Heidelcast Heidelminicast: What it Means to Subscribe to a Confession of Faith (Part 5): From "Insofar As" to "Good Faith:" The Slope to the Mainline
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Apr 22, 2026 A discussion of a quiet crisis over confessional fidelity within a major denomination. They contrast visible cultural fights with deeper questions about how strictly confessions are subscribed to. Topics include debates over Sabbath teaching, images of Christ, creation days, and how 'good faith' or 'insofar as' subscription standards produce divergent presbytery practices.
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Good Faith Subscription Alters Confessional Stability
- Good faith subscription shifted the PCA's confessional enforcement from objective standards to subjective variance.
- Scott Clark links the 2002 adoption of good faith subscription to routine tolerated dissent on creation, Sabbath, and images.
Reformed Rule Of Worship Is Commanded Not Merely Forbidden
- The Reformed rule of worship asks whether something is commanded, not merely whether it's forbidden.
- Clark contrasts Anglican/Lutheran 'is it forbidden?' with the Reformed 'is it commanded?' to explain image and worship restrictions.
Why Reformed Divines Rejected Images Of Christ
- Historic Reformed divines rejected images of Christ as inevitably Nestorian because art separates deity from humanity.
- Clark cites Bullinger and the Second Helvetic rationale that artists portray imagination, not Christ's true humanity.
