in order to goodness and that its
preservation matters;
10. resist the pull of envy, greed, and acquisition, and
instead cultivate a spirit of contentment with the
gifts God has given us.
In Jesus Christ we see the perfect expression of God’s holy
will for human beings offered to God in our place. His holy
life must now become our holy life. In Christ, God’s will is
now written on our hearts, and we look forward to the day
when we will be so confirmed in holiness that we will no
longer be able to sin. As the pioneer and perfecter of our faith,
Jesus leads us along the path of life toward that goal, bringing
us into ever deeper intimacy with the Triune God, in whose
presence is fullness of joy.
(This text is taken from ECO with whom our church has been linked through The Fellowship of Presbyterians because the PCUSA has not agreed upon essential tenets of the Christian Faith)
