Five Alone

(The Five Solas of the Reformation)
Scripture Alone
by Bob Burridge ©2014
(watch the video)

In the late years of the Middle Ages, Reformers in the church refused to go along with man-invented doctrines and rules that marginalized the Bible, and elevated the church as the primary source of what God has done and said.

Five foundational principles have been followed by the Reformed churches since that time. We know them as “The 5 Solas of the Reformation” — 5 things that must stand alone. The first of these teaches us that the Bible as God’s word is the only test of what’s true and good.

We usually speak of this first principle by the Latin expression “Sola Scriptura“. It means “Scripture Alone”. The Bible as God’s word is our only standard in deciding matters of faith and practice. The Bible alone is that authority, not combined with what men or church councils say. What God said was written and preserved by his providential power. The Bible isn’t just the best light to guide us in the dark. It’s the only light.

Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.”

Today, there’s a flood of ideas each claiming to be true. In the media we hear the views of famous authors, celebrities, athletes, and other self-proclaimed experts. Pop-Preachers on TV, radio, and the Internet flood us with superficial interpretations of the Bible. Pseudo-Science picks isolated pieces of data to support their current pet theories. News teams edit and slant reports to promote their own political and social world-view. Conspiracy theorists gather little things that seem unusual to them, and invent fantasy explanations. The internet offers millions of pages on almost any topic you search for. Most of the pages are based on very unreliable sources. We’ve never had so much information in all of human history. But we’ve never seen such confusion about what’s right and true either. This mis-information is used to manipulate people for self-gain, and to confuse God’s truth.

The Bible alone is our infallible guide through the maze of moral confusion. It directs our lives, and offers real comfort and hope. It shows God’s way of mercy and forgiveness as it’s offered to the whole world.

If we use some kind of test to see if what the Bible says is true, then that test becomes our standard for truth.

But how can we know if our test is reliable? Have we overlooked other alternatives? Is there information we don’t know yet? Have we just assumed things used as part of our reasoning? Have we misunderstood the things we think we know?

To answer that, we need a test for the test. But then that “test tester” becomes something to be tested too. There would be no end to needing something greater by which each level of testing is tested.

Ultimately, either God who made all things becomes the final test, or there is no test and no real way of knowing truth. If God revealed things to us, then that becomes an untestable test because nothing stands above God. He has given us that ultimate source of truth and morality in the Bible.

Today, hundreds of years after the Reformation, the flame of God’s truth and promises continues to burn. It burns in a very dark place. We live in a world that isn’t sure of what’s right and true, or if there even are such things. It’s a world filled with competing theories and beliefs.

Confusion about God and his ways leads to an uncertain attitude about life and personal values. It makes people dissatisfied with their jobs, their marriages, their children, and churches. Reformation is the return to the foundation God gave his world long ago.

There is a Latin expression which summarizes this continuing duty, “Semper Reformanda” which means, “Ever being re-molded (re-formed)”

Reformanda is a Gerundive Participle from the verb reformo. It is in the “reflexive” form, something done to us. It isn’t as much about changing things, as it is about being changed. “Always being reformed” means always submitting our every belief and practice, our every love and goal, to the test of God’s word so that it can be reshaped to conform to God’s truth and ways. Only what God has revealed should persist as our standard and foundation.

Sadly, in our modern world, even among some say they are reformed believers, another Latin expression better describes their objectives, “Semper Neoformans“. This is a Latin active verb meaning always forming something new. Innovation rather than reformation becomes their way of life. Innovation is wonderful within the boundaries set by God’s word. But we should never forget the limits of truth and the principle set by God’s unchanging standard.

The tension we see between many churches today is the battle between these two approaches to the Christian life. Either we are re-forming our lives and beliefs to fit the form God gave us, or we’re making up new forms to fit in with a society in love with its own pleasure, peace, prosperity, power, and prestige.

Reformation isn’t a re-inventing of God’s truth or of the way he calls us to live and to worship. It’s a change made in individuals and to the world that brings them back to God’s ways.

Ignorance of what the Bible says lures unsuspecting people to take up unbiblical beliefs and practices. Some are unaware of how much the New Testament says about worship, marriage and family, business, economics, our attitudes, time management, and how a church should be governed under the headship of Jesus Christ.

Many don’t know God in the way he reveals himself. Some unwittingly divide the God of the Old Testament from the one of the New. But he’s not a different kind of God in various sections of his book. Only when we take it all together can we learn about his unchanging and consistent nature.

God’s word has brought about many great
reformations throughout human history.

Reformations have taken place in the times of Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Josiah and Ezra, through the times of John, Jesus, Paul and Peter, and on into the history of the church after the New Testament was completed. It has always been the word of God that transformed individual lives, families, communities, nations, even at times the world.

The Reformation cry, “Scripture Alone” (Sola Scriptura), should always be our focus. God gave the Bible as the one infallible and perfect rule for our faith and practice. If someone adds any other standard along with it, the Bible ceases to be his foundation. The Apostle Paul based his comments upon this principle in his Second Letter to Timothy.

2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Scripture Alone was not the standard of faith and
practice at the time of the Reformers.

In 1517 the dominant church claimed it had information from God beyond the Bible. Based upon other standards, it pronounced new dogmas and promoted moral abuses.

The result was not just intellectual chaos. It deeply confused and enslaved the people. It threatened time in Purgatory for believers to pay off their sins. The church sold forgiveness in the form of indulgences from the Pope. It implied that our own efforts and works caused God to bless and forgive us. The Priests made sinners do penance. It called for prayers to the saints and to Mary. Popes were granted the status of Christ himself. A whole list of new Sacraments was established, and worship became a magical mass. Hungry souls were fed this poison instead of the solid nourishment of God’s word.

The Reformers trusted what God said in the Bible as their sole guide for what is true and right. At a great conference of the church held in Augsburg in 1530, Philip Melanchthon and Martin Luther prepared a set of articles to show the errors of Rome. These articles became known as the Augsburg Confession.

The Reformers were all called Lutherans then, because they followed Luther. It had nothing to do with the modern denominations who take the name “Lutheran”. When the Reformed articles were read and explained, the delegates at the conference were impressed. The Reformed position had been drawn from Scripture alone.

One of those against the Reformers said he could easily refute Melanchthon’s confession by quoting from the Church Fathers. One of Rome’s own men, Duke George of Saxony responded saying, “Then the Lutherans are firmly entrenched in the Scriptures, and we are entreched outside of them!” That was a wise and telling observation.

Our Westminster Confession clearly takes the same reformed position. It says in section 1:10,

“The supreme judge by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture.”

To most people, religion is generally accepted as long as it doesn’t claim to be exclusively right or the only way. Even unbelievers freely quote verses taken from the Bible to promote their own ideas. It’s the “Sola” part of Sola Scriptura that makes the Reformed position despised and ridiculed.

This is our challenge today,
long after the Protestant Reformation.

The world hates any absolute standard. The Bible has become a main target. It has no problem with those who say the Bible is just another nice book of inspirational stories, but it has no tolerance for those who believe it to be the actual and inerrant word of God.

Educational programs on TV and documentaries continue to misrepresent it, and to make poorly informed attacks against its authenticity. A good example is the irresponsible re-writing of the Bible by the History Channel in its miniseries.

Public policy is often promoted in some places that would make it a crime to publicly proclaim Christ. The teachings of Scripture are openly opposed. Some want to make it a hate crime to teach what the Bible says about homosexuality, the roles of men and women, and the redemption of souls by Christ alone.

The clear teachings of the Bible are confused by creative theories and interpretations. The Creation Sabbath Day is abandoned by confusing it with the Jewish Levitical Sabbaths. It becomes a day like any other day where we work at our jobs, or support others who do so. They make detailed pictures of Jesus violating the 2nd Commandment imagining things about his appearance and demeanor not revealed in God’s word. Lustful thoughts and sexual activity outside of marriage are commonly accepted or re-defined. Abortion continues to take the lives of millions of unborn babies every year world wide.

The world takes pride in believing that nothing is absolutely moral or true. I’m still not sure how it can be an absolute truth that “there isn’t any absolute truth.”

