Rev H M Cartwright
The Bible is supreme in every matter with which it deals. “The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man’s salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit or traditions of men”.2 The first and most obvious reason for the Church’s existence is the glory and worship of God, and it is the Bible which teaches “what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man”.3 The other functions of the Church – the nurture and edification of believers and the proclamation of the gospel in the world – also require us to seek guidance from the Word of God. If we find instructions on any subject in the Bible we must follow them.
One fundamental principle of Church Government which is clearly taught in the Bible is the Headship of Christ over the Church. As the eternal Son of
1The first section of this paper, which appeared last month, was an answer to the question: What is the Church?
2Westminster Confession, 1:6.
3Shorter Catechism, answer 3.
God, our Lord has dominion over all that has been created, equal in every respect to that of the Father and of the Holy Spirit, with whom He is the same in substance and equal in power and glory. But as the possessor of our nature and the Mediator between us and God, Christ has been given dominion over all things – dominion which He could not exercise if He were not God, but dominion which He exercises as Mediator because He has successfully accomplished the work of salvation which the Father gave Him to do.
The connection between His work and His exaltation is brought out in Scripture, for example: Daniel 7:13,14: “I saw in the night visions and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought Him near before Him. And there was given Him dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all people, nations and languages should serve Him: His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed”; Ephesians 1:20-23: “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 fulness of Him that filleth all in all”; Philippians 2:5-11: “Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation and took upon Him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him and given Him a name that is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”; Matthew 28:18-20: “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world”.
He rules over all things in the interests of His Church, but is in a very special way the King and Head of the Church itself. Psalm 2:6: “Yet have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion”; Ephesians 4:15,16: “But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself
in love”; Ephesians 5:22-24: “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the Head of the Church: and He is the Saviour of the body. Therefore as the Church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.”
Sometimes the Headship of Christ signifies the spiritual relationship which exists between Him and the body of elect, redeemed, regenerate sinners. Through their union with Him He is to them the source of all life, grace and unity. But we are concerned with the idea of Christ as the Head of the Church in its earthly form and expression.
James Bannerman sums up what is meant by saying that Christ is the Head of the Church: “The Church, as a society, owes its origin to Christ; it derives from Him its government and office-bearers; it receives from Him its laws and constitution; it draws from Him its spiritual influence and grace; it accepts at His hand its ordinances and institutions; it acts in His name, and is guided in its proceedings by His authority. . . . He is both its founder and its administrator – being the ever-present source of life and influence, of ordinance and blessing, of law and authority, of word and doctrine, within the community. Through His Spirit and His Word and His ordinances, alike of government and grace, Christ both originates and administers His Church upon earth. . . . Christ is the Head of the Church as the source of life . . . the Head of doctrine to His Church . . . the Head of the Church as to ordinances, having appointed them by His authority at first, and made them the channel of spiritual blessings to His people ever since . . . the Head of His Church as to grace . . . the head of His Church as to authority and government. . . . All is derived from Him; and all emanates from Him as its source.”4
Bannerman expands on what he has to say of Christ as Founder and Administrator of His Church: “Christ is the Founder of the Christian Church, in the sense that He gave it its origin at first, that He impressed upon it its character and arrangement, that He laid down the framework of its government and order, that He appointed to it its laws and office-bearers and ordinances – that He invested it, in short, with the peculiar form and the peculiar constitution that distinguish it as a society. . . . He is also the Ruler and Administrator of it in such a way that He keeps in His own hand all the power and authority and grace that belong to the society, and is ever present, directly and with His own hand, to exercise that power, to administer that authority, and to dispense that grace. . . . The Church has no store of life apart from Christ being in it; the ordinances of the Church have no deposit of grace apart from Christ being present with them; the office-bearers of the Church have no gift of
4The Church of Christ, vol 1, pp 194-5.
power or authority or action apart from Christ ruling and acting by them”5
It is evident that every form of Church government is unbiblical which does not recognise the Church’s submission and accountability to Christ or which undermines the unique authority of Christ as the sole Head of His Church. That rules out Erastianism, where the civil magistrate claims the right to interfere with the Church’s doctrine, worship or government. It rules out the Papacy, with its claim that the pope is the head of the Church on earth and the centre of its authority and unity. It rules out any system which gives the Church or her office-bearers discretion in matters over which Christ has asserted His authority. It rules out any system which gives to men the authority which belongs to Christ. As Christ is the Head of His Church, every form of Church government, and those engaged in it, must simply put His will into effect. Government exercised by men is not prejudicial to the Headship and authority of Christ when conducted in accordance with His institution and will.
