‘The way you worship determines the God you worship’
Apr 21st, 2007 by Nathan White
Have you ever heard of the Regulative Principle? Essentially, the Regulative Principle is a classic Reformed/Puritan doctrine that teaches that true corporate worship is only that which God has commanded of us in His word. In other words, God has given us methods for the church to worship Him (psalms-hymns-spiritual songs, preaching, baptism and the Lord’s Supper), and anything outside of these things is not true worship, and should not be a part of corporate worship.The 1689 London Baptist Confession breaks it down nicely,
Chapt. 22:1._____ The light of nature shews that there is a God, who hath lordship and sovereignty over all; is just, good and doth good unto all; and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served, with all the heart and all the soul, and with all the might. But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God, is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to the imagination and devices of men, nor the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representations, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures.
( Jeremiah 10:7; Mark 12:33; Deuteronomy 12:32; Exodus 20:4-6 )
In an age where the popular church is filled with drama, concerts, testimony times, games, comedians, Christmas pageants, youth group activities, singles parties, etc., the Regulative Principle is certainly a foreign and even ‘outdated’ concept to most American professing Christians. But I would encourage you to consider what the 1689LBC teaches above, as I prepare to post on this issue at least once more.
But don’t confuse the Regulative Principle with private worship. Sam Waldon has said,
“It seems that one of the major intellectual stumbling blocks which hinders men from embracing the Regulative Principle is that it involves the idea that the church and its worship is ordered in a regulated way different from the rest of life…The Regulative principle…involves a limitation on human initiative in freedom not characteristic of the rest of life. It clearly assumes that there is a distinction between the way the church and its worship is to be ordered and the way the rest of human society and conduct is to be ordered. Thus, the Regulative Principle is liable to strike many as oppressive, peculiar, and, therefore, suspiciously out of accord with God’s dealings with mankind and the rest of life.”
Essentially, there are two views in this area. The Regulative Principle teaches that only what God gives us in scripture is acceptable in corporate worship, and the moderate or normative principle teaches that whatever is not prohibited by Scripture is permitted in worship, as long as it is agreeable to the peace and unity of the Church.
As I prepare to discuss this topic in more detail, I want you to keep a few things in mind when thinking of your own position regarding this subject:
- Was God sovereign in giving us ‘everything for life and Godliness’ when He gave us the scriptures?
- Is human philosophy, creativity, and preferred methodology absolutely necessary to truly worship God?
- Are we to look at the Old Testament for any kind of examples or teaching on this matter, or are we to consider the New Testament alone?
I greatly look forward to this series of posts, Nathan.
I do agree with RPW, but I think history has shown that it’s possible to be more or less “strict” with it, as many Puritans who were committed to its practice disagreed over some of the more minor features.
Hey Gordan,
What do you mean by ’strict’? Could you elaborate a little? I’d like to better understand what would be considered extreme.
SDG
Well, I mean for instance when it comes to the music and songs to be sung. RPW churches have historically disagreed among themselves about how it ought to be applied [not whether it should be, but how], because some seem to have something like a New Covenant view of things, so that if an Old Testament provision is not repeated in the New, then the thing is outlawed (thinking specifically of musical instruments.) The same differences have cropted up with regard to decoration/artwork in the building used, etc. While no RPW guy wants to be idolatrous in any way, many have not seen the New Testament’s silence there as some sort of ban on all decor’. Additionally some have noted that if we’re really going to go all the way with this, then the only place in the New Testament that definitely seems to speak to what to do in a service of corporate worship is 1 Corinthians between about chapters 11-14. Most RPW types would argue about that.
I definitely agree with Gordan in the fact that there are small applicatory variations within the RPW. Some believe in exclusive psalmity, some do not believe in use of musical instruments, some do not believe in taking an offering during the service, some do, etc., etc. But, as Gordan has pointed out, these differences, for the most part, are relatively minor in nature, in comparison to the massive differences one finds between RPW and NPW.
I definitely think artwork and decor falls under the “circumstantial” category, such as lighting for the building, sound amplification for the speaker, etc. etc. These things are obviously not part of the worship itself, but generally are helpful to the circumstance. Maybe I’m not exactly explaining it right, but I hope you see my point.
As far as musical instruments, is not OT worship filled with the use of musical instruments? I know Calvin believed the OT instruments pointed to Christ and therefore were abbrogated, but to me that sounds like a stretch. What do you guys think?
I guess I would say I am pretty normative when it comes to this discussion. I think musical instruments are beautiful and point to the beauty of God. Our current musical worship team has 2 guitars, bass, drums, piano, violen, and sometimes a flute.
Another question that came to me was when does it qualify as corporate worship? We have a bible study on Monday nights with 5 couples, we had friends over last night and considered playing some worship songs, so are these examples of corporate worship?