The acceptable views of truth and morality today are based upon personal choice alone. The result is a cafeteria-style religion where people take only what they like. They decide to believe and to do whatever they think ought to be right and true. All else that God reveals in his word is passed by as if they can just say, “No thank you.” In the cafeteria-style Churches, the Bible isn’t expounded faithfully and thoroughly. The people do not know what God said so they are not able to decide what to reject or to affirm.

Awhile ago I saw a television interview of a prominent preacher in Orlando, Florida. He openly said that he didn’t care to expound the Bible or to condemn sin. He said his goal is to help people have a positive attitude about themselves. This empty rhetoric is welcomed by millions who listen to him and support him. But it’s heresy. That’s what a Professor at Westminster Seminary called this preacher’s message in the same interview program. It’s an open rejection of the teachings of God’s word and of Christ. Without dealing with forgiveness of sin and restoration to God by grace in Christ, there is no real change of heart, no real hope, nothing except the empty words of some motivational speaker.

It’s no wonder that with teachings like that, the church is marginalized today, people feel more insecure and uncertain than ever before.

God’s word tells us that our own feelings are not to be the test of what’s right. Many imagine the Holy Spirit saying what ever it is they want to hear at the moment. It’s good to ask, “What would Jesus do?” But to answer that question you have to know your Bible. You need to know and understand what he actually said and did. You also need to know the rest of Scripture that gives the context for the life and teachings of Christ.

People taken in by these very popular but irresponsible churches and preachers continue confidently, but blindly,
to offend God while not even suspecting that there is anything wrong with what they are saying and doing.

There’s a need for a continuing reformation
in Christ’s church.

The need is very serious in this 21st Century since the birth and death of our Savior. It’s an individual need, a church need, a family and community need — a world need. There is only one light that is able to scatter the darkness. It’s the light of God’s word speaking openly and boldly for itself.

Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp to my feet, And a light to my path.”

Shine the light of his word on your path ever day. See if your feet are on the right trail, and taking the right steps. Let that light expose the things that will trip you up. Avoid those things.

If you are always reshaping what you believe and do so that it fits more with God’s word, you are being a Reformer. When you help others to do the same you are carrying out the work of reforming God’s world.

The key is to be a dedicated servant of God’s word. No other standard will do, because none other can be true. God’s word is all the lamp you need to know the boundaries within which you can live with great liberty. When you live in the way that pleases God, you will find the great blessing he infallibly promises — even in the hard times.

God’s word for God’s world — a lamp for our feet, a light for our path.

For a more detailed study of how God reveals himself to us see the following lessons from our Theology unit covering “Prolegomena”.
1. Knowing Truth
2. Revelation
3. The Canon of Scripture
4. The Inspiration of Scripture
5. The Preservation of the text of Scripture
6. The Translation of Scripture
7. The Interpretation of Scripture

Bible quotations are from the New King James Version unless otherwise noted.

Back to the index for “Five Alone”

Lessons in the Book of Jude by Bob Burridge ©2013, 2016 “… exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” (watch the video)

Lesson 3: Defying Things Not Understood Jude 8-11

There are many things we don’t understand well.

The wise person admits there are limits to what he understands, and he remembers there was a time when he didn’t know what he knows now. It’s the fool who thinks he’s figured everything out and dares to charge ahead based on that. He has an arrogant and aggressive attitude toward anybody who see things a different way. Rather than listening and learning, he just scoffs at other ideas and ignores what others say. He fails to admit he might be wrong and have more to learn. He’s like one who runs into a field of land mines, laughing in unbelief and derision at the posted warnings. They love to drag others along with them into the mine-field refusing to admit the danger.

People like that seem compelled to pass on their ignorance and dangerous attitude to others. Maybe they think it proves them right if they can convince others to believe them. Or maybe they just want to feel important and powerful, and be the smart ones. Sadly, many who trust them and follow them think they’re getting good advice.

This means that even when we see others who misunderstand things, we need to resist the temptation of going on wild and uninformed attacks against them. A soldier charging ahead foolishly often finds himself rushing into a well set trap. He’s caught in the snare before he even realizes he’s taken the bait. We need to be truly wise, following God’s advice for dealing with error whenever it creeps in among us.

There were infiltrators in the church who had defied God’s ways.

Jude 8, “Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries.”

These are the infiltrators of the church, the covert agents for evil described in verse 4. There it says, “For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. ”

Jude had just given three past examples of God’s judgments in verses 5-7. He showed that people cannot get away with their defiance of God, his ways, and his people. Now he shows that these who were troubling the churches in his time will similarly be judged.

He calls them dreamers.
It’s not just that they believe that God talks to them in their dreams. It means that their ideas are dreamed up from within their own fallen souls. They are not submissive to God’s word. They live in a dream world.

Today the media and art world are deeply mired in a philosophy that denies absolute rules, realities, and moral standards. It finds its way into popular songs, art, movies, books, and even today’s religions. Their basic premise is that our own thoughts, dreams, and imaginations are the only realities that should concern us. This subjective way of looking at the world and society has crept into the church in a new charismatic wave. It believes that suffering and evil can be manipulated away if believers will it enough.

Instead of dealing with suffering and sin in the way God’s word prescribes, they have cultish mass prayer meetings, stirring motivational rallies, and superstitious chants and formulas they think will overpower what’s against them, and reconfigure God’s plan itself.

Like the deceivers in the days of Jude, someday these foolishly ignorant wizards will be shaken out of their dreams. They will discover that the world they thought was controlled by their own minds or personal hopes was not as much under their own power as they imagined. They will see that the limited god they tried to manipulate with their rituals, talismans, and prayers, is a sovereign reality for which they had not prepared.

With their perverted foundation they do three particularly evil things.

They defile the flesh. Without a respect for God’s word, they let their fleshly desires grow without boundaries. They justify living immorally and defile their own bodies in ways that displease the God who made them. It is tragic that in this new approach to religion, perversions, sexual liberties, and pornography have penetrated very stealthily into the congregations.

In the days of the New Testament, and among those to whom Peter, Paul and Jude wrote, a belief called Gnosticism was in its beginning stages. It separated the spiritual and physical realities so much that each was thought to have little to do with the other. Like today’s Nihilism and New Ageism, the physical world God created, is seen as inferior or even unreal. By separating the physical from the soul, the sins of the flesh are not seen as being very important.

Gnostics came to seek inner enlightenment as the key to rising above the physical. This freed them either to become ascetics, denying physical pleasures entirely, or, as it was in this case, to become libertines engaging in whatever their bodies desired. They justified it by thinking that the flesh had nothing to do with what was real.

Jude said they also reject authority. Since they believed the real world was an inner reality, and that they were the enlightened ones, they became a law to themselves, and ridiculed those who saw real authority in the world.

But God didn’t create a world to be an anarchy where individuals each did his own thing.

He established the family and charged the husband of the home, the fathers, to be responsible for those in the home, to care for their physical and spiritual needs.

God established the work-place where those hired to do work for a land owner or business owner were required to respect the risk their employers were taking in hiring them and in their business investments. Workers were to put in an honest days labor and show respect for those who hire them.

God established his covenant body, the church. He calls some to be Elders to shepherd the people by teaching them God’s ways. They had spiritual authority over the congregation to guide them into truth and holy living, and to comfort them through their times of suffering. They were to be careful ministers of God’s revealed truths.

In the civil realm, God calls those in rightful places of leadership his “ministers for good”. Romans 13 makes it clear that we are to honor them in areas of civil justice and mutual defense.

However, those infiltrators imagined themselves to be better enlightened than what God’s word says. So they would strike out against these areas of God established authority. Instead of a society ordered in God’s way, they imagine a utopian world without absolute rules or God appointed leaders.

They imagine homes where parents have no real authority over their own children. Kids sue their parents for personal liberties. Ungodly national leaders try to impose their supposed enlightenment to compel parents to discipline a certain way, and make schools teach ideas contrary to those of godly parents who are seen as evil bigots if they adhere to biblical authority. To them marriage itself is defined by the whims of society rather than by the God who instituted it with our first parents in Eden.

Work places become chaotic battle-fields of competition between workers and management. The worker tries to get more than he earns, and the employer tries to pay less than he owes. The state manipulates businesses with rules it imagines to be better than those set by those who own and run them. To force things to conform to their own imaginations these “enlightened tyrants” suppress success and competition in the market place.

