This, in my
opinion, may well be one of the most crucial issues facing
the church of our times.
Should one
keep the church doors wide open for all and sundry, irrespective
of having a credible profession of
faith, or does one restrict
membership of the church
to those who are able
to give a credible profession of
faith before the elders and the
church?
The danger
of admitting unconverted people
into membership ought to be
evident. When sheep are replaced
by goats, then it is clear that the spiritual temperature of the church will be lowered. Goats
will rule the flock, and they will rule the flock not according
to the Word of the Great Shepherd, but according to their
carnal nature and desires.They will soon replace the Word and the authority of the Great Shepherd with
their own wisdom.
This is exactly what has happened in many former evangelical churches as and when they compromised the standard of entrance into the membership of the church.
This is exactly what has happened in many former evangelical churches as and when they compromised the standard of entrance into the membership of the church.
A Historical Example
Recently I
acquired the works of
Jonathan Edwards and I am finding this to be a fascinating read. The
introductory section includes the Memoirs
of Jonathan Edwards [3]
in which his own experience in his church at Northampton, New
England is described.
On the 22nd
of June 1750 Jonathan Edwards preached his farewell sermon to his congregation in Northampton, New England. This was not a farewell sermon
which he had preached upon leaving the congregation because he had received a calling to another church. No! This
sermon was preached because the church had chosen to dismiss their pastor!
The reason why this happened
was that pastor and people ultimately differed concerning the qualifications for church
membership.
It all
started in 1744 when he was informed that some young
people who were members of the church
had “licentious books in their
possession which they employed to promote obscene conversation among the young people at home“ [4].
Edwards was rightly concerned about
this since these young people, being
members of the church were
corrupting others. So, after preaching a sermon [5]to
this effect, a committee of
inquiry was appointed. The inquiry
became guilty of procedural error[6]
and thus members of the church at
Northampton whose young people had
been subjected to this inquiry began to oppose Edwards and the inquiry. Edward’s biographer writes :
“This was the occasion of
weakening Mr. Edwards’ hands in the work of the ministry, especially among the
young people, with whom, by this means, he greatly lost his influence. It
seemed in a great measure to put an end
to his usefulness at Northampton, and doubtless laid a foundation for his
removal …” [7]
There was however another difficulty of a far more serious nature. The church of Northampton, like many other early churches was formed on the basis of a ‘strict communion’, that is,
only those that had a credible testimony of conversion would be admitted to the communion table, and
only after due examination by the pastor and elders. Rev. Stoddard[8],
Jonathan Edwards’ grandfather and his predecessor
in the church at Northampton however
made a change to this
ruling in 1704[9]
and in this he caused a serious problem for
his successor.
Stoddard introduced the notion that,
Stoddard introduced the notion that,
“unconverted persons … had a right in the sight of God… to the sacraments of the
Lord’s supper;… it was their duty to
come to that ordinance, though they knew they had no true goodness or evangelical holiness. He
maintained that that visible
Christianity does not consist in a
profession and he encouraged unbelievers
to participate in communion on the
principle that they regard the
sacrament as a converting ordinance, and partake of it with the hope of obtaining conversion.”[10]
Although Solomon
Stoddard had faced initial opposition
in departing from this old rule, yet due to
his great influence (he had been their pastor for 32 years by then), his view spread and,
by and by, took hold of ministers and people in the
county and other parts of New
England. When Jonathan
Edwards joined the pastorate at Northampton he had some initial hesitation over this matter, but did not
pay sufficient attention to it until he
began to study the Scriptures, coming to
the conclusion that his grandfather’s
position on this matter was wrong .
"He was fully convinced that to
be a visible Christian, was to put on the visibility or appearance of a real
Christian … and as to the ordinance of the Lord’s supper was
instituted for none but visible professing Christians, that none but those who are real Christians have a
right, in the sight of God, to come to that ordinance… that none ought to be admitted who do not make a profession of real Christianity…” [11]
When Edward’s position had become known in the
town there was a great outcry against him
and calls were made to have him
dismissed. When he wanted to defend his
cause by preaching upon the
subject he was opposed
by the ‘standing committee’[12].
He then proposed to put his argument into writing[13],
but in the end it was read by a very
few, and ultimately Edwards was
dismissed from his pastoral charge.
Observations and Conclusion
When
Jonathan Edwards had called the young
people to account in 1744 the seeds
of Christian nominalism had long been sown, as the church under Stoddard’s long pastorate had permitted the unconverted to participate in the full privileges of
church membership. It is not easy to undo spiritual knots, once they have been tied. Many a good pastor has lost his pastorate due to resisting the unbiblical traditions of their predecessors.
We saw that Jonathan Edwards did not survive this challenge, though we believe he was
right in every way to ensure that the church be considered
as a body of true believers.
I and our congregation continue to stand on the basis and foundation
of our biblical confession of faith in
this regard .
Our 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith [1] states:
26.2 All people throughout the world who profess the faith of the Gospel and render obedience to God by Christ according to the Gospel, and who do not destroy their own profession by any fundamental errors, or by unholy behaviour, are and may be called visible saints.1 All local2 congregations ought to be constituted of such people.3
(1) 1Co 1:2, Act 11:26 (2) Original: particular (3) Rom 1:7, Eph 1:20-22
And
26.6 The members of these churches are `saints'1 by calling and they visibly demonstrate and give evidence of their obedience to the call of Christ by their profession and walk.2 They willingly consent to walk together according to Christ's instructions, giving themselves to the Lord and to one another by the will of God, affirming their subjection to the directives of the Gospel.3
(1) i.e. holy ones (2) Rom 1:7, 1Co 1:2 (3) Act 2:41-42, 5:13-14, 2Co 9:13
The Confession leaves us in no doubt that our Baptist Churches ought to be constituted on the premise that only the converted, regenerate or ‘born again’[2] ought to be admitted as members of the church.
[2] John 3:1-8
[3] These were compiled by Sereno Dwight , a later relative of
Edwards in 1830
[4] The works of Jonathan Edwards: Vol 1
, Banner of Truth , p. cxiv
[5] For this purpose he preached on Hebrews
12:15,16 ( Works, p. cxiv)
[6] Edwards appointed the time for the committee to meet at his house and then
read to the church a list of the names
of the young persons whom he wanted to come to his house at the same time. Some
of the names read were of the persons
accused , and some of them were witnesses. Unfortunately he did not
tell the church who was
guilty and who was merely called upon as a witness. This
caused a big commotion and much anger in the town of Northhampton.
[7] Ibid, p. cxv
[8] Rev. Stoddard
had been the minister of this church for
55 years when Jonathan Edwards was ordained ( p. xxxvii) . He died
on the
11th February 1729
(p.xl)
[9] Ibid . p. xxxvii
[10] Ibid
p. cxv; see also pp xxvii
[11] Ibid, pp cxv- cxvi
[12] I find it interesting that reference
is made here to a ‘ standing committee’
rather than an ‘eldership’.
[13] It was entitled : “ An
Humble Enquiry into the Rules of the Word of God , concerning the
Qualifications requisite to a Complete
Standing and Full Communion in the Visible Christian Church”.
No comments:
Post a Comment