PREFACE TO THE DIRECTORY OF CHURCH ORDER
PREFACE
It is to be regretted that, at this time in history, when the Christian faith is commanding so little influence in the social, political, and economic affairs which affects society, that the Church should be engaged with questions which affect her own life rather than the life of the majority of the people. Questions regarding the place of God's Law in the life of the church, the function of derived standards such as creeds and covenants, the order and essence of worship, the importance of preaching and the sacraments, the relevance of Christian education, and the priorities given to Christian counseling, all consume the Church to such a degree that little else can be done until such issues can be resolved. Yet, is it not because of the prevailing religious apathy so dominant in Christianity that the Church must, of necessity, lay again solid foundations so as to be able to "set her own house in order"? If "judgment begins in the house of God" is it not proper that such chastisement should cause the Church to humble herself before her divine Husband and implore His strength to reestablish "decency and good order" which is so pleasing to Him? Such is the task given to all Christians in our generation.
The Constitution along with the By-Laws: Principles and Policies of Church Life (which we refer to as our Book of Church Government) are designed for the establishment of such order. They are designed to fulfill presbyterian functions as ordained in the Word of God. It specifies objective principles of God's Word for areas of life, ministry, and rule so that the ever-changing opinions of men may be thwarted and the proper place of God-ordained authority maintained.
These documents lay the ground work for the ethic and commitments upon entry into the individual church so as to apprise each member of his individual obligations, disallowing any claim to ignorance in the violation of sound covenantal church order . . . and leaves them responsible before God and men. Churches are thereby judicially protected, promoted, and kept, by objective witness, without which, schism may rear its head undetected and undiscerned, seducing the body at large. In addition, each church will have a basis for comfort in waiving any examination of visiting presbyterian members in its proper responsibility for participation in the Lord's Supper.
The Westminster Confession of Faith of 1647 and the Westminster catechetical standards (Larger and Shorter Catechisms) highlight the doctrinal distinctives from the Word of God necessary for the rightful ordering of our Reformed heritage. Certainly, the Belgic Confession, Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of Dordrecht are agreeable for church use, being subordinated to the Westminster Standards (especially if any allegation is made of conflict in their use).
In addition, we recognize the call of God in this age of Reformation to expound a greater maturity in creedal formation in the light of such pressures and necessities for the understanding and edification of God's people. Thus, our Book of Church Government recognizes the right of each local congregation and/or the presbyteries or general assemblies at large, to write additional creedal standards and constitutions from time to time.
The holy calling of that form of church government historically referenced as "presbyterianism" is the one frame of government designed by God best suited to facilitate the many powers and responsibilities of the Church "the pillar and ground of the truth".
All is offered in the hope and expectation that, despite our lamentable unprofitableness, the Lord Christ Jesus, our lawful and only Mediator between God and man, will be pleased to bless and keep such a church well-ordered in an age of schism, well-protected in a world of detractors and persecutors, well-enlightened in an age of darkness and above all, submissive and obedient to the revealed Will of her Divine Husband as expressed in His Holy Word, which is the Standard by which all other standards are to be judged.
PREFACE TO DIRECTORY OF DISCIPLINE
On June 17, 1932, Dr. J. Gresham Machen made the following statement in London concerning the great cultural conflict which was engulfing the church of Christ in general and the cause of Presbyterianism in particular. He said:
It is no easy thing to defend the Christian faith against the mighty attack that is being brought against it at the present day. Knowledge of the truth is necessary, and also clear acquaintance with the forces hostile to the truth in modern thought.
At that point, a final objection may arise. Does it not involve a terrible peril to men’s souls to ask them-for example, in their preparation for the ministry- to acquaint themselves with things that are being said against the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? Would it not be safer to learn only of the truth, without acquainting ourselves with error? We answer, "Of course it would be safer." It would be far safer, no doubt, to live in a fool’s paradise and close one’s eyes to what is going on in the world today, just as it is safer to remain in secure dugouts rather than to go over the top in some great attack. We save our souls, perhaps, by such tactics, but the Lord’s enemies remain in possession of the field. It is a great battle indeed, this intellectual battle of today; deadly perils await every man who engages in that conflict; but it is the Lord’s battle, and He is a great Captain in the fight.
