In the German language, Schwerpunkt is the word for a point of emphasis. And one of the main Schwerpunkte of Puritanism is the regulative principle of worship and church-government. Today’s post is a summary of what that principle is, and in later posts we’ll be looking at what Scriptures it is based on and what specific Reformed authors had to say about it.
To give a simple definition, the Reformed regulative principle states that, in addition to not performing acts of worship that are directly condemned in God’s Word (i.e. idol worship), we are also not permitted to add anything to the worship of God and the government of His Church beyond what His Word has commanded, except what is required to maintain general decency and order.
Now, why is the regulative principle important? Or, more to the heart of the matter, why should we care? What does it mean for us?
Well, Jesus said that if we love him, we will keep his commandments (Jn. 14:21), and the apostle John (1Jn. 5:3) went so far as to say that the love of God is keeping his commandments. And this should make a basic kind of sense to most of us. In a romantic relationship, if I say I love my fiancée, but when it comes time for her birthday, I show that love by giving her a present that she doesn’t really want, that says something very profound about me. It says I either don’t know my beloved well enough, or that I don’t care enough to serve her in a way that would please her. God is not so different. If we say we love Him, we need to serve Him in exactly the way He has told us will please Him.
Now, a difficulty I have with many contemporary Reformed authors who are writing about the regulative principle for a popular audience is that, having defined it, they explain how it works without any reference whatsoever to how classical Reformed authors defined it. But it’s important that we do this so that we can be sure that the regulative principle as we are practicing it is the same regulative principle it has always been. That’s why one of the priorities of Achtung-Puritaner! as a blog is to point you to primary sources.
But which primary sources should we start from? Well, whenever you want to learn about what a group of people believes, the first thing you should do, before you go digging around for particular authors, is find some kind of consensus statement of their beliefs. That will give a good broad understanding of the belief, and then hopefully as you read specific authors you can answer any lingering questions you have.
So if we want to find consensus statements of the Reformed doctrine of the regulative principle, our best starting points would be the two most popular official confessions of faith in Reformed history: the Belgic Confession (1561) and the Westminster Confession (1647).
The Belgic Confession (1561)
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| The Belgic Confession |
So, the Belgic Confession (La Confession de foi des églises réformées Walonnes et Flamandes), was first written in 1561 in French by the Walloon pastor Guido de Brès with assistance from some of his colleagues. (Wallonia is the French-speaking part of southern Belgium.) The Confession was subsequently revised by the Frenchman François du Jon in 1566. This 1566 edition was adopted by various Dutch Reformed synods of the late 16th century before it was finally revised again at the Second Synod of Dordt in 1619. Most Reformed churches of the Dutch and German traditions today hold to some form of the 1619 edition.
In the mean time we believe though it is useful and beneficial that those who are rulers of the Church institute and establish certain ordinances among themselves, for maintaining the body of the Church; yet they ought studiously to take care that they do not depart from those things which Christ, our only master, hath instituted. [Col. 2:6,7] And, therefore, we reject all human inventions, and all laws which man would introduce into the worship of God, thereby to bind and compel the conscience in any manner whatever. [1Cor. 7:23, Matt. 15:9, Is. 29:13, Gal. 5:1, Rom. 16:17,18] Therefore we admit only of that which tends to nourish and preserve concord and unity, and to keep all men in obedience to God. [1] [2]
We can note a couple of things here. First, we see that the Confession forbids the Church from adding anything to the worship of God that Christ himself did not command. Second, we notice that an exception is made for “ordinances” that the Church makes only for the purpose of preserving unity and maintaining obedience.
Therefore, there are only two categories of things that the Church may arrange for worship and government: (1) institutions of Christ given by commandment, and (2) ordinances of the Church made for the general purpose of decency and order.
In present-day terminology, most people would call these “elements” and “circumstances” of worship. But we must be careful not to jump to the conclusion that the Belgic Confession’s theology is exactly the same as ours just because it looks the same on the surface. Remember, what we just read was a summary of belief that was intended to be read by a general audience. We will need to dig a little deeper into contemporary writings to find out exactly what the writers of the Confession would have included under the categories of institutions and ordinances. Which I intend to do in a later post.
The Westminster Confession (1647)
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| The Westminster Confession |
For now, let us move on to the Westminster Confession (The Humble Advice of the Assembly of Divines, Now by Authority of Parliament Sitting at Westminster, Concerning a Confession of Faith). In the 1640s, England had erupted into a state of civil war. It was Cavaliers versus Roundheads, Anglicans versus Puritans, Royalists versus Parliamentarians. The Puritans who led the English Parliament in revolt against King Charles I. forged an alliance with the Scottish Presbyterians and, under oath, hashed out a united confession of faith that was intended to reform the church of England, Scotland, and Ireland. This was the Westminster Confession, completed in 1646 and printed in 1647. The Puritans and Presbyterians won the civil war, but lost the peace, yet the Westminster Confession was preserved until the present day within the various Presbyterian churches of Scotland and their spin-offs in America.
Concerning the regulative principle, the 1647 printing reads in Chapter I, Section vi.:
The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man’s salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture; unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men. [2Tim. 3:15-17, Gal. 1:8,9, 2Thess. 2:2] Nevertheless we acknowledge the inward illumination of the Spirit of God to be necessary for the saving, understanding of such things as are revealed in the Word: [Jn. 6:45, 1Cor. 2:9,10,12] And that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God, and the government of the Church, common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of Nature and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the Word, which are always to be observed. [1Cor. 11:13,14; 14:26,40] [3]
Note that, like we saw in the Belgic Confession, the Westminster Confession only describes two categories of things in relation to worship and church-government: (1) things necessary, and (2) circumstances.
However, there is a slight difference of detail in the second category. The Belgic only speaks of ordinances as arrangements made to maintain unity and obedience. The Westminster specifies that circumstances of worship and government must be determined by (a) the light of Nature and (b) the general rules of Scripture.
Nevertheless, there are no inconsistencies between the Belgic and Westminster confessions. They both summarize the regulative principle in the same way: There are some circumstance-ordinances of worship and government that must be arranged to keep decency and order, but apart from those, only necessary institutions of God are allowed.
Conclusion
Let us bear these things in mind as we approach God in worship, whether in public or as families or in private. If you are in a Presbyterian or Reformed church and have doubts about whether its worship practices are binding on your conscience, ask yourself: (a) Is it commanded or even just hinted at in Scripture? If so, then it is a necessary institution. (b) If it is not even hinted at in Scripture, is it being done to meet the general requirement that worship be decent and orderly, without any extra religious significance? If so, then it is a circumstance-ordinance. (c) If it is neither even hinted at nor required for decency and order, am I not displeasing God by participating in it?
In subsequent posts, we will move beyond summary and examine the writings of various early Reformers and Puritans to see, in detail, what constitutes a necessary institution and what constitutes a circumstance-ordinance. However, before that, in my very next post, I would like to take some time to review the proof texts of the Belgic and Westminster confessions.
Remember, Haltet ihr seine Gebote, und lasset alles ehrbar und ordentlich zugehen—Keep his commandments, and let all things be done decently and in order.
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