Showing posts with label Bible. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bible. Show all posts

Thursday, June 16, 2011

A Low-Church/Reformed Defense of the term Sanctuary

What should we call the building we, as the church, worship in? Amongst Protestants there are generally two words that come to mind: auditorium and sanctuary (this excludes the more traditional language of the Church of England because her vocabulary is drawn from the Medieval church). Sanctuary is more common today, but auditorium has a venerable history and much theologically to commend it.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Do we still believe the Bible is sufficient?

In the past century Presbyterians fought, and ultimately divided, over the inspiration and authority of scripture.  In the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) our commitment has been solidly to the Bible.  That, I believe, is still the case.  However, there is another doctrine regarding scripture that IS JUST AS IMPORTANT -- the sufficiency of scripture.  What does that mean?  It means that the scripture is the only direction that the church needs to accomplish her mission.  How do I you share the gospel?  Go to the Bible.  How do I relate to my fellow believers?  my neighbor?  my enemy?  Go to the Bible.  What ought the church to do when she gathers together?  Go to the Bible and find out.  The Bible is sufficient for all these things, despite being over 2,000 years old, because it is the Lord's message to us.  Is his wisdom sufficient for these things?  Then so is his word.  Without a vigorous commitment to the sufficiency of the Bible, it doesn't matter a whit whether you believe the Bible is infallible or not.  Just as good works reveal the sincerity of one's faith, so living by the Bible gives proof that the church believes the Bible to be authoritative.
Sufficiency is dealt with in the Confession