The church becomes a loose aggregate of individuals. They come to church to be inspired by rituals, entertainment, organized programs, and parties, but not to be urged to follow God’s ways by Elders with real authority over worship and the sacraments.

Nations themselves become political arenas where special interest groups try to gain power and control the riches of the people. Their goal is to gain support for whatever will make them more rich, powerful, and promote their ideological agendas. Often the courts of the land are manipulated by ungodly lawyers, juries, and judges who have personal agendas rather than a devotion to higher laws.

Jude says they speak evil of dignitaries.
There is some confusion here since some translations interpret the object of the sentence in different ways. The King James says they “speak evil of dignities.” The New King James has, “speak evil of dignitaries.” The English Standard says they, “blaspheme the glorious ones.” The New American Standard says they, “revile angelic majesties.”

The object of the verb “to speak evil of,” “to revile,” or “to blaspheme” is the Greek word “doxas” (δόξας). It literally means “glories”. The word “angels” is not in any of the ancient manuscripts of Jude’s letter. That insertion is more interpretive.

We can understand what Jude means when we recognize that according to Scripture there is only one original source of glory and majesty. That source is God alone. He displays his glory in this world by the things he made, revealed, and established. In this context, it appears to be persons who are being reviled. Considering what he had just said about the authorities God had appointed, it’s likely that this refers to those who hold positions of responsible leadership.

According to God’s law husbands are told to lead their homes as Christ is the loving and self-sacrificing head of the church. Masters are told to treat their workers as God treats us as his servants. Elders are to shepherd the church as
Christ’s representatives, as the Good Shepherd cares for his people. And Paul tells us that civil governors at all levels are to be respected as God’s ministers for good.

Each is to display God’s glory in his particular domain. These evil men Jude speaks of revile not only the concept of authority, but also the dignitaries God sets up to lead us. The New King James Version is more accurate here by translating it that they “speak evil of dignitaries.”

“They speak evil of” is the Greek word “blasphaemou’sin” (βλασφημοῦσιν) from which we get our word “blasphemy”. It is used three times in this short passage. The word means to slander, revile, defame or to speak with disrespect and irreverence. This attitude is characteristic of those who believe they are the most enlightened, but who have no concept of the boundaries set by God’s word.

Jude then used an example to show the restraint
we should have in dealing with evil.

Jude 9, “Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’ “

He speaks of Michael, the archangel. There are several places where this person is mentioned in the Bible, particularly in Daniel 10:13,21; 12:1; and Revelation 12:7. Most agree that Michael is one of the created angels made to serve God in the spirit realm. As archangel, he is the angel of highest authority. He is often seen as a leader of other angels and a special guardian of God’s people.

Evidently, there was a time when he had a dispute with the Devil. In some way it had to do with the body of Moses. We have no other biblical details about this so it is impossible to know anything more about this. It may have been a dispute over the disposition of the body after Moses died in the wilderness. Or perhaps it was a dispute over what would happen to his body in the resurrection. We have no way of knowing. The details are unimportant in understanding the point Jude is making.

There is an old Jewish myth written in an apocryphal book called The Assumption of Moses. But the manuscripts from which we get this book are in bad shape. The story itself is incomplete. We do not know if this was written before or after Jude wrote this passage.

Clearly what Jude wrote is true because all Scripture is inspired by God, and is therefore kept free from errors of fact, doctrine, and interpretation. The source of Jude’s information is irrelevant. The part of the myth about the dispute over Moses’ body is affirmed as true because God caused it to be included here. All the other parts of the myth in that apocryphal book may be entirely false. We can only know what is true from God’s word, not from legends and other ancient documents.

Jude’s point is to show how Michael dealt with the Devil in this dispute. He did not dare to pronounce against Satan a reviling accusation. This means there was no rash or unrestrained condemning of Satan. Even Michael, the chief of the angels, recognized there were things beyond him. He did not dare to launch out in damnations or curses based upon his own authority, even when it was against Satan himself, one so clearly in the wrong. That was the prerogative of God alone.

All he dared to say was, “The Lord rebuke you.” This care in dealing with evil and with things beyond us is an important lesson. We live in an age where comics make a career of ridiculing those in authority. Jokes about our leaders are common and tempting. They may truly be humorous, even accurate, but they often cross an important line.

Sadly many even teach little children choruses and little songs demeaning Satan. They teach them to do what Jude cautions us against, what even Michael would not do.

The answer we should rightfully give is more powerful than our jokes or ridicule. God will judge all men and rebuke their rebellion in his good time. Our duty is to declare what is right and good according to God’s word, and to admonish those around us to respect God’s truth and ways.

Next Jude applies this principle to the infiltrators in the church.

Jude 10, “But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves.”

They revile the things they do not understand. These evil men were acting in foolish ignorance. They acted like animals without understanding, being led only by what they felt inside. Their sin-infected judgment was leading them and their followers toward certain destruction.

Jude pronounced woe on them and cited three examples of rebellion.

Jude 11, “Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.”

The first example is Cain. This first born human failed to bring the kind of offering God required. Instead of a blood offering representing the Savior’s future work, he brought fruit. He became jealous of God’s blessings toward his obedient brother Able, and killed him. His way was similar to those who defy God in every era. He was motivated by self-importance, greed, and jealousy rather than by a love for God’s ways. God cursed Cain for the rest of his life. He was exiled for his crime, and founded a city where his descendants continued his corruption.

The next example is Balaam. He was a very influential man from Moab who was asked and bribed by Balak, King of Moab, to curse Israel as they came near his borders. Though Balaam was tempted, the Lord told him not to pronounce the curse. He rightly said that if God blesses, no man could impose a curse. However, though in one sense he professed to recognize Jehovah as the invincible God over all things, he came up with a plan to cause God to turn his blessing of Israel into a curse. He instructed the Midianites in a method of enticing the Israelites to sin against their God (Revelation 2:14).

Moses commented on this plan in Numbers 31:16, “Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the LORD in the incident of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.”

These infiltrators of the church ask for the same fate that fell upon Balaam. They look for personal gain as they try to sabotage the church from within. They value riches and power above obeying God. They lead others into sin as did the advice of Balaam to Israel’s enemies.

Balaam was killed in battle fighting along with Balak, King of the Midianites, in their battle against Israel. There is nothing but destruction ahead for those who dare to defy God and harm his people.

Finally, Jude spoke of the fate of those who perished in the rebellion of Korah. There came a time in the wilderness when men defied the new regulations God gave. Korah, along with Dathan and Abiram, led 250 men in rebellion against Moses and Aaron. They refused to honor the priests and the limits God had placed upon worship. They wanted to continue the old ways and traditions instead. They came with incense to offer to God in defiance of the revealed law. They rejected the authority God had given to Moses and the Levites (Numbers 16).

There is a parallel here with the infiltrators in the church. They dishonored those God had set up to be responsible for leading the church.

The judgment of God upon Korah and his followers was graphic. Numbers 16:31-35, “Now it came to pass, as he finished speaking all these words, that the ground split apart under them, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the men with Korah, with all their goods. So they and all those with them went down alive into the pit; the earth closed over them, and they perished from among the assembly. Then all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, ‘Lest the earth swallow us up also!’ And a fire came out from the LORD and consumed the two hundred and fifty men who were offering incense.”

These are the kinds of woe these infiltrators should expect. Perhaps not physical and supernatural judgments in this life as in these examples. But certainly they will face the wrath of that same God in the final Day of Judgment.

This is the danger Jude is warning about.

There are things beyond our knowledge. We may not understand fully why God orders things as he does. But it is our duty to honor and obey what God has made known. Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

Those who dare to go their own way and seek innovations to replace God’s revealed principles, will face the wrath of the One they defy. Those who disregard God’s honor, word, and established order are fairly warned here. But, there is also an assurance to God’s faithful. Those who trouble God’s covenant people are doomed and will not prevail.

(Bible quotations are from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.)

