The term ‘ecclesiology’ refers to the biblical theology and command for us to unite the Church under apostolic tradition! What does this look like in terms of church government and polity in our modern era? There has been one primary form of government and polity throughout the age of the Church called the “Episcopacy.” This paper seeks to establish the very thought of the Episcopacy and how it is to naturally/spiritually flow from the authority of the Scriptures and the Apostles, in contrast to one of the 16th century movements that thought it necessary to begin an entirely new form of Church polity.
Click here to listen to an interview with Bishop N.T. Wright. If you do not know who he is, you should, since not only is he the third ranking Bishop of The Church of England, but he has proven to be highly influential to the smallest of Evangelical congregations in America. I suspect God will continue to use him mightily to douse the violent flames of the radical sectarians and fundamentalists.
One of the biggest stumbling blocks for dispensational believers to begin to understand the more historic and Anglican (Reformed Catholic) view of theology is their insistence on clinching tightly to, what I call, proof-text theology. Proof-text theology has, like all theological camps, its own hermeneutic. Its particular hermeneutic involves…yes, you guessed it, proof-texting. I’m sure you have heard, when discussing theology with your dispensational friends, how this particular theology is not found in the Bible and that particular theology is not found in the Bible and that there simply is not enough “scriptural support” for your Anglican argument.
Take a look at these stats on Islam. Pretty alarming!
This is a paper I wrote some time ago against a popular error that states we must preach to ourselves because we are always in a state of legalism. I completely and emphatically disagree with this. In fact, I think it is a form of bondage and that it brings a Christian into, what many call, hyper Calvinism.
I’m wondering why we have not, as a Body, continued the work that God first began with the abolitionists. Could we be so puffed up in the repentance of our own misconduct that we have become blinded to the call of the Great Commission? From all blindness of heart; from pride, vainglory, and hypocrisy; from envy, hatred, and malice, and all uncharitableness,
Good Lord Deliver Us
From all blindness of heart; from pride, vainglory, and hypocrisy; from envy, hatred, and malice, and all uncharitableness,
Good Lord Deliver Us
Taken from the Litany of The Book of Common Prayer
I just finished watching the movie Amazing Grace. It was quite good, although I did get a little sleepy at times. There was a tremendous amount of dialog and next to no scenes of just how the slave-traders treated the slaves or what they went through. I suppose this gentle quality needs to be restored amongst Hollywood, though. Psychological/spiritual impact can hit us in a number of ways, and that it does in this movie. The movie does elude to the Church and even shows one scene of a pastor preaching on the issue of slave-trade, but the travesty of the African slave-trade certainly could have been emphasized more.
It’s hard to even tell that Wilberforce was an Anglican, unless one knows a thing or two about Anglicanism and her history…it just was not emphasized. Anglicanism, not only has a history of rich Worship, but it also has a history of rich ethics. Amazing Grace does a fine job on demonstrating this! So…okay, it did a great job in demonstrating Anglicanism, but I was hoping the flag would be waiving high, that’s all. Rent or buy this movie and never forget that the American Union was not the first to notice the brutality of African slave-trade.
I’m reading Rolland Alland’s The Spontaneous Expansion of The Church, and I have come across a section (Chapter 5, The Christian Standard of Morals) that I feel is not handled well by him. He says:
Neither in the Gospel nor in any other part of the new Testament is any code of law laid down. That standard which we so often call the Christian standard of morals, simply does not exist in the New Testament. There is in the New Testament no no standard of morals in the sense of a standard external and capable of legal expression, so that we can say that a man who reaches this standard is a Christian, and that a man who fails to reach this standard is not a Christian…”
First of all, we know that Christ says that not one jot nor tittle of the Law will pass away till all is fulfilled (Matthew 5:18). There is a moral standard in the New Testament! St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6 that those who practice sin such as homosexuality and even covetousness will not enter the kingdom. According to these two passages of Scripture, there is a standard to which we can rightfully judge. ALTHOUGH, we must infuse Christological philosophy when dealing with those whom we expect to be obedient to these laws. So it is not that the New Testament does not lay down a standard of morality, it is that the New Testament lays down a new system of morality. Sanctification takes time. But if while taking advantage of this time the sinner begins spreading his sin around the Church, then the sinner must be dealt with either ecclesiastically or even judicially.
