I had a visitor at our mission work recently ask why I would
identify myself and the mission work as Presbyterian. He was referring to the
recent action of the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) to affirm homosexual
“marriage.”[1] Presbyterians from the same denomination have
been in the news recently for a article where a Presbyterian minister stated
that he didn’t believe in God and still was proud to a minister in the PCUSA.[2]
And again a PCUSA congregation in New Orleans recently hosted a rally to
support and celebrate a Planned Parenthood abortion facility in that city[3]. Clearly the word “Presbyterian” has bad
connotations for Christians that take the Bible as God’s word seriously and
normatively. Why in the world would I who had just preached a Biblically based
sermon identify myself with such a denomination? Why would I attempt to start a
church that aims to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and use such a moniker
that communicates the opposite to many people?
Not All Presbyterians are Alike:
As a matter of education there are many denominations that
identify themselves as Presbyterian . There exist in the USA the PCUSA, the
PCA, the EPC, the ARP, the OPC, the BPC, the KAPC, the RPCNA, just to name a
few. We Presbyterians affectionately call ourselves the “split ‘Ps.’” The PCUSA
is the largest but it is in serious decline because of the very positions
against the teachings of the Bible and its own historic confession that it has
taken. So, while I am Presbyterian I am
not a minister in the PCUSA though I grew up in it.[4]
Many of the smaller Presbyterian denominations are more Biblically consistent
and conservative trying to maintain the Biblical confessional standards that
have characterized Presbyterians throughout the world and history. I am a
minister in and do church planting for the OPC (Orthodox Presbyterian Church). So
if I left the more progressive and liberal Presbyterian church why should I
want to be a Presbyterian?
The Bible Teaches the Kind of Church Government Called “Presbyterian”:
The word Presbyterian comes from the Greek language used in
the writing of the New Testament that refers to elder, presbyteros. If one reads the Bible carefully he will see that that
the Jewish nation-church was ruled or governed by the elders by God’s
appointment (Ex 3:16; 24:1). The New Testament church carried over this
practice and a plurality of elders was elected in each new congregation (Acts
14:23). The apostles even saw themselves as elders though with a particular
function as the authoritative witnesses of Jesus Christ, apostles, (I Pet.
5:1). Throughout the book of Acts we see the importance of elders in the
churches. At its most basic level the word Presbyterian refers to the rule by
elders.
Not only are the local churches ruled by a plurality of elders
but the churches are connected. There is in Presbyterian government a
connection of the all the churches to one another. This works to guarantee
accountability of believers to the greater church, first to their own elders
(Heb 13:17), and then to the broader church. Thus, in Acts 15 when there arose
a theological dispute about how to handle the Jewish laws and the inclusion of
the Gentile believers the elders of the all the churches gathered together to
discuss, solve, and then communicate the decision of the whole church. I like
to explain that the civil government structure of the United States borrowed
from the Presbyterian Church. [5] Think of local, state, and federal government
and courts. That system of “graduated” or ascending levels of accountability is
the outworking of Presbyterian church government. This is not just a man
created system but a study of the book of Acts and Paul’s Pastoral Epistles in
the scriptures reveal that the Presbyterian or “Elder” system of church
government is taught and exampled in the Bible.[6]
Presbyterian Theology is Rooted in the Reformation:
The reformation of the Roman Catholic Church that swept
across the organized church in Western Christendom had its identifiable
beginnings in the 14th century with John Wycliffe. Wycliffe’s
concerns about worldly prelates, the
primacy of scripture, and the nature of the Eucharist/Lord’s Supper became the
main points of dispute. These concerns were echoed by John Huss in the 15th
century and the mighty Martin Luther in the 16th century. It was
John Knox who as a student of the exiled Frenchman, John Calvin, took the
reformation doctrines to Scotland and became the father of Presbyterianism.
Presbyterianism then spread throughout the world in various Presbyterian
denominations utilizing the reformed confession and catechisms of the
Westminster Standards written in England (1643-49) as an accurate summary of
the teachings of the Bible.