Back to the Index of Studies in Jude

Lessons in the Book of Jude by Bob Burridge ©2013, 2016 “… exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” (watch the video)

Lesson 1: Contending for the Faith Jude 1-4

From the time I was a young teen I’ve loved stories about spies and covert operations. It was the height of the Cold War with the Soviet Union and novels, movies and TV shows were about the heroic efforts of secret agents keeping infiltrators from getting our secrets, and carrying out assassinations, or sabotage.

We knew that these covert operators were among us. They threatened our national security and were intent on our destruction. We all remembered the haunting words of Soviet Premier Nakita Kruschev as he angrily warned, “We will bury you!” We cheered with renewed confidence and national strength when President Ronald Reagan stood at the Berlin wall and demanded that the defiant Soviets take it down. They did. Soon after that the Soviet Empire fell too.

Today there are infiltrators who have brought back that same awareness that evil is among us. Infiltrators took over those planes that flew suicide missions on September 11th, back in 2001. There have been other attacks since then by some who have taken up residence within our borders. We are aware that Al Qaida, ISIS, and other terrorist organizations are intent upon our destruction.

But there is another war — a spiritual one. We are sometimes not aware of it. There are no dramatic captures or battles to watch on TV. Our surveillance devices are useless in detecting its progress. Yet the enemy is among us, and is intent upon destroying the True Church of Jesus Christ. The infiltrators insert themselves into pulpits, religious organizations, and congregations. They fill the news and dominate the religious media on television, radio, and book store shelves. They hold rallies and seminars spreading a distorted and destructive mutation of God’s revealed truth.

Jude was about to write a letter to the churches expounding “our common salvation”, but his awareness of infiltrators made him devote this short but powerful letter to that issue.

We do not know for sure when Jude wrote this letter. There are parts of it which are similar to 2nd Peter. Whichever one was written second may have gotten information from the prior writing. It’s also possible that both Peter and Jude used some third document we no longer have. In either case, God superintended the writings to ensure that both Peter and Jude correctly reported what was true.

The problems Jude dealt with became worse during the 2nd century. They have been present all through the history of God’s People. Jude uses many examples from the time before Jesus showing that the challenge was not new. We recognize these same concerns today. Jude is a good warning, a heads up. There are infiltrators in the church. We need to watch out for them, and not let them succeed in their subversive goals.

The introduction to this short letter follows the style of that day:

Jude 1a, “Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, …”

The author was Jude, a brother of James. Since he does not tell us which James he is, he must have been a person who was known well to his readers at that time. It was probably the James who was an important leader in the church. (Acts 12:17, 15:13).

The first thing he told his readers was that he was a bondservant of Jesus Christ. He saw it an honor to be bound to the service of his Lord. This obedience and service is not an oppressive slavery as it might imply to some readers today. As servants of Christ we are liberated to be what we were made to be, honorable representatives of God, and much loved instruments in his sovereign and loving hand.

His letter is to believers in the early church:

Jude 1b, “… To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ:”

They are “called ones”. Their coming to faith in Christ was a response to the work of God in their hearts. James and his readers were aware that their standing as believers originated in God’s sovereign grace. He did not only mean that they had been at sometime called outwardly (invited to believe). He means an inward call, the effectual call to the heart by the Holy Spirit when he regenerates us.

Jude then calls them “sanctified by God”. There is a different word in some of our ancient copies of Jude. Some say the “beloved of God.” There are just a few letters difference between these two words in the Greek text. Both flow well and neither presents any problems or effects any of the Bible’s teachings. We are in many places in the Bible declared to be sanctified (holy in Christ), and loved by God. It is his love that sent the Savior to redeem us, and to clothe us in his righteousness. Taken either way, we are set apart to be God’s special people.

Jude then reminds them that they are preserved, kept in Jesus Christ. Our confidence is in this promised preservation by a persevering and all-powerful God. Jesus told us in John 10:27-29, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.”

The Apostle Peter wrote about our security in the Savior in 1 Peter 1:5, “who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

These are good reminders to prepare the readers for the attack being directed against them. We need to keep these promises in mind when we are being endangered by infiltrators in the church. Our confidence lies in the power and promises of our Lord.

Jude ends his introduction asking God to bless his readers.

Jude 2, “Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.”

When we desire these good things toward other believers, and call upon God to grant them these covenant blessings, we discover our place in God’s plan. He stirs us to pray, then uses those prayers in the process of pouring out good things upon his children.

Jude did not just ask that they should have these comforts, he further prays that they would be multiplied and increased toward them. He wanted them to be fortified in these good blessings.

After his greeting, Jude gets right to his purpose in writing:

Jude 3, “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”

Jude wanted to write about the salvation all believers share in common. Teaching about the basics of the gospel was a continuing concern for the leaders of the post-resurrection churches. By their lessons and letters they taught and reinforced the now completed body of truth we treasure in our Bibles.

Something changed Jude to focus his theme on a particular challenge as he started to write. Maybe he had been hearing disturbing reports. Maybe as he thought about how to present his lesson he decided to focus on this problem. Whatever the circumstances, he felt compelled to write about contending for the faith once delivered to the saints.

The faith he speaks of here is that body of truth God had made known to them. It had been given as an unchanging and comprehensive standard for truth and life. This is why it was delivered to the saints, those who have believed in Christ. They are the ones set aside to be redeemed by God’s blessing of grace, and to contend for that faith.

In 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 Paul speaks of the gospel in a similar way, “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.”

The New Testament was just then being completed. The truths of God were being made more clear than ever before. But the truths had been given from God all along. It has an eternal character, so once given it endures. It had just recently come to completion in the work of Jesus Christ.

It is not “once for all” as if it was all given on one occasion. It’s that it was given as a truth that never changes and always applies. It’s that form around which everything we believe and do should be shaped. That is what it means to be Reformed: always re-forming, re-shaping our convictions around God’s unchanging standard. Sadly many today understand “reform” in a different way. They keep reshaping the standard. That’s the work of the infiltrators.

God’s word is our charge, our entrustment. We are to contend for it earnestly. Paul makes a similar warning in Philippians 1:27, “Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel,”

Notice that Jude does not recommend a negative attack against the heretics. Our strategy is to make a positive assault by promoting and defending the truth God has made known. By the faculty of faith implanted in us at regeneration we trust God’s word enough to contend for it with all our commitment and energy.

Jude gives a general description of these infiltrators.

Jude 4, “For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.”

These enemies had already crept in unnoticed. In every era, from the organization of the church under Moses, and continuing through today, these dangerous people have entered into the midst of God’s people without being recognized. They usually realize they have different basic beliefs, but disguise them or even deny them so they can slip in. It is truly a covert operation. They often have aspirations of changing the church to make it more what they want it to be. But that is not how it ought to be. The church needs to change only when it is not measuring up to God’s standards. These infiltrators want to change the standards themselves.

These are people marked beforehand for condemnation. The word here for condemnation has to do with the verdict of God as their Judge. We might not recognize them, but God has not been fooled for a moment. They are not true citizens of the church. They are pretenders. They like to be called “Christians”, but want it to mean what they envision it to mean, not what Jesus himself says a Christ-follower ought to be.

We may wonder why they even bother entering the church. But they unwittingly are following the strategy of the enemy of God. They enter in to confuse and destroy what Jesus himself established. They will not succeed. But many injuries will occur in their attempts.

These are the ungodly. They turn God’s grace into lewdness. The message of Justification by faith and of Sovereign Grace is often perverted. Galatians 5:13 says, “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”

Those who defy God’ s moral principles are called Antinomians. It comes from the Greek word for law used in the Bible, “nomos” (νόμος). So law keepers are nomians. These who are against his law are anti-nomians. They speak of grace as if it means that God simply ignores the breaking of his law. In reality grace paid the horrible debt of his people’s sins by sending the Savior to die for their breaking of his law. The legal debt we owe is not simply ignored or set aside. It is fully satisfied by our substitute, our Savior Jesus Christ.

The ungodly believe they can better satisfy their needs in ways not bounded by God’s revealed truth and moral principles.

This is not a new or isolated problem. The church has battled it all through the ages. The greatest challenge is not from those who openly deny Christ. It’s from those who say they love him, but they twist his law and teachings.

