1988 Issue 1 - The Loss of Presbyterianism - Counsel of Chalcedon

8/12/2019 1988 Issue 1 - The Loss of Presbyterianism - Counsel of Chalcedon

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The oss of resbyterianismby Dan Morse

In the next few months th presby

teries of the PCA will be voting onproposed changes to the Book ofChurch Order that, if passed, will makethe PCA congregationalist instead ofpresbyterian in character. And i f theseproposals have the effect of making thePCA a fellowship of loosely associatedcongregations, then they not only violate the presbyterian spirit of the Bookof Church Order, but more importantlythey violate the clear teaching 'of Scripture.

The principle accepted by all of uswho have taken ordination vows in thePCA is that in the Book of ChurchOrder there is the form of governmentand di scipline. . . . in confonnity withthe general principles of Biblicalpolity. (BCO 24:5, question 3) This ofcourse does not mean that we can citechapter and verse in the Bible for everyparticular provision in the Book ofChurch Order, .but rather that thoseprovisions are in accord with what theBible teaches about the nature of thechurch. Ordained officers in the PCAhave also promised that they receiveand adopt the Confession of Faith andthe Catechisms of this Church, as containing the system of doctrine taught inthe Holy Scriptures . . . (BCO 24:5,question 2) That is to say that we accept the confessional description of theChurch as true to the Bible .

t is not the purpose of this article togo through all that the Bible teachesabout the church. Since all officers ofthe PCA have taken ordination vowsthat commit them to the interpretation ·of the Scriptures given in the Confes

sion and Book of Church Order, whichis that presbyterianism is the form ofgovernment taught in the Bible, the

Dan Morse is a former semin;u yrofessor and pastor of churches

n the Orthodox Presbvterian Churchand the Presbyterian Church inAmerica. He is presently pastor ofthe PCA churcli in Germantown,Tennessee .

proposed amendments will be evaluated

in light of their agreement or disagreement with our received standards.

THE NATUREOF THE CHURCH

A brief survey of tlte teaching of theConfession on tlte nature of the churchwill help us in determining how weought to vote on the amendments. Welearn from chapter 25 that the church isthe kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christoutside of which there is no ordinarypossibility of salvation. Also thechurch has been given by Christ theministry, oracles, and ordinances ofGod, a nd Christ is present in the churchby his Spirit to make these effectual.The church, then, is not to be viewed asa club- a loose association of individuals- but as a kingdom- an authority structure with Christ at the head andofficers under him . n this kingdom themembers are to obey the commands ofChri st communicated to them by theofficers . The officers themselves areunder the authority of one another, andpromised subjection to their brethren in

the Lord when ordained . (BCO 24:5,question 5)

Sometimes we have the idea that theonly authority structure in the world,and the only enforcement power weneed to fear , is that of the state, becausethe state has the power to imprison, andeven to kill, the body. When we beginto talk about authority, obedience,power and enforcement, we immediatelythink of the state a nd the ci vii courts.But we need to remember that thechurch is a separate kingdom , and as

such it is not under the jurisdiction ofthe civil courts.

It nonetheless has a system of courtsthat have authority and power. Churchcourts are a separate, but equal, judicialsystem from the civil courts. In thechurch it is not the threat of physicalpunishment or restraint that causespeople to obey, but it is Christ who is

present making his commands effectual.The fact that the church does not havethe power of the sword does not meanthat the church has no enforcementpower. In our day we need to recovertlte integrity of the churcp courts andthe respect that is due them both in the

eyes of the member s of the church andof the civil courts. We will not do soby diminishing the proper, Scripturalauthority of the church courts.

Chapter 30 of the Confession makesthis point very clear when it says thatChrist has appointed a government inthe church, and that the officers of h ~

government are distinct from the civilmagistrate. Those church officers haveno t been given the power of the sword,but they are n ot thereby without power,They have been given the keys of thekingdom, which give them the powerto remit and retain sins, and open andshut the kingdom of God . That poweris exercised through the censures ofadmonition, suspension from the Lord'sSupper, and excommunication, and wehave already seen that Christ is presentin his church to make the exercise ofchurch power effective .

In chapter 31 this authority of thechurch is applied to the areas of controversies of faith , cases of con science,rules for public wor ship and government, and judicial cases. The church,acting through her several courts, issaid to have the right to determineauthoritatively these matters, and thosedeterminations and decrees, if consonant to the Word of God, are to be received with reverence and submission;not only for their agreement with theWord of God, but also for the powerwhereby they are made, as being an ordinance of God appointed thereunto inhis Word. That is, i f the church courtmakes a decision that i s an accuratepresentation of the Word of God, it

must e obeyed because to disobey theScriptural command s of a church courtis to disobey God, and disobedience toGod is apostasy. To disobey God is toput oneself outside the Church of Godwhere there is no ordinary possibilityof salvation. (Confession of FaithXX V :2

Now when we put all this together ,

The Counsel of Chalcedon, January, 1988 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . - - - - - - - - - . . . . . . . - - - - - . . . . P a g e 11



the Biblical and confessional picture weget of the church is t h ~of a kingdomwith Jesus Christ s King; who establishes his church for the salvation ofsinners, the upbuilding of believers, andthe light of the world. The church is allthose things as it obeys the Word of

God, growing in holiness. To insurethat obedience unto holiness, Christ hasestablished order in his church. Thatorder begins with the members of localcongregations in submission to the sessions, and proceeds with the sessionsbeing in submission to presbyteries,and presbyteries in submission to thegeneral assembly, and all under submission to Christ. In this pictiite there isno such thing as a free-lance Christianor an unconnected church. Such a thingis a contradiction in terms. I t is of the

essence of being a Christian, or achurch, to be in subjection to theauthority of Christ, and how can weclaim to obey Christ i f we refuse toobey the Scriptural commands of theelders Christ has placed over us?