The two extremes of either allowing people to sin their tails off or coming down on them before they ever receive a chance to transform must be avoided. Christ is both gracious and righteous. And His Law is everlasting.
Over at Deaconess, Teresa gives this outstanding description of the Law of God. I have researched a fair amount on the subject of God’s Law and have not found anything quite like this. Yes, there are a few good men that will describe God’s Law as a part of His character, as Teresa does here, but the way she describes God’s Law as an organic element of His grace and a “joyous responsibility” is really a breath of fresh air. This is the type of description that needs to be brought out in the pulpit. I challenge any pastor out there to say such a thing in their next sermon! I also admire the way she mentioned that Christ did not have some sort of divine checklist to accomplish. There are many who imply this when they teach that Jesus morally merited our salvation for us, as if the supernatural aspects of His blood sacrifice and resurrection are secondary to our justification. God’s Law is about God, and if He gives us the grace to conform to it, then we should be ecstatic!
[L]iving faith results in godly behavior. It’s just that simple. To put it in an organic rather than forensic setting (though both are applicable), the work of Christ brings us into the covenant, into the family of God, into the arms of His love, and as a result of our being God’s children, we will, with grateful and loving hearts, want to be like our Heavenly Father. In the Scriptures we have three great benefits 1) the Law of God, which is nothing less than a written record of His holy and loving character; 2) the historical account of how Christ embodied that Law while on earth; and 3) a glimpse of how His disciples continued to imitate the example of Christ as they went about obeying His final command to pick up with the dominion mandate where Adam and Eve had left off.Christians too often speak of God’s Law as though it consisted of rules such as “Don’t put your elbows on the table” or “Don’t spit on the sidewalk.” While such rules are intended to keep us civilized and courteous to one another, the fact remains that if they are broken, no blood sacrifice would be needed to atone for them. Perhaps an abject apology for offending the delicate sensibilities of others might be in order, but not blood.But break the Law of God, and you garner the wrath of God. Why? We are made in His image; therefore, it is a great affront to Him when we mar that image with rebellion disobedience. Those who remain outside of Christ have no hope of living into that image. But we who by grace have been brought into God’s family have the joyous responsibility to reflect the very character of God. Jesus did not just keep the Law, as though He had some divine checklist He went through every morning and evening. He IS the Law, in the sense that it was written to show forth His character. He told His disciples that if they loved Him they would keep His commandments. The Law springs forth from the very heart of God, and by keeping it, we show that our hearts are in tune with our ultimate Family, the Holy Trinity.Be ye imitators of God as dear children, St. Paul tells us. All the good works we can muster will not make us His children. But when once we have been grafted into the family, we are required to do all the good works we can muster. The Law of God and the life of Christ show us the goal for which we are striving. Whether we can reach it on earth is another question. But we must always, always be striving.
The difference between these Scriptures and the ever so popular Romans Road is that the Scriptures below are inclusive to the requirement of blood sacrifice, actually following Christ rather than “confessing” Him once, as well as Christ’s establishment of the Church. Historical Anglicanism teaches the Gospel in this way! Anglicans are completely aware of the heresy of Gnosticism and are guarded against it. We are also aware of the heresy of Pelagianism and are guarded against it as well.
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Romans 5: 12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.
Romans 5:15 For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.
Hebrews 9:16-22,26 For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives. Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you.” Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.
26 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
Ephesians 1:7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.
Ephesians 2:4-10 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
Matthew 16:18,19 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
Ephesians 4:10-13 He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things. And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…
This is what happens when the Church does not lead, or at least insist on having jurisdiction over, the medical field - the ministry that we first initiated. Doctors become murderers and pretend to be counselors and judges. What we can do at this point in our post-Christendom society is beyond my knowledge, but I know we can start with the basics by simply laying the problem out in the open and praying for qualified men and women to take a hold of callings within the medical field.
