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

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

8 minuten leestijd Arcering uitzetten

— continued —

We believe that a minister must be a pastor and a teacher; that is one office. Calvin, however, distinguished between teachers and pastors. Teachers had to explain, be expositors of the Scriptures, and also instruct those who had to be trained for the ministry. Along with explaining the Scriptures, pastors had the tasks of discipline, government, administering the sacraments, and exhorting the people. But teachers and pastors are the same. The Lord has three offices in His church, the prophetic, the priestly, and the kingly offices, just as Christ has three offices as the great Prophet, the only High Priest, and eternal King of His church.

In the early Christian church there were elders, or presbyters. There were two kinds of elders:

1. There were those defending the truth. That was, and still is, necessary. Those elders were the teaching elders — we would say, the ministers.

2. There were also the governing elders, who had the oversight over the church, those whom we now would call elders.

Both were ordained and given to the church by Christ as the Head of the church. Those office-bearers are to be respected because the Lord Himself has placed them in their office. Professor Schilder says, “It is a fatal mentality if people who have a little education exalt themselves above simple office-bearers who are less educated, and have no respect or reverence for them.” Those office-bearers derive their office from their Master, and, as such, they are placed there by Him, not because they have more gifts or more knowledge, but because it has pleased the Lord to place them there.

Voetius says that in ecclesiastical life the consistory has the highest authority derived from Christ. When we speak about synods, then classes, and then consistories, we do not believe in a hierarchy. But according to the Scriptures we believe that each local church is a revelation, a manifestation, of the body of Christ. The consistories have the duty to seek fellowship with other consistories who are of the same persuasion, so they form classes and synods. But the essence of the church is not in a synod or classis, but in the consistory. The consistory is not just delegated by the members, but it is chosen and placed there by God, with the authority to govern the church. Classes and synods are broader assemblies, and the consistory is a narrower assembly; the classis consists of delegates from several consistories, and the synod consists of delegates from three or more classes.

In our sister churches in the Netherlands there is a General Synod, and between classes and the General Synod they also have Particular Synods. The General Synod convenes every three years, and the Particular Synods every year. Because we are a smaller denomination, we have just a Synod and classes, with Synod convening every other year, while classis meetings are held every year, usually in April and October.

Those classes and synods derive their authority from the credentials of the delegates who are sent by the consistories. A synod derives its authority not from a kind of hierarchy, but from the delegates who are chosen by the classes, and who bring their credentials to that broader meeting.

We will now consider what our fathers have said about the offices.

1. They spoke about the task of the ministers or pastors: “To preach the Word of God, to administer the sacraments.” You understand that this is not the only task of God’s servants. They also have the tasks of publicly calling upon the name of the Lord, visiting the sick, teaching and instructing, and governing the church together with the elders. But their special task is to preach the Word of God and to administer the sacraments.

We read in Isaiah 52:7, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!”

There is a great need also in our churches, for in many vacant congregations sermons are read instead of being spoken. Yet it is still the preaching of the Word of God which is brought to the congregation by the assistance of elders who read the sermons. The elders then perform labors which are to be considered as assisting the ministers, and so they are performing labors of the prophetical office.

2. Then there is the office of the elders. There is also a need of Godfearing elders in these days. Arnoldus van Rotterdam, one of our forefathers in the Netherlands, said, “These are such men, with godliness and dignity, who are added to the ministers of the Word as helpers to the promotion of the building up and good order of the church as is said in 1 Timothy 5:17.” He said, “This is an excellent and also a solemn, weighty office, since these elders together with the ministers of the Word form the council of the church in order to govern the church in Christ’s name, and that according to the rules of the Holy Scriptures. May the Lord raise up many godly men in these days of decay and apostasy to watch over the inheritance of the Lord, to keep out the wolves in sheep’s clothes, and to watch that the Word of God would not be cut apart, but rightly divided.”

3. There is also the office of deacon. Our fathers have stated that “the poor and distressed may be relieved and comforted according to their necessity.” Deacons also have a very weighty office, a very solemn task. Many are of the opinion that in order to be an elder you must be converted and need to be a godly person, but in order to be a deacon you just need to be a nice person. But none of us has the right to be unconverted; we all ought to be servants of God, we all should serve Him, even if we do not have an office in the church. No one has the right to withdraw his time and strength and talents from the Lord, who has created us for Himself and for His service, as was true in Paradise. We must say that also the office of the deacon is a very weighty office. Deacons also should serve in the fear of the Lord. External gifts are not enough for the Lord. There might be deacons who say, “How then can I serve?” But that is true for all of us. May that drive us to our knees, and may we receive the desire to be ministered to from the fullness of the Lord Jesus Christ. His grace is sufficient for all our insufficiencies.

Another question is, “Do the deacons belong to the consistory?” The forms for ordination and Article 38 of our church order do not consider deacons to belong to the consistory except in small consistories where they serve as assistants, also to the elders. Deacons then go with the elders on house visitation, and there are many labors which they also perform in assisting the elders. The primary task of the deacons is caring for the poor, whereas the task of the elders is pastoral care, supervision, and discipline.

In regard to the government of the church we must be on our guard for two dangers. The first danger is hierarchy, and the second is independentism.

There is hierarchy when synods and classes have a kind of tyrannical or dictatorial way in which they rule over the consistories. Then there is no way of appeal, and all the power lies with the synod or classis. That is hierarchy, as Rome has, but it is not the Reformed view of church government

In independentism, the other danger, we do not accept the authority of major assemblies. We view the essence of the church as the membership ruling through the elders, who are merely delegates accountable to the membership. That is also not the opinion of our reformed fathers. The reformed view was that the local consistory has full authority, received from Christ. The essence of the church is not in the membership, but in the consistory, being appointed by God.

But consistories should seek fellowship with other consistories which voluntarily have incorporated themselves into a denomination and make decisions together in broader assemblies. These decisions will then be obeyed by local consistories. There is only one exception, which is when those decisions are proven to be against God’s Word.

When consistories or members are of the opinion that decisions are against God’s Word, they should appeal to those broader assemblies and make their objections known to them. God’s Word should give the final answer, and synods, classes, consistories, and members should be governed by God’s revealed will, given to us in His testimony.

We also believe that God reigns in His church. The government of the church may not have a worldly character. However, Christ reigns in His church by men with many shortcomings. He governs by means of the offices which He has instituted Himself. God honors His own ordinances and has given them for the welfare of His children.

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Bekijk de hele uitgave van woensdag 1 oktober 1997

The Banner of Truth | 28 Pagina's

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

Bekijk de hele uitgave van woensdag 1 oktober 1997

The Banner of Truth | 28 Pagina's