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?If the church ought to be this kind of

authority structure , what problems arisei f the proposed amendments are adopted? And what problems cause somepeople to want the safeguards offered bythe proposed amendments?

After reading the amend.tnents and thesupporting materials it is apparent thatthe proponents are afraid of two thingshigher church courts appealing to thecivil courts to take away the property ofthe local congregations, and higherchurch courts removing officers from.or imposing officers upon lower courtswithout due process . Both of these concerns are admirable and Scriptural. Infact they are so much so that they arealready safeguarded in the present Bookof Church Order. A careful reading ofBCO will show that the local congrega

tion does not relinquish its property tothe ownership or control of the highercourts when it joins the PCA (25-8),nor can the presbytery elect officers forthe local congregation (24-1 ), nor canthe session or presbytery depose an officer without due process (32; 33; 34-1,2,7; 35; 36-5). .

f the problems feared ·are airead'y ·

guarded against, what is the necessity ofadding new provisions that only domore of the same? Why should weprotect what is already adequately protected, especially i f the additions createnew problems? f the answer is thatpeople do not understand the safeguards

of the present book so that they are ableto assert their rights, the solution is toeducate the church in the true meaningof the Book of Church Order, not constitutional amendtnent

What are the problems created by theproposed changes? There are several,but they have in common that the effectis destructive of Biblical presbyterianisrti..

First, the amendments remove powerfrom church courts that is granted themby the Scriptures. In the proposed para

graph 13-9 the language describing thehigher court's authority is softened from~ whatever they may have done

contrary to order to point but fromto see tbat the lawful injunctions of

the higher courts are obeyed to "Slm:m the lawful injunctions of the

higher courts, and from "l1ill churchesfor the purpose of inquiring into andredressing the evils that _ llay havearisen in them." to "regye$'t the privile2e q yisitine.

Let us say that in reviewing sessionminutes it comes to a presbytery's attention that there is some moral or doctrinal error being tolerated in one of thechurches. Does the presbytery have theScriptural obligation to inquire into the

matter? The answer is obviously affirmative from all that the Bible teachesus about the obligations we have to oneanother in the body of Christ Not onlydo individual Christians have responsibilities to rebuke, correct, exhort and encourage one another , but this is especially true of the officers and courts of thechurch. Can you imagine a local ses

sion merely pointing out to a member some action of his that is grosslyimmoral, and simply supporting tothat member the command of Christthat he correct his error? Do the eldersof the church have the God-given rightand responsibility to visit this erringmember, or merely to request toviSit? f the elders of the church must

wait for the erring party to allow themto exer cise discipliile, then the wholebasis for Christian ' union and communion is destroyed. The church, if itcan still be called that, becomes a loosecollection of individualists, each doingwhat is right in his own eyes .

On the other side, does the individualChristian; or lower court , have the responsibility to answer the lawful inquiries of the higher courts, and to obeythe lawful instructions of them? Againthe answer is yes. Not to do so is toviolate one's membership and ordination vows of subjection to the government and discipline of the church.

The seeond problem ith the proposed amendments is that they have theeffect of demeaning the honor that isdue the courts of the church. Let us say

that in the case just mentioned a courtof the church takes steps to redress not simply point out - the error ofthose under its jurisdiction, but those inerror refuse to obey the Scripturalinstructions of the higher court. Doesthe court have the power to enforce itsdecision? t is true that the churchshould not, and under our present Bookof Church .Order cannot, appeal to thecivil magistrate to seize property, butthis does not mean that the church hasno enforcement power. If we onlyhonor the commands of those who canenforce them with seizure of property,then we show that we have very littleregard for the actions of the churchcourts.

It is certainly ttue that members andlower courts may disobey or disregardthe actions of the higher courts of thechurch. But if when they do so they saythere is nothing the higher courts cando because they have no power to seizeproperty, or if the higher courts respondto the disobedience by saying that thedecision cannot be enforced because pro

perty cannot be seized, then the churchhas ceJ;tainly lost honor and respect inits own eyes and in the eyes of others .

f the only reason we obey orders froma higher court is that we are afraid theywill deprive us of our wealth or property, then we show that the heart ofthe gospel is not in us. We show thatlove for this world 's goods is more im

Page 12 l he Counsel of b a l c e d o ~January, 1988



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1988 Issue 1 - The Loss of Presbyterianism - Counsel of Chalcedon