PRESBYTERIAN
CHURCH
The Reading Room - History
Historical Backgrounds of The Bible Presbyterian Church
Introduction • Early Tensions • Growing Pains • Reunion of Estranged Brothers
A Succession • Another Thread • Conclusion & Sources
By: Christopher K. Lensch (Associate Professor of OT - WRS)
Conclusion
The Bible Presbyterian Form of Government (2:4) states “The Bible Presbyterian Church declares itself to be a branch of the catholic visible Church of Christ and further declares its willingness to hold Christian fellowship with all other such branches of the Church.” This is not a New School sentiment but a true expression of biblical Christianity.
With the demise of mainline Presbyterianism, founders of the Bible Presbyterian Church claimed to represent the continuing succession of “American Presbyterianism.” God used a small Gideon’s band to help preserve a glorious and godly heritage of this branch of Christ’s Church.
WORKS CITED
1 George Hutchinson, The History behind the RPCES, p. 143
. 2 George Marsden, “Perspectives on the Division of 1937,” in Pressing toward the Mark, p. 300.3 The five fundamentals were 1) Inerrancy of the Bible, 2) the virgin birth and deity of Jesus Christ, 3) the doctrine of substitutionary atonement, 4) the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, 5) the miracles of Jesus Christ.
4 Bible Presbyterians will remember the famous Washington, DC, “Marches for Victory” of the early 1970s.
5 The boards of most independent agencies used by the BPC traditionally have been comprised of BP ministers and elders. In recent years, the BP Synod has been holding its agencies accountable by requiring annual financial and activity reports.
6 While New School Presbyterians never had a penchant for fighting apostasy or heresy, they did have an ecumenical spirit in their early cooperation with Congregationalism.
7 The first synod of the BPC amended the Confession and Larger Catechism to reflect a premillennial view of Christ’s return.
8 Examples of historic Princeton’s mediating position were its positions on slavery and the temperance movement. See David B. Calhoun’s two volume work, Princeton Seminary: Faith and Learning/The Majestic Testimony, for the best history of Princeton Seminary.
9 Elijah Craven (d. 1908) was a noted, non-dispensational premillennialist who served as Assembly moderator in 1885. Famous premillennial conference speakers were James Brookes and Nathaniel West. All three of these ministers identified with the Old School tradition (per Marsden note, p. 324).
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