In my last post, I tried to show how the three marks of a true church in article 29 of the Belgic Confession are not a Biblical method of critiquing churches. This post continues to show that these three marks are not good criteria and what is the better way to evaluate churches.
What is the church? It is not a building or location. It is not an organization or social club. The church is not any group that calls itself a church. The church is the assembly of those who have been redeemed, regenerated, justified by faith in Christ Jesus. The church is those people who by true faith and repentance have been united to Christ. Through the Spirit, we are born again and placed in God's family, His church. Christ is the Head and the church is His body.
"There is one body and One Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all." Ephesians 4:4-6.
"For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit." 1 Corinthians 12:13.
Those that are redeemed are the church of God and they are to gather together in local assemblies. All the believers in the world and those in heaven are commonly called the invisible church, while the local assemblies are called the visible church. Every one who is united to Christ is part of the true church. and has unity in Him. Since we have unity in Christ we should work hard at living this unity out in our interactions with other Christians. Even though there may be some big doctrinal differences among Christians, we are still equal and one in Christ.
Knowing this should lead us to forego using the three marks of the Belgic Confession to decide if a church is truly a church or not. A true church is not just about doctrine, but also about its unity to Christ by true faith. What often happens to those who evaluate churches based on the three points, is that churches are declared false churches when those members have in fact been bought by the precious blood of Christ. This is a sad and evil thing in the sight of the Savior who loves all His people, even though there are many weaknesses in them. This also brings dishonor to Christ by causing disunity in the church. God is gloried when believers live in unity with each other.
Every local church is imperfect. There are false Christians in every church. Their hearts have not been changed by the Spirit, and yet are part of the local church, but are not members of the body of Christ. In addition to unconverted people making each local body imperfect, there is the sin of each believer in the church. No Christian is perfect in this life. We all have to struggle with sin. Some are more godly than others. Some are more mature in the faith than others. None of us have perfect knowledge, wisdom or insight into the truth of God's word. Since no Christian is perfect and all are flawed, therefore each church will be flawed.
In contrast to the true church, the false church is an assembly of the unconverted. It is a goat pen not a sheep pen. It is where a false gospel is proclaimed. A true Christian will not sit long under the devil's gospel. Sometimes it is very clear which church is a false church since there is no gospel preached there. For example Mormon churches, Jehovah Witnesses, the Roman Catholic church and the churches of the health, wealth and prosperity teaching like Joel Olsteen's church are all examples of false churches. But often it is very hard to say what is a false church. We can evaluate a church's doctrine and determine if it lines up with Scripture, but we can't see the hearts of all the people in a church. If there are no Christians in a church than that church is not a church since none of the members are part of Christ's body. But we can't determine this, and so should reserve placing judgement on that church.
A better way to evaluate churches than using article 29 is to look at the whole of the church and compare that to the Biblical model for what a healthy church is. We shouldn't look at just doctrine, but also practice. A healthy church will have Biblical preaching, qualified shepherds, reverent worship, passionate evangelism and missions work, compassionate service, generous giving, sound theology and holy living. All these areas need to be looked at to diagnosis what is the spiritual health of a church. Much more could be said on the matter, but a few good books on the subject are "9 Marks of a Healthy Church" by Mark Dever and "The Master's Plan for the Church" by John MacArthur, if you want to read more.
Brad
Showing posts with label true church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label true church. Show all posts
Sunday, June 25, 2017
Monday, June 19, 2017
The Three Marks Of A True Church??
What does a true church look like and what does a false church or sect look like were questions that were being asked during the time of the Reformation. Calvin and others set forth a few marks that could be used to tell the difference between a true church and false church. The Belgic Confession also addressed this question. In the 29th article of this confession it gives us three marks of a true church which distinguishs it from "all sects". The three marks are 1)"the pure preaching of the gospel", 2) the "pure administration of the sacraments as Christ instituted them" and 3)"exercises church discipline for correcting and punishing sins." While there is some truth in these three points, this way of dividing true churches from sects and false churches is harmful. These three marks given in this confession have led to greater disunity, conflict and pride. It has torn apart families, friends and churches when there has been no need to have this divide and conflict. Let me explain why this way of marking churches is unbiblical.
Part of the problem is that the New Testament never really explains what a false church looks like. The first letter of John shows the difference between a true Christian and a false Christian. There are lots of passages that warn about and describe a false teacher. But a false church is never described. When Jesus addressed the seven churches in Revelation 2-3, He rebukes them for their ungodliness in heart and life and for their false doctrine, but he doesn't refer to them as false churches, even though some of the churches are almost dead and useless. Neither does Paul start pinning false church labels on churches that failed to meet the criteria of the Belgic Confession. These facts should make us exercise caution before we decree which church is false.
