People of the Promise, Part II
Posted to the
RCUS Forum, April 20, 2008
C. W. Powell
Below is Part Two of exegesis arising from a critique of the
papers on Women Voting adopted in the mid-sixties but never ratified by
constitutional amendments, although several attempts were made.
These exegetical efforts are part of my repentance concerning
whatever harm I might have done by promoting these ideas in my early years, and
not opposing them more vigorously in later years. I was confused for many years and only recently have, in my own
mind, achieved a certain clarity concerning this subject.
I hope they will be a comfort and blessing to those who believe
that it is not out of place for women to vote in the congregation of a church
governed by Presbyterian principles. I
also hope that they will only be a very minor irritation for those who do not.
I do not seek to change any principle of the government of the
RCUS in writing these papers. I am
happy that this matter is still a matter of some ambiguity and liberty in the
churches, but it should be so understood to be that.
-----------------------
This is Part Two of the examination of the Position Papers on
Women Voting. Part One, if you missed
it may be found at http://basketoffigs.org/totalindex.htm
Part Two: The weakest
aspect of this report [Number 2] was what it did not do. The most important aspect of the subject of
women voting was completely ignored with the gratuitous assumption: "The authority of the church is also a
Spiritual authority, but that has no direct bearing on the subject of this
study and so will not be involved in our discussion." What?
Can it be that human authority does not rest upon and is not defined by
Spiritual authority? Is the work of the
Spirit to be left out of this discussion?
It is true that human authority is derivative, but derivative of
what? I will not drink the water if I
do not know from whence it comes. That
is the fatal flaw of the Second Report, in the view of this writer. To ignore the authority of the Holy Spirit
is to make the human and fleshly absolute.
If we want to know the nature of the church and our relationship
to her, it might be very important that we understand the nature of her
founding as it is set forth in the book of Acts. The work of the Spirit is not fulfilled by Moses; Moses is
fulfilled by the work of the Spirit.
Why go to types and shadows when the sun is blazing in the sky?
As we saw previously in my post on 1Cor. 11, “Why would we go to
Moses to find out how the Holy Spirit rules the church? Too much reliance on Moses to interpret
Christ instead of using Christ to interpret Moses might lead us into
slave-holding, 7th day Sabbatarianism, paedo-communion, polygamy, British
Israelism and her cousins in Germany, Holland and America, stoning Sodomites
and unruly children, and denying ourselves a good ham at Easter. I believe the danger of a misplaced
patriarchy will much more tend in that direction than women voting will tend
toward feminism.” A reasonable man
would not advocate slaying the baby because he might grow up to kill his
father.
I will confess, that for many years I studied Acts to refute the
Pentecostals, seeking to show that Luke did not say what they said he
says. I also wanted to flee from
congregationalism, so often read the bible to refute congregationalism. I also
and still do hate feminism and often read the Bible to refute feminism. I will not vote for Hillary or Obama and
godly women I know will not either. It
is important to refute all these errors, but it is far more important to know
what Luke is saying than what he is not saying. Luke wrote his gospel to give an account of the work of Jesus
before His resurrection; he wrote Acts to give an account of the work of the
Son of God in Heaven building His church by the direct work of the Holy Spirit.
When a baby is born it is possible to determine what sort of thing
it is. Human babies display the image
of God very early, as every Christian mother and father knows. The nature of the true church emerges very
clearly in the account that Luke gives.
The account of Luke in Acts is not a random assortment of interesting
events, but a clear delineation of Christ’s work from heaven in establishing
the true church. The words are Luke’s, but clearly the Holy Spirit had a
purpose in the inclusion of every detail and every word.
We should begin, perhaps, with Ephesians 1: in Paul’s prayer for
the church: “The eyes of your
understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his
calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And
what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us–ward who believe, according
to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised
him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name
that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And
hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things
to the church, Which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in
all.” Ephesians 1:18-23
As Calvin says, Christ is the head and the church is His
body. This is a wonderful mystery: the
church is the fullness of him that filleth all in all. Christ, the Mediator, is somehow incomplete
without His bride. Just as it was not
good for Adam to be alone, so Christ must have His church. He has also endowed His bride with great
authority and glory. The power of the
Last Adam is poured into His Church by the Holy Spirit. The energy and power of the godly woman is
enhanced by the love and sacrifice and service of a godly husband, whose life
is enhanced and energized by the powerful work of his Head, the Mediator, whose
life was characterized by the power and decree of his Head, the Triune
God. Paul says we are to love our
wives like Christ did His church. Jesus
said not to seek greatness by authority, but by service.
