Confession of Faith: Article XXX The Government of and Offices in the Church

This article deals with the government of the church and with the offices which the Lord has given in it. The church of God is called by many different names in God’s Word. It is called the house of Christ in Hebrews 3:6, “But Christ as a Son over His own house.” It is called a congregation. It is called His kingdom. We think of Matthew 6:33, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God.” It is called His body, with many different members, but all being bound together in the same Head.

You understand that if there is a house, there must be order in that house. If there is no order, things will not go well in your home. It is the same in a kingdom. There must be a certain policy, a certain order and government. God also is not a God of confusion, but of peace. In 1 Corinthians 14:40 we read, “Let all things be done decently and in order.” The church is a body, the body of the Lord, governed, first of all, by the Head. That Head is not a pope, not any human being, but it is Jesus Christ. Our fathers say, “The church must be governed by the spiritual policy which our Lord hath taught us in His Word.”

When we read “the spiritual policy,” we think of a state or city, and of the government of that city. We need those who keep order in that particular city or state. The Lord has also given a spiritual policy, or system of government, in the church. Our fathers said that it pleases the Lord to govern the church by means of officers. Those officers govern in Christ’s name and on His account. They reign with the authority received from their Master. In the course of time there have been many different views about how the church should be viewed in regard to its environment, its relationship to the state and to the world in which that church lives, and also in regard to how the church should be governed.

First, there is the model of the church-state. Rome teaches that the church stands above the state. The Pope, they say, has two swords. The one sword is ecclesiastical, a church sword; the other is a worldly sword. Both swords are in the hand of the Pope, and he has supreme authority over church and state. The Pope even has authority over emperors and kings; often popes have exercised that authority and sought to make the mighty ones of the world to bow before them. Then the church rules over the state; and the Pope has the supreme authority over church and state.

The second model is the state- church, which is just the opposite.

The state rules and reigns over and in the church. In the time of Constantine the Great, when Christianity became the official religion of the state, the Christians received many privileges. They were preferred for government offices. They also received protection from the state, and the official religion was promoted in many ways by the emperor. But the negative side of this position was that Constantine the Great and his successors said that they had the authority to convene a synod or to sign the final approval of an ecclesiastical decision. They exercised real power within the church. They used their power when, for instance, they sent the godly bishop, Athanasius, into exile because the emperor was a friend of the heretic, Arius, who denied the Trinity and the Godhead of Christ. At that time it was the view that religion had to be protected. Christianity was the official religion, but the emperors claimed the right to decide where and when the synod or council had to convene. The decisions which the church made had to be approved by the emperor’s signature. That is the state-church.

Later, in England, such kings as Charles I and II and James II tried to exercise dominion over the church. They oppressed those who opposed their worldly authority. In Scotland many godly people and godly ministers were persecuted and, in some cases, put to death because of their opposition. The church of Scotland did not acknowledge the supremacy of the king in the church. In the time of heavy persecution when the king tried to exercise authority within the church, the Scottish Presbyterian Church made a decision of several points, which were as follows:

1. The laws of Christ, the King of the church, are in regard to doctrine, life, worship, discipline, and government, and these laws are sufficient.

2. Christ, the King of His church, has ordained ministers and elders; therefore the government of the church belongs exclusively to the elders and ministers whom He has placed over her.

3. The authority of the church is not based on apostolic succession, nor on appointment by the state, but is exclusively derived from Christ, her King.

4. The civil government may not exercise any right to govern the church in any manner.

5. (a) This we teach because Christ has given the power of the keys only to the spiritual authority, “I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 16:19). (b) He has given unto them all responsibility, “Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers, to feed the church of God which He has purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28). (c) He has given them all the precepts necessary for this government.

That was their view, but for this view they were heavily persecuted, and many of them sighed in prison. I think of the godly Samuel Rutherford, who was sent into exile. However, the Lord blessed that time for him and gave him the ability and the light to write beautiful letters, which are still a blessing for many.

The third view (which is ours) is the Reformed principle, as was taught by Calvin. Calvin said: “The Reformed principle is the separation between church and state.” Each has its own authority. The government certainly has a task with regard to the church. It may and must protect the church and promote true religion. But it certainly does not have a task in the church.

Calvin said that God takes man to represent His person, and He gives His testimonies by men. He called them “men who are raised from the dust,” to remind them of their humble origin. Then he also said, “He who tries to destroy this order and this sort of government, or minimizes it as if it would not be so necessary, seeks the scattering, or rather the fall and destruction of the church. For the light and warmth of the sun is not as necessary for the nourishing and preservation of this present life as is the office of apostle, shepherd, and pastor for the preservation of the church on earth.”

Calvin here made a very strong statement. He said that the offices are indispensable, and that they are not only for a healthy ecclesiastical life, but also for the healthy spiritual life of God’s children. Therefore it need not surprise you that the Reformation restored not only the Word of God on the pulpit as the center of worship, but it also caused a return to the New Testament offices, the offices of pastors and teachers, of two kinds of elders, and of deacons.

Luther did not go as far as Calvin. He restored only the office of the ministers of the Word. He did not have elders. Though he had deacons, they were only to assist the minister in the things he could not do. Luther had actually but one office, and the deacons were merely assistants. However, Calvin defended the spiritual offices and emphasized that these offices are instituted by Christ. He distinguished four offices: pastors, teachers, elders, and deacons.

— to be continued —

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