No Christianity without the Church
The church of centuries past had a far more robust and biblical understanding of the church’s corporate self-conception and the need for corporate discipleship and gathering. We can and ought to recapture and promote this past self-conception and ecclesiastically corporate mentality.
[Reformation21] Editor’s Note : This post has been adapted from a longer article set to be published in a forthcoming edition of the Puritan Reformed Journal.
It will come as little surprise to many readers on this site that the state of theology in the contemporary North American church is fraught with weakness. This theological anemia is one that prompts serious concern and demands serious attention. In particular, the way in which the modern evangelical populace in North America regards the church and the church’s corporate identity and the necessity of corporate worship is one that is in dire need of correction.
The trend has been observed for some years that a growing number of self-professing evangelical Protestants have been embracing a lower and lower ecclesiology. The tendency to downplay the necessity for corporate worship and corporate discipleship as a covenanted, local community (local church) has increased, parallel with an accompanying tendency to emphasize personal or private prayer and Bible reading either over against corporate worship/gathering, or that such individual habits of piety are fundamentally more important than any such corporate practices of piety. While this social trend has been observed anecdotally for years and has been the subject of ire within many a sermon introduction or popular magazine article[1], in recent years, there has at last emerged empirical data to substantiate this observation.
In 2020, Ligonier Ministries, in partnership with Lifeway Research, commissioned and performed a survey[2] of three thousand Americans asking a variety of questions about key theological tenets and doctrines: about Jesus Christ, the Bible, truth, ethics, etc. The results are eye-opening. Particular to the concerns of this article, one of the statements to which survey participants were asked to respond was this, “Worshiping alone or with one’s family is a valid replacement for regularly attending church.” Amongst all respondents, 32% “Somewhat agree” with that statement, and 26% “Strongly agree”—thus, 58% of all respondents viewed that statement favorably.[3] Conversely, some 29% of all respondents disagreed with that statement either “strongly” or “somewhat.” Now, these data reflect the views of Americans writ large, not specifically the views espoused by evangelicals. However, the Ligonier Survey does provide a subset of data regarding evangelical responses to that statement—and it does not portend well for evangelicals’ ecclesiology. When faced with the statement “Worshiping alone or with one’s family is a valid replacement for regularly attending church,” 20% of self-identified evangelical respondents strongly agreed with that statement—a full fifth!—and 19% agreed somewhat. Nearly 40% of all evangelical respondents viewed the aforementioned statement favorably. Conversely, some 55% of self-identified evangelicals disagreed with that statement—35% disagreeing strongly, and 20% disagreeing somewhat.[4]
While the higher statistic is heartening, it is at the same time disconcerting: barely over half of self-identified evangelicals take issue with an individualistic Christian mindset. Barely over half of self-identified evangelicals, presumably, object to this statement which downplays a corporate sensibility and obligation to the Christian life—and it is only just over a third which disagrees strongly! Meanwhile, a strong minority (39%) find that congregationally-reductionistic attitude regarding Christianity at least somewhat agreeable.