“But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that
they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them;
and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great
among you, shall be your minister: And whosoever of you will be the chiefest,
shall be servant of all. For even the
Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his
life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:42-45)
The last act of Christ’s earthly life was to wash the disciples’
feet, not to institute a sacrament, but as Calvin says, to give us an example
of service to one another. To say this
rule is only for the Apostles is foolishness, and would imply that the Lord’s
Supper is only for them, for Christ instituted the Feast only among the apostles,
not as the heads of families, but as the foundation [their doctrine] of His
Church. [Not the patriarchy—so much for paedo-communion]. The Lord’s Supper is therefore observed in
the Church, not in families. The Feast
is for all believers to give them spiritual strength to serve one another.
Calvin says that the love of the brethren is despised because
“every man thinks more highly of himself than he ought, and
despises almost every other person. Nor did he intend merely to inculcate
modesty, but likewise to lay down this rule of brotherly love, that they should
serve one another; for there is no brotherly love where there is not a
voluntary subjection in assisting a neighbor.” In loc, Commentary on John 13.
The Holy Spirit raised Christ from the dead [Romans 8:11]. This same power works in those who
believe. Their works of faith, hope,
and charity are the work of the Holy Spirit which is poured out upon those who
believe. Therefore Jesus said to the apostles, “All power is given to me in heaven
and in earth; go…” He did not tell them
to go and have children, but to preach the gospel, because the church would be
born not of a fleshly seed, but of a spiritual one, the word of God which lives
and abides forever. We are not the
children of God by our fleshly birth, but by our heavenly one, “Being born
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which
liveth and abideth for ever.” 1Peter 1:23.
The creation mandate is to go and have children; the mandate of
the new creation is to preach the gospel to every creature. The creation
mandate is included in the gospel mandate, but they are not the same thing,
although our children are certainly included in the great commission and are
nigh unto the promises, the eternal covenant, and faith. The Great Commission begins in our families,
but our loved ones will not be saved by nature but by the work of the Holy
Spirit. Grace overcomes Adam’s nature
or none of us would be saved. The Holy
Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son and is the author of both
nature and of grace. This is the reason
why our children must be brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
The church was not born of Israel or the physical seed of Abraham
or of any other natural work. The
church is the bride of Christ, born of incorruptible seed, the word of God,
which lives and abides forever. In this
there is an analogy between the church and the Lord Jesus, who was not born of
the seed of the flesh but of the Holy Ghost in the body of the Virgin
Mary. Man had nothing to do with the
incarnation of our Lord Jesus. The
church was the direct production of the Holy Spirit, moving in the hearts of
individuals, uniting them with Christ and to His body. Certainly the seed of the promise was
enclosed generally in the nation of Israel, but the seed of the promise
believed the Lord Jesus and followed Him.
The kingdom was taken from Israel after the flesh. [John 10 and Matt.
21:43] and given to a righteous nation bringing forth the fruit of the kingdom.
[Is 26:12-15]
The soul of Israel was the Promise of Christ and the seed that
believed; just as the life and soul of the church are those that believe in
Christ and “embrace with a believing heart all the sufferings and death of
Christ, and thereby … obtain the forgiveness of sins and life eternal; but
moreover, also, to be so united more and more to His sacred body by the Holy
Spirit, who dwells both in Christ and in us, that, although He is in heaven and
we on earth, we are nevertheless flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone, and
live and are governed forever by one Spirit, as members of the same body are
governed by one soul.” HC76. Those who
have not the Spirit are none of His, though they are members of the visible
church [Romans 8:7-9].
The gospel net catches all kinds of fish and the final separation
between elect and non-elect will not be made until the end of the world
[Matt. 13:47]. Not only are children of the flesh
introduced into the church by natural procreation, but many, like Simon the
Sorcerer [Acts 8:13], enter for non-gospel reasons. But the soul of the church are those born of the Spirit.
