wfn.org | Assembly to Consider Different Translation of Heidelberg Catechism

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18-June-1997 GA97060 
 
            Assembly to Consider Authorizing Different 
              Translation of Heidelberg Catechism 
 
                      by Bill Lancaster 
 
SYRACUSE--The General Assembly Committee on Catechisms and Confessions 
Tuesday approved by a vote of 37 for 20 against and 3 abstentions an 
amended version of Overture 97-63 which would authorize the consideration 
of a different translation of the Heidelberg Catechism for inclusion in the 
Book of Confessions (BOC). 
 
    The need for a different translation is born in part out of scholarship 
that shows that the current version includes a scripture quotation which is 
not part of the German original.  The quotation of 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 
includes specific references to fornication and homosexuality whereas the 
older version says "unchaste person."  The current version also says 
"grabber" instead of "covetous man," includes the word "swindler" not found 
in the earlier version and does not include "or any such like" which is 
found in the earlier version. 
 
    The catechism's question 87 ( BOC 4.087), asks, "Can those who do not 
turn to God from their ungrateful, impenitent life be saved?" 
 
    The current answer in the BOC says, "Certainly not!  Scripture says, 
`Surely you know that the unjust will never come into possession of the 
kingdom of God.  Make no mistake: no fornicator or idolater, none who are 
guilty either of adultery or of homosexual perversion, no thieves or 
grabbers or drunkards or slanderers or swindlers, will possess the kingdom 
of God.'" 
 
    The translation presented to the committee as "close to the German 
original" answers the question, "By no means; for, as the Scripture says, 
no unchaste person, idolater, adulterer, thief, covetous man, drunkard, 
slanderer, robber, or any such like, shall inherit the kingdom of God." 
 
    Theological Student Advisory Delegate Timothy T.  Read from Columbia 
Theological Seminary offered an amendment to Overture 97-63 which would 
"authorize the selection or preparation of a new translation of the 
Heidelberg Catechism to be considered for inclusion in the Constitution and 
The Book of Confessions." 
 
    The overture calls for the Theology and Worship unit of the 
Congregational Ministries Division of General Assembly Council to arrange 
for such a translation for consideration by the 211th General Assembly 
(1999). 
 
    Dr. Bruce McCormack, Princeton Theological Seminary professor of 
systematic theology, who was a resource person for the committee, told them 
there was no doubt that the catechism had been changed.  The question is, 
does it involve the insertion of opinion.  "What you have is the filling 
out of a Biblical citation.  Does this constitute inserting one's opinion?" 
 
    Speaking for the change, the Rev. James Offrink, commissioner from Lake 
Huron Presbytery, told the committee, "If a carpenter drops his square, it 
can be bent.  I am not a person who endorses homosexuality.  But I do 
believe if the square is not square, the building will not be straight." 
He urged the committee to stay with the truth and not protect our people 
from it. 
 
    A commissioner who opposed the change argued that "we don't need any 
agenda-driven translations." 
 
    On Calvin's French Confession of 1559, the committee is recommending 
that the process be started to introduce it to the church for consideration 
for inclusion in the BOC.  The reasons for doing so are two-fold: 
 
    1.)  The BOC does not currently include a Confession from the Geneva 
Reformation.  Richard Osmer, chair of the Special Committee to Write a New 
Presbyterian Catechism, told the committee that it's not that our existing 
confessions are misleading.  But it's as though the Church were to trace 
its theological family tree using only the father's side.  He said the BOC 
has the Zurich side but not the Geneva side. 
 
    2.)  The French Confession could have real importance in any dialogue 
between the PC(USA) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  Theo 
Gill of the Office of the General Assembly, a long-time advocate of the 
ecumenical movement, told the news service "the theology of the Eucharist 
is significantly richer [in the French Confession] than the theology of the 
Eucharist in our other confessions."  The French Confession moves the 
church away from a merely symbolic representation of Christ in the bread 
and wine and toward the real presence of Christ. 
 
    In other action, the committee is recommending that the Genevan 
Catechism not be included in the Book of Confessions, that the Assembly not 
proceed to formulate a list of the essential tenets of the Reformed faith, 
and that the Assembly appoint a committee to consider proposing to the 
210th Assembly (1998) including the Ecumenical Version of the Nicene Creed 
in place of the Traditional Version in the BOC. 

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