Of The Church, Authority And Councils: Hard Questions and Careful Answers

First Timothy's second chapter refers to the Church of the Lord Jesus as the "pillar and ground of truth." This, of course, becomes immediately controversial in our day, since many dispute the precise referent for the term "The Church." Second, it would, I believe, wax all the more conflict-bound were one to unpack the sense of this text against the biblical backdrop of the whole canon.

But first let's take a look at the notion of "authority." Parents have lawful authority, the Bible tells us, over their children. Nations have lawful authority over those who choose to live within their borders. And, the Church also has authority to teach and to do all that Christ commands.

Now the word "authority" refers to a set of rights and privileges communicated to a person by virtue of an oath -- which is called an "office." Offices mentioned in the Bible include prophets, apostles, evangelists, priests, kings, ministers, elders, huband-fathers, wife-mothers, and even firstborn children (the list is not exhaustive).

Now the question of interest for today is this: where does the buck finally stop on planet earth? All Christians can (and must) agree that the final authority must rest with God. But He has appointed Christ as Lord of all and Jesus remains at the Father's right hand (until all His enemies will be made a footstool for His feet).

So where does one turn for the answers he needs? Well, one might say, look to the Word of God. Pick up the Bible and read. But we all know that when this happens, we end up with numerous competing and often times simply false answers. The problem is with the reader, of course, and not the Bible. But the Bible was given to a covenant community, not a crowd of individuals who just happened to be standing at that moment in the same location (like so many grocery shoppers in a particular store who don't even know each other).

This means that the Bible has to be interpreted by some group in order to help individuals understand not only its teachings, but also the duties that their offices require of them. The Bible says that wisdom is found in the counsel of the multitude. This cannot mean just any multitude (group) since 100 fools are no better -- indeed they may be much worse -- than one only.

The Bible has in mind the counsel of a wise multitude (group), which it necessarily understands as those trained by the Bible itself to think in biblical ways. If you want to know math, you turn to TRAINED mathematicians. If you want to know Bible -- you turn to those TRAINED by the Word. This begins to explain what the Bible means by calling the Church the "pillar and ground of TRUTH."

Someone must interpret the Bible and that someone is a group. On earth, given what we know of men, one dare not rest final interpretive authority in the hands of but one man (Romanism). Wisdom is found in the counsel of the multitude. This is what Presbyterianism affirms - since this is the biblical form of worship and goverment appointed in the Word.

A presbytery -- a small (or else not so small) group of churches in close proximity to one another -- multiply their wisdom by holding councils from time to time, in order to handle this or that theological or practical difficulty. This is more than just knocking heads. It means prayerful dependence upon the Holy Spirit and careful scrutiny both of the Word of God and of the best examples in the past of other reformed Churches to see how THEY handled similar problems and what they did and how it worked out.

Wisdom is supposed to accumulate this way over time within the Church. Now when tasks get too difficult, or carry extraordinary import, a denomination may lay the task or question at hand with its more general body. This follows the biblical pattern set down by Moses, who appointed judges for lesser matters, and he resolved only the most difficult ones (which the lower courts passed onto him).

Now in times past, even larger ecclesiastical bodies -- larger than local presbyteries -- regional meetings sometimes being called "synods," or yet even larger ones, have met to consider weighty matters. The largest possible councils usually go by the name "ecumencial" or "catholic" church councils. The first seven of these in church history are generally accepted as yielding biblical truths accurately by most religious groups calling themselves "Christian." And most would agree that this has not happened for some time.

Now I have sneaked around studying different lists compiled by scholars on which councils declared what, when and why. Yes, I am nosey. But here is the point. There can be no higher authority on earth, it seems to me, than the universal -- international and multinational -- Church of Jesus Christ the Lord when it convenes lawfully to decide matters of mercy and justice. This has to be what is meant by "pillar and ground" of truth.

The authority of such a council is real, but not ultimate. It is not of a different kind of authority than that which a parent has over his children, but there is much more of it resting upon the Church. It is greater in degree, though not different in kind. Here is what the Bible says:

Deuteronomy 17:

If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up into the place which the LORD thy God shall choose [this refers to the Temple in Jerusalem]; And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and enquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment:

And thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the LORD shall choose shall shew thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee: According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee, to the right hand, nor to the left. And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the LORD thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel. And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.

Now the phrase "pillar and ground of Truth" clearly refers to the Temple by way of metaphor. And the Bible uses the Temple-Church metaphor throughout both testaments. In the heart of the Temple were two pillars, called Jakin and Boaz (which with translation is "righteousness and strength").

This means that the Church -- what Hebrews calls the "general assembly" -- meaning the genuinely "catholic" Church (which obeys His Word) -- carries the final Word on planet earth. And the Lord Jesus enforces its rulings. This is why God said to his judges -- "the Lord will be with you in judgement."

Now I have noticed that this makes identifying just what the Church has decreed very important. And so also does identifying which councils are genuinely ecumenical, and which are say mere regional. I have also noticed that no one's list seems to include the Westminster Assembly, which seems clearly to fit the bill.

