Apographs" (copies)

Westminster Confession of Faith does not explicitly deal with the status of "apographs" (copies), is this true?

Yes, it is strictly true that the Westminster Confession of Faith does not explicitly use the term "apographs" (or "copies").

However, while the technical word "apograph" does not appear in the text, the Confession explicitly addresses the status and authority of copies of Scripture in Chapter 1, Section 8.

What Chapter 1, Section 8 Says

"The Old Testament in Hebrew... and the New Testament in Greek... being immediately inspired by God, and, by His singular care and providence, kept pure in all ages, are therefore authentical; so as, in all controversies of religion, the Church is finally to appeal unto them."

How the Confession Implicitly Handles "Apographs"

1. Implicit Reference through "Kept Pure in All Ages"

The original physical manuscripts penned by the prophets and apostles (autographs) perished long before the 17th century. By stating that the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures were "kept pure in all ages" and remain "authentical" as the final court of appeal, the Confession is referring to the extant "copies (apographs)" available to the Church.

2. Immediate Inspiration vs. Providential Preservation

The Confession makes a distinct theological nuance:

The Autographs were "immediately inspired by God" (breathed out by God directly to human writers).

The Apographs (Copies) are preserved "by His singular care and providence".

3. Historical Context of the Westminster Divines

The XVII-century Protestant scholastic theologians (such as Francis Turretin, John Owen, and the divines at the Westminster Assembly) routinely used the technical distinction between "Autographa" (original physical manuscripts) and "Apographa" (subsequent copies) in their Latin and English treatises.

They acknowledged that scribes could make copyist errors (variants).

Yet, they held that God's special providence ensured that the original text (the words and doctrine) was never lost or fundamentally corrupted across the mass of surviving copies.

Summary

While the specific term "apographs" is absent from the text, the Confession's statement on textual preservation specifically affirms that the surviving Hebrew and Greek copies remain authentic and authoritative because God providentially preserved the original text within them.