Institutionally, I have never been very in love with the regulatory principle of worship; one way or another, it seemed too prescriptive.
The principle teaches that everything a church includes in the order of Sunday worship must be guaranteed by the scriptures. This guarantee, says Ligon Duncan: “Can you take the form of explicit directives, implicit requirements, general principles of scripture, positive orders, examples?and things derived from a good and necessary consequence? (Praise be to God [p. 23]. But the fact is, churches shouldn’t do what the Bible doesn’t say they do.
- A more subtle approach.
- Which attracts many evangelicals.
- Lies in the normative principle.
- Does the normative principle surely say that churches should do what the scriptures command?How to preach.
- Pray.
- And sing.
- But does this also leave room in the order of service for practices not forbidden in the scriptures?Whether you’re exalting the sermon with a role-playing game.
- A finger painting to show your answer to a Bible reading or waving a phrase.
Now, I’m not looking for a censor or a painter with his fingers, but the maverick in me wants to lean toward the normative. I admit, however, the biblical conformist in me believes that we should maintain the principle of regulation. In fact, the fact that it is more restrictive for the Church means that it offers more freedom to Christians. Can I try to persuade them too?
The key is the guaranteed word. The regulatory principle not only requires churches to pay attention to biblical ordinances in their meetings, but also asks them to know only biblical ordinances, which means that churches should only do what they have been authorized or allowed to do. a guarantee.
Maybe an illustration will help you. My wife and I recently enjoyed Gregory Porter at the historic Howard Theatre in Washignton, DC. Maybe it inspired me to open a jazz club in my own neighborhood in Washignton. So I looked for the right commercial license, which was then obtained, and finally opened our business.
The customers are here. They loved the song. But something was missing. They continued to order food menus. I thought about my experience at the Howard Theatre, and they almost certainly served us dinner What a combination it was: food and jazz!So I set up a kitchen at the club, hired a cook and waiters and started serving dinner.
At that time, however, a man came from the municipal licensing department and asked me if I had permission for an establishment that served food, well, no, but understand sir, night after night people were ordering food. it makes a lot of sense to offer them a menu.
Well, it makes sense or not, said the agent, serving food exposes the club to another circle of regulations and responsibilities that serve to protect the citizens of the municipality. And the license in hand just doesn’t say anything about the food service. A license is required or you will be charged a fee.
What is our generation of Christians? What are individualistic and anti-institutional in any way?Forget that the assembled church operates with a different level of permits, guarantees or licenses than that of an individual Christian. The assembly of the local church is permitted in Matthew 16, 18, and 28 by the keys of the kingdom of Christ to make an international statement about what and by whom: what is the gospel and who is an evangelical citizen?Just because I’m a U. S. citizen at the international airport without an American passport, and just because I’m a Christian doesn’t mean I’m allowed to baptize my friend in the backyard pool or give the Lord’s food with my wife and children at home. you have this authority (for a defense of this paragraph, see Chapter 4 here and Chapter 3 here).
This means that every Christian needs the local church; he or she needs the church to grow in grace; yes, people know this, but also, critically, individual believers need the Church to be initially recognized as a Christian at baptism and to continue this recognition. through the Lord’s Supper.
Does this mean that we need churches because they provide the reliable formal structure that ensures that people who profess the gospel also live on the gospel?What is the gospel and a true evangelical life?
A church brings gratitude and trust to the Christian life
Now, this is where the principle of regulation becomes a good business: if the believer needs a church to be officially recognized as a Christian, then it is better for the church to make sure that it will impose nothing on a Christian than the Bible and the Bible. The gospel does not require it.
Christians are certainly free to worship God in many ways, even with incense and finger painting, but as soon as a church decides something for its order of service, all members are asked to worship God in this way. between choosing to abstain only from alcohol and asking each member of your church to refrain from alcohol.
