Semper Reformanda: part two

Dr.+David+Noe+speaking+in+front+of+a+multi-generation+Bible+study+he+began+last+spring.+Photo+courtesy+David+Noe.

Dr. David Noe speaking in front of a multi-generation Bible study he began last spring. Photo courtesy David Noe.

How do you feel about authority? Do you believe it is helpful or at least harmless, or does it make you tremble and head for the exit? Who has the right to tell you what to do in your life and worship, and who doesn’t?

In this little Reformation series, we looked last week at how Luther questioned indulgences. Here we will talk about God’s word. In War Against the Idols, Carlos Eire explains a basic truth of the Reformation: in addition to justification by faith alone, Calvin and other pastors struggled to restore worship to the biblical model. They acted from two motivations.

First, they believed God’s glory is on the line in our worship. If we offer “strange fire” like disobedient Nadab and Abihu (Lev. 10), we insult the perfectly righteous and loving God. An all-powerful, all-knowing and holy God must be worshiped as he commands.

The Reformers’ second motivation was their conviction that tyranny over the human conscience deeply offends God’s sovereignty. Therefore, if any church expects a worshiper to do something God himself has not commanded, its authority is illegitimate. In practice, this means that God’s word, revealing his will for worship, is our only standard for what is acceptable. As the Lord Jesus alone is “King and Head” of his church, so his worship must follow his command. Among the Reformed (e.g. Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 96), this came to be called the “regulative principle”. Only the Scriptures, not anyone’s preferences nor the surrounding culture, control how Christians praise their God. Many gifts and talents that otherwise please God do not belong in corporate worship because God has not commanded them in his word.

This principle protects true freedom in worship and elsewhere. Because “God alone is Lord of the conscience, and has left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men…in anything contrary to his Word or in addition to it” (Westminster Confession of Faith 20.2, alt.), no one can claim to speak for God yet demand a “blind obedience”. Everything must be tied to God’s self-revelation in his word.

But all freedom comes at a price, especially in a broken world. The price for our freedom – that we claim only one Lord and King – Christ paid when he purchased us for himself, buying us away from our countless enslaving idols (I Peter 1.18). While only God may dictate how we are to behave and worship with gratitude, when he does indeed speak to us on the page, and his Spirit illuminates our minds to understand and strengthens our hearts to respond, we show we are his children when we obey.

How then does God’s word do its work? With endless generosity he also gives us this: “The Spirit of God makes the reading, but especially the preaching, of the word, an effective means of convincing and converting sinners, and of building us up in holiness and comfort, through faith, unto salvation” (Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q&A89, alt.) Have you listened to biblical preaching lately?