B. The New Testament

But the question that we must now consider is this: is this also New Testament teaching?

[1] I begin with the words of our Lord Himself concerning Jewish tradition.

He denounced the Scribes and Pharisees because they had "a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe [their] own traditions" (Mark. 7:9). And because of this fact our Lord went on to say this concerning their worship: "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain: their teachings are but rules taught by men." (Mark. 7:6-7, quoted from Jer. 29:13) No doubt they were offended by this, but that is not what matters. What matters is that God was offended and, according to Jesus, there were two reasons: first, there was a setting aside of what God had commanded, and second, there was a diligent observance of what God had not commanded at all, but was only from man-made tradition. So, even traditions — highly esteemed among men — are offensive to God unless they are what He has commanded.(15)

[2] The second example I want to consider is Christ and the Samaritan Woman.

No one ever expounded the regulative principle with greater force and clarity than Jesus did, in his meeting with the Samaritan woman (John 4:22-26). Here, as Calvin points out, our Lord "divides the subject into two parts. First, he condemns the forms of worshipping God which the Samaritans used as superstitious and false, and declares that the acceptable and lawful form was with the Jews. And he puts the reason for the difference that the Jews received assurance from the Word of God about his worship, whereas the Samaritans had no certainty from God's lips. Secondly, he declares that the ceremonies observed by the Jews hitherto would soon be ended." Concerning the first point — where our Lord said "you Samaritans worship what you do not know" — Calvin drew this conclusion: "all so-called good intentions are struck by this thunderbolt, which tells us that men can do nothing but err when they are guided by their own opinion without the Word or command of God." He then goes on to the second point, saying: "we differ from the fathers only in the outward form [of worship], because in their worship of God [in Old Testament times] they were bound to ceremonies which were abolished by the coming of Christ." So, if we ask what it means to worship God "in spirit and in truth," this is the answer of Calvin: "it is to remove the coverings of the ancient ceremonies and retain simply what is spiritual in the worship . . . ." The trouble is that "since men are flesh . . . they delight in what corresponds to their natures. That is why they invent many things in the worship of God . . . [when] they should consider that they are dealing with God, who no more agrees with the flesh than fire does with water." To worship God in spirit and in truth, in other words, is to worship God as He now commands us. And "it is simply unbearable," as Calvin says, "that the rule laid down by Christ should be violated."(16) Those who want to worship the true God acceptably must do so in spirit and in truth — because that, and only that, is what He has commanded.(17)

[3] Consider the Great Commission.

The regulative principle is clearly implied in these words of Jesus: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples . . . baptizing them . . . and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you" (Matt. 28:18-20).(18) This, in our view, is exactly what the Apostles did. They taught what Christ had commanded them, not what He had commanded plus their own inventions. Knowing that all authority belonged to Him, they knew there was no place for their own innovations. In the words of Calvin, "he sends away the Apostles with this reservation, that they shall not bring forward their own inventions, but shall purely and faithfully deliver, from hand to hand (as we say), what he has entrusted to them."(19) Now of course it can be argued that these words apply to the whole life of the Christian (and we do not object to that way of speaking). But even if that is so, the fact remains that nothing concerns God more than the worship He has commanded.

[4] Paul's View of the Scriptures.

This principle is also clearly implied in Paul's view of the Scriptures: "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work" (II Tim. 3:16-17). It is not our contention that when Paul wrote these words he was thinking, specifically, about worship. But surely it is self-evident that the Apostle's statement would not be true if there is any aspect of worship which is not clearly — and fully — revealed to us in the Bible.

There is no need to labor the point. But perhaps it will not be superfluous to briefly consider what the Apostles did in the Apostolic Church when this principle was disregarded, or threatened.

[5] Paul's rebuke of the Galatians.

In Paul's letter to the Galatians there is a clear mention of unauthorized worship. "But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain" (Gal. 4:9-11). The people to whom Paul wrote this letter were probably observing the special days and seasons appointed by God in the Old Testament ceremonial system (Ex. 23:14-17, 34:18, etc.). But, if that is the case, it only makes the force of the Apostle's objection all the stronger when applied to special days that God never commanded. When Christ came the Old Testament ceremonial system of worship was superseded. Included in this were the annual sacred days, and even the Jewish Sabbaths. For the Galatians to go on celebrating these days was to act as if they were still waiting for the advent of the Messiah. You can readily see the application. If the Apostle found it necessary to say this to people who continued to observe days which had once been commanded, but were now obsolete, what would he say to people, today, who observe special holy days that God never commanded?(20)

