On June 11, 1936, a small company of ministers, ruling elders, and laymen gathered in Philadelphia and constituted what was then called the Presbyterian Church of America and would later become the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. To their opponents, the meaning of the . . . Continue reading →

Schism is a serious sin. Presbyterian history gives us no warrant to treat the visible church as a purely voluntary association from which Christians may withdraw whenever they are disappointed, inconvenienced, or persuaded that they could construct something better. This is why . . . Continue reading →

John Calvin is frequently recruited into the current debates about schism, usually by isolating one side of his ecclesiology. Calvin’s severe warnings against abandoning the visible church are quoted as though he regarded nearly every institutional separation as schismatic. Alternatively, his denunciations . . . Continue reading →

The Protestant Reformation undeniably divided the visible church in Western Europe. Congregations ceased communion with Rome, rejected papal jurisdiction (the pope), reconstituted worship according to Scripture and the early church,1 and established new ecclesiastical governments. In that descriptive sense, the Reformation involved . . . Continue reading →

Church division has troubled Christians from the earliest generations of the church. The New Testament repeatedly warns against factions, quarrels, false teachers, and those who disturb the unity of Christ’s body. Those warnings did not become less urgent after the death of . . . Continue reading →

In a previous article, we considered the argument against schism in the Old Testament. Redeemed Zoomer’s (RZ) argument does not rest on the Old Testament alone. He also maintains that Jesus and the apostles remained within the temple and synagogue system until . . . Continue reading →