May/June 2014
WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH (25.4–5)
This catholic Church has been sometimes more, sometimes less visible. And particular Churches, which are members thereof, are more or less pure, according as the doctrine of the gospel is taught and embraced, ordinances administered, and public worship performed more or less purely in them.
The purest Churches under heaven are subject both to mixture and error; and some have so degenerated, as to become no Churches of Christ, but synagogues of Satan. Nevertheless, there shall be always a Church on earth, to worship God according to His will.
WHERE WAS YOUR CHURCH BEFORE THE REFORMATION? Roman Catholics have thrown this question at evangelicals over the centuries. Of course, we might quip, “Our church was in the Bible, where yours never was!” We could point out that the Roman papacy was an innovation that arose long after Christ, and in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries was split among two or three rival popes.
However, we might also respond with the Westminster Confession that the church has been sometimes more, sometimes less visible. This means that the true church passes through times of darkness, weakness, or persecution when it is largely hidden. We think of Elijah crying out, “I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away” (1 Kings 19:10). The official church of Israel had given itself over to idolatry. Yet God had preserved seven thousand
faithful worshipers, a hundred of whom were hiding in a cave (1 Kings 19:18; 18:4).
We should not take Christ’s promise to preserve His church (Matt. 16:18) to mean that the visible church will always be faithful or that the true church will always be strong. In the fourth century, godly Athanasius was repeatedly forced into exile because many powerful leaders were Arians who denied that Christ is the eternal Son of God. But the faithful overcame this heresy and purified the church.
The Confession calls us to a realistic view of local churches. Congregations are more or less pure with respect to what is taught in them, how the sacraments are administered, and how public worship is conducted. One need only read Christ’s words to the seven churches (Rev. 2–3) to see that churches often slide into errors of doctrine or practice. When someone says he wishes we could go back to the ways of the first-century church, perhaps we should ask if he means the church in Corinth? They had problems with division, pride, a celebrity mindset, incest, failure to implement church discipline, fornication, people getting drunk at the Lord’s Supper, and false teaching about the resurrection. Nevertheless, Paul addressed them as “the church of God which is at Corinth” (1 Cor. 1:2).
The best of churches are subject both to mixture and error. There may be hypocrites among the members of a true church and great Christian leaders can make great mistakes, though they are sincere believers. Sadly, some churches and denominations have fallen into such profound errors that they can no longer be called true churches of Christ. Though it is possible that some true believers remain in them, the official teachings and practices of their churches deny fundamental truths of God’s law and gospel. Let us watch and pray, lest our churches slip into this terrifying pit.
However, we should not fear that the church will disappear from the earth, for there shall be always a church on earth. The Son of God said, “I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18). One name for believers is overcomers. The world wages war against Christ and His church, but “the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful” (Rev. 17:14). Though we are called to watchfulness, we are to watch in hope, for the wedding day of Christ is coming, and His bride, the church, will be beautiful on that day (Rev. 19:7–8).
Westminster Confession of Faith (25.6)
There is no other head of the Church but the Lord Jesus Christ; nor can the Pope of Rome, in any sense, be head thereof; but is that Antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalts himself, in the Church, against Christ and all that is called God.
THE BIBLICAL DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH revolves around Jesus Christ. He is the head of the church, which is His body, and He must have the preeminence (Col. 1:18). He has supreme authority (Col. 2:10). The church submits to Him as its Lord (Eph. 5:22–24). He is the source of our life (Eph. 4:15–16). When men claim to follow Christ but really follow their own personal notions or traditions and man made rules and forms of worship, they are not holding the Head (Col. 2:18–23). Christ must always be first, or we have ceased to be the church of Christ.
One of the great heresies of the Roman Catholic Church is their exaltation of a man to the place of Christ. The Pope or Bishop of Rome takes the title “Vicar of Jesus Christ, meaning that he acts as Christ’s representative, ruling as the supreme head of the church on earth. He is also called “Pontifex Maximus,” meaning supreme or great high priest (Lev. 21:10, Vulgate), but the Bible says our great high priest is Jesus, the Son of God (Heb. 4:14). Invoking the authority of Peter, the Pope claims to speak infallibly on matters of faith or life, placing his own words on the level of the words of Christ.
It may surprise modern readers that the Westminster Confession calls the Pope the Antichrist. Today the Antichrist is popularly conceived to be a great military leader who will rule the world with supernatural powers. But in the Scriptures, the word antichrist is used of false teachers who deny fundamental teachings of the faith. John wrote, “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists” (1 John 2:18; cf. 2:22; 4:3; 2 John 7).
The Lord Jesus warned that “false Christs, and false prophets” will come (Matt. 24:24). Paul foretold the coming of the “man of sin, the son of perdition” who would exalt himself to the place of God in the temple (2 Thess. 2:3–4). The Westminster divines believed (and make a good case for their beliefs in their frequent writings on this subject!) that the office of the Papacy (not any one individual Pope) fulfilled these prophecies, asserting its claim to rule the universal church, which is the New Testament temple of God (1 Cor. 3:16).
Thus the Westminster Confession closes its chapter on the church with a solemn warning. Christ alone is the head of His church. He who dares to usurp Christ’s place becomes an enemy of Christ. The confession of the true church has ever been, “Jesus is Lord!” It was this conviction that led early Christians to choose death rather than to worship the emperor of Rome, and the same conviction strengthens the church in every age. The blessed hope of the church is the return of her King, and her prayer is ever, “Come, Lord Jesus!”
Rev. Paul Smalley is Dr. Beeke’s teaching assistant.
Dr. Joel R. Beeke is president and professor of Systematic Theology and Homiletics at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, and a pastor of the Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregation of Grand Rapids, Michigan.