Jon,
As far as I understand it, the RP does not distinguish between musical instruments. However, it would deal with the attitude of worship, particularly in the area of reverance, even within the style of music worshipped with. But the issue here isn’t what points to the beauty of God, for there are many things that do (and many things we can privately worship God through) that are not acceptable for the house of the Lord.
Also, no, what you listed above would not be considered corportate worship, unless the elders of the church were present and running the show. The RP is built upon the emphasis scripture makes, in both the OT and NT, of our conduct and worship when gathering together on the Lord’s Day, and in the ‘temple’ of God. For example, Paul gives strict warnings in 1 Cor 14 about the order of worship in regards to tongues, prophecies, etc. Our tendency is to say, ‘well the gifts have ceased and so we can throw out the chapter’, but I would argue that the principles there are echoed throughout scripture. Clearly, it takes a lot of gymnastics to get around the fact that Paul gives instructions in this chapter for corporate worship, that are not to be strictly followed elsewhere.
SDG
Gordan, Davide,
I don’t think anything you guys mentioned falls under the category of the RP. To say that we cannot use musical instruments is certainly ridiculous and overbearing, IMO.
Additionally, Gordan you mentioned a reliance on the Old Testament in this area, and I would somewhat agree. Most definitely, anyone who sees the OT as basically irrelevent (New Covenant Theology and Dispensationalism), does not have any inclination to see what the OT says in this area. However, I would argue that the NT has its fair share of teaching in this area, but that it’s principle, or the groundwork for this teaching in the NT, is put down in the OT.
Listen, musical instruments, decorating, etc., are ridiculous to argue over in my opinion. The order of worship and what we corporately do to worship is the real issue. Do we perform a skit? Do we throw a concert? Do we have baby dedications? Etc. Those things in themselves are not wrong and they can certainly be used to worship God in other contexts’. But, we don’t do these things in the household of God, if we indeed fear Him and His revealed word.
I plan to post on this again and hopefully better clarify what I briefly tried to explain to you above.
By the way, consider this question: Is it OK to subsitute pizza and coke for the Lord’s Supper? Why or why not? Personally, I see this as related to this RP issue.
SDG
Nathan, you and I are on the same page, I believe.
But how would you answer this: The Regulative Principle says that if it’s not specifically commanded, then it’s not allowed. But where is that Principle itself specifically commanded? I know the “locus classicus” is the Second Commandment prohibition on idolatry, but you won’t find the RP spelled out there: we infer it from a general principle that we think is valid biblically. So by inference, we say that worship must be regulated by explicit command.
Gordan,
Yes, I see your point and have considered it myself. That’s why this will take more than one post to flesh out
However, I would argue that the RP is ’spelled out’ in scripture, just not in a ‘this is the commandment’ type of fashion. Paul in 1 cor 14, after spending several chapters on issues related to this topic, says, “If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord.” The seriousness in which we should consider orderly worship is enough to which Paul explicitly says that the command is from the Lord.
Ultimately, I asked three questions at the end of my first post. I think the correct (and obvious) answer to the first two will clear these things up.
Nathan,
Pizza and coke?? Are you serious? Is someone doing that? Maybe we are farther down the drain than I thought:) In regards to that, should we use wine or welch’s? You know the history with Mr. Welch, right?
You mentioned decorations and I am thinking of things within the area itself. Maybe you could elaborate. Should the national flag be in the midst of corporate worship? Should statues or artist renderings of Jesus or angels be allowed? What about Christmas trees? It seems to me to be quite clear that these things would detract from the true worship of God. Also, there are the “hanging of the greens” and such things as well.
I can just picture myself at the back of a long line where instead of a thin host you get a shot of coke and a chunk of greasy pizza. That would be a slow moving line eh? Are we talking Dominos? If it’s Papa Romanos I’m moving to another church.
I think the epistles of Timothy and Titus also give us very clear instruction as to what TO DO in the house of God.
“If I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of truth.”
Tim,
I don’t know if I totally agree with you about the Christmas decor. I see your point, I’m just not sure how distracting it would be to worship. I could be wrong.
On another note,
What I find interesting, is the fact that drama has been around since the beginning of time. Pluto and Aristotle spoke about the theatre. And it was prevelant during apostolic times. I think it is interesting that although drama was very big during that time, they never employed it in the church, although it would have been easy to do.
Nathan,
Here’s a question for you. When Paul commands the church to sing the three kinds of songs (ie. psalms, hymns, spiritual songs) in Ephesians and Colossians, is he making a point about the importance of employing these specific various kinds of songs in worship, or simply making a general point about the importance of singing? In other words, are we to take this verse literally?
Nathan,
For me, I think the title of your post here is really the bottom line. In addition to that pithy statement, let me suggest another one:
Whoever controls how worship is done, is actually the one being worshipped.
