I know it is easy to be distracted by Christmas and everything, but don’t forget about Covenant Radio!
And, more specifically, mark your calendars for the night of January 16 3 (sorry, for the Ayn Rand allusion; I can’t help myself) when I will be interviewed regarding my new bookl.
Here’s a confession: I actually don’t know what I think about Ron Paul when I think of all the responsibilities of a president. And I, frankly, get tired of hearing about what a perfect document the Constitution is and how it should be followed forever and ever world without end.
But sometimes I don’t care. I just want to vote for the guy who will spend his term trying to destroy these bureaucracies. Just promise you will raise unemployment in the Virginia and Maryland capital suburbs by, say, ninety percent, and you will have my vote.
Continuing from here to the Bible, let us start again with the first two paragraphs of the Westminster Confession chapter 25:
1. The catholic or universal church, which is invisible, consists of the whole number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ the Head thereof; and is the spouse, the body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.
2. The visible church, which is also catholic or universal under the gospel (not confined to one nation, as before under the law), consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion [1CO 1:2 Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours. 1CO 12:12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. PSA 2:8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. REV 7:9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands. ROM 15:9 And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name. 10 And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. 11 And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people. 12 And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust.]; and of their children: and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God [EPH 2:19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. 3:15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.], out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation.
Wait a minute! That’s not what I posted last time. It is far longer. And it contains the statements about the body of Christ in the paragraph about the visible church (I thought the reference to saints was also interesting, but I will say no more about it).
No officer in the PCA is required to believe that the Scripture proofs are the best. In fact, despite recent SJC experiments in informal constitutional revision, it is perfectly legal to regard them as erroneous. But it does show us that at least some of the Reformed ministers at the Westminster Assembly thought Paul’s statement about the body of Christ in First Corinthians 12.12, 13 had to refer to the visible Church. It is one thing to disagree with a prooftext; it is quite another to say that agreeing with them is a violation of the system of doctrine in the Westminster Confession itself.
But can any other view of First Corinthians 12.12, 13 really make sense? Here’s the passage in context:
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the higher gifts.
Now, in what world of discourse are teachers invisible? And how can one honor others in an invisible society? Is Paul asking for us to display an invisible unity in our diversity of invisible gifts?
This is obviously all about the visible church, the body of Christ which is equipped with visible people, including visible officers:
Our blessed Saviour, for the edification of the visible Church, which is His body, has appointed officers not only to preach the Gospel and administer the Sacraments, but also to exercise discipline for the preservation both of truth and duty.
THE US backed Turkish air raids on Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq overnight with intelligence and clearance to enter Iraqi airspace, Turkey’s army chief said.
“The United States gave intelligence,” General Yasar Buyukanit was quoted by the Anatolia news agency as telling the private television channel Kanal D.
“But what is more important is that the United States last night opened northern Iraqi airspace to us. By doing that, the United States approved the operation,” Gen Buyukanit said.
The general’s staff announced earlier that Turkish warplanes had carried out air strikes overnight against positions of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants in the Kurdish-run north of Iraq.
Artillery pounded the targets after the air raids, they said.
“The PKK should watch its step. It should not forget that, for us, its camps and movement in northern Iraq are like a Big Brother show,” the general said, referring to the popular reality TV show.
He said winter conditions in mountainous northern Iraq would provide no refuge for the rebels who have been waging a 23-year campaign for self-rule in Turkey’s southeast.
“The Turkish Armed Forces have given the message to the Turkish public and the world that whether it is winter or summer, we will find and hit them (PKK rebels) even if they live in caves,” Gen Buyukanit said.
Well, its not really over, except for chapter five. But David says that he needs to get a real job so Crimson Dark will become merely a weekly (and he’s worried about even making that schedule).
That saddens me.
I’m reading Leithart on P. J. O’Rourke on Taylor Clark on Starbucks. It is an eye-opening account of the good, the bad, and the evil (the fair trade tyranny).
I wish I could believe that Barnes & Noble and Border’s are doing for books what Starbuck’s is doing for coffee (allowing the opening of a lot of stores, including “mom&pops”). But the internet interferes with that possibility.
Still, with that many coffee shops opening up, it seems to me that the Starbucks phenomenon may end up being the last refuge for retail books and music.
OK, which one of the following constitutes an exception to the constitution of the PCA:
Here is the relevant data. First, the the Westminster Confession states:
CHAPTER 25: Of the Church
1. The catholic or universal church, which is invisible, consists of the whole number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ the Head thereof; and is the spouse, the body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.
2. The visible church, which is also catholic or universal under the gospel (not confined to one nation, as before under the law), 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, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation.
Second, at the beginning of the PCA’s Book of Church Order, in part two of the Preface we read:
The Presbyterian Church in America, in setting forth the form of government founded upon and agreeable to the Word of God, reiterates the following great principles which have governed the formation of the plan
There then follows a list of these principles. The third one begins:
Our blessed Saviour, for the edification of the visible Church, which is His body, has appointed officers not only to preach the Gospel and administer the Sacraments, but also to exercise discipline for the preservation both of truth and duty.
So we have a straightforward definition of the invisible church as (among other things) the body of Christ. We have a definition of the visible Church that doesn’t include a statement that it is the body of Christ. And we have a statement that the visible Church is the body of Christ. In fact we have more than one. For example, again in the BCO:
CHAPTER 2
The Visible Church Defined
2-1. The Visible Church before the law, under the law, and now under the Gospel, is one and the same and consists of all those who make profession of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, together with their children.
2-2. This visible unity of the body of Christ, though obscured, is not destroyed by its division into different denominations of professing Christians; but all of these which maintain the Word and Sacraments in their fundamental integrity are to be recognized as true branches of the Church of Jesus Christ.
2-3. It is according to scriptural example that the Church should be divided into many individual churches.
Note the consistency. If the visible church was not the body of Christ, then the divisions in the church could not possibly either obscure, or raise the issue of destroying, the unity of the body of Christ.
So it follows inexorably that, to doctrinally agree with the constititution of the PCA, one must teach that
This should not be controversial. And it should be understood that one cannot amend the constitution of the PCA by a study committee, no matter how stacked, and no matter how many votes it accrued.