At this point — in order to avoid misunderstanding — we also need to take note of Paul's teaching in Romans 14. Here the Apostle instructed the strong to be patient with the weak, because the weak did not yet understand the liberty they had in Jesus. As a matter of fact they were no longer under any obligation to observe even the special days that God had once appointed through Moses. But the problem was that some of the members of the Church in Rome did not yet understand this. And, as long as it was only a particular member of the Church who was afflicted with this lamentable weakness, Paul was willing to patiently bear with him. He was willing, in other words, to tolerate church membership for a person who felt constrained — by a misinformed conscience — to observe these days. In Galatians 4, however, the Apostle had a different concern in view. In this instance the Church as a whole had submitted itself to a yoke of bondage. The Galatian church, as a corporate body, had yielded to the demands of 'the weak' by observing these days. And when this happened the Apostle was quite uncompromising in his opposition. The reason is that it is wrong for the Church to include in its corporate worship anything that Christ has not commanded. It is one thing, in other words, to tolerate weakness in individual members. But it is something else again when this errant view is imposed on the whole congregation. Yet this is exactly what we see today in most Reformed Churches.

[6] Paul's warning to the Colossians.

Consider also the Church of Colossae. To this Church the Apostle wrote: "Let no one act as your judge in regard to food or dank or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath" (2:16). He warned them not to be defrauded by those who sought to induce them to delight "in self-abasement and the worship of angels" (2:18). "These things," says Paul "have, to be sure, the appearance(21) of wisdom in self-made religion." But the reality is that these things are "of no value" (v. 23). Here again, we have an application of the principle which says 'what is not commanded is therefore forbidden.'

[7] The Book of Hebrews.

The whole book of Hebrews is, among other things, an extended application of the regulative principle. It argues that the whole system of worship, commanded by God under the Mosaic administration of God's covenant, is now obsolete (8:13). And what do we have in its place? The answer is that we have 'the real thing' — not the old "copies" of heavenly things, but — "the heavenly things themselves" (9:23). Whereas the people of God, in the time of Moses, came to an earthly mountain (12:18), we "come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem," and so on (12:22). The church today, in other words, is supposed to live in the realm of heavenly realities, and not any longer in the realm of shadowy symbols. What would we think of a mother who neglected her own real baby to go up to the attic to play with the dolls of her childhood? Yet that is exactly what we are seeing in many once-great Reformed denominations — as they go back to the weak and beggarly elements of ceremonial and symbolic worship. As believers under the New Covenant we are supposed to worship in the realm of 'spirit and truth', not in the realm of the material and representational, as our Old Testament brothers and sisters did.

Many churches today, that call themselves Reformed, are clamoring for a return to ceremonial worship. They call this 'liturgical revival'. If such churches were really serious in their claim to be Biblical, they would be consistent enough to go all the way, by adopting the whole Old Testament system. They would then have a choir made up of people from the tribe of Levi. They would gather an entire orchestra instead of just a combo of their own choice. They would even advocate the rebuilding of the Jerusalem temple. And if they did, I could at least respect them for being consistent. But, of course, the truth is that these 'weak and beggarly elements' have no legitimate place in new covenant worship. We have no need of choirs, orchestras, robes, candles, incense, dancing, or dramatic performance. Why? Because these shadowy representations only obscure the reality of our New Testament privilege; the privilege of going each Lord's Day — in the faithful observance of the commanded exercises of God's worship — right into the heavenly places and the presence of Jesus. May the Lord revive and reform His church again so that it will stop going back to the weak and beggarly elements of Old Testament worship, and recover again the simplicity and beauty of spiritual worship.

What then should our attitude be in the face of this awesome privilege? Are we at liberty to do as we please, to fashion our own 'style' of worship, whereas the people of God in Old Testament times had to be sure that they worshipped God only as He commanded? No, the truth lies in the opposite direction: we — above all — should abhor and shun all these innovations. Is this not what underlies the following warning? "See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven. . . . Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire." (12:25, 28-29) If we dare to invent our own way of worship, when God has told us from heaven what He requires, our sin will be much greater than that of Israelites under the old covenant. The way of worship under the new covenant has now been instituted by the Lord Jesus. Unlike the shadowy worship of old, this worship will never be superseded until our Lord's second coming. How audacious and daring for any of us, then, to presume to change what He has commanded!

