III. The Historical Position

1. Regulative Principle

All Christian Churches would presumably claim to be regulated in one way or another. The best of them would claim to be regulated by the Scriptures. In practice this is only partly the case. Throughout the history of the Church this has become a particular focus of discussion and difference. What requires to be examined is how Churches have developed and applied a "regulative principle", especially on the question of worship.

Most Churches would affirm some sort of Biblical authority behind their government and practice. However, under various pressures the application of Biblical authority in Church life has diminished or been modified in most "main-line" Churches. The higher critical movement, which arose in the mid-nineteenth century, produced considerable pressure for a change in the Church's view of Biblical authority, a pressure continued in the twentieth century through much New Testament criticism. Gradually the Bible was reckoned to be insufficient to provide an exclusive source for doctrine and government in the Church. If a Church does not accept the full inspiration and sufficiency of the Bible as God's word, this will clearly have a profound effect on how it will regulate its affairs. The regulative principle thus adopted will be influenced by man-centred considerations and perhaps even by purely social or political concerns.

At the same time there are some who do accept the inspiration and authority of the Bible in an orthodox sense and yet who do not consider that the Bible provides sufficient materials for the regulation of worship and government in the Church. Even some of a conservative evangelical standpoint assert that the Church is largely to be left to its own discretion in these areas of Church practice. They may even point to a part of the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter I, section 6: "there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God, and government of the Church, common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature, and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the Word, which are always to be observed." What is referred to here, however, are circumstances common to human actions and societies. The worship of God, and most specifically its content, the form of Church Government, and the offices and sacraments of the Church, are, however, the distinctives of the Church and scarcely "common to human actions and societies"! The Confession at that point simply refers to some outward circumstances, such as times and places of services, Church records and buildings, Church investments and the like. So the question of a Church's stated, or implicit, regulative principle is all important, not least in the matter of content of praise, an area in which denominational peculiarities, distinctives or prejudices will find expression.(1)

The question, therefore, needs to be asked: What is the Church's regulative principle? Is it sound? Is it Biblical? What are the practical implications for the Church's government and worship? The Churches of the Old and New Testaments were regulated in their government and worship, as well as their doctrine. What were they regulated by? They were regulated by God's express will. To go beyond the revealed will of God was found to be perilous, as Nadab and Abihu found (Leviticus 10:1-3); as King Saul found (I Samuel 13:13-14); as King Solomon found (I Kings 11:9-11); as Israel found (Ezekiel 5:5-8; Malachi 2:1-17); as the Pharisees in Jesus' day found (Mark 7:6-13); as Dives found (Luke 16:19-31, especially verses 29 to 31); and as so many of the Churches spoken of in the Book of Revelation found (Revelation 2 and 3).

The particular law in focus, expressive of the word and will of God, was the decalogue. The common factor was the violation of the will of God in connection with His worship. It was violation, essentially, of the second commandment (Exodus 20:4-6). Worship was not to be organised or performed according to man's desires, but according to the commandments of God. That this is not a strange principle in the New Testament context is sufficiently shown in a passage such as Matthew chapter 15, verse 9, in which Jesus draws on the prophet Isaiah in castigating the hypocrites who subverted the commandments of God, expressed in the decalogue, through their additions. Paul, similarly, in his letter to the Colossians, contrasts the commandments of God and the commandments of men in relation to the devotional life (cf. Colossians 2:20-23).

The word and will of God, then, are to be paramount! That is the uniform message of Old and New Testaments. In the older covenant the principle was "keep my commandments" (Exodus 20:4-6). "Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it" (Deuteronomy 12:32). There were blessings attaching to obedience: as Moses found (Deuteronomy 4:1-2; 39-40); as Noah found (Genesis 6:22; 7:5-7; cf. Hebrews 11:7); as the Children of Israel found (Jeremiah 7:23-24). The last chapter of the book of Exodus is a model of the Old Testament regulative principle.

In the New Testament, too, we find a similar attitude. As Jesus gives commission to His disciples to go into the world with the gospel message, He spells out their task: "teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:20). He says, "if you love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15; cf John 15:14; I John 5:3). In other words the regulative principle of the New Testament Church is basically of the same type as that of the Old Testament. The New Testament Church is to comply with the Saviour's stated wishes. To help in this, of course, the Holy Spirit was sent to the Church, to represent Christ, to extend the Kingdom (John 3:3, 5), to ensure the completion of the Scriptures, and to enable subsequent generations to understand and comply with them (cf. John 14:26; 16:7-8; Acts 2:33). It is not insignificant that at the close of the canon of Holy Scripture there is a warning, a regulative principle (Revelation 22:18-19; cf. Deuteronomy 4:2). The New Testament contains clear principles and regulations governing the life of the Christian Church. There are principles and regulations, for example, in connection with office bearers (Acts 6:1-7; I Timothy 3:1-13 (cf. 4:11 and 5:21); Titus 1:5-9 &c.); in connection with the Lord's Supper (Matthew 26:26-30; I Corinthians 11:23); in connection with Paul's teaching (cf. I Corinthians 2:12-16; Galatians 1:12). The concern is quite simply to know and do the will of the Lord.

This, then, must be the burden of the Christian Church today, no less than in the first century of the Christian era, based as it is — at least as it is supposed to be — upon "the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone" (Ephesians 2:20).

