by Pastor Salvatore Pezzino, Sycamore Reformed Baptist Church

He who built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God.

Hebrews 3:3b-4

And is it not absurd for all men and angels to take on them to direct (otherwise than by direction first given) how any of God’s house should be made and built, as it were for any part of the house to give order for the rest? It is as much as for the clay to say to the potter, Why hast thou made me thus? Is it fit for the whole house, or any part of it, to say, Make me this house? Who shall give Christ a pattern of any house he hath promised to dwell in? Who hath been his counsellor? Men love to have the contriving their houses themselves, and are as curious in it to please themselves, as in any other thing; so is Christ.

Thomas Goodwin1

Introduction

In 1689, after the Act of Toleration, the same year the baptized churches in London first assembled to hold communion together and to adopt the 1689 Second London Confession of Faith as the doctrinal and practical standard of their communion, the influential Congregational minister Isaac Chauncy lamented the ignorance of both officers and people with regard to the church’s divinely instituted order, government, and discipline. In his preface to John Owen’s The True Nature of a Gospel Church and Its Government (vol. 16), he wrote this:

That order which is in the church of Christ, the rules of the gospel, must be known, and that by [both] officers and people. They that are altogether ignorant of the rule, negligent in attending it, or doubtful [of it], are always contending about it [but] will never walk according to it. Hence, it is the great duty of ministers to study order well and acquaint the people with it. It is greatly to be bewailed that so few divines bend their study this way. They content themselves only with studying and preaching the truths that concern faith in the Lord Jesus, and the mere moral part of holiness; but as to gospel churches or instituted worship, they generally in their doctrine and practice leave it alone… Many think it enough that the foundation of the house is laid in purity of doctrine…, but how little do they care to set their hands to building the house!2

Chauncy’s comments are remarkable for two reasons. First, they are remarkable because he wrote these words after the Puritan movement in England had been vigorously striving for a purer form of government in the Church of England for over 100 years. From beginning to end, the Puritans’ chief concern had always been reforming the doctrine, worship, order, and government of the Church of England. More than any other time and place in history, the doctrine and practice of the church received unprecedented and, since then, unparalleled focus and attention. Yet, Chauncy could still write, “It is greatly to be bewailed that so few divines bend their study this way.”

But this makes Chauncy’s statement remarkable for a second reason: If Chauncy could lament the ignorance of both officers and people with respect to the divinely instituted order, government, and discipline of the church in his day, how much more should we “sit alone and keep silent” and put our mouths in the dust (Lam. 3:28-29)? Even amongst Reformed churches—God’s truest and purest churches—the church’s order, government, and discipline are often neglected, dimly understood, and poorly practiced.

However, few things ought to concern us more, for nothing tends more toward the honor and glory of Christ, our God and King, than the due observance of His ordinances in His kingdom, His family, His house, His church. As Thomas Goodwin comments, “Two things are the glory of a king, the laws and jurisdiction by which he rules abroad, and the state and reverence done him in his own house at home.”3 Nothing sanctifies God’s name like Christ’s kingdom come as His will is done on earth in the church militant as it is in heaven in the church triumphant. Nothing so glorifies Christ in the world than the willing obedience of His people, gathering themselves unto the ordinances and appointments of Christ’s rule in His church.

But before we will come to interest ourselves and our churches in the church’s order, government, and discipline so as to “bend our study” this way and to reform our worship and practice, we must first be convinced in our minds that the church’s order, government, and discipline are of divine institution. Until we are convinced that “the form of church government” is “one, immutable, and prescribed in the Word of God”4 and that “the constitution of churches is uniform, and of one kind and sort”5 we will not set our minds to discover it ourselves nor set our ministries to discover it to our people. In other words, until we are persuaded that Christ has once and for all instituted and established a church government jure divino6 (i.e., “I will build My church,” Matt. 16:18) revealed in His word, we will not so interest ourselves in this most visible, external, and so, most glorifying appointment of God’s worship in the world.

Therefore, it is of first importance that we come to believe firmly and consistently in the divine institution of the church’s order, government, and discipline that we might return to God’s word to discover it and submit ourselves to it. Unto this end, in what follows, we demonstrate the divine institution of the church, and the extent to which Christ has instituted it or the extent to which His power and rule reaches in His kingdom.

1. The Divine Institution of the Church: Christ’s Supreme and Sovereign Power

The divine institution of the church immediately rests upon the supreme and sovereign power of Christ who institutes it — the absolute Lord “over His own house” (Heb. 3:3-6). For “the Lord Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church, in whom by the appointment of the Father, all power for the calling, institution, order, or government of the Church, is invested in a supreme and sovereign manner” (LCF 26.4).

