First Orthodox Presbyterian Church
AI summary — doctrinal positions on this page are inferred by AI from this church's own public statements and may be inaccurate.
Inherited from denomination
What Orthodox Presbyterian Church teaches
Positions bound by the denomination's confessional standards. This is what the tradition teaches; whether this specific congregation publicly holds each is a separate question — see Statements below.
Confessional standard: Westminster Confession of Faith · Westminster Larger Catechism · Westminster Shorter Catechism
Affirms
- Infant BaptismSTRONGWestminster XXVIII; Book of Concord SC IV; Council of Trent Session VII; Wesleyan Articles Art. XVII
- Marriage as one man and one womanSTRONGGenesis 2:24; Matthew 19:4–6; historic universal Christian teaching.
- Permissibility of divorce and remarriagestandardMatthew 19:9 (adultery ground); 1 Corinthians 7:15 (abandonment ground). Practice varies.
Denies
- Apostolic SuccessionstandardCongregational and presbyterian polity reject the necessity of tactile episcopal succession.
- Assumption of MarystandardUniversal Protestant rejection — not attested in Scripture; not received as dogma.
- Homosexual practice and biblical sexual ethicsSTRONGRomans 1:26–27; 1 Corinthians 6:9–10; historic universal Christian teaching.
- Immaculate ConceptionSTRONGUniversal Protestant + Orthodox rejection. Orthodox reject on the grounds that they hold prepurification at the Annunciation, not conception.
- Perpetual Virginity of MarystandardNatural reading of Matthew 13:55–56 (brothers of Jesus); typical modern Baptist / evangelical position.
- TransubstantiationSTRONGOrthodox reject the Aristotelian metaphysics; Lutherans use 'sacramental union'; 39 Articles Art. XXVIII rejects explicitly; Reformed/Baptist reject substance-change.
- Women in pastoral / ordained officeSTRONG1 Timothy 2:12; 1 Corinthians 14:34; historic apostolic practice.
Wrestles with
- Believer's BaptismstandardPaedobaptist bodies practice adult baptism on credible profession where infant baptism was omitted, but do not consider it normative.
- Pacifism vs. just-warweakDefault just-war framework — usually unwritten. Inheriting at weak confidence.
- Real PresencestandardCalvin's spiritual presence (genuinely present but not physically) is neither strong affirm nor deny; Anglican/Methodist typically hold a receptionist view.
- TheotokosweakConfessionally valid title (Ephesus is a received council) but not used devotionally; retained in liturgy where liturgy is retained.
In their own words
Statements
statement_of_faith
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> First Orthodox Presbyterian Church - Portland, Oregon First Orthodox Presbyterian Church Our Beliefs O rthodox Presbyterians believe that God is known through Jesus Christ. By his Spirit he has caused an infallible witness to this revelation to be preserved in the Bible and to be believed in the Church. Our teaching and preaching demonstrate how the Bible, from beginning to end, points us to the kingdom of God inaugurated through the life, death, resurrection and ascensionSource ↗
statement_of_faith
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> Glossary: Confessional church Confessional church W e believe that in the Bible God has made truth about himself understandable and that he intends it to be shared by all Christians; so that, we should confess the same faith and instruct and encourage one another with the same doctrine. The common Christian faith is symbolized in the ecumenical confessions, such as the Apostles' Creed , the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed . While we are careful to say thSource ↗
beliefs
First Orthodox Presbyterian Church - Portland, Oregon --> First Orthodox Presbyterian Church Our Beliefs O rthodox Presbyterians believe that God is known through Jesus Christ. By his Spirit he has caused an infallible witness to this revelation to be preserved in the Bible and to be believed in the Church. Our teaching and preaching demonstrate how the Bible, from beginning to end, points us to the kingdom of God inaugurated through the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. Until Christ returns to judge the living and the dead at the end of the age the Church proclaims salvSource ↗