From the Headship of Christ over His Church we derive the principle that recognition of Christ’s Headship of His Church means subjection to His will revealed in His Word. William Cunningham says that “the only inference directly and immediately deducible from the doctrine of Christ’s sole headship is that every intimation which He has given of His will as to the constitution and government of His Church, and the manner in which the administration of its affairs should be conducted, ought to be implicitly obeyed”6 “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him” (Matt 17:5). “Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you” (John 15:14). “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matt 28:20). For our knowledge of His will for the ordering of the affairs of His Church here on earth we are dependent on His Word. His will is not to be discovered by immediate inspiration. It is not found in the pronouncements of ecclesiastical bodies which presume to go beyond what is written. It is found in the Bible.
But has Christ given us many intimations of His will regarding the government of His Church? Searching the Scriptures in the light of the principle that subjection to the government of Christ over His Church means subjection to His will revealed in His Word, we find that more is taught concerning the means by which Christ governs His Church than we might at first have realised. The presumption is against the Church being left to determine its government by the laws of nature or expediency, in that it is not a merely-
5Pp 198-9.
6Discussions of Church Principles, pp 283-4. Compare Westminster Confession, 1:6,10; 10:12; 22:1; 31:3.
human organisation but an institution of God in a unique way. This presumption is reinforced by the fact that sin has increased man’s incompetence to determine such spiritual and sacred and important matters. There is no separate directory for Church government in the Bible, just as there is no separate directory for public worship and no systematic summary of theology. But just as the Bible provides the materials from which we can derive a systematic theology and a directory for public worship, so it provides the materials from which we can derive the form of government which is Christ’s will for the Church.
To quote James Bannerman again: “First, there are many particular regulations laid down expressly in the Word of God in regard to the nature of Church government, and the exercise and administration of Church power in matters ecclesiastical. Second, there are many express examples given us under the authority and direction of inspiration, equally binding upon us as express precepts, in regard to the use and administration of Church power. . . . Third, when there are neither particular rules nor particular examples applicable in their general features to the cases that may occur in ecclesiastical matters, there are general principles, either expressly laid down in Scripture, or fairly and necessarily to be inferred from Scripture, bearing upon ecclesiastical power and administration, sufficient to constitute a rule for the Church in the use and application of the power which she has warrant to exercise.”7
Cunningham points out that, at the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15), “the apostles acted . . . as the ordinary office-bearers of the Church, using the ordinary means of ascertaining the divine will, and enjoying only the ordinary guidance and influences of His Spirit”. He states further that this is “fitted to remind us of the great scriptural principle, that the sole standard by which the affairs of the Church ought to be regulated is the revealed will of God. . . . It is very certain that if men were really willing to submit to the authority of Christ as the supreme and only lawgiver, if they were really anxious to know His will that they might do it, and if they would diligently and prayerfully search His Word, they would find materials there for regulating their opinions and conduct in all circumstances much more fully and completely than they might anticipate. . . . Much more is to be learnt from the written Word than what can be found on the surface of it, much which cannot be discovered and brought out without a large amount of study and meditation.”8
Amongst the facts which justify the claim that the Bible provides us with principles as to how the Church should be governed are the following:
(a) There were elders in the Old Testament Church who had a governmental
7The Church of Christ, vol 1, pp 214-5.
8Historical Theology, vol 1, pp 45-50.
role, and this fact, as reflected in the synagogue in the time of our Lord, would influence the New Testament concept of the eldership.
(b) The New Testament provides for the appointment and ordination of office-bearers. It gives them authority; it instructs them as to how this authority should be exercised; and it instructs members of the Church as to how they should receive this authority.
(c) The New Testament provides for a plurality of office-bearers in each congregation.
(d) The New Testament, in its account of the Council of Jerusalem, for example, provides a pattern of consultation and adjudication within and between different churches, which is one of the ways in which the unity of the Church is evidenced and maintained.
If all that is given in the New Testament regarding office-bearers and their functions in the Church, and the duty of the Church towards them, is brought together, it provides us with the fundamental principles and features of a system of Church government. If the Lord has left directions as to how we should behave ourselves in the house of God (1 Tim 3:15) the Church must have His authority for what it does in the way of doctrine, worship, government, discipline. The Church, and its office-bearers, have to apply rules of Scripture and of common sense to the way in which they arrange the externals or practicalities of government, worship, finance, etc, to ensure that all things are done “decently and in order” (1 Cor 14:40). But as far as the things which enter into the essence of the Church’s doctrine, worship, government and discipline are concerned, they are allowed no discretion. They must simply discover and apply the principles of the Word of God. This doctrine alone is honouring to the Church’s Head and preserves the Church from innovations which would destroy her purity, liberty or peace.