This is a growing trend in North American Christianity and it betrays the low ecclesiology which continues to plague the church. This is something that must be answered with a strong ecclesiology that recognizes and emphasizes the centrality of the corporate life and identity of the institutional church, her people, and their collective ministry. The current moment demands a resounding “Amen!” to Cyprian’s dictum (which sentiment has been perpetuated in Reformed circles by Calvin in Institutes IV.1.1.)[5] that “No one can have God for his Father, who does not have the Church for his mother.”[6]
Recent Scholarship
In recent years there has been something of a happy resurgence of both popular-level writings as well as more scholarly theological work relevant to ecclesiology, such as much of the fine work that has been produced by 9Marks ministries and other connected writers.[7] Much of this scholarship has come from a credobaptist viewpoint and assumes congregationalism as the standard for church governance. Though this factor is at odds with classically Reformed and Presbyterian ecclesiological commitments, these works are nonetheless useful in emphasizing the necessity for the corporate gathering and a corporate Christian self-conception.[8] While there has been useful ecclesiological work coming from Presbyterian and Reformed authors of late, these have tended to be more popular-level works that focus more narrowly on issues surrounding the sacraments or that of pastoral leadership/church officers.[9]
There are works that deserve frequent reference in ecclesiological studies such as the late Edmund Clowney’s work on the church[10] which, while Reformed in its theological orientation, is not exactly a work of recent scholarship, being published in 1995. Of course, the classic 19th-century ecclesiological tome by James Bannerman[11] is both Reformed and eminently worthy of consideration, but hardly recent. There is also the widely popular work by Dietrich Bonhoeffer on the communal/community aspect of the life of the church,[12] but this work is not recent (being published in 1939) and Bonhoeffer’s theological orientation is not of the classical Reformed sort.[13] One happy exception to this is Michael Horton’s People and Place: A Covenant Ecclesiology, which was published in 2008.[14] There are also forthcoming scholarly works that promise to contribute to a more robust ecclesiology in our day but, at the time of this article’s writing, have not yet been released and are thus unable to be considered.[15]
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Slightly Imperfect Bibles?
Would you purchase a Bible that was missing an entire page? Not many would, I suppose, but when compared to the Bibles published in Reformation times, most modern versions are actually missing about that much content. Twelve verses from the end Mark’s Gospel are missing. An additional twelve verses from John’s Gospel are missing. Sixteen other verses are usually found missing and several more words and verses have either been deleted or noted as questionable.
I recently received a catalogue from a book distributor that included a discount section titled “slightly imperfect” and, yes, there were several Bibles listed.
Obviously, the phrase “slightly imperfect” was intended a reference to cosmetic defects, but it got me thinking about more substantive imperfections that no publishers dare acknowledge while advertising their Bibles.
Would you purchase a Bible that was missing an entire page? Not many would, I suppose, but when compared to the Bibles published in Reformation times, most modern versions are actually missing about that much content.
Twelve verses from the end Mark’s Gospel are missing. An additional twelve verses from John’s Gospel are missing. Sixteen other verses are usually found missing and several more words and verses have either been deleted or noted as questionable.
Many seek to minimize these discrepancies by speaking only in terms of the percentage of material missing. The forty verses referenced above constitute less than one-quarter percent of the whole. However, if you compare the amount of missing material to the length of some books in Scripture, the discrepancy appears as more significant.
The forty missing verses contain eight hundred and fifty-four words. That’s more than the prophecy of Obadiah. That’s more than the Epistle of Jude. That’s more than Paul’s Epistle to Philemon. That’s more than the second and third Epistles of John combined. Would you buy a Bible that was advertised with this disclaimer: Slightly imperfect, missing only one or two epistles?
Modern scholars will undoubtedly take some umbrage with such argumentation, but that is only because they believe the missing verses never belonged there in the first place. It is their position that the otherwise pious scribes in ancient times intentionally corrupted the Bible by adding words to it.
This view, however, is out of accord with what the Reformed have confessed for centuries; namely that God not only inspired the scriptures, but also kept them pure in all ages by his singular care and providence (Westminster Confession of Faith, I.8).
These are two very different views of the transmission of Holy Scripture. One assumes early corruption and the other presupposes providential preservation. Slightly imperfect Bibles seem to betray a slightly imperfect confidence in the promise of Christ, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35).
Christian McShaffrey is a Minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and Pastor of Five Solas Church (Reedsburg, WI). He also serves as the Stated Clerk of the Presbytery of the Midwest (OPC), and executive director of the Kept Pure in All Ages conference. -
3 Life Implications if Christians are to “Run the Race to Win the Prize”
In a world that is fixated on achievement and personal validation, the Christian doesn’t seek after a temporary acknowledgment of their greatness, but instead has the goal of a crown that will last forever. What we are after in this disciplined journey of life is to life faithfully to Jesus, doing what He has called us to do and being who He has called us to be.