We rest our case — primarily — on the kind of Biblical data that we have tried to summarize briefly above. But it is worthy of notice that the regulative principle also agrees with many other vital Biblical principles of the Reformed Faith. We therefore include, at this point, a very brief statement of these principles as they bear on this issue.

C. Other Biblical Principles

[1] The 'Sola Scriptura' principle.

It is the teaching of the Reformed Confessions that the holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the inspired Word of God, 'the only infallible rule of faith and practice,' and that the Bible, alone, is sufficient. This clearly implies that everything we do in the worship of God must be authorized in the Scriptures.

[2] The doctrine of Christ's headship.

Christ is the only King and head of the Church, and therefore the only lawgiver. This clearly implies that He alone has the right to determine the content of worship. The regulative principle is the application of the principle of the sole headship of Christ within the realm of worship.

[3] The doctrine of liberty.

It is the teaching of the Bible — and the Reformed Confessions — that "God alone is Lord of the conscience, and that He has left it free from doctrines and commandments of men, which are, in anything, contrary to His word, or beside it, if matters of faith or worship."(22) Whenever a Reformed Church imposes any practice which is not commanded by God a tyranny is imposed on God's people.

[4] The doctrine of man's total depravity.

Man, by nature (and on account of the fall), is corrupt (or depraved) in every aspect of his being. Even in the regenerate man the motions of sin remain in his members. Therefore, nothing that man invents for himself can possibly be free of contamination, or worthy of being offered to the Lord in worship. Even the Apostles (who were divinely inspired) did not presume to originate anything in the worship of God themselves, but passed on to us exactly what they were given.(23) How, then, could we possibly be so vain as to think that we could improve on what they conveyed to us?

It is our conviction that these doctrines are true, and that they are central to the Church's faithful Biblical witness. It is also self-evident that they imply the regulative principle of worship. If we hold to the regulative principle of worship, we can do justice to these Biblical teachings. Without this regulative principle, we do not even begin to do justice to these Scriptural doctrines.

Notes
(15) "By these words ["in vain do they worship me," etc.], all kinds of will-worship (ethelothreskeia), as Paul calls it (Col. 2:23), are plainly condemned. For, as we have said, since God chooses to be worshipped in no other way than according to his own appointment, he cannot endure new modes of worship to be devised." Calvin's Commentaries, 16:253.
(16) Calvin's Commentaries, 17:150-164.
(17) "If worship must be consonant with the nature of God, it must be in accord with what God has revealed himself to be and regulated as to content and mode by the revelation God has given in holy Scripture. The sanction enunciated ('in spirit and truth') excludes all human invention and imagination and warns us against the offense and peril of offering strange fire unto the Lord." John Murray, "The Worship of God in the Four Gospels," in The Biblical Doctrine of Worship, p. 93.
(18) "Jesus does not suggest in these words . . . that we are permitted to teach what he has not forbidden, but rather implies that we will neither add to nor take from what He has commanded." Norman Shepherd, "The Biblical Basis for the Regulative Principle of Worship," in The Biblical Doctrine of Worship, p. 44.
(19) Calvin, loc. cit., p. 390.
(20) "Do we wonder that Paul should be afraid that he had labored in vain, that the gospel would henceforth be of no service? And since that very description of impiety is now supported by Popery, what sort of Christ or what sort of gospel does it retain? So far as respects the binding of consciences, they enforce the observance of days with not less severity than was done by Moses. They consider holidays, not less than the false prophets did, to be a part of the worship of God. . . . The Papists must therefore be held equally censurable with the false apostles; and with this additional aggravation, that, while the former proposed to keep those days which had been appointed by the law of God, the latter enjoy days, rashly stamped with their own seal, to be observed as most holy." Calvin's Commentaries, 21:125.
(21) "Observe," says Calvin "of what colors this show consists, according to Paul. He makes mention of three — self-invented worship, humidity, and neglect of the body. . . . Paul, however, bids farewell to those disguises, for what is in high esteem among men is often an abomination in the sight of God. (Luke 16:15) . . . . For it should be a settled point among all the pious, that the worship of God ought not to be measured according to our views; and that . . . any kind of service is not lawful, simply on the ground that it is agreeable to us." Calvin's Commentaries, 21:201-02.
(22) Westminster Confession of Faith, XX.ii.
(23) Note, for example, Paul's statement in I Cor. 11:23, "For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you . . . ."

Go to the next installment:
The Scriptural Regulative Principle of Worship: Part III