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What is the Reformed
Faith? 1. The Corporate Nature of the Church Believers belong to their Lord. But, because there is "one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all" (Eph. 4:5-6), believers belong to each other. Consequently, they are called to mutual encouragement and discipline as members together. It is sometimes said that "it doesn't matter what church you belong to as long as you believe." Like many slogans, this one contains an element of truth, but also considerable error. Personal faith is indeed important, but it is not the only important thing; it also matters what church you belong to. Churches do not just happen to divide into different denominations; they split as a consequence of unfaithfulness. Consider the history of the divided kingdom in Israel: Solomon contributed to this division by compromising with pagan religions, and, after he died, division came. Ten tribes rebelled against Rehoboam to follow Jeroboam. Rehoboam considered using force to restore unity, but God forbade it (1 Kings 12:22-24). Jeroboam, fearing his people's return to Rehoboam because of the divinely instituted worship in Jerusalem, set up rival worship, appointing non-Levitical priests and setting up golden calves in Dan and Bethel. Believers in Israel faced a momentous crisis, and they rightly left an unfaithful church to join a faithful one. God's declaration confirms this: "He [God] will give Israel up because of the sins Jeroboam has committed and has caused Israel to commit" (1 Kings 14:16). When church leaders change a church's official character, members are affected; they participate in apostasy merely by remaining members. 2. The Government of the Church God creates, owns, and governs the church; it is his (cf. 1 Cor. 1:2, where Paul writes "to the church of God in Corinth"). That church of God really exists in the body of those who are united to Jesus Christ, and yet are found in many places. It is invisible in that it "consists of the whole number of the elect" (WCF, XXV:1), and it is visible in that it "consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion; and of their children" (sec. 2). It is also Christ's church, as he prayed: "They were yours; you gave them to me" (John 17:6). He is its king and head (Col. 1:13, 18). As such, and for his church, the Lord Jesus has "appointed a government, in the hand of church officers" (WCF, XXX:1). (All believers hold a general office, by virtue of their union with Christ.) The special officers are presbyters and deacons. Presbyters (from the Greek word meaning "elder") rule the church for Christ. There are two kinds of presbyters: (1) those who "direct the affairs of the church," and (2) those "whose work is preaching and teaching" in addition to rule (1 Tim. 5:17). The former are usually called elders or ruling elders, and the latter, ministers. Together they constitute the session (the ruling body) of the local church. As shepherds, their task is to feed (Jude 12), guide (1 Pet. 5:2), and guard (Acts 20:28) the church which Christ purchased with his own blood. In so doing, they reflect and mediate the prophetic, priestly, and kingly activity of the church's ascended Lord. For each local church, there will be a plurality of presbyters (Tit. 1:5). The session exercises its task by preaching, administering the sacraments, exercising discipline, instructing the congregation, visiting the members, and spreading the gospel through local, national, and foreign mission work. Elders remember that it is God's flock they tend; the congregation belongs not to them, but to the Lord. Deacons administer mercy, both to members of the congregation and to other believers (Acts 6:1-6), as well as to those outside the household of faith (Gal. 6:10). They serve in a special office of ministry, but they do not exercise rule over the congregation. All church officers are gifts of King Jesus to his church (Eph. 4:11), and as such must be qualified (1 Tim. 3:1-12; Tit. 1:6-9). 3. The Discipline of the Church Because believers still sin, it is necessary that there be discipline in the church. Christ is the righteous King, and it is his will that the church practice righteousness. When church members persist in sin, not only are their immortal souls threatened, but the whole church is tempted thereby. Primarily, however, the honor of the church's Head is assailed. Thus it is clear that discipline is good and necessary. Such discipline takes place (1) informally, as members confront, admonish, and exhort one another, and (2) formally, as official church discipline is administered by the session. Informal church discipline is regulated by Christ's prescription in Matthew 5:23-24 and 18:15-16, as well as the apostle Paul's in Galatians 6:1-5. It may occur in private and, if repentance is forthcoming, need go no further, since the offender is restored. It is important to stress that informal discipline is discipline indeed, for sometimes it is thought that only formal church discipline is properly called discipline. Through both means, Christ sanctifies and preserves his church. Formal church discipline is well summarized as follows: "To [church] officers the keys of the kingdom of heaven are committed; by virtue whereof, they have power, respectively, to retain, and remit sins; to shut that kingdom against the impenitent, both by the Word, and censures; and to open it unto penitent sinners, by the ministry of the gospel; and by absolution from censures, as occasion shall require" (WCF, XXX:2). Presbyterian churches typically have a book of discipline that sets forth procedures by which this task is to be fulfilled both in the local church and on the presbytery (regional) and denominational (whole church) levels. 4. The Ecumenical Calling of the Church There is more to the church of Christ, purchased with his own precious blood, than our denomination, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. The Bible speaks not only of churches, but also of the church (Eph. 4). And, ideally, there ought to be just one denomination that is faithful to the Word of God in doctrine and practice. There is only one body of Christ, one people of God, one church universal. However, the church as we encounter it in this world is sadly divided. Some congregations that were once true churches have become synagogues of Satan, as our Confession says (WCF, XXV:5). Other congregations (and denominations) are sadly deformed, even though they are not (yet?) totally degenerate. And there are also true churches that are basically one in faith with us, and yet are divided from us for various reasons. Thus, one of the tasks that we see, as a church, is to strive as much as possible to overcome these sad divisions. It is the strong conviction of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, however, that this does not mean that we should seek organizational unity where there is no unity in doctrine and practice. This is precisely the reason why we have never wanted to belong to the National or World Council of Churches. Those bodies may have organizational unity, but they do not have unity in the doctrine and practice required in the Bible. At the same time, it has been the conviction of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church that we may not rest content with a "spiritual unity" that never comes to visible expression. It is for this reason that the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, over its entire denominational history, has sought to build and support organizations on the basis of essential agreement in doctrine and practice. It was for this reason that our church worked hard, for forty years, to keep the Reformed Ecumenical Synod faithful to the Scriptures, and then separated from that organization when it refused to maintain its own basis. This is also the reason why our church now belongs to the International Conference of Reformed Churches. We will continue to seek visible unity with other churches, but only on the basis of a genuine adherence to the biblical confessions in doctrine and practice. |