Christians must be united to a church. That is why churches do not validate christian or Christian consciousness where Scripture does not validate and everything we write for the ecclesiastical order of service actually commands how Christians worship God in the congregation.
The normative principle seems to liberate the churches and the maverick in me likes it, but, ironically, the principle of regulation frees the Christian more freely, which the conformist Christian in me likes.
I admit it’s a little hard to see the problem when we have the choice among many churches. If we don’t like what the church does, I’m just going to another one. However, take on the shoes of someone living in a city with a single church, such as the situation between our Christian brothers and sisters in various Muslim nations, or as was the case in many New Testament churches. You would be forced to approach God in public worship through certain methods that you would think are not biblical. harmful.
Whether you live in a city with one church or one hundred, the regulatory principle states that churches are not guaranteed to place non-biblical items in the order of religious service. He seeks to free Christians from these ties.
What a church has to do is very simple. She should look at her license and ask, “What exactly did King Jesus authorize us to do?”We can wake up amid the waters of the “significant,” or we can carefully read the license document, that is, New Testament.
What does the document allow you to do? Basically, it gives churches power to do what they have been doing for 2000 years of meetings: linking and excluding through the Lord’s Supper and baptism; teaching and preaching; Read the Bible and praise it. While many activities characterize churches in a widespread way, these things seem to characterize the church together (for example, Acts 2. 46; 1 Corinthians 5. 4, 11. 18-22, 33-34, 14. 1-39).
Now, maybe it makes sense? Illustrate the sermon with a role-playing game, fingerprint your response to a Bible reading, or censor. But does the licensing agreement say anything about these activities?Maybe they’re tiny, aren’t they?
Until now, while the Bible says nothing, the principle of regulation would forbid these things on the basis of two hypotheses.
The first hypothesis: the Holy Ghost had reason to allow in the scriptures what he authorized and to remain silent where he was silent; presumably, he had reasons why he wanted the gospel to be spoke in words rather than painted in paintings in church meetings. are these reasons? I don’t know. This may have something to do with the power of images, the second commandment, or the nature of faith. What do I know the New Testament is?Our licensing agreement clearly allows churches to preach, but it says nothing about painting pictures.
The second hypothesis is that, in general, human beings are only allowed to do what God allows them to do; We do not have the power to take an apple from a tree and eat it until the Lord apologises; fortunately, apples are allowed in the tree. Genesis 1. 29 So everything a church does when it meets?God must authorize his activities. As we go beyond the scriptures, we run the risk of validating the conscience of church members incorrectly.
Proponents of normative and regulatory principles can agree that human beings can worship God in all kinds of activities (see 2 Corinthians 10. 31). You can love him through theater, finger painting and maybe even incense, though I’m sure man defends him.
The difference between the two principles arises, whether or not the local Church has an institutional character of its own and whether or not members are obliged to act within the framework of such explicit obligations, commissions, and conditions when they come together. The weakness of the normative principle, in essence, is its lack of institutional specification1. The strength of the principle of regulation is its institutional specificity.
This specificity is not just biblical. It offers a small structure that allows good improvisation, as in jazz. Even the most random moments of an improvised jazz riff must evolve into a rigid structure, at least if an ensemble wants to be in harmony.
So we’re responsible for preaching, praying, and singing the gospel, aren’t we?How many different things can we preach, pray, and sing about this harmoniously glorious gospel?How many variations can be obtained from a melody?
1 I believe that John Frame is right, in a sense, to argue that the principle of regulation is the same for Christian life and collective worship (for example in The Doctrine of Christian Life). The same goes for God’s permission to work. However, I would then question what I believe is Frame’s lack of institutional specification of the existence, nature and authority of the local church under the keys of the kingdom.
By: Jonathan Leeman. © 2013 9Marks. Original: regulator like jazz
Translation: Matheus Fernandes. Crítica: Yago Martins. © 2016 Faithful Ministério. All rights reserved. Website: original MinisterioFiel. com. br: Considerations on the regulatory principle of worship
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