Reformed Presbyterian Church
Of North America
Fulton, NY
Reformed Doctrine
We at Reformed
Presbyterian Church believe in the vital doctrines of the Reformation period
of the sixteenth century. Those essentials were "scripture alone,"
"Christ alone," "grace alone," "faith alone,"
and " to God alone be glory." It was the word "alone" that
brought Rome and the Reformers into conflict. The Reformers emphasized that
the Scriptures is the only ultimate authority in faith and practice. When it
came to the foundation doctrine of Justification they placed great stress on
the gift of faith whereby the sinner would be found righteous. The central message
of the Bible is that we are saved from Gods wrath by grace alone through
faith alone because of Christ alone to the glory of God alone.
Our Theological and Doctrinal standard is the Westminster Confession
Of Faith adopted in 1648. We are a Confessional church and therefore know what
it is that we believe and need not have any debate with our peers as to what
we should or must believe. The Westminster Confession is very comprehensive
and detailed, it is determined to be faithful to the Bible and it is systematically
written. It starts with Holy Scriptures, which immediately places the Confession
subservient to the Bible. The next subject of priority is the attributes of
God which are listed as incommunicable attributes pertaining only to Him. Attributes
such as Infinity, Invisibility and Incomprehensibility. The Confessional standards
display all the crucial doctrines pertaining to God and Man.
Our worship
practice has historic roots in the Reformation as well, where the churchs
song book is the inspired books of Psalms. We believe in the regulative principle
of worship, essentially stated is to worship God in no other way than what the
Scriptures prescribe. We worship the Triune God mediated by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Human worship as found in the Scriptures is repugnant to God. (Gen.4:1-5, Lev.10:1-3,
Num.16; I Sam.13) The Westminster Assembly address itself to the task of framing
a directory for worship. It found the singing of Psalms without instrumental
music though the saints do praise God with the Strings of their
hearts and do sing with the "fruit of their lips" (Eph.5:19, Heb.13:15)