Sound of Grace
Part one contains two articles taken from the Sept. 1990
"Special Issue" of Sound of Grace on the subject of authority.
The first article compares the Baptist and Presbyterian systems of eldership
and authority. It then shows how some present day Reformed Baptists have
created, unknowingly in most cases, a Roman Catholic view of authority by
trying to mix the two systems. Back copies of this particular issue of Sound
of Grace containing these articles, and a lot more, are still available.
Part two deals
with the "True Church Syndrome." This is where many of the problems
in the-present day churches dealing with authority really started. This syndrome
is always one of the root causes of bigotry and separatism. It will soon
produce a view of the church that loses sight of people and is concerned only
with the church as an institution. Authority is vested in the institutional church
regardless of any other factors. The next step always leads to an overemphasis
on the "correct authority structure," and this in turn will always
put the authority of the church into the hands of the "duly authorized
officers" of the church. The leaders usually become tyrants over the
conscience of people instead of helpers of their faith. The recent book Shepherding
God's Flock details some instances of just such tyranny.
Part three deals with the
authority of the "local church" in totally controlling every aspect
of every Christian ministry since "the local church is the only
institution created and authorized by God to do His work on earth." Once
the local church becomes THE ekklesia of Christ and is treated as the
institution "founded by Christ," the local church then must become
the sole custodian of God's authority on this earth. Every Christian ministry
must be directly controlled by a local church or else it has not been truly
established with Christ's authority. This is merely the logical application of
Part two. This section deals with the verses in the Book of Acts that are used
by Landmark and Reformed Baptists in an attempt to prove that the "local
church alone has the authority to send missionaries or start churches."
1. Baptist Congregationalism and Presbyterianism
The theme of this issue of Sound of Grace. Mr. Reisinger's monthly
magazine (September 1990) deals with authority. The main article is from a
recent book, Shepherding God's Flock, 1 written by a group of Reformed Baptist
pastors. The very fact the book was written and published is testimony to the
severity of the problem about which these men are writing. It is obvious that
there are a lot of elders in that movement, and in others, acting like little
mini-popes. These writers evidently feel a moral obligation to the Church to
expose such tyranny. The book is most welcome and has already proved helpful in
the lives of many of God's battered sheep. The people of God should be
sincerely grateful for this very helpful book.
Some Reformed
Baptists, as well as others, have attempted to wed two things that are totally
opposite. These men have tried to put elements of Presbyterianism into a
Baptist framework and managed to destroy the strengths of both systems. Both
the concept of rule by Presbytery and Baptist Congregationalism have great
strengths when applied in their own settings. However, those very same
strengths become very dangerous when they are put into another system. It is
very possible this fact helps to explain the problem of abusive eldership. Let
me explain what I mean as it concerns authority and eldership.