31.1 Section I

    Section I.—For the better government and further edification of the Church, there ought to be such assemblies as are commonly called synods or councils.

Exposition The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, in their act approving of the Confession of Faith, 1647, inserted a caveat: "That the not mentioning in this Confession the several sorts of ecclesiastical officers and assemblies, shall be no prejudice to the truth of Christ in these particulars, to be expressed fully in the Directory of Government." The views of the Church of Scotland, and also of the Westminster Assembly, on this subject, are therefore to be more fully ascertained in "The Form of Presbyterial Church Government," agreed upon by that Assembly, and usually bound up with the Confession of Faith. In that document they declare: "It is lawful and agreeable to the Word of God, that the Church be governed by several sorts of assemblies, which are congregational, classical, and synodical;" and also: "That synodical assemblies may lawfully be of several sorts, as provincial, national, and ecumenical;" and further, that "It is lawful, and agreeable to the Word of God, that there be a subordination of congregational, classical provincial, and national assemblies, for the government of the Church." Here we have a distinct specification of the several sorts of ecclesiastical assemblies, and also an explicit statement of the due subordination of the judicatories of the Church; which we are now accustomed to denominate kirk-sessions, presbyteries, provincial synods, and General Assemblies. At present, however, we have only to notice the statement in the section of the Confession under consideration. In opposition to the Independents, who maintain that every congregation has an independent power of government within itself, and deny all subordination of judicatories, our Confession asserts that, "for the better government and further edification of the Church" (that is, for attaining the end better than can be accomplished in smaller meetings of Church officers), "there ought to be such assemblies as are commonly called synods or councils." Of this we have an example in the synod which met at Jerusalem to settle the question about circumcision. "The question, whether or not the Gentiles who had made a profession of the Christian religion were bound to submit to circumcision, was of common concern, and could only be settled by the judgment and decision of office-bearers delegated from the Church as a whole; and we find that the judgement or decision of these office-bearers, when met judicially to consider the question, was considered as binding upon the whole Church. Nor is it any valid objection to this court forming a model for the imitation of the Church in after ages, that it was composed partly of apostles; for the apostles were also elders, as every higher office in the Church includes the official power belonging to inferior offices; and we do not find that, in the whole discussion, the apostles, as judges, claimed any superiority over their brethren, who are called elders. At any rate, the decision was promulgated as the joint decision of both.—Acts xv. 21-31."