We Protestants love to point the finger at the Roman Catholic Church to show how incredibly apostate they are by mentioning their cases of sexual misconduct. But the fact of the matter is that the Protestant church is very likely to have many more abuse cases. The Protestant church is documented at about 260 per year, and the Roman church is at about 228. The article above mentions how it is much easier to track the Roman cases since they are much more unified than the Protestants. This implies that there are many independent churches that the media sources do not know about. The argument that Rome is apostate or in someway evil based on the sexual misconduct cases is very weak. We would do best staying out of that arena.
Take a look at these Reformed Episcopal Church missionary photos. The Anglican church is alive and well in Africa.
In this article, Albert Mcllhenny from christianbookreviews.net gives us an excellent overview of the current situation within global Anglicanism. Some may ask why it is even necessary to track such things, but we must take into account the fact that Anglicanism is the mother of the American church as well as the sister of the Eastern and Roman churches. The Anglican church has been around for centuries and has given our country will and meaning. The tradition will always live, whether it’s given to a greater movement or regained as a leading example of Christendom.
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The current difficulties that the Anglican Communion is facing over the revisionist agenda promoted by the Episcopal Church - its member church in the United States - and others in the West are pushing worldwide Anglicanism into a time of crisis. It is no exaggeration to say that a decade from now the ecclesial structure of Anglicanism will be remarkably different from its current state. The question that cannot be answered at this point is whether the Anglican Way can be survive the consequences of the upheaval.
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Although there are certainly valid reasons for Christians to be upset with the ‘established church,’ I think it is fair to say that the fragmentation of Christendom is well-rooted in the arrogance of unsubmissive Christians who seek to crown their own works. Ever since the Reformation, countless Christians have desired to be teachers and pastors (and spouses of such), without going through the pains of theological study and humble submission to church authority.
Every Protestant is guilty of this to some degree. Rome would not recognize our reformation as legitimate to the common cause of the kingdom and so we are now “on our own,” so to speak. Does the reformation give us license to form new unions every time there is a disagreement within the church? Whatever happened to martyrdom? If something is worth dividing over, it must be worth dying for -No? “How does one die for the church when they will not literally kill you, like they would in pre-reformational times?,” you ask. You dedicate yourself to the greater cause of the gospel until you are excommunicated. But this would be the extreme case. Most Christians would not face excommunication if they stood for their beliefs, rather, they would face some basics pains of things, such as exegetical study and submission to authority. Most think they know more and are more godly than the authority, though, and so they leave to become part of a different union.
Cultural diversity also comes into play within the fragmentation of the Church. Those that are lesser educated and not likely to be accepted into leadership in larger denominations choose to be a part of the newer denominations that only require you to have a general knowledge of the Bible to become a leader. Many of these people do begin to learn some of great doctrines of the Church that they should have learned in the seminary format, and thus begin to impress the socks off of their more ignorant congregation. These leaders spoon-feed their congregation truths so that the people become completely dependent on them; not that the leaders could give them full portions if they wanted to, they actually can’t as they have never had full portions themselves.
From the Roman Catholic Church down, each denomination below the next requires less and less from their ministers.
1. The liturgical church (Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian, etc.) requires less than the Roman Church.
2. The Baptists require less than the liturgical church.
3. The Non-denominational church requires less than the Baptist church.
4. The Charismatic church requires less than the Non-denominational church.
5. The Christian cults and home groups require less than the Charismatic church.
The lower the church the higher the unwillingness to submit to the higher standards. I am an Anglican and do believe that there is more humility and submission in the Roman church (I grew up in the Roman church), but I simply cannot tolerate their Marian doctrines as well as other dogmas they carry. Sure, many Baptists may say the same thing about the Anglican church - that they cannot stomach our doctrine - but are they correct in their assessments? And how do they know they are unless they have spent ample time studying the leading scholars and teachers of the Anglican faith, not to mention the participation of the Eucharist (and its power)?
