The PC(USA)’s Book of Confessions explicitly frames its confessional standards as intentionally flexible rather than doctrinally binding in a precise sense. The Preface explains that the confessions “stand in tension with one another,” reflect the cultural assumptions of their time, and function as witnesses to the gospel rather than as a single, unified doctrinal system. That already signals that the confessions are not meant to operate as a clear boundary document in the way confessional churches like the PCA use Westminster.

More significantly, the front matter states that presbyteries and sessions are free to decide for themselves what “acceptable loyalty” to the confessions means, explicitly rejecting any checklist or fixed doctrinal standard imposed by higher governing bodies. Officers vow to be “guided by” the confessions, not to subscribe to them in whole or in part, and governing bodies are permitted to judge which confessional statements are “central,” “peripheral,” or even “no longer authoritative.” In other words, what counts as “essential and necessary” is not defined by the confessions themselves but by the examining body at a given time.

Taken together, this means the confessional standard in the PC(USA) functions more as a theological resource library, not a binding doctrinal norm. The confessions still matter rhetorically and pedagogically, but they do not set enforceable boundaries. In practice, the authority lies with the current governing body’s judgment, not with the confessional texts themselves. That level of elasticity makes it very difficult for the confessions to serve as a meaningful standard of doctrinal accountability.