A presbytery should be the place in which the Lord’s officers are encouraged and strengthened for the kind of battles which the demands of His ministry place upon them. "Curse ye Meroz… Curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof because they would not come to the help of the Lord…" is the testimony of Sacred Writ when God’s people at Meroz refused to help the rest of Israel in the time of trial.
Regrettably, this call of the presbytery, to strengthen the hands of God’s officers and churches, all too often has run afoul of its sacred trust and has been an hindrance to ministry, ensnaring good men who must expend time and effort in order to disentangle the coils wrapped about their reputations and callings. Wounds, bitterness, disenchantment, and division have been the unhappy results for the church of Christ…leaving some of the finest men to stand crippled in ministry for loss of credibility or discouraged out of ministry for their inability to sustain further damage to themselves or their families. God has raised up faithful bodies of churches in the past and holds and preserves some today in the palm of His almighty hand, so it is our conviction that this presbytery must self-consciously seek to "shepherd" its men and churches so that they will find a refuge among brethren who are not ashamed of them.
Why are so many good men finding themselves enmeshed and ensnared among the brethren of the household of faith? Doubtless, some have placed themselves there by indiscretion and offense. But, all too often, it has been the courage of being steadfast for the truth, taking seriously that Great Commission which compels them to testify of their Lord’s glory before the world…and the church. Luther once testified that the mark of the faithful man was not only that he stands in the fight for righteousness, but that he stands at the hottest place in the fight and refuses to concede the contest there to Christ’s enemies…and his. But once such a stand is taken, that individual becomes a dividing line between those convicted to follow and those who know they will not. Like the people of Meroz, the latter will find excuse to abandon such duty and then to condemn it- and those who espouse it -as if it were truly iniquitous. Fear and guilt become key motivations for undermining the reputation and resolve of those who wish to "fight the good fight of the faith".
Our era, the end of the twentieth century, has witnessed incredible changes in all aspects of culture globally. The complexity of medical ethics, the phenomenal development of technology, the expansive networking capabilities of information systems, the global reach of major events, all coupled with an epistemologically, self-conscious enmity toward the church has left the church frightened and confused, seeking her consolation in being huddled in near seclusion which, though comfortable, fails to take hold of the culture "at large"…refusing to disciple it for lack of ability. Though it is often the case that good Christian people do not lack truth in their personal knowledge of faith, yet they remain confused, unable to cope with the cultural revolution around them. Often, it is not the truths that they hold which fail them. What fails them is "the missing". Dr. Cornelius Van Til once remarked:
The Bible is thought of as authoritative on everything of which it speaks. And it speaks of everything. We do not mean that it speaks of football games, of atoms, etc., directly, but we do mean that it speaks of everything either directly or indirectly. It tells us not only of the Christ and His work but it also tells us who God is and whence the universe has come. It gives us a philosophy of history as well as history. Moreover, the information on these subjects is woven into an inextricable whole. It is only if you reject the Bible as the Word of God that you can separate its so-called religious and moral instruction from what it says, e.g., about the physical universe … It is therefore the system of truth as contained in Scripture which we must present to the world. The various theological disciplines contribute to the setting forth of this system.
The truth of the Scriptures is a system, the neglect of any single portion of which leaves the Church compromised and confused. James makes this point explicit when he says, "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." To break the law in one point is to violate the entire system. But the Church at large, for the most part, refuses to even acknowledge the validity, much less the usefulness, of the law of the Lord, the only system of ethics given by God to mankind…and the Church. Again, Dr. Machen’s comments are to the point, especially as he identifies "the missing":
When we say "sin", we have said "law"… At the present time, the existence of law is being denied. Men no longer believe that there is such a thing as a law of God; and naturally they do not believe that there is such a thing as sin. Thoughtful men, who are not Christians, are aware of the problem that this stupendous change in human thinking presents to the modern world. Now that men no longer believe in obligatory morality, now that the moral law has been abandoned, what is to be put in its place, in order that an ordinarily decent human life may be preserved upon the earth? It cannot be said that the answers proposed for that question are as satisfactory as the way in which the question itself is put. It is impossible to keep back the raging seas of human passion with the flimsy mud embankments of an appeal…to self interest. Those raging seas can only be checked by the solid masonry of the law of God…Men are wondering today what is wrong with the world. They are conscious of the fact that they are standing over some terrible abyss. Awful ebullitions rise from that abyss. We have lost altogether the sense of the security of our Western civilization. Men are wondering what is wrong….It is perfectly clear what is wrong. The law of God has been torn up, as though it were a scrap of paper, and the inevitable result is appearing with ever greater clearness. When will the law be rediscovered? When it is rediscovered, that will be a day of terror for mankind: but it will also be a day of joy; for the law will be a schoolmaster unto Christ. Its terrors will drive men back to the little wicket gate, and to the way that leads to that place somewhat ascending where they will see the Cross.