If you are in a low church because you do not believe you can serve in a high church, please reconsider your calling and work with the higher church to assimilate you. They are not as mean as you think they are…well maybe some of them are ;) It just takes patience, humility, and some research.
In his book Orthodox Dogmatic Theology, Fr. Pomazansky speaks of Baptism:
It serves as the door leading into the Kingdom of grace, or the Church, and it grants access to participation in the other Mysteries. Even before the establishment of the Mystery of Baptism, the Lord Jesus Christ in His conversation with Nicodemus indicated the absolute necessity of it for salvation: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of Heaven.” When Nicodemus expressed his perplexity, “How can a man be born when he is old?” the Saviour replied that the new birth would be accomplished by water and the Spirit: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. That which as born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:3-6).
The passage that Pomazansky quotes is vital to Anglican theology. Many Protestants will contend that Baptism is a mere “sign” and has no spiritual value whatsoever. But, it is very clear here that Christ is issuing Baptism as a means of entering the Covenant itself, a means of becoming born again, and that without it one cannot be saved. Paul the Apostle speaks of Baptism in this same manner when he says, “There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism…”(1 Peter 3:21). Fr. Pomazansky goes on to say: Baptism is a “new birth,” and it is performed for the salvation of men (Mark 16:16). Moreover, setting forth the grace-given significance of Baptism, the Apostles in their Epistles mdicate that m it we are “sanctified,” “cleansed,” ‘justified”; that m Baptism we “die to sin” so as to walk in renewed life; we are “buried with Christ,” and we arise with Him. “Christ loved the Church, and gave Himselffor at that He might sanctifY and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word” (that is, Baptism with the utterance of the words instituted to accompany it) (Eph. 5 :25-26). “Ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6~11). “We are buried with Him by Baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4). Baptism is called the “washing of regeneration” (Titus 3: 5). As for the subjective side - the state of soul of the person being baptized - it is indicated by the Apostle Peter, who calls Baptism the promise of a good conscience toward God (1 Peter 3:21). Through Baptism at the same time one is joined to the Church.This has got to be the most concise paragraph on Baptism I have read. He does not try to over-rationalize or persuade through sophisticated apologetics, he simply teaches the Holy Scriptures. How could anyone possibly deny, after being taught these passages, that Baptism is not efficacious to Salvation? Not that Baptism gives salvation in and of itself, but that it, as Pomazansky says, is “the door” to salvation. Through Baptism we enter into the Church, and through the Church we inherit salvation.
O ALMIGHTY God, who hast knit together thine elect in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of thy Son Christ our Lord; Grant us grace so to follow thy blessed Saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those unspeakable joys which thou hast prepared for those who unfeignedly love thee; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
This article – originally a paper, presented to the 1996 session of the Orthodox-Reformed dialogue – deals with the relation between the Churches today and the ‘Church of the Creed’.
More than the Roman Catholic tradition, the Orthodox tradition emphasizes the spiritual, mystical character of the Church. Its desire is not so much the “return” of other Christians to “the Orthodox Church” (as an institution) as their return to the undivided Tradition of the first centuries (as lived within the Orthodox Church). Reformed may feel at home with this position, insofar as they too plead in favour of return to the origin of Christianity. Only, to them (like to the Lutherans) this origin is to be found in the testimony of Scripture, to be distinguished from the Early Church Tradition. While Orthodox (and Roman Catholic) ecclesiology is ‘from above’, Reformed ecclesiology is ‘from below’: here, the Church is basically defined as “the congregation of the believers”. In its later development, the Reformed tradition shows a strong tendency of spiritualism (ecclesial docetism), drawing a sharp dividing-line between the “visible church” and the “invisible Church” (the “congregation of the elect”) and identifying the Church of the Creed with the latter, not with the former. The original Reformation, however, was different, aiming at renewal of the Church in its visibility…
Good thoughts!