Here’s another question:
What about a worship service exclusively holding a Christmas Cantata?
Jim at OldTruth.com has just posted a short article on “the fear of the Lord,” that I think relates very strongly to this topic. It’s here:
http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.660
If you have no fear of God, then anything goes.
Tim: I see your point, and we can hash that out sometime
But, I interpret the RP as what we DO to worship God, not the decorations and stuff that often get brought up with this issue.
Barry: Papa Johns for me, bro! That church better cater to MY needs!
Davide: Great comment. I was going to mention that 1 Tim passage as well. But regarding your question about ’songs, hymns, spiritual songs’, NO, I do not take that in a wooden literal way. How do we define ’spiritual songs’ anyway? Doesn’t that rule out like…nothing? I think the issue here is that Paul is making a point about TEACHING, believe it or not. Read the context of the verses, and we are to teach each other with songs. You know, like when you learned to sing ‘Father Abraham’ and you knew that dispensationalism was false
Title of my next post: “Whoever controls how worship is done, is actually the one being worshipped.” -Gordan, you are the man! And thanks for the link to Old Truth. What a great site.
I was just reading a short biography of Ulrich Zwingli, and he seems to have been the first Reformed advocate of RPW, while at the same time in Germany, Luther still held to the Catholic version (if it’s not outlawed, it’s allowed.)
However, they mentioned a point about his application of RP that illustrates what I mean by a more “strict” version of it. He apparently got rid of the use of the organ as an accompanying instrument, though retaining others; the reason was that the Scripture didn’t specifically mention the organ. (There was some speculation that Zwingli preferred to err on the stricter side for fear of allowing more-than-necessary use of material objects in worship: maybe he had been influenced by writings that retained a bit of gnostic dualism.)
Your blog assumes that “drama” and such things are ruled out by the regulative principle, but you nowhere make this connection clear. I hold to the regulative principle also, but I think drama can mediate teaching, and is therefore an appropriate aid in worship for the sake teaching. John Frame also takes this position in his book “Worship in Spirit and Truth.”
Reformed people are often uptight and legalistic about the application of the regulative principle, but if John MacArthur (or Mark Dever, or any other pastor) sells books in his church, uses a microphone, or illustrates sermon material with stories which are not explicitly in the Bible, they have gone “beyond” what the scripture explicitly commands. Yet we would not accuse them of violating the regulative principle because a microphone helps/aids that which is commanded, namely, teaching or preaching. But as soon as we allow for something which is not explicitly commanded (such as using a microphone, selling books and/or audio CD’s with sermons on them, etc.) we are admitting that what is commanded can be fulfilled with MEANS which are not explicitly in the Bible. Thus, if you wish to stick with ONLY what is explicitly revealed, your going to have a tough time justifying many of the things which Reformed churches take for granted (such as the selling of books or phamplets, the use of microphones and pulpits, telling unbiblical stories for illustration purposes instead of sticking to those illustrations which are in the Bible, the use of hymnals, etc.).
Also, the regulative principle is found in Deuteronomy, thus, if we were to limit ourselves to ONLY that which is commanded concerning the new covenant, this would rule out the regulative principle itself. If we escape this dilema by making that which is not rescended still applicable, then we must take seriously the commands in the psalms about praising the Lord with durms, and praising Him with loud shouts and stringed instruments.
Any thoughts?
Bradley,
Thanks for your comments. Here is a brief reply since I’m kind of swamped this week and don’t have a whole lot of time to interact:
First, this was an introductory post that I have yet to get back to. As you can see, I basically give no scriptural defense for the RP, as I simply wanted to get the discussion going. I will get back to this issue soon, but I assure you that this principle is rooted in much more scripture than just Deuteronomy.
Secondly, I’m not sure you and I have the same understanding of what the RP actually is. Books, microphones, illustrations, CDs, etc., are irrelevant to this discussion, in my opinion. That is, the RP asks the question of HOW we worship God, or, what do we DO to worship God. Do we corporately worship Him by doing underwater basket-weaving? Do we worship Him by having a corporate picture-painting contest (since you mentioned communication)?
No, we corporately worship God through the means He has given us in His word. Things of administration that assist in these ends (such as a microphone) do nothing to change the content or the essence of the worship itself. The same scriptural means is still being employed, plain and simple. However, drama, on the other hand, is quite contrary to preaching, and is certainly inferior to preaching/teaching, being that it is a different substance altogether. Drama was wildly popular in the first century, but we see nothing of the sort from the Apostles/scripture.
The issue isn’t legalism at all, though many try to fit it in that mold. The issue is essentially sola scriptura, and the fact that God has not given us inadequate means for worship in His most holy Word. Would God have left us here without a command for drama (or example from scripture) if drama was so important for our spiritual growth/worship? Certainly not. God has spoken; I trust His word.
SDG