• They consider physical pleasures and financial gain to be better blessings than than those which come from obedience.
• They are enemies of those who still believe there are absolute standards of right and wrong.
• They turn God’s Sabbath and Worship into times for personal entertainment and pleasure.
• They degrade the Sacraments by their careless and casual practice of them.
• They down-play the authority of the books of Scripture and deny their accuracy.

The list could go on, but to sum it all up Jude says they “deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” To these intruders Jesus becomes a mystical guru, a quaint teacher that tolerated all beliefs and views of life. They ignore the record of his life in Scripture, and turn his teachings into their opposites.

These are the infiltrators who try to move the church of Christ off track and confuse her people. Jude tells us more in this important letter, but the primary solution is quite plain and direct. Our solemn duty is to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”

(Bible quotations are from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.)

Back to the Index of Studies in Jude

Distinctives of Presbyterianism

by Bob Burridge ©1996, 2012

Presbyterians are Fundamentally Distinct in their Beliefs

When people hear that someone is a “Presbyterian” they get various ideas about what that means. Their impressions depend upon their experience with the various denominations that use that name. The beliefs and practices of those calling themselves “Presbyterian” have broadened and changed over the decades and centuries.

In time, the main Presbyterian denominations drifted away from the biblical standards upon which they were founded. They united into larger bodies since they have been willing to incorporate secular and humanistic beliefs into their system, ideas which appeal to the progressive ideas of a large segment of our culture. There have also been those Presbyterian denominations which have held tenaciously to those original foundations which were carefully drawn from the Bible alone.

This is a summary of the distinctives of the Historic Presbyterian Faith. It is not intended to present all the biblical support for each point. To study into the evidences behind this general description it would be wise to study a careful analysis of the Westminster Confession of Faith. In depth lessons are provided in our Syllabus on Reformed Theology which is posted on this website as a free web resource of the Geneven Institute for Reformed Studies.

The Reformation

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted 95 theses (questions for debate) on the door of the castle church in Wittenberg, Germany. He proposed no new doctrines, but challenged believers to weed out errors that had crept in, and to return to the teachings of the Apostolic church based only upon what is taught in Scripture.

When any idea is added to our beliefs which does not come from God’s word, the interpretation of the rest of Scripture is effected. Luther was disturbed by the corruption and deception that had resulted when teachings contrary to Scripture became accepted by the church. He saw hurting people being taught things that were not true, and which would not bring God’s peace and joy into their lives. This is why he took a bold stand which God used to shake the foundations of a corrupt society.

In 1536 at Geneva, John Calvin extended the principle of Reformation a bit further. Instead of just looking for errors in what we believe and practice, he set out to begin all over again. What could not be clearly learned from the Bible alone was not to be accepted as truth. He wanted everything about our lives to be based upon the principles, promises, and authority of God’s written word alone. Calvin published his findings in his Institutes of the Christian Religion.

The Westminster Assembly

On July 1, 1643 an assembly of godly scholars assembled at the call of the English Parliament at Westminster Abbey to begin the process of subjecting every doctrine of the church to the test of Scripture. The assembly began its actual work on July 12, 1643. It continued its work until it adjourned on February 22, 1649 after five and a half years of careful and prayerful deliberations. The result was the Westminster Confession of Faith and its two catechisms. These documents lay out the basic beliefs and practices of Presbyterians. Hundreds of years later Dr. John Murray called those statements, “the finest creedal formulations of the Christian Faith that the church of Christ has yet produced.”

The Most Important Principle of the Reformation

God’s word is the only reliable authority to teach us what is true, what is our duty, and what are the promises of God.

Since the most basic Reformed belief is that God’s word is preserved for us in the Bible alone, its method of study and the results of its study are unique. We call the Theology this method produces “Reformed” because it always seeks to be reshaping its beliefs and practices around the one perfect standard, the Bible.

Since God chose human language to communicate his truth to us, we must study the Bible’s words and grammar carefully. Reformed scholars place great importance upon learning the original biblical languages and the history behind each biblical book so that their teachings will be solidly grounded in what God has made known.

The Bible makes it possible to learn with confidence what God has said. Unclear passages need to be understood by cautiously comparing them with other passages where God has spoken more directly on each topic.

There is an important warning for us to remember: We need to be careful not to allow ideas to be introduced into our thinking and world-view which do not come from the Scriptures, but are from our own feelings, assumptions, or imaginations.

This is how we as Reformed Christians approach what God says about himself, about us, about salvation, about what belongs in worship, about how our church operates and is governed. This is what makes us fundamentally different.

One of the consequences of this approach is a very different view of our human nature. There is nothing in all of Scripture to support the idea that we on our own can do anything morally good or honoring to God. Adam represented us all in Eden by the covenant appointment of the Creator. When he sinned all who would be born from him by natural generation bore his guilt, were separated from fellowship with God, and were wholly inclined to live for their own glory and comfort rather than for the glory of the one who made them.

There is nothing humans are able to do in that fallen estate that would remove their guilt, change their nature, or restore them to fellowship with the God they offend by their motives and misdirected interests. Paul quotes from the Psalms as he summarized this uncomfortable but undeniable fact in Romans 3:10-12, “as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

Today’s Reformed and Presbyterian churches are heirs of that principle.

The work of reformation is a continuing one. We must always be on guard against introducing ideas and practices which are not biblical. Though appealing to our fallen nature and appearing to be helpful in reaching our materialistic goals, unbiblical teachings lead us away from God’s ways, into dangerous and forbidden territories.

The church of Christ must always guard, love, and obey what God has spoken in the Bible. The on-going work of reformation is not one of coming up with innovations. It is the constant vigilance of comparing what we believe and do with the form God has given us in Scripture.

The Sovereignty of God

God is presented in his word as one who is really Sovereign over all of creation. Nothing controls or limits him. He is not changed by the actions, desires, or rebellion of his creatures.

Psalm 115:3 “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.”

Our Sovereign Lord even uses the rebellion of his creatures to accomplish his purposes. This does not excuse sin. Wickedness flows from the corrupted hearts of created individuals. God is not in us producing evil. Yet he has determined to employ even the hatred of fallen hearts to display and to accomplish his eternal plan. Peter explained this to the people at Pentecost when he said of Jesus …

Acts 2:23, “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. “

In that statement Peter reminds us that the death of Jesus was planned from the beginning as the way of redeeming God’s people. At the same time the hands that performed that wicked act are held morally responsible for what they willingly did.

The fundamental principles of the Reformed faith demand that we should not invent ideas to explain human responsibility beyond what God has revealed in his word. For example, to imply that the Sovereign election of only some to life is unfair, is to assume a principle that comes from our own fallen understanding of the world not from any text of the Bible.

God is Sovereign over all things, our salvation too. It is his grace, not our own choice, that determines who will be saved from judgment by the work of Christ. Both our choice and faith in Christ are evidences of the transforming work of God’s grace in us. They are not the cause of grace. That would contradict what the Bible tells us about human moral inability and about God’s unchangeableness and kingship over everything.

The teaching of Scripture is clear.

2 Timothy 1:9 (it is God), “who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began”

Speaking of those who receive Jesus Christ John 1:13 says, “who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

God’s Sovereignty is also seen in the success of what Jesus came to do in his death for sin. If he came intending to save all fallen humans, then he failed. But if he came to save only those given to him by the Father (John 6:37,44; 17:9), then he fully succeeded and accomplished the eternal plan of an unchanging God.

The Reformed principle of using the Bible alone roots out the humanistic idea that claims power for individuals to force God to shape or to change his plans according to what they desire. Grace must remain grace. If our work, choice, or decision determines our salvation, then grace is no longer grace. It becomes an artifact of human merit. That is absolutely incompatible with what the Scriptures teach.

The Biblical Concept of the Church

Our study of Scripture leads us to speak of the church in two different but not completely distinct senses. Together they help us understand the covenant community God founded by grace. The members of that community are to represent Christ’s kingship to those around them.

There is a sense in which the church is Invisible. Only God knows who are the true Christians. The Westminster Confession (25.1) says, the invisible church “consists of the whole number of the elect that have been, are or shall be gathered into one, under Christ the head thereof… .”

The New Testament also speaks of a Visible church. The Westminster Confession (25.2) says, the visible church “consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion; and of their children and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God …”

Those redeemed by God’s grace know they need to be accountable to one another as well as to their Eternal Lord. They know that God requires them to follow the organizational structure he established for them. They should become active members in a local congregation, part of the Visible Church.