While there are other
reformed Protestant denominations across the world (Lutheran, German Reformed,
Dutch Reformed) the Presbyterian church is the Scots-English expression of the
grand doctrines
of grace that are focused on the primacy of the Bible, the grace of God
in Jesus Christ, and the glory of God in the salvation of sinners.[7]
Often summarized by the five solas; The Scriptures Alone, Grace Alone, Faith
Alone, Christ Alone, and God’s Glory Alone, these doctrines of God’s free grace
are what powered the Protestant movement and gave birth to renewed freedom and
dignity of all people. Biblical and historical Presbyterian doctrine is an important
inheritance from the reformation that we need to hear again today.
Presbyterians Have an Evangelistic Mission Orientation:
Presbyterian missions
in America initially was organized as in effort around 1800 in western
Pennsylvania and territories west that would become Ohio, Indiana, and
Michigan. Not only were the early settlements a focus of the gospel mission
endeavors but the native Indian tribes were also evangelized. In 1802 the
Presbyterian Church USA established the first Protestant denominational mission
organization, The Standing Committee of Missions, that focused on home missions
in the USA developing new local churches in settlements. Presbyterians
supported the American Board of Foreign Missions and finally established their
own denominational Board of Foreign Missions on the model of the Western Foreign
Missionary Society that was begun by the Synod of Pittsburgh in the PCUSA. That
society fielded twenty one missionaries to Native American Indians and thirty
nine missionaries to Liberia and India.
This missions
emphasis was the outgrowth of the reformed theology of the Presbyterians
contrary to many modern opinions. The idea that people are made right with God
by the means of grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone as taught in
the scriptures alone to the glory of God alone compelled missionaries to go to
the world at large. This theological commitment was expressed in John Calvin’s early
missionary endeavors to take the reformation doctrines to other parts of the
world from Geneva, Switzerland that all kinds of people would benefit from the
doctrines of grace.
It was this missions
emphasis that led to the formation of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC)
when liberal theology that neutered the focus of the gospel of saving faith in
Jesus Christ to a social gospel began to affect Presbyterian missions in the
PCUSA. J Gresham Machen and others founded the Independent Board for
Presbyterian Foreign Missions to maintain the gospel of free grace in Jesus
Christ as the focus of missions. So in 1936 the OPC was founded on the
commitment to the gospel in Jesus Christ as reflected in the robust reformed
theological heritage of the Reformation. The OPC has continued to keep the
focus on missions, both home and foreign, as an important part of the identity
of the church.
As you can see there
are many good reasons to be a Presbyterian. One has to be discerning because
many Presbyterians have departed from the scriptures and the reformation
theology that is taught in them. I am not so much proud to be a Presbyterian as
I am grateful to God for the heritage and faithfulness of Biblical
Presbyterians he has maintained and used over the years. Christ is still
building his church. Reformation doctrine and the fruit of it, missions, are
good and important reasons to be a member of a Biblical Presbyterian church.
God has used this part of Christ’s church to grow many in the faith and to
share the faith in Jesus Christ for God’s glory.
[1]
I refuse to surrender the term marriage to the modern practice of joining
together people of various sexual preferences in civil interpersonal unions.
Marriage has definite Biblical, historic, and commonly understood definition in
human relations as an institution; Genesis 2:18-25, “the institution whereby
men and women are joined in a special kind of social and legal dependence for
the purpose of founding and maintaining a family.” Webster’s 7th Collegiate
Dictionary, 1971.
[2]
See http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2015/03/17/im-a-presbyterian-minister-who-doesnt-believe-in-god-2/
[3]
See http://www.lifenews.com/2015/04/09/presbyterian-church-hosts-rally-to-support-new-planned-parenthood-abortion-business/
[4]
Actually I was a child in the UPUSA (United Presbyterian Church in the north)
which joined with the PCUS (the southern Presbyterian Church) in the 1980s and
became once again an unified national Presbyterian denomination known as the
PC(USA).
[5]
The first presbytery was organized in Philadelphia in 1706 and the Westminster
Standards were adopted as the Presbyterian Church’s doctrinal standards in
1729. (see: http://www.history.pcusa.org/history-online/presbyterian-history/timeline-presbyterian-history)
[6]
See I Timothy 4:14 where the apostle Paul reminds Timothy of his ordination
into the ministry by the presbytery (ESV) or elders. From this text and Acts 15
the meeting of the elders from the churches settled theological issues and
ordained ministers (pastor-teachers/evangelists). This is the biblical way of governing
churches.
[7][7] See http://www.monergism.com/search?keywords=doctrines+of+grace&format=All