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize… (1 Cor. 9:24).
This is one of the metaphors Paul used to describe the Christian life. He likened it to an athletic context – specifically a race. Paul wrote these words to the church in Corinth, and his readers would likely have had a pretty vivid picture of athletic contests.
Of course, the most famous games in ancient times were the Olympics, but between the Olympics there was another set of games held right there in Corinth. These contests were called the Isthmian Games, and Paul may have even seen them. So when he wrote to the Corinthians that the Christian life was like a race in which you compete, they would certainly have been familiar with the metaphor.
So if that’s true – that the Christian life is like a race – what are the implications for us today? There are at least three of them:
1. The Christian life is a journey.
A race is, fundamentally, a journey; it is forward motion from one point to the next. So the first and most basic implication of the metaphor for us is that the Christian life is also a journey. And though that journey will be filled with ups and downs, joys and pains, it is a journey with purpose and meaning.
Just like a race isn’t an aimless kind of walk, so also is our journey with Jesus. From the moment we believe in Jesus, God puts us on a journey of transformation. We are, day by day, moment by moment, being formed in the likeness of Christ. We are becoming like Him. And while that progress is painfully slow sometimes, we can look back over the course of our lives in Christ and say along with John Newton.
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The 7 Most Outrageous Moments of the World Economic Forum 2024
The 2024 World Economic Forum became a coming-out party, displaying the WEF’s love of paganism. WEF concluded its Wednesday forum on “Climate and Nature” by inviting a shaman to carry out a pagan ritual for the healing of the planet, because “the healing is spiritual.” The moderator, Gim Huay Neo, closed the discussion by inviting “a very special guest,” Chieftess Putanny Yawanawá of Brazil’s Yawanawá tribe, whose “cultural and spiritual identities” let them “protect and steward the lands… over thousands of years.” Neo continued, “We know that in order for us to look forward and build this future, we also need to look back and harness the wisdom of our ancestors.”
Although legacy media apologists insist the World Economic Forum (WEF) “has no authority to enforce” its mandates, the WEF claims it unites “the foremost political, business, cultural and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.”
The WEF’s most recent conference left no doubt that the world should resist being shaped by the secular-progressive, globalist agenda on display, included taking part in a pagan ritual, advocating for a universal and biometric ID and a global tax, “public-private” government censorship of the internet, and reining in elected officials’ ability to deliver for their voters.
The World Economic Forum held its 54th meeting in Davos, Switzerland, from January 15-19, 2024. Its speeches included Al Gore tying climate change ideology to the Bible, John Kerry’s daughter rambling incoherently, and John Kerry boasting that “no one politician anywhere in the world can undo” efforts to impose the WEF’s agenda. Here are some of the conference’s most significant moments.
1. A Pagan Ritual
The 2024 World Economic Forum became a coming-out party, displaying the WEF’s love of paganism. WEF concluded its Wednesday forum on “Climate and Nature” by inviting a shaman to carry out a pagan ritual for the healing of the planet, because “the healing is spiritual.”
The moderator, Gim Huay Neo, closed the discussion by inviting “a very special guest,” Chieftess Putanny Yawanawá of Brazil’s Yawanawá tribe, whose “cultural and spiritual identities” let them “protect and steward the lands… over thousands of years.” Neo continued, “We know that in order for us to look forward and build this future, we also need to look back and harness the wisdom of our ancestors.”
None of the panellists, who represent the power and wealth created by Western civilisation, were descended from the Yawanawá tribe. Nor do most Americans have any desire to live like the Yawanawá tribe, whose entire population consists of about 1,200 people in 12 villages.
Chieftess Putanny began her healing ritual by saying she represented “the voice of all the forest people” and “the voice of the forest.” She then asked the crowd of elite secularists to “hold hands and unite our hearts, unite our thoughts in the same direction for healing of the planet. And the healing is spiritual.” She then rubbed her hands together, chanted an incantation, and proceeded to breathe on the foreheads of the panellists. Some of the WEF’s secular elitists, not knowing how to react, briefly broke out into applause.