Dr. Machen was the man whom God called to oppose the liberalism which captured the Presbyterian Church government in his generation. As he testified, the loss of the law of God in the church has begotten a terrible crisis in society. Two generations have now passed since these fateful words were uttered by one of the most brilliant scholars and theologians with which God has been pleased to gift His church. But the loss is one which has left the church insensitive to her confused estate. She admits to a crisis in the science of hermeneutics and senses the inability of her people (and pastors) to recognize "truth" in areas political, economic, doctrinal and ethical. What’s more, even the "reformed" see their people moving into other, weaker confessional expressions of faith and practice for failure to know how to defend and prove, to their own comfort, such foundational doctrines as a six day creation, infant baptism, Lord’s Day worship (as opposed to seventh day sabbath observance), a limited atonement, predestination and even the Trinity.
Moreover, so many are easily moved by "novelties" in interpretation and are moved by winds of doctrine without knowing which principles to believe. "Clever" has all too often replaced "principled", under the guise of being "insightful". Is this due to the loss of the law of God as the foundational body to all hermeneutical considerations? Is the current debate on church government and discipline sparked by failure of her pastors to consider the law of the Lord as foundational to the principles of polity? Do the reformed of today really appreciate the hermeneutical principles involved in establishing, for example, circumcision as the ground and warrant for the doctrine of baptism? If so, why do we fragment our theological interpretative principles by "proving" the doctrine of baptism by one method and, say, church government by another? But if not, why then do we see those same principles and precepts at work in Scripture in the establishment of the very government of the church which shall oversee, sanction, and govern by virtue of the "keys" of the Kingdom?
Is it not the case that our God, in His Wisdom, so forced His Church to carve out her ethics and governments with the same principles by which She proves the purpose, design and use of the sacramental Keys of the Kingdom? Put bluntly, do such New Testament chapters, which discourse upon church government and discipline in passages contained in Matthew 18, Acts 15, 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, 1 Peter 5, stand by themselves as if they were complete or do they rely heavily upon the foundational principles of the law, with its commentaries in the histories, poetry and prophets? Did our Lord Jesus, for example, invent the approach of Matthew 18: 15-18 during His earthly ministry, or was He using the law and the prophets to establish the principles He was expounding? More broadly, if our Lord was "fulfilling the law", why is it standard practice to expound the Gospel narratives without the expectation (with but few exceptions) that things Christ said or did should be, in themselves, first found as a functional and wise application and understanding of various portions of the law…just as it was the duty of the prophets to perform?
No doubt, recourse to the law of the Lord is fast becoming "a terror" for mankind. But the maturities it brings, the assurances it develops and the blessings it promises is well worth the struggle to be borne in learning its intricacies, bearing its offenses, and propounding its judgments so that we must, like the blessed man of Psalm 1, "meditate therein day and night". Indeed, ought not the law be formative to any proposed Directory of Church Discipline? St. Paul himself found the sins of his heart disciplined, chastened by the law which was such a blessing to him as a Christian and as our apostle. So, ought not the church of Christ say "amen" to the inspired words of the apostle Paul when he wrote:
And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin , taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it, slew me…Wherefore the law is holy, and just and good…For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh, the law of sin.
Dr. Machen was right. Though the law brings terror to mankind, it will also bring rejoicing to the church of our dear Lord … for its design is life because its Designer is Life and Light.
Return to CRPC Main Index Page.