First, there are false churches in the world. The first mark of article 29 is right. Any church where the gospel is not preached is a false church. If a church doesn't teach people the Biblical way one must be saved from the wrath to come, then it can't be a true church. The main purpose of the church is to proclaim the way of salvation through faith in Christ, if it gets this wrong then what good is that church. It is no better than any cult or false religion. "As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed." Galatians 1:9
But the next two marks of a true church are where this confession goes wrong. Let's look at the second mark dealing with sacraments. Deciding if a church is administering the sacraments in the way Christ has instituted them is a bit subjective. The Reformed church would say that since Baptists and others don't baptize infants, then they are not a true church. But a Baptist reading this would say that Reformed people don't administer the sacraments rightly since they baptize babies and thus are a false church. Even within theological camps there are disagreements on the meaning and administration of the sacraments, that have lead to churches calling other church false for minor differences. The pure administration of the Lord's supper can be a subjective judgement as well that leads to calling each other a false church. What could be overlooked as a minor point of disagreement becomes a deep division due to the labeling of the other as a false church. Where there could be unity even though there are differences, by applying this mark of a true church, there is disunity.
Paul did not use this second mark of a true church either. He considered the Corinthian church to be a real true church. You can see that in the first chapter where he regards them as Christians in the church of God. Yet they had some serious misunderstandings in both doctrine and practice in regards to the Lord's Supper. Many were not eating it in a worthy manner. See chapter 11 for this. If Paul used the criteria of the Belgic Confession, then he could not refer to them as a true church, which he does. See 1 Cor 1:2
Furthermore, and this leads into the third mark of the true church, the same is true for church discipline. The church at Corinth didn't discipline sinning members. See chapter 5 for Paul's rebuke and instruction on this issue. So according to the Belgic Confession the church at Corinth failed on two of the three marks of a true church. Yet Paul still regarded them as a true church of God.
The third mark of a true church is supposed to be church discipline. But how can you measure this? Church discipline is the task of the whole church and it should be going on the whole time as members lovingly rebuke and correct each other. It is only at the final steps of church discipline that the elders get involved. What if only 75% of church discipline cases are being done, is that a true church? Truth is, I know Reformed churches that avoid member's sin at times or they take a very long time before any discipline actually happens. Are they then a true church?
In John 17:22-23 Jesus prayed for the unity of His church. "The glory which you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are One; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that you sent me, and loved them, even as you have loved me." Unfortunately Article 29 doesn't lead to unity in Christ's church. Therefore it is not a Biblical measuring stick for what is a true church. I believe there is a better way to evaluate churches without bringing unnecessary division. That is what I want to write about next time.
Part of the problem is that the New Testament never really explains what a false church looks like. The first letter of John shows the difference between a true Christian and a false Christian. There are lots of passages that warn about and describe a false teacher. But a false church is never described. When Jesus addressed the seven churches in Revelation 2-3, He rebukes them for their ungodliness in heart and life and for their false doctrine, but he doesn't refer to them as false churches, even though some of the churches are almost dead and useless. Neither does Paul start pinning false church labels on churches that failed to meet the criteria of the Belgic Confession. These facts should make us exercise caution before we decree which church is false.
First, there are false churches in the world. The first mark of article 29 is right. Any church where the gospel is not preached is a false church. If a church doesn't teach people the Biblical way one must be saved from the wrath to come, then it can't be a true church. The main purpose of the church is to proclaim the way of salvation through faith in Christ, if it gets this wrong then what good is that church. It is no better than any cult or false religion. "As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed." Galatians 1:9
But the next two marks of a true church are where this confession goes wrong. Let's look at the second mark dealing with sacraments. Deciding if a church is administering the sacraments in the way Christ has instituted them is a bit subjective. The Reformed church would say that since Baptists and others don't baptize infants, then they are not a true church. But a Baptist reading this would say that Reformed people don't administer the sacraments rightly since they baptize babies and thus are a false church. Even within theological camps there are disagreements on the meaning and administration of the sacraments, that have lead to churches calling other church false for minor differences. The pure administration of the Lord's supper can be a subjective judgement as well that leads to calling each other a false church. What could be overlooked as a minor point of disagreement becomes a deep division due to the labeling of the other as a false church. Where there could be unity even though there are differences, by applying this mark of a true church, there is disunity.
Paul did not use this second mark of a true church either. He considered the Corinthian church to be a real true church. You can see that in the first chapter where he regards them as Christians in the church of God. Yet they had some serious misunderstandings in both doctrine and practice in regards to the Lord's Supper. Many were not eating it in a worthy manner. See chapter 11 for this. If Paul used the criteria of the Belgic Confession, then he could not refer to them as a true church, which he does. See 1 Cor 1:2
Furthermore, and this leads into the third mark of the true church, the same is true for church discipline. The church at Corinth didn't discipline sinning members. See chapter 5 for Paul's rebuke and instruction on this issue. So according to the Belgic Confession the church at Corinth failed on two of the three marks of a true church. Yet Paul still regarded them as a true church of God.
The third mark of a true church is supposed to be church discipline. But how can you measure this? Church discipline is the task of the whole church and it should be going on the whole time as members lovingly rebuke and correct each other. It is only at the final steps of church discipline that the elders get involved. What if only 75% of church discipline cases are being done, is that a true church? Truth is, I know Reformed churches that avoid member's sin at times or they take a very long time before any discipline actually happens. Are they then a true church?
In John 17:22-23 Jesus prayed for the unity of His church. "The glory which you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are One; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that you sent me, and loved them, even as you have loved me." Unfortunately Article 29 doesn't lead to unity in Christ's church. Therefore it is not a Biblical measuring stick for what is a true church. I believe there is a better way to evaluate churches without bringing unnecessary division. That is what I want to write about next time.
Brad
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