Here is what the wikipedia says about the Westminster Assembly:

The Westminster Assembly of Divines (1643-1648) was appointed by the Long Parliament to restructure the Church of England. The Puritan faction in Parliament made five attempts to appoint an assembly between June 1642 and May 1643, but each time King Charles refused to sign the bill. A sixth bill was prepared and passed as an ordinance of the House of Commons; and, with the agreement of the House of Lords it became effective without the king's assent in June 1643.

The Assembly consisted of 30 laymen (10 lords and 20 commoners) and 121 divines or clergymen. The clergy were selected to represent four separate groups: The episcopalians (who supported an episcopacy) included such figures as James Ussher, bishop of Armagh. The episcopalian group usually did not attend the sessions, because the king had not authorized them.

The presbyterians (who supported an assembly-based structure found in Puritanism), the largest group, included figures such as Edward Reynolds, George Gillespie and Samuel Rutherford. A small group of Independents (of the various Congregationalist views) were present and had the support of Oliver Cromwell, and these included Thomas Goodwin.
The Erastian representatives, such as John Lightfoot, who favored the state's primacy over the ecclesiastical law.

With the abdication of the Episcopalians and the deaths of a few others, Parliament determined that an additional twenty-one ministers should be appointed, these to be known as superadded divines. The average daily attendance was between sixty and eighty members. The Assembly's first meeting was in the Henry VII Lady Chapel of Westminster Abbey on July 1, 1643. It later moved to the Jerusalem Chamber of Westminster. It met 1,163 times between 1643 and 1649, and was never formally dissolved by Parliament.

During the Interregnum, it met generally only for judicial matters to examine ministers who presented themselves for ordination or induction into vacant charges. The Westminster Assembly was an advisory arm of the Parliament who selected its members, proposed its topics for discussion and delineated its scope of work. Parliament provided an allowance of four shillings per day for each of the divines to defray theirexpenses. The first task given to the Assembly was revision of the Thirty-Nine Articles. The first ten weeks of the Assembly were expended in debating the first fifteen of the Articles.

The civil war between the forces of Parliament and the Royalists supporting Charles I was at a stalemate. Irish Catholics who had revolted in 1641 were threatening to join the Royalist side. Desperate for help, Parliament sent a delegation to the Scots seeking aid in their civil matter. Though the English sought to enter into a civil league for defense of civil liberties, the Scots quickly responded that the spirit of the contest in which they had been engaged (the Bishop's Wars) was of a religious character, in defense of religious liberty. Eventually the two sides forged a document intended to serve both causes, The Solemn League and Covenant.

In return for sending the Scottish army south to support the Parliament, the Scots obliged the English to reform the Church of England "for the preservation of religion in Scotland, the reformation of religion in England and Ireland according to the word of God and the example of the best reformed churches" and the extirpation of prelacy and popery. Six Scottish commissioners were appointed to travel to England to sit with the Westminster Assembly. The Parliaments of England and Scotland eventually required that all persons above the age of 18 in both countries swear to the oath of the Solemn League and Covenant.

On October 12, 1643, the Westminster Assembly received a directive from Parliament that the divines should forthwith "confer and treat among themselves of such a discipline and government as may be most agreeable to God's holy word, and most apt to procure and preserve the peace of the church at home, and nearer agreement with the Church of Scotland and other Reformed Churches abroad."

The Assembly abandoned work on the Thirty-Nine Articles and proceeded to create an entirely new set of documents. Over the next four years, the Assembly produced and forwarded to Parliament "The Directory for the Publick Worship of God", "The Form of Presbyterial Church Government", a "Shorter Catechism" and "Larger Catechism", and a creedal statement, "The Westminster Confession of Faith". The House of Commons insisted that the Assembly include scriptural proof texts with the Confession and the two catechisms. The divines also examined and approved the use of Rouse's metrical version of the Psalter in general worship.

All of these documents were debated fiercely. The Erastians, Presbyterians and Independents could never agree on church government. The Independents were thoroughly congregational in their view of church officials. They resisted the idea of church courts and held that members of each congregation should have all power and authority. They agreed that each congregation should choose their own minister, but they opposed regulation and correction of those choices by presbyteries. The Erastians believed in civil authority over the ecclesiastical. In their minds the civil magistrate, being Christian, should have jurisdiction instead of church courts. Sin was to be punished by civil courts, and ecclesiastical bodies should be forbidden from withholding sacraments or excommunication.

The completed work of the Westminster Assembly was eventually adopted with revisions in England , but was revoked during the Restoration in 1660. All of the documents were embraced by the Church of Scotland. Further, they formed the cornerstone of the Presbyterian Church and other reformed churches as they established themselves throughout Europe and America.

Okay, now the question for the day. How was this NOT an international, multinational, ecumencial council of the Church of Jesus Christ the Lord? How is it different -- other than that its standards are far more biblical and comprehensive than anything to date -- than the councils of Nicea, Ephesus, and the like. In other words, why is it not in anyone' s ecumenical council list?
I smell a Romanist, or else an Eastern Orthodox, list-making rat.

This council was lawfully called, it involved the three churches of the 3 nations of Scotland, England and Ireland (called kingdoms then), and it had the approvals of Parliament and over 100 ministers. Do its decrees then not carry international authority? What do we do with this?

Here am I, thinking out loud in unauthorized ways. My secular professors would in the strongest terms possible "disapprove," which means you can expect more of this in the near future.