In the early years after the death of the Savior, local churches were established in each community. They did not assume they could know who was truly regenerated by grace. The invisible church remains invisible to us. The church that is visible to us is made up of those who profess to trust in Jesus Christ as their Redeemer and Lord, and who submit to Baptism as a sign and seal of God’s work upon their hearts.

The covenant community includes the children of believers. While those converted to Christianity must show evidence of saving faith to receive Baptism, their children are to be baptized as well, just as the children of believing Israelites received the sign and seal of the Covenant prior to the resurrection of Christ. Adults however were always required to profess a credible faith before receiving the sign of the Covenant in both eras. Just as the Old Testament provided for believer’s circumcision of those converted to Judaism, the New Testament provides for believer’s baptism when the lost turn to the Savior from a prior life of unbelief. No where in the New Testament does it say that from that time on children of Christians were no longer to be considered a part of the Covenant community, or that they had to wait to come as pagans later in life by profession of faith. Such a change would have raised great concern and confusion for parents who grew up under God’s promises to their children before the coming of the Savior, yet such a reversal and exclusion does not appear in any of the Scriptures written after the coming of our Savior.

Baptism does not save anyone, nor does it mean that everyone baptized is truly saved. Israel was God’s covenant people in the past, but among those who were called by that name were many who proved to be only superficially Israelites. The same is true today of both adults and children in the church. Some of those who are part of the church on earth are truly forgiven by grace. Some are only outwardly identified with the followers of Christ. They are not so in the eyes of God.

If it becomes evident that a member does not submit to the teachings and grace revealed to us in Scripture, that person should be counseled to turn to the Savior in faith with a credible repentance. If they will not come to Christ in this way, they should be removed from the roll of the church both to show the rebellious their need for the Savior, and to preserve the integrity of the church before the watching world. Those removed are not to be shunned or shamed. The goal is to see them restored by a true turning to Christ.

It is there in the local congregations that we make our faith and our Savior’s lordship most visible. We join together as a Christian community to worship, to learn, to encourage godliness in one another, and to carry out the all that Christ commissions his church to do.

As a church we provide opportunities for service in the name of Christ. It is our duty to encourage one another in helpful fellowship. Hebrews 10:24 says, “consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” 1 Corinthians 12 details the need for all to work together sharing and respecting one another’s gifts in our personal ministries for Christ.

We should gather for worship in the way prescribed in Scripture. Out of love for God we want to keep his Sabbath holy and keep our worship centered upon God and his glory. Regular Sunday worship was the common practice of the church from its beginning. Hebrews 10:25, “not neglecting to meet together …”, Acts 20:7,”On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, …”

The church is also there to manage the stewardship of believers over the things God has given them. 1 Corinthians 16:2 “On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.”

Charities, missions, and special needs agencies regularly ask for contributions. Many of them might appear sound and worthy of support. It’s hard for an individual believer to investigate to make sure the claims are true, and that it would be promoting things that are really good and true. No one can support every good cause. To help us make these choices, the church should offer sound direction.

First, we ought to support the Lord’s work in the local church. Then by our offerings beyond that we should generously give to Christ-honoring ministries approved and recommended by the officers of the church. This is the method God gives us in Scripture for financing worship, and providing for the legitimate needs of the church family, the community, and the world at large.

Another responsibility of the church is to guard the Sacraments. They are to watch over how they are administered, and who is admitted to them. All who partake of the Lord’s Supper must have truly repented and come to Christ as their Redeemer. They must also rightly understand what the Sacrament represents and the purpose for which the church gathers for that Sacrament (1 Corinthians 11:27-34).

The officers, qualified and ordained according to 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, are the only ones with God given authority to admit someone to, or to bar them from the Sacraments. Jesus made this clear in Matthew 16 and 18. It is not to be a personal decision. It is the “Lord’s Table,” not ours to govern by our own rules and practices. It is necessary to keep disobedient and unbelieving members from the Sacraments if they refuse to repent in true sorrow for their sins, and to turn to Christ for forgiveness and deliverance. Likewise, it is the officer’s responsibility to add believers to, and to remove members from the role of the church.

Together and individually we are told to provide a witness to the person and work of Jesus Christ. It is our duty to confess him before others (Romans 10:9-10). It is through our words and example that the message of God’s grace in Christ is spread to the world. As members of a local church family we can do so much more to make a public testimony to the Lordship of Christ than we can as individuals. Together we can display the love, support, and care our Lord provides in his church.

The church is to provide leadership by biblically ordained officers. The Bible has a great deal to say about how a church ought to be organized and managed. It is within this structure of the local church that order is preserved.

Hebrews 13:17, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.”

1 Thessalonians 5:12-13, “We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. “

Without some kind of defined membership, the local church would be without the leadership described in these verses, and no one could obey these commandments of our Lord.

Membership in a local congregation is a serious matter. To live outside the bounds of a local church is to abandon New Testament Christianity by replacing God’s way with our own ways.

Biblically, there are only two offices in the church.

Elders are to teach and rule in Christ’s church.
From the earliest days when God’s people first began to worship as a community of families they were to be led by Elders. All through the periods of Judges, Kings, Priests, and Prophets the local communities had a council of Elders to teach and govern them.

The New Testament church did not change this. The church is set up to provide care for God’s flock. When Paul met with the Elders in the region of Ephesus he charged them with the duty of being shepherds to the people in their churches. Acts 20:28-31 indicates that the Elders must be on guard for themselves and for their flock. The Holy Spirit made them overseers by God’s authority. As shepherds of the flock of God they are to watch over those purchased by the work of the Savior. They are to be on the alert for deceivers.

The biblical letters of Timothy, Titus and Peter explain the details of the Elder’s job.

Deacons are to administer the material needs of the church.
Due to the increasing work load, seven men were chosen to care for the administration of the material needs of the people of the church in Acts 6:1-6. The Apostles had to be freed to devote themselves to the Elders’ work of prayer and teaching. These Deacons were to carry out the daily administrations which were previously the work of the Priests. With the end of the Levitical Priesthood which was completed at the Cross, these daily acts of mercy had fallen upon the overworked Elders. The Diaconate was instituted by God to implement this care under ordained officers who were themselves directed and overseen by the Elders.

All ordained officers must confess the true biblical faith.
When officers are ordained they are obligated to understand and to adhere sincerely to the views adopted by the church ordaining them. For example, the Presbyterian Church in America’s Book of Church Order (23.5.2) follows historic Presbyterian and Reformed policy requiring that all officers “sincerely receive and adopt the Confession of Faith and the Catechisms of this church, as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures.” If they find themselves at odds with anything in those standards it is their duty before God to inform the court in which they have membership (the local Session or the Presbytery).

A Presbyterian church is not Episcopal.
An Episcopal church is ruled by Bishops. They are a class of ordained officers above the Elders of the local church. The word “Bishop” in the 1611 King James translation of the Bible represents the Greek word “episkopos” (επισκοπος) which means “overseer.” Where the word is used in the Bible, it clearly does not describe a different office. In the context it is describing one of the duties of the Elders. They are to oversee the spiritual needs and instruction of the church. The Episcopal type churches include the Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist and the Roman churches which add to that its Cardinals and Pope. The Episcopal churches that follow the Reformed understanding of Scripture see their Bishops as another class of Elders rather than as a separate office.

A Presbyterian church is not Congregational.
A congregational church is ruled by its members. They vote as a congregation to regulate all matters of the church’s business. Though they may vote to delegate some decisions to officers, the congregation remains responsible as a whole body, and therefore they rule the church as a socialist democracy. Most Baptist and Independent congregations follow some form of Congregational church government. There are some Baptist and Independent churches which follow the Reformed teachings respecting the rule of Elders.

A congregational church draws a sharp distinction between the Elders of the New Testament church, and how the same term was used regarding the Elders God had previously established over his people in the ages before the death of Christ. To them this is a dispensational change, though it is not documented in the Bible.

Most congregational churches see no true connectivity between churches. They do not generally recognize God’s authority represented in the officers of another church of like faith.

