The Kingdom of Christ, the House and Family of God, is not a “merely external” contrivance

According to the Westminster Divines:

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.

Baptism is a sacrament of the new testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, not only for the solemn admission of the party baptized into the visible church

I keep being amazed at how gleefully the accusers of Peter Leithart condemn the Reformed Faith of “heresy.” The visible church we are told is “merely external.”

The Westminster Confession never says it is merely external. Do the above statements make the “visible church” sound so inconsequential? Perhaps human life and faith is more “external” than people realize. (And, by the way, it is simply question begging and silly to import everything you want to believe about some kind of external/internal dichotomy on Paul’s metaphor in Romans 2.28-29).

Another sneaky move is to contrast “the Church” and “the Visible Church.” No. That is not what the Westminster Standards say at all:

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.

Notice, the whole chapter is describing “the Church.” Nowhere does it say that this is only the invisible Church and the visible church is something else. It simply describes the Church first as invisible and then as visible.

And why is the “invisible Church” unseen? Because it is still in the future! It is the all of those together ” that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one.” And what is it the future of? It is the future of the visible Church! It will be made up of those who will sincerely come into her and remain with her by a true and living faith–“out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation. (For more, see my essay, Of The Church)

So denigrating the Visible or Institutional Church, entered by baptism, in order to frame false charges on so-called “Federal Visionists” is outrageous on several levels.

 

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