Who is breaking vows?

FCDA ministers and elders have repeatedly been accused of breaking their ordination vows because they do not happily acquiesce in decisions made by majorities at the General Assembly and continue to campaign against these decisions. For example the Rev Iain D Campbell in a statement which he issued subsequent to the General Assembly speaks of a wonderful answer to his prayers:
By a remarkable chain of events which only the Providence of God could have engineered, the Rev Maurice Roberts, Chairman of the Free Church Defence Association, publicly decried the General Assembly as being characterised by hypocrisy and gross wickedness. What many of us had suspected for a long time was finally made public: that the troubles of the Church are not about any individual, but about a spirit of rebellion against the God-ordained Presbyterian government of our Church. As has been widely publicised in the press, Mr Roberts is now to be libelled for his flagrant contempt of the Church’s Supreme Court.
Mr Campbell often lectures others for dealing with matters which are sub judice, but the inconsistency of his commenting on and indeed finding Mr Roberts guilty before he has been tried ought to amaze us! What particularly interests one in this paragraph is the suggestion that the General Assembly could not be characterised by wickedness but must always be obeyed. The Rev Alex MacDonald makes a similar point in the Buccleuch News Letter:
...the issue was crystal clear. It was not about “traditionalists” and “modernisers”. It was not ultimately about Donald Macleod or any individual. It was about whether, having argued our case and dissented out of conscience, we will respect and abide by the decisions of the Supreme Court of the Church properly taken, as we have vowed to do.
In these quotations and elsewhere it is alleged that men have broken their vows by not accepting and abiding by decisions of the Assembly even though some of these decisions are arguably contrary to Scripture and the Constitution of our Church. But let us look at what the vows actually say. Question 6 requires the individual to “maintain the peace and unity of this Church against schism and error” and that “you shall follow no divisive courses from the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government of this Church”. Schism and error are linked. The heretic is the one who causes schism. The division which is criticised is division from the doctrine of the Church which is spelled out for us in the Westminster Confession of Faith. Those who demand adherence to that doctrine when others are departing from it are not breaking their vows. Similarly, and even more relevantly, the vows condemn divisive courses from the worship of the Church. The schismatics are not those who stick by the purity of worship practised in the Church, but rather those who write against it and in other ways seek to undermine it. It is of importance to note that our vows condemn divisive courses from the discipline of the Church. Those who require discipline to be applied according to the Practice of our Church cannot be accused of breaking their vows. This is the fault of those who ignore the Practice and obstruct proper church discipline. One prominent member of the 1999 Assembly called for the Blue Book to be thrown away!
Is it divisive not to submit to all the findings of a General Assembly? Must we not submit to the government of the Church to avoid a situation of anarchy? But the Church has no power to bring in any laws which are contrary to the Bible. We certainly must submit to a Church Court when it rules according to the Scripture. But if the Assembly comes to a finding which is contrary to the Constitution of the Free Church it is acting beyond its powers (ultra vires). It is not a breach of vows to disobey then. Rather it is the duty of every faithful Christian.
It would seem that some Free Church leaders today believe in the infallibility of General Assemblies just as Roman Catholics believe in the infallibility of the pope. This tyranny has never been part of historic Presbyterianism.

Any comments or questions please E-Mail me or Rev William Macleod the editor.

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