sign in sign up
<<
Home , Consubstantiation

Theology for the Church and City – Christ the King Presbyterian Church – Session 6 – WCF XXV-XXXIII: The Church, , and Eschatology

Prayer: Psalm 84

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.

How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.

Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Selah

Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.

O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed!

For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you! Introduction

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the , until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God… speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

- Ephesians 4:11-16

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

- 1 Peter 4:8-11

The Church, though similar in many ways to other organizations, is also an organism, a living body. For its life in the Spirit, the Church is dependent on God’s word breathed out and received, and we breathe back his words in prayer and song. The Church wasn’t our idea, and we can’t sustain it by our own strength or cleverness: the Church is God’s creation. Its purpose is to glorify and serve Him – to serve Him in worship, to serve one another in nurture, and to serve the world in witness. Jesus promised to build His church, and that the gates of hell will not prevail against it. It is His body, an unshakeable kingdom, a temple built of living stones, and a royal priesthood.

Ephesians 4 and 1 Peter 4 tell us that Christians are called to connect and serve in the Church: God has given gifts to all, for the purpose of building up the body of Christ, in order that in everything God may be glorified through His Son. The use of those gifts in service to the church is an integral part of discipleship, and the whole life of the Church, in all its members – young and old, strong and weak, single, married, children, parents, and so on – is one constant witness to the glory of its risen Lord. This witness is lived out by our hospitality and service to one another, and by the sacrifice of our comfort and time for one another. As those who bear God’s image and are growing into the likeness of His Son, all Christians are called both to receive and to serve: in the Church, the strong need the weak. As Edmund Clowney writes, “Paul’s image of the body of Christ offers profound insights for nurture: all the members are needed; gifts are for the body as a whole, and isolation is tragic; and diversity of function produces not division, but unity (Eph. 4:11-16).”

