Christ has “ordained..his system of doctrine, government, discipline and worship.” All of these good things (and how to use them) are “either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary inference may be deduced therefrom.” From the means the men learn the method; from the oracles the officers learn the ordinances. The method and the means sweetly agree. Indeed they are inseparable, as medium and message almost always are.
The wonderful Preface to the Presbyterian Church in America’s Book of Church Order is an overlooked masterpiece of piety and practice—an especially helpful resource:
Christ, as King, has given to His Church officers, oracles and ordinances; and especially has He ordained therein His system of doctrine, government, discipline and worship, all of which are either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary inference may be deduced therefrom; and to which things He commands that nothing be added, and that from them naught be taken away.
– Section I, The King and Head of the Church
These words provide remarkable encouragement for both church members and officers, and they place a considerable responsibility on those ordained men who lead and care for the church. In this foundational paragraph, we learn that the ascended Christ (Eph. 4:8), the reigning king, has provided the church with the men, the means, and the method for accomplishing her mission.
- The men are (for the first-century church) “the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists,” and (for the church since) those who hold the continuing office of elder—“the shepherds and teachers.”1 (Eph. 4:11)
- The means2 are given by the Holy Spirit through the “the apostles (and) the prophets”—the oracles of God which are the inspired Holy Scriptures, the authoritative Word objectively existing, perfect and eternal.
- The method is the employment of the ordinances—the divinely-ordained delivery system of grace and truth, including “the reading, but especially the preaching, of the Word”3 and the administration of the sacraments. It is worth noting that these are uniquely of the church and occur primarily (and best) in the church’s public worship on the Lord’s Day.
This is encouraging for church members because it means all necessary provision has been made for their souls in the ministrations of the church. It is good news, as 19th-century presbyterian Stuart Robinson understood when he titled his great book “The Church of God as an Essential Element of the Gospel.”
This is good news for church officers, too, who are not left to their own devices, creativity, or whims in ordering and caring for the church.