Now, it is true that the Bible requires to be properly interpreted and that differences can arise in that connection. It is necessary that the principles of the Scriptures be grasped as clearly as possible, with sincerity and a good conscience. Ultimately a Church's regulative principle in Christian faith and life will be determined by a combination of the following factors: (a) the perceived authority of the Bible; and (b) the acceptance of the sufficiency of Scripture.

A Church or body of professing Christians with a weak view of the authority of the Bible and its sufficiency will very likely have a different pattern of doctrine and worship from a Church or body of professing Christians which has a high view of Scripture and its sufficiency. What interests us here is how such views have affected the development of the praise materials adopted within Churches.

Two main views have arisen, at least within evangelical Protestantism. The first, which it is suggested is the more Biblical of the two, basically states that only what is prescribed in the word of God is warranted. This was the approach of the Reformed Churches. It maintains that the Church is bound by what God has been pleased to reveal in the Holy Scriptures. Needless to say this implies a high view of Scripture and its sufficiency in all matters of faith and worship. The Westminster Confession of Faith (1647) expresses this well: ". . . it pleased the Lord, at sundry times, and in divers manners, to reveal Himself, and to declare that His will unto His Church; and afterwards, for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the Church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing: which maketh the Holy Scripture to be most necessary; those former ways of God's revealing His will unto His people being now ceased" (I:1).

The implication of this, as it applied to worship, was seen to be this: ". . . the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by Himself, and so limited by His own revealed will, that He may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation, or any other way not prescribed in the holy Scripture" (XXI:1). This is in perfect agreement with the regulative principle evident in the Scriptures themselves and outlined above.

The principle is well stated by the outstanding Scottish Reformed theologian, William Cunningham: "The Calvinistic section of the Reformers . . . were of the opinion that there are sufficiently plain indications in Scripture itself, that it was Christ's mind and will, that nothing should be introduced into the government and worship of the church, unless a positive warrant for it could be found in Scripture. This principle was adopted and acted upon by the English Puritans and the Scottish Presbyterians; and we are persuaded that it is the only true and safe principle applicable to this matter." As far as the implications of this principle are concerned, Cunningham goes on to point out that ". . . if it were fully carried out, [it] would just be to leave the church in the condition in which it was left by the apostles, in so far as we have any means of information; a result, surely, which need not be very alarming, except to those who think that they themselves have very superior powers for improving and adorning the church by their inventions."(2)

The other main view of the regulative principle is more closely associated with the Lutheran or Anglican outlook. This is an altogether looser view, as the XXth article of the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England (1571) indicates: "The Church hath power to decree Rites or Ceremonies, and authority in Controversies of Faith: And yet it is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing that is contrary to God's word written."

In other words, anything may be admitted provided it is not prohibited. It may be recognised how far-reaching this principle could be. For example, as Professor Petticrew put it in 1902, accepting this idea could allow such things as: "the sign of the cross in Baptism . . . bowing to the East, the wearing of symbolical vestments, the lighting of wax candles in churches in the daytime, the ceremonial use of incense, holy water . . . the elevation of the host, &c, &c, for none of these things is expressly forbidden in Scripture."(3)

One can see how this broad principle could be the occasion, not only of the addition of all sorts of things not commanded in the Bible, but also of a serious imposition on people's consciences. No one can be bound by anything which is not entirely Biblical. This principle really states that what the Church says, either as a denomination, or for that matter as a local congregation, goes. It is hard to see how this does not amount to the imposition of commandments of men (cf. Matthew 15:6, 9; Mark 7:6-13; Colossians 2:18-23).

In the New Testament there are clearly some freedoms allowed, such as "free" preaching and prayer. In the matter of song, however, no doubt because it involves a corporate participation, a Book of Praises is to be found. But, then, some people will say that the expansion of revelation in the New Testament surely justifies the extension of praise beyond what we have in the Old Testament. However, as John Murray points out: "We have no evidence either from the Old Testament or from the New that the expansion of revelation received expression in the devotional exercises of the church through the singing of uninspired songs of praise. This is a fact that cannot be discounted."(4)

It is maintained, therefore, that Churches holding to the authority and sufficiency of the Bible as God's word written, would be most consistent in operating from the principle "what Scripture does not prescribe, it forbids". This in turn would cause the Church to look for warrant and provision in the matter of the content of its praises and to be circumspect concerning anything that derived from merely human invention and imposition. If the Church confined itself to what derives from Scripture precept or example it would have a perfectly adequate directory for worship and government. That is the sphere of its discretion. It is the consistent application of this principle which is the basis of our appeal for the use as song in public worship only of the songs of praise found in Holy Scripture.

Notes
(1) Cf. the variety of Hymn Books produced reflecting denominational distinctives.
(2) W. Cunningham, The Reformers and the Theology of the Reformation (London: 1967), pp. 31-32.
(3) Professor Petticrew, Psalm-Singers' Conference (Belfast: 1903), p. 68.
(4) J. Murray and W. Young, "Minority Report of the Committee on Song in the Public Worship of God" (Orthodox Presbyterian Church, 1947), p. 19.

Go to the next installment:
Sing the Lord's Song: Part VI