- Further Reading: Edmund Clowney, The Church

WCF available online at http://www.reformed.org/documents/wcf_with_proofs/

XXV. Of the Church A. 25.1: The church catholic, across time and space, and Christ its head B. 25.2: Who is the visible church? All those who profess faith, and their children. C. 25.3: The gifts God has given the church are for the gathering and perfecting of the saints, and are made effective by his presence and Spirit, according to his promise. D. 25.4-6: No pure church, but Jesus has promised that he will build the church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. E. 25.4: The marks of the church 1. The preaching of the word 2. The administration of the sacraments XXVI. Of the Communion of Saints A. 26:1: United to Christ and to one another in him: gifts and graces – and sufferings B. 26:1: Inward and outward duties to one another C. 26:2: The necessity of worshiping together D. 26:3: No divinization or communalism XXVII. Of the Sacraments A. 27:1: What is a ? “Sealing signs” 1. A holy sign (“represent(s) Christ and his benefits)” and seal (“confirm(s) our interest in him”) – so a sacrament points beyond itself and validates the relationship of the believer to the thing signified. 2. Directly instituted by God 3. A visible mark of the visible church B. 27:2: A spiritual union between the sign and the thing signified 1. Spiritual union is mysterious: it cannot be reduced to the mechanistic account given by mere or mere . 2. But neither should we be confused by biblical language that, at times, treats sign and signified as though they were interchangeable (such as Matt. 26:27-8, which appears to equate the cup and the “blood of the covenant,” or Peter’s assertion that “baptism… saves you” in 1 Pet. 3:21). C. 27:3: How are the sacraments made efficacious? 1. Not by anything in the elements themselves, nor by anything to do with the one who administers them. 2. Rather, by the work of the Holy Spirit and Jesus’ words, recorded in scripture, that authorize, bless, and provide instructions as to their use. D. 27:4: Only two sacraments instituted by Christ, and only to be administered by one set apart to the ministry of word and sacrament. E. 27:5: In substance the same as the OT sacraments – on which more below. XXVIII. Of Baptism A. A sacrament of admission to the visible church 1. A background in Old Testament water ordeals (1 Peter 3:18-22, 1 Cor. 10:1-5, cf. Isaiah 43) 2. Directly connected to circumcision by Paul in Colossians 2:11 B. 28:1: A five-fold significance with reference to God’s covenant faithfulness: “The enduring importance of baptism rests in what it always says about God and his gospel, and not what it sometimes says about the person who is baptized.” – Van Dixhoorn, 367 1. A sign and seal of the covenant of grace 2. Engrafting into Christ 3. Regeneration 4. Forgiveness of sins 5. Surrender to God through Jesus to walk in newness of life C. 28:2: Water, Trinity, and Minister all connect the sacrament back to the word. D. 28.3: Sprinkling is just fine (and, maybe, symbolically richer!); so is immersion. E. 28:4: Infant baptism 1. and household baptisms 2. “The promise is for you and your children…” (Acts 2:39) – note that Peter’s Jewish audience would require an explanation if covenant membership suddenly excluded children 3. Colossians 2:11’s indication of continuity between circumcision and baptism 4. Note that baptism is if anything more inclusive than circumcision (women, Gentiles…) F. The “correctives” of 28.5-6 are once again a matter of refusing mechanistic thinking: baptism is not magic, but that doesn’t mean we can neglect it. Or to put it another way, something really is being accomplished in baptism (“the grace promised is not only offered but really exhibited and conferred”) – but by the Holy Spirit, not by us, and that means that what is being done is never under our control, but can only be received with gratitude. G. 28.7’s injunction against re-baptism only makes sense against the background of 28.1-6: it is because baptism depends on the work of the Spirit, by the Word, that we would not say that an earlier Trinitarian water baptism didn’t work and needs to be supplanted by one that will. XXIX. Of The Lord’s Supper A. 29:1 demonstrates how the full riches of the gospel are on display in the Lord’s Supper: it points to and seals the benefits of Christ’s death to believers 1. Spiritual nourishment and growth 2. Increased commitment to our duties to him (Cf. the language of sanctification) 3. Fellowship with Christ and with one another B. 29:2: Because the Lord’s Supper seals the benefits of Christ’s death to us, it cannot be a recapitulation of that death. C. 29:3-4 offer instructions for how the Lord’s Supper is and is not to be celebrated, warning against superstition D. 29:5-6 offer a guide to what is and is not “going on” in the Supper. Again, the thrust is that the Supper is the work of Christ, by the Word and Spirit, and not subject to human control. E. 29:7 gets very precise, spelling out the reformed doctrine of “real spiritual presence” and explicitly rejecting the Catholic (transubstantiation), Lutheran (consubstantiation), and Zwinglian (memorialism) points of view. F. 29:8: Why “eating and drinking judgment on themselves”? Because to come to the table without faith is to imagine that the sacrament is something magical that can be wielded apart from faith. XXX. Of Church Censures A. The authority of the officers of the church 1. Derivative (30.1); Christ alone is King. 2. Distinct from civil authority (30.1) 3. Ministerial and Declarative i. 30.2: The keys of the kingdom, by means of the ministry of the Word and by church censures. ii. Church discipline is exercised whenever the Word is preached. B. What are censures (30.3-4) for? [Admonition, suspension from the sacraments, excommunication from the church] 1. Reclaiming the guilty (cf. Jude 23) 2. Deterring others 3. Defending the purity of the church and the honor of Christ and the gospel 4. Averting the wrath of God (cf. the letters to the churches in Revelation) XXXI. Of Synods and Councils A. Jerusalem Council (Acts 15) as a model (“apostles and elders”) B. The original text (written in the context of the British Civil War) allowed for members of parliament to call and take part in councils, for civil purposes; American Presbyterians in 1788 revised the text to restrict the authority to call and participate in councils to the elders of the church, and to stipulate that councils should be called “for the good of the church” (31.1). C. What do they do? (31.2) 1. Determine controversies of the faith 2. Set down rules for public worship and church governance 3. Act as a court for the church, consistent with Matthew 18 D. Ministerial and authoritative 1. Normed by the Word of God (see also 31.3) 2. Authority in church affairs only – but cases in which they may speak on civil matters (31.4) XXXII. Of the State of Men after Death, and of The Resurrection of the Dead A. Against soul sleep and purgatory B. Humanity created to be embodied souls: disembodiment is unnatural, temporary, a result of the fall. C. The thrust of what the Confession is saying about being raised in our “selfsame bodies, and no other” – even if “changed,” “raised to honor” and “dishonor” – seems to be that our final state will involve either the total fulfillment, or the total frustration, of this creation, created very good and, in the end, restored and completed as it was always meant to be. XXXIII. Of the Last Judgment A. Judgment is coming – and it will be comprehensive and exhaustive (33.1). 1. This is meant to urge us to consider our “thoughts, words, and deeds” with urgency. 2. But it is meant also to urge us to cast all our hopes on Christ, in whom alone there is justification and sanctification (Chs. 11, 13). B. The purpose is to manifest God’s mercy and his justice (33.2). C. As Van Dixhoorn points out (439-440), the most striking thing about the Judgment Day scene of Matthew 25 is that both those that are accepted and those that are rejected are surprised by their fate. “…God’s people are finally, on the judgment day, at their wisest. They see no good in themselves. … On the other hand, it is painfully evident that on the same day God’s enemies are at their most foolish.” D. The Confession does not treat the juicy questions (The millennium? The rapture? The anti-Christ? Locusts = Apache helicopters?) that are left uncertain, but only what Scripture makes certain: we are to be completely sure that the Day of the Lord is coming, and completely unsure about when it will come (33.3). E. This implies three things, which together lead to a combination of dissatisfaction with the world, but contentedness in the world: 1. Shake off all carnal security (put no trust in princes – or resumes or 401(k)s…). 2. Be watchful (and prayerful! – Isaiah 62:6-7). 3. Be ready to welcome the Lord – “Come quickly.”