In this passage under consideration [Eph. 1:18-23] we see that
Christ is made the head of the church and there is no other head but Christ. His power and authority is distributed from
heaven to His members by the Holy Spirit that is given to us. This is the reason that one of the
attributes of the church is “spirituality” or invisibility, for the things of
the Spirit lie hidden to the eye of the flesh.
Of course, Rome does not distinguish between the visible and invisible
church, because they are motivated by super-cessionism, the idea that Rome is
the continuation of fleshly Israel, the visibilization of the Kingdom of
God. The result is the externalism that
dominated Israel and was so strongly condemned by our Lord [Luke 11:39 etc.].
Christ, the Messiah, our head, has but one body, the Church. He is complete only when the fullness of his
body is completed through the mighty work of the Holy Spirit in the world. [See
Calvin, Commentaries, in loc.] In
order to complete His body, the church, all power is given to Him in heaven and
in earth, and all things are put under His feet that the great work of the
church might be completed. This working
of the Holy Spirit in the world is the result of His triumph over sin and death
and hell, and His ascension into Glory to the right hand of the Father.
The Acts of the Apostles sets forth the working of this mighty
power in the church. We should keep in
mind the figure used here: Christ is the head, the church is His body, His body
is being completed by the mighty working of the Holy Spirit, so that Christ
might be complete in His body, that no part be missing in the last day. [Calvin]
1. Acts 1:4-8. And,
being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart
from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye
have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized
with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” The church would be the work of the
Holy Spirit, which was the meaning of their baptism. Not circumcision which emphasized a natural seed, but Christ who
begets His people by an incorruptible seed, by the Word of God which lives and
abides forever, according to 1 Peter [see below]
2. Acts 2:14-21. There were assembled in the upper room in
Jerusalem 120 person, both men and women. [1:13-15]. If they came in families
the fact is not noted. The Holy Spirit
came upon all in fulfillment of Joel:
They all spoke with tongues.
Women were there because the prophecy of Joel is said to be fulfilled,
that the Holy Spirit would be poured out upon God’s servants and His
handmaidens, and that all would prophecy: sons and daughters, young and
old. Sons and daughters were there, but
we don’t know if babies or small children were. It is foolish to speculate on such things, I think. I also suspect that there were parts and
pieces of families there, for Jesus said he did not come to bring peace, but a
sword—that a man’s enemies would be of his own household. [John 10:34-36]
This was the inauguration of the church, and it came upon the
individuals assembled: not just the apostles, but upon every single believer.
Of course, these special gifts did not continue in the church but the very
presence of them at the founding of the church seems to say a great deal. Both men and women prophesied in church, as
is also indicated in 1Cor.14 and 1Cor. 11. When the special gift ended Paul would
forbid women to speak in this context.
With the end of the special gift, the general office of believer
would not qualify even every man to speak in worship. Preaching and teaching are restricted to the male, clearly, but
reserved to those appointed and called of God, recognized by the church by the
laying on of hands. It is a fearful
thing for someone—man or woman--to usurp the ministry of the word without the
call of God and the recognition of the church.
Women and most men are to keep silence in worship, which is the practice
in faithful Reformed churches today.
Clearly, the leaders are chosen by God, and the church is to recognize
and affirm God’s choice. It is also a
fearful thing when God removes the church’s lamp and the light goes out in his
temple because there are no faithful ministers or elders. No congregational
election can make true what God has not made true. If they choose a poltroon to be an elder, he is just a poltroon
with an office. The office is bigger
than the man, and God may use him in spite of his character [John 11:15], but
we must not tempt the Lord.
At Pentecost, Peter defines what the result of the pouring out of
the Spirit would be:
“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of
you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive
the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the
promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even
as many as the Lord our God shall call.” (Ac 2:38-39)
Just as Jesus said in John 10, the good shepherd would lead his
sheep out of Israel one by one, add to them his sheep not of that fold, and
there would be a new fold. The sheep
would be known not by their identification with the old folds, but by their
response to the voice of the Shepherd.
Tribalism would be finished of all sorts: Roman, Jewish, Dutch, French,
English, German, Scottish, etc., although clearly families would be included,
if they continued in the faith. If they
did not continue in the faith the families would not be blessed. The blessing was the true inheritance of the
saints. Abraham’s blessing is the
reception of the Spirit by faith [Gal. 3:19].