The New Testament never represents a congregation voting to determine the course of its business. The presumption that a church is ruled to serve the desires of the governed is a secular political theory which is contrary to the biblical order. Biblically, only the qualified, ordained Elders are to rule the church so that it serves the desires of God toward his people as revealed in his word. The proper focus is always Creator-centered in contrast with being creature-centered (Romans 1:25).

The Work and Duties of the Congregation

The members of the congregation ought to recognize God’s calling upon its officers. It is the duty of the members to compare the gifts of individuals with those explained in Scripture so that they can prayerfully concur in recognizing God’s call upon their Elders (both Pastors and Ruling Elders) and Deacons.

Modern law also grants the congregation as a corporation control over its own property. As they vote to buy or sell property as a corporation under the laws of an individual state, the congregation must remember that the laws of man cannot give the members authority that God has already given to the officers of his church. Therefore in all the business legally assigned to it by the state, the congregation must heed the spiritual instruction and advice of its duly ordained and installed leaders.

All the members of the congregation are to strive to find ways to lend their individual skills, interests, knowledge and energies to the service of Christ’s Kingdom. They should work to minister to one another’s needs, to encourage one another, to help the church in her various ministries. Ultimately their service is a testimony to Christ as the true head of the church. He calls his people to serve him under the rule of his written word administered by the officers called by him.

Communicant members of a church ought to publicly and before the officers solemnly vow and covenant to support the church in its worship and work to the best of their ability, and to submit themselves to the government and discipline of the church, and promise to study its purity and peace.

The “Higher Courts” of the Church.

Acts 15 tells us about a Council that was held at Jerusalem. The Elders including the Apostles gathered to deal with broad problems that faced the church at that time. The leaders took the advice of that council to the churches so that the disputes could be set aside.

In our era, Presbyterian denominations bring their Elders together to settle disputes or differences in understanding God’s word. We call such councils “higher courts” not because they have greater authority than the same Elders have when they serve in their local churches, but because they represent more Elders from more churches. Jointly they share their biblical knowledge and wisdom to come to decisions based upon a broader base than a single church has at its disposal. Since the same authority is held by the Elders of all united churches, we must heed the warnings and advice of such courts when they gather to warn and advise us as our God-appointed teachers and shepherds.

Presbyterians speak of three basic levels of church courts.
The Session or Consistory is the sitting together of the Elders of a local church to carry out its business and to oversee its members and ministries. The Session consists of both Ruling Elders and Teaching Elders.

The Teaching Elders are those who have a seminary level education in the teachings of the Bible. They have been called to a specific ministry to which they have been ordained after examination by the Presbytery. The Teaching Elders may serve as Pastors. Together, with equal authority, the Teaching and Ruling Elders have immediate responsibility for all the members under their care. They hear any cases of complaint or discipline of members before issues can be taken to a higher court (Matthew 18:17-20).

Sessions may admonish, suspend from the Sacraments, suspend from office, or remove members permanently from the Sacraments and from office. Members can respectfully appeal the Session’s decisions to Presbytery, then to the General Assembly if they are dissatisfied with the judgments rendered by the lower courts.

Since the responsibility of the work of the church falls upon its officers, it is usually wise when practical to have an Elder serving as an ex-officio member of every committee or agency both to advise the people and to effect communication with the Session. Committees may recommend actions to the Session, or carry out duties specifically assigned to them. They do not have biblical authority to adopt policies and programs on their own.

The Presbytery is the gathering of the Ruling and Teaching Elders in a given region as a more broad assembly to oversee the work of its churches. Teaching Elders are examined and ordained by the other Teaching Elders of their Presbytery and therefore are members of Presbytery, not of the church in which they minister. When cases are brought against Ministers, they should be brought to the Presbytery. Cases of discipline that have been decided by Sessions may be appealed for review to the Presbytery if the parties or other members of the church believe that an improper or unbiblical decision was made.

The General Assembly is the broadest assembly of Ruling and Teaching Elders. All member churches meet to conduct the business Christ has entrusted to their care. The Assembly can hear appeals of judgments made by Presbyteries if there is a question concerning their decisions. The members of all higher courts have the same authority they have as officers in their own local churches, no more, no less. Since the courts are assemblies of duly examined, ordained and installed Elders, all members are obligated to show them respect and submission when the Assembly agrees on particular issues brought before it.

The higher courts may not change or install new officers in a local church. They may remove a congregation from its role if it does not submit to the authority Christ has entrusted to the officers. This is the highest censure a higher court can, after due process, impose upon a lower court. The higher courts may not usurp the authority of lower courts, nor may they take over in areas of local authority without either direct consent, or the process of a proper trial.

As Presbyterians we believe that Hebrews 13:17 demands that the advice and rulings of Elders must be respected and honored as long as they are made within the bounds of Christ’s authority over his church. We also recognize our responsibility to care for our sister churches to the best of our ability when they need our help and encouragement.

Back to the Basic Principle

The basic Reformed Principle is that Scripture alone is our foundation in all matters of faith and practice. When that principle is applied to each area of our lives, unique principles and beliefs will emerge. There are many distinctives of Presbyterianism. This study has summarized a few of the more outstanding differences that exist between the churches of the Reformed heritage, and others which build upon a different foundation. If God’s word is alone our standard it will effect how we manage our marriages and raise our children. It will effect how we expect our communities to be governed. It will effect how we view schooling, our occupations, and the way we manage our money and property. Life is complex. We of the Reformed Faith pray that God will direct us and enable us as his people to keep bringing all things into conformity with his word. Our hope is that in all things Christ might be glorified.

(Bible quotations are from the English Standard Version unless otherwise noted.)

“The Holy Spirit in the Ministry of the Word”
“Studies about the Holy Spirit” Study #2
by Bob Burridge ©2022

Part 1 “The Power of the Word of God”

Truth is Eternal. It’s the way things are eternally in the mind of the Creator. There it exists without change. What we believe is only really true to the degree that it corresponds with the way things are in God’s mind.

In Psalm 139 we’re told that God knows everything about us. He knows our sitting down and our rising up, our paths and all our ways. There isn’t a word we speak that the Lord didn’t know it before it was even spoken. The psalm writer ends that section of the Psalm in verse six with the humble exclamation, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.”

There is Revealed Truth. Truth as it is in the mind of God would remain unknown if God hadn’t purposed to reveal it to us. The expression or manifestation of God’s truth is often called his “word”. God’s eternal truth is revealed to us in several ways.

1. There is General Revelation: God has made himself known in ways that make the truth available generally. It’s declared God’s truth to all people everywhere without exception. His power and glory are clearly displayed in the works of creation and providence. Psalm 19:1-4, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. …” Romans 1:20, “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”

God’s moral standards are also revealed generally to all in our conscience. Romans 2:14-15, ” … They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them” Even in our lost condition we know that some things are wrong, but we suppress the truth revealed there.

This mode of revelation is not redemptive. It displays what’s true leaving us with no excuse for our failure to worship and obey God as we should. These general modes of revelation are not sufficient to break through to our fallen hearts of stone.

2. There is also Special Revelation: This is God’s direct revelation of truth to us humans. It tells us what God really is and what he expects from us as his creatures. It explains the problem of sin, and God’s plan of redemption.

God’s truth has been specially revealed in many forms. He’s spoken in visions, by miracles, through prophets and judges, even by the mouth of Balaam’s donkey! It was displayed in the work and teachings of Jesus, the second person of the Trinity,

The former immediate ways of God specially making himself known are now ceased. The now completed Bible is our only present source of revealed truth. It came into being by the work of inspiration, a special work of the Holy Spirit. God moved men to write the books of Scripture keeping them from any errors of fact, doctrine, and interpretation. (2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:19-21, 1 Corinthians 14:37).

The infinite truths in the infinite mind of God are given in the finite form of human language. It’s not compromised or changed, but it’s limited to what we finite creatures are able to understand.

The power and efficacy of the word are well attested in the testimony of God’s word concerning itself. Psalm 19:7, “The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;” 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction,
and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” (See also: Psalm 119:11, 38, 107, Romans 1:16, 1 Corinthians 1:21, Hebrews 4:12, 2 Peter 1:19)

There is also a Distortion of Truth. The revealed truth of God successfully declares his glory, power, and godhead, but there’s something wrong. Psalm 14:1. “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ ” 1 Corinthians 2:14. “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” God’s revealed truth renders the distortion or rejection of it inexcusable (Romans 1:20, 10:18).