The resurrected and ascended Lord Jesus Christ is the Head of His church. To use the older language, He is the προτον δεκτικον of all church-power—that is, the first seat or subject or recipient of all church-power. All power in the church whatsoever has been communicated to Him from the Father in a supreme and sovereign manner. This means that all power in the church originally belongs to Him, is enclosed unto Him, and may only be dispensed or communicated by and from Him. No other power in the church is permitted, save what belongs to Christ and is distributed or delegated immediately from Christ. He is the προτον δεκτικον of all sovereign power. And so, whatever rules are to be obeyed and whatever powers are to be executed in the church originally belong to the Lord Jesus Christ and must be immediately and regally communicated by Him and derived from Him. All other power in the church, then, is only and ever ministerial and can be nothing but the right and ability to yield obedience to the commands of Christ in such a way, by such rules, and for such ends as He has appointed and declared.

The resurrected Lord Jesus declares to the apostles and to us, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them… teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:18-20). This power and authority was given to Him upon His resurrection and more fully communicated upon His ascension and session. For, Paul says, “[God] declared [Him] to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:4). At His resurrection and ascension, the Father “highly exalted Him and gave Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9-11). “[God] raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His 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 age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all” (Eph. 1:19-23).

Christ alone is the Mediator of the New Covenant and King of His kingdom established thereby. There is only one master builder, one lawgiver, one judge, one king, one head permitted in God’s church, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. All authority in heaven and earth has been given to Him to order and govern His house whosoever He freely pleases. Therefore, He alone has the power and authority to institute, order, and govern His church in the way that seems best to Him. For,

to act any power, in its rule, which is not His, which derives not from Him, which is not communicated by His legal grant; or to act any power by ways, processes, rules, and laws, not of His appointment, —is an invasion of His right and dominion. It can no otherwise be, if the church be his family, his house, his kingdom; for what father would endure that any power should be exercised in His family, as to the disposal of His children and estate, but His own?7

The church, therefore, as it entirely belongs to Christ and is indwelt by Christ, must be ordered, governed, and disciplined exclusively by Christ in a supreme and sovereign manner by His power, ways, processes, rules, and laws. In short, the church’s order, government, and discipline must be by divine and dominical institution.

2. The Extent of the Divine Institution: Christ’s Rules, Offices, Gifts, Powers, and Blessings

At face value, the claim that Christ is Lord and King over His church and that the church is of divine institution is not especially controversial. But differences quickly arise when it is further inquired how He rules and governs His church as Lord and King or to what extent does Christ’s power and rule reach in His kingdom. Having purchased His church with His own blood and having ascended into heaven, has He, for its own preservation and perfection, left us with the necessary and sufficient rules for the right order and government of His own house? What sort of King would He be if He had not so established the order and government of His church kingdom? Surely, Christ erected a jure divino order and government of His church, which is His family, His house, and His kingdom.

Our baptistic congregationalist or Particular Baptist fathers, by including a chapter in their Confession on church order and government, were dogmatically asserting that the congregational way had indeed been dominically instituted by Christ in His word. In other words, Christ is not a derelict King who has left it up to men to order and govern His kingdom as seems best to them but has laid down clear and certain rules in His word. Benjamin Keach writes:

The government of Christ’s household is ordained or appointed by himself, and not left to men to order and govern it as they think good… Christ’s household is under a special and peculiar government from all other households whatsoever, (though others may call themselves by his name) its rules, laws, and discipline, agreeing exactly with the institutions and appointments left by Christ in the New Testament, and with the pattern of the primitive churches. This household will not admit of any human rites, or traditions whatsoever. This household will not suffer any to alter or change any of the rules of its ancient government.8

Thomas Goodwin succinctly states the same: “As it is God’s house, he hath not left it unto man to frame his building to what proportion he pleaseth.”9 For to suppose that the Lord Jesus has only given minimal instruction in His Word concerning the order and government of the church, or concerning the distribution and proportion of power by which the church is ordered and governed, leaving it up to each independent congregation (or worse, each elder) to determine and set forth what is “wisest” for their own local assembly, is to reduce the church to a human institution to be ordered and governed according to the wisdom of men. Owen writes:

To suppose that this should be given unto it any other way but by divine authority in its institution, is to advance the wisdom and authority of men above those of God, and to render the gospel church-state a machine to be moved up and down at pleasure, to be new moulded or shaped according unto occasions, or to be turned unto any interest, like the wings of a mill unto the wind. … The original of this church-state is directly, immediately, and solely from Jesus Christ; he alone is the author, contriver, and institutor of it. … And it is in vain pretended (as we shall see more afterward) that Christ, indeed, hath appointed this church-state in general, but that he hath appointed no particular form of churches or their rule, but left that unto the discretion and authority of men as they think meet, when they have outward power for their warranty.10

Christ did not leave His church with many possible kinds of ecclesiologies or polities, but only one. Again, what sort of King would Christ be if He left the order and government of His kingdom unto the whims and wisdom of men? What sort of Master and Lawgiver would He be if He left the laws and constitution of it up to His servants? What sort of Builder would He be if He did not lay the foundation, erect the house, and order it precisely according to His design? No. Jesus said, “I will build My church.” That is, He will order it; He will set down its rules and government; He will grant her powers and distribute and limit those powers, that she might obey His commands unto her own edification according to His will.

And all of this is but the necessary implication of Christ’s headship and kingship in the church. Therefore, all rules, offices, gifts, powers, and blessings are derived from Him. John Cotton explains,

Hence, 1. All legislative power (power of making laws) in the church is in Him and not from Him derived to any other… The power derived to others, is only to publish and execute His laws and ordinances, and to see them observed… and need no addition.

2. From His sovereign power it proceeds that He only can erect and ordain a true constitution of a church estate… He buildeth his own house, and setteth the pattern of it, as God gave to David the pattern of Solomon’s temple… None hath power to erect any other church frame than as this master-builder hath left us a pattern thereof in the Gospel…

3. It is from the same sovereign power, that all the offices, or ministries in the church are ordained by Him… yea and all the members are set in the body by Him, together with all the power belonging to their offices and places…

4. From this sovereign power in like sort it is, that all gifts to discharge any office, by the officers, or any duty by the members, are from Him… All treasures of wisdom, and knowledge, and grace, and the fulness thereof are in Him for that end…

5. From this sovereign power it is, that all the spiritual power and efficacy and blessings, in the administration of these gifts in these offices and places, for the gathering and edifying and perfecting of all the churches, and of all the saints in them, are from Him.11

Because all power in the church resides in Christ in a supreme and sovereign manner, He is exclusively responsible for instituting its order, government, and discipline. He will permit no other laws or rules, no other constitution or pattern, no other offices or ministries, no other duties or powers, and no other blessings than what He has ordained. He will permit no other power in His church save what belongs to Him, is from Him, distributed by Him, and tends to Him. And unto the end that we might be instructed in His mind and will in all these things, He has granted His word unto the church.

Conclusion

By way of conclusion, let us, then, make it our care to seek out the order, government, and discipline of Christ’s church that we might glorify Him in the worship and obedience that He requires of us and that is accepted by Him in His house. Let us set our minds to discover it ourselves and set our ministries to discover it to our people. For nothing so glorifies Christ in the world than the willing obedience of His people, gathering themselves unto His ordinances and appointments in His church.

  1. Thomas Goodwin, Of the Constitution, Right Order, and Government of the Churches of Christ, vol. 11, The Works of Thomas Goodwin (1865; repr. Nichol, Grand Rapids: Soli Deo Gloria Publications, 2021), 20. ↩︎
  2. Isaac Chauncy, cited in John Owen, The True Nature of a Gospel Church and Its Government, vol. 16, The Works of John Owen, ed. William H. Goold (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1968), 7. ↩︎
  3. Goodwin, Of the Constitution, 11:42. ↩︎
  4. The Cambridge Platform of Church Discipline Gathered out of the Word of God, and Agreed Upon by the Elders and Messengers
    of the Churches Assembled in Synod, 1648, chapter 1. ↩︎
  5. Goodwin, Of the Constitution, 11:14. ↩︎
  6. by divine right. ↩︎
  7. Owen, Gospel Church, 16:33. ↩︎
  8. Benjamin Keach, An Exposition of the Parables and Express Similitudes of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (London: Aylott and Co., 1858), 640-41. ↩︎
  9. Goodwin, Of the Constitution, 7. ↩︎
  10. John Owen, An Inquiry into the Original, Nature, Institution, Power, and Communion of Evangelical Churches, vol.15, The Works of John Owen, ed. William H. Goold (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1965), 233-34, 236. ↩︎
  11. John Cotton, “The Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, 1644,” in John Cotton on the Churches of New England, ed. Larzer Ziff
    (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University, 1968), 125-26. ↩︎