There was also a business meeting of the church at its very
founding, the only business that we know was the choosing of an apostle to take
the place of Judas who had died under the wrath of God. We commented on this above.
3. After Peter’s sermon
3000 were added to the church, by the direct power of the Holy Spirit in
response to the preaching of Peter. Acts 2:42ff reports that they continued in
fellowship and in the Apostles’ doctrine.
They had all things in common and many sold their goods and presented
them to the Apostles. “And all that believed were together, and had all things
common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as
every man had need. And they,
continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house
to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising
God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church
daily such as should be saved.” (Ac 2:44-47)
There was a great increase of the people and not one baby is
reported being delivered among them, but it is certain that babies were
baptized because of the promise that was to them and their children. They were
denominated “believers.” There were woman among them, among whom was Sapphira,
as we see in chapter five. The goods
were divided to “all men,” but men must have included women, for the Grecian
widows would later complain of neglect, for they had a right to be treated
equally. These new believers were
“added” to the church which had its beginning in the 120 men and women in the
upper room in Jerusalem. They were
those who had been “called out” by the gospel and the power of Christ’s
resurrection. All were included under
the various names, “believers,” “whole multitude,” “multitude.” Even the phrase “men and brethren” a least some of
the time must refer to the whole multitude, both men and women, if we are not
to strain reason beyond measure [Acts
2:14, 29 with 2:41-47 with Acts 6:1 and such.]
If the multitude included both men and women, then addresses to
the multitude that begin “men and brethren” must include the women, unless you
think that the speakers were not addressing “all believers” in the sense of
Acts 5:14, both men and women. These
were “added to the Lord,” to the whole multitude, for women were also “in the
Lord.” If these expressions can be
restricted to men only, then it is possible to make words say anything we
wish. We ought not to exegete this way,
and young ministers must learn better methods.
We may think we have found the fish we seek, but it will prove elusive.
In addition, Acts 5:13 says that “no man durst join himself to
them.” Does this mean, then, that only
women were joining the church? But verse 14 says that the believers were added,
both men and women. So verse 13 “men”
must be a general term which means “person” if words are to mean anything. “Man” doesn’t always mean “male.”
4. Acts 5:1-10. Both Ananias and Sapphira were slain by God
for their sin of lying to the Holy Ghost.
Their punishment was certain, swift, individual, directly from God. Women ought to be very careful how they
participate in the sins of their husbands and the rebellions of their husbands,
even in the church, and no man has a right to compel his wife to anything that
would involve her in failing to take responsibility for her own soul and her
own moral and spiritual life. Some things
cannot be delegated to another, and personal responsibility to seek the Lord,
know the Scripture, and obey is certainly not something that can be delegated
to husband, father, elder, minister, bishop, or pope, or the Reformation was a
bunch of foolishness. Every believer
partakes of Christ’s anointing and is engaged in the work of prophet, priest,
and king [HC 32].
The only Mediator between God and man [generic term in the sense
of Genesis 1:27: “God created man in
his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he
them.”] is the Lord Jesus Christ. The
male must not assume more than is given to him. It is also interesting that both Ananias and Sapphira came in
separately to church—three hours apart—and both told the same lie and received
the same punishment.
The best guarantee that a man can have for a happy and contented
marriage is a woman who is closely connected to the Lord Jesus, her true
Lord. She walks by faith, trusts in
God, does her duty, and is filled with love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
etc. Against such there is no law, and
her husband will have no need of spoil, for he is rich indeed. These things cannot be commanded, for they
are not the fruit of the flesh, but the fruit of a true and living connection
to Christ by His Spirit. It is as
unnatural for a woman to be a godly wife as it is unnatural for a man to be a
godly husband. Both must be born of the
Spirit and walk in the Spirit to fulfill the roles for which they were created.
Sapphira couldn’t plead that she just did what her husband
said. Come to think of it, she didn’t
have a chance to do so; her punishment came swiftly and sternly and she was
dead before she could think up an excuse.
This does not mean that a principle of male authority is not real
and taught by faithful ministers, but it also must be noted that it must not be
given an absolute quality that relieves the woman of responsibility for her own
soul. The things of this earth,
whatever they are, are subordinate to the things in heaven, and no relationship
should be made absolute, in order to explain everything by it. For instance, it is true that God is our
Father in heaven; but this doesn’t mean that He is not also our Judge and also
our Shepherd. None of these ideas can
be made absolute.