Part 2 “The Essentially Attendant Power
of the Holy Spirit”

We fallen creatures suffer from moral inability. Fallen man can’t accept God’s truth by his own examination of nature, providence, conscience, or the Bible. The human fallen nature is morally unable to come submissively to the truth about God or of the gospel. We ask along with the disciples, “Then who can be saved?” Our Lord’s reply cuts sharply to the facts, “With men it is impossible” (Mark 10:26-27). But — there is a true hope for the lost!

There is also God’s Work of Grace. The awesome message of grace is sovereignly set forth in the form of a covenant promise from God.

All three persons of the Trinity work to provide the only salvation that’s possible. The Father, according to his own good pleasure, chose some from the fallen race to be redeemed by God the Son. The Son took the place of these chosen ones bearing their sin and satisfying the demands of holy justice. He represented them as he suffered, died, and is now exalted. The efficacious work of the Holy Spirit explained it all as he oversaw the writing of the Scriptures. The work of the Son is applied by the Holy Spirit to each of those the Father chose. He gives them understanding. He moves them to a true faith, repentance, and a desire to grow in pleasing God in their lives.

There is an Ordinary Administration of God’s Word by the Spirit: Ordinarily the word is administered and empowered by the Spirit through means God ordained and commands.
1. We are called to hear what God has said by reading, studying, and learning what the Bible says. The redeemed should meditate in God’s word day and night (Psalm 1:2).
2. We’re to prayerfully come to God asking for him to help us understand his word, and do what it says. Prayer begins at the beginning of each day and continues on from there. (Psalm 5:3)
3. We’re to encourage one another as a family of believers under the oversight of the church God set up. We’re told to encourage and exhort one another in our devotion to God. (Hebrews 10:25)
4. We’re to humbly worship God daily and as we gather on Sundays remembering the work of our Savior. The worship God should be done as he directs us in his word. (Psalm 96:9, 99:9)

All these means are incorporated in our Sabbath Day gatherings for worship as a church. We hear God’s word, pray together, encourage one another, partake of the Sacraments (Baptism and the Lord’s Supper), and we raise up our thoughts and voices in praise of the Triune God.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 commands that covenant homes be places where the word of God is ever present in conversation, study, thought, and behavior. God’s word is to be taught diligently to the children and must always be before us.

The Holy Spirit enables us to the proper and spiritual use of these means of grace.

There’s also God’s Extraordinary Administration of the Word by the Spirit: At times God has moved most extraordinarily where the word and Spirit have turned around nations and churches.

The Bible records the great revival in the time of Josiah. There was a great coming to Christ when the Holy Spirit moved upon thousands on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2.

There have been movings of the Spirit throughout the history of the church as Christ’s kingdom grew dramatically. The Protestant Reformation “re-formed” (re-shaped) our understanding of God’s word by comparing what was being taught with what God’s word really taught (Acts 17:11). There were the great revivals of Ulster, Stewarton, Lanarkshire, and Glasgow of the early 1600’s. In the following century there were special outpourings of grace in Northampton and North America.

There is of course a danger. Some try to duplicate the effects of a true revival by just seeing its outward and emotional outpourings. Deluded leaders and preachers stir the emotions, but fail to soundly proclaim God’s truth. They believe that getting great numbers of followers confirms their shallow message. These leaders may become famous and rich in money, leaving their followers with false beliefs. A humble attitude of seeking the real converting work of the Holy Spirit by God’s word may be missing. They fail to see the ordinary workings of God which sustains and grows his true church.

Some have reacted improperly to the true revivals failing to see it as the work of the Holy Spirit. They turn to scholarly messages to turn people around, not based on God’s word and Spirit. They turn to human philosophy and social issues to transform society.

Part 3 “Dangers of an Unbalanced View”

There are four basic views about the relationship of God’s word and Spirit in the administration of God’s grace.

1. Some fail to recognize the power of both the Word and the Spirit. Natural man in his fallen condition rejects the supernatural as the Bible presents it. He may reject the supernatural altogether, or create his own ideas of it. He ends up in theological liberalism, secular humanism, or some form of pagan mysticism.

This position must, by its own testimony, stand outside of the true church.

2. Some emphasize the Power of the Word without the necessary work of the Spirit. Some refuse to confess the extent of human depravity into which all have fallen.They might imagine the Spirit working in a preparatory manner simply encouraging a person to submit to word, but they believe that each must decide on his own to accept the gospel message.

Given the biblical view of our spiritually dead and depraved condition, no amount of moral persuasion from the word alone without the attendant ministry of the Holy Spirit could turn a person from sin to true repentance and a biblical faith in the revealed truths of God.

Romans 3:11, “no one understands; no one seeks for God. ”
1 Corinthians 2:14, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”
2 Corinthians 3:15-16, “Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.”

The lost might believe certain doctrines to be true, and even believe they worship the true God. They might “worship” in outward forms and do what they believe are “good works”, but there is no true inner conviction of the only real way of salvation in Christ alone, by grace alone.

Without the Spirit’s workings the good seed of the word falls upon stony ground where it is can’t take root. Such people, as with Satan and his demons, may even be rationally convinced of certain doctrines, yet remain unconvicted and unredeemed.

3. Some emphasize the Power of the Spirit without the necessary use of God’s Word. There’s a great danger when people seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit, but undermine having a careful understanding of God’s revealed word.

When God’s word isn’t used as the authoritative test of truth, we can’t know with certainty the truth about the nature and workings of Holy Spirit. We can’t distinguish his operations from the spirit of error and deception. We can’t know that what we “feel led” to do isn’t from our own deceitful hearts. (Jeremiah 17:9)

Some quote the words of Scripture out of their context to justify what they feel is right. They believe that God still gives them special revelation by speaking to them in visions and voices beyond the Bible. They shift their concept of authority to their feelings and experiences which they attribute subjectively to the workings of God the Holy Spirit. These hunger for truth but fail to partake of a full and well-balanced understanding of God’s written word.

4. We need to recognize the full interdependence of both the Word and the Spirit. There must be a full interdependence of the efficacy of the word and Spirit. The word is the objective means which confirms what the Spirit leads us to believe and do. The word is understood properly and made effectual only by the supernatural work of the Spirit. John 16:13 “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth”

Part 4 “There’s Hope in the Power
of the Word and Spirit”

As we read, study, and share God’s word it’s comforting to know that we don’t just depend upon our own skills. While it’s important to learn good study methods and skills in communicating with others, it’s important to remember that the effectiveness of the word is the work of the Holy Spirit.

1. The Bible must be carefully studied. It’s the powerful revealed word of God. We need to pay attention to the meaning of each word, and how they fit together in the sentences and paragraphs. We need to see how it fits in with the whole context of the section we’re studying. It’s important to see where it fits in with what God had already revealed or not yet revealed when it was written. We also need to consider other parts of the Bible where the same things are discussed.

Paul admonished Timothy saying, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)

2. Learning and sharing God’s word is ineffective without the powerful attendant work of the Holy Spirit. We should pray as we study the Bible asking God to guide us in understanding what we read, or hear in Sermons, Sunday School lessons, and group Bible studies. When we share the gospel with those we believe need to hear it, we should do it prayerfully. What brings people to Christ isn’t our skilled presentation. it’s the attendant work of the Holy Spirit.

This interrelationship of God’s powerful word and the work of the Holy Spirit is vitally important.

Note: Bible quotations are from the English Standard Version unless otherwise noted.

Brief Bibliography
I would like to credit the following sources which I have found specially helpful in the preparation of this paper. While many standard theological works and other sources were used, these I have learned to treasure specially regarding this topic:

The Office and Work of the Holy Spirit
by James Buchanan, 1843 Banner of Truth Trust 1984

The Work of the Holy Spirit
by Abraham Kuyper 1900 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 1969

A Discourse Concerning the Holy Spirit
by John Owen, 1674 Banner of Truth Trust 1972

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit
by C. R. Vaughn, 1894 Banner of Truth Trust 1975