The fact that every confirmed and knowledgeable Christian partakes
of the body and blood of Christ in the Lord’s Supper is a continuing reminder
of our own individual connection to Christ and our own individual
responsibility to grow in the knowledge and understanding of our Lord.
This incident sets forth another principle of the church: each
individual Christian is responsible directly to the Lord Jesus Christ through
the Holy Spirit for his behavior. There
is only one head, and that is Christ.
Wives cannot blame their husbands, children their parents, subjects
their kings and governors, for each of us must give an account of ourselves
before the Lord.
This principle of individual responsibility was predicted as being
a characteristic of the New Covenant:
“In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a
sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge. But every one shall die
for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be
set on edge. Behold, the days come,
saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and
with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their
fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of
Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith
the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of
Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward
parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be
my people.” (Jer 31:29-33)
This is also reiterated by John:
“But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye
need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all
things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall
abide in him.” (1Jo 2:27) Of course,
this principle is not to be made absolute, either, as if God had not appointed
teachers and ministers for his church, but it does mean that those in authority
are not dealing with a blank slate, but with people who have the Holy Spirit to
teach them, the Lord Jesus as a Mediator, and a Heavenly Father to guard and
protect them.
It also means that church members are not like baby robins with
their mouths open to swallow everything that mama gives them. They are required to judge the things that
are said, even that said by Paul himself [1Cor. 10:15 and Galatians 1]. In the
first passage cited Paul is calling them to recognize for themselves that
Scripture forbids idolatry; in the second they were to judge by that which had
already been preached to them. But they
were to decide as people who had brains.
As we saw above, every believer has authority directly from the
Lord Himself to be a prophet, priest, and king before Him, as our catechism
confesses: HC 32. This is what it means to be a Christian, so
every Christian to be faithful to the Lord must exercise this authority within
the communion and discipline of the faith.
Both men and women find this great freedom, not apart from authority,
but under authority.
5. After the death of
Ananias and Sapphira there was another growth spurt in the church. “And
believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.”
(Ac 5:14) This was the work of the Holy
Spirit through the ministry of the apostles. Acts 5:42. These multitudes were added to the whole
multitude.
6. Acts 6. Because of the great growth of the church,
tension arose over the distribution of the daily provisions. Deacons were chosen: the requirement: “men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we
may appoint over this business.” This
was told to “the multitude” and there is no exegetical reason on the
earth--particularly in Acts--to assume that this multitude was a multitude of
men and not the same multitude that began with the 120 and was swelled by the
events recounted. In fact, verse 5
indicates that the choice of the seven was made by the “whole multitude.”
We do not do exegesis to find something that isn’t there in order
to combat evils in the world. The bad
exegesis will come back to bite us like an ungrateful pet. We can assume that the “whole multitude” was
organized after Jewish traditions and customs, but we better admit our
assumption is without foundation unless we find our basis in some unitary view
of the covenant that mixes Moses with Christ, a view that was unanimously
rejected by the RCUS as being out of accord with the Three Forms of Unity. Unless you believe that the new wine was put
into old bottles, then the elect of the New Covenant are not under the same
order as the elect of the Old Covenant.
We are Christians and not Jews.
We worship on Sunday and eat ham at Easter. We eat and drink the Lord’s Supper and do not observe the
Passover [I hope]. We are baptized into
Christ and not circumcised unto Moses.
The deacons were not chosen because they were heads of family—the
only connection that mattered was their connection to the Lord Jesus who had
poured out His Spirit upon them. There
was no age requirement, no marriage requirement—just that they be honest and
faithful and filled with the Holy Ghost.
I will not attempt in this paper to define what “filled with the Holy
Ghost” means. It doesn’t mean they
talked gibberish, but were filled with faith, hope, and charity, at the very
least.
This is the end of Part 2 of the examination of the Position
Papers. Part 3 will continue
exposition of Acts in terms of the work of the Spirit in organizing and defining
the nature of the Church.
C. W. Powell, Trinity Covenant RCUS, Colorado Springs
http://www.basketoffigs.blogspot.com