The recipients of the shaman’s spirit included Klaus Schwab’s wife, Hilde Schwab; the president of the World Bank Group, Ajay S. Banga; the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva; the CEO of IKEA, Jesper Brodin; billionaire André Hoffmann; the moderator, Neo; and one figure of particular importance to evangelical Christians.
“Fun little cameo for Southern Baptists. See the second person on this panel, having a pagan ritual performed over her? That is Dr Katharine Hayhoe, who promotes climate alarmism among evangelicals,” noted evangelical investigative journalist Megan Basham.
She noted the president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Danny Akin, “has promoted [Hayhoe] to students” of the ministry school. Hayhoe spoke at a 2021 SEBTS conference on “The Goodness of Creation and Human Responsibility,” where she said she embraced climate change because of her faith, and was interviewed on the seminary’s “Christ and Culture” podcast.
(Interestingly, Al Gore would also tie climate alarmism to the Bible at the WEF on Wednesday, insisting, “Every night on the television news is like a nature hike through the Book of Revelation.”)
Some may have thought it over the top when Larry Taunton, who attended WEF 2024, referred to its attendees as “members of a godless, secular cult” on “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” last Thursday. But those who watched this pagan ritual can hardly find a more fitting illustration of Jesus’s words, “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of!” (Luke 9:55). Most Americans do not want anyone possessed of such a spirit making their laws, writing their HR regulations, or teaching their children.
2. A Digital ID to Track Your Whole Life
One of the elitists’ central conceits is that they have the right to surveil every aspect of their subjects’ lives, for their own good. One invaluable tool in the effort is a mandatory identification card that puts as much information as possible at the government’s fingerprints — as noted during WEF’s Thursday panel on “financial inclusion.”
Queen Máxima of the Netherlands (whose grandfather, Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, co-founded the Bilderberg Group in 1954) urged governments to adopt a “ubiquitous” ID card that is “digital” and “biometric.” Such an ID can not only provide surveillance over the financial industry, she said: “It’s also good for school enrolment,” and to see “who actually got a vaccination,” as well as facilitating the redistribution of wealth to see that welfare recipients and other favoured classes “get your subsidies from the government.”
The WEF has discussed digital IDs and apps for years. In 2022, Alibaba Group President J. Michael Evans announced that he was developing new technology “for consumers to measure their own carbon footprint.” This device would monitor “where are they travelling, how are they travelling, what are they eating, what are they consuming on the platform.”
Of course, if the individual can measure his or her carbon footprint, so can the government — which can then microtarget and micromanage individuals’ lives. “We don’t have it operational yet,” Evans said two years ago, “but this is something that we’re working on.”
For his part, former President Donald Trump vowed this month he’d “never allow the creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency,” or CBDC. “Such a currency would give the federal government absolute control of your money,” a proposition he called a tool of “government tyranny” and “a dangerous threat to freedom.” (He credited his position, which he adopted the day after the Iowa Caucus, to Vivek Ramaswamy.)
3. A Global Tax
True global governance requires money and authority — and the WEF discussed measures that would expand both at your expense. One speaker at the 2024 World Economic Forum advised that global bodies impose, not one, but two global taxes on the entire world.
“Let’s start taxing carbon,” advised Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard at Friday’s WEF panel on “global risks.” She added that governments should enact “not just [a] carbon tax. The UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution … on the necessity to have a global tax regime, so that actually we can raise the money required for all [the UN’s proposed] changes. … Let’s tax the corporate interests.”
The Biden administration took the first step toward such a tax in 2021, when it supported a “Global Minimum Tax.” The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) agreed to an outline on a 15% tax, which would allow foreign nations to tax US-based corporations. According to the OECD’s latest update, 55 nations have begun adopting the putatively voluntary guidelines, “with the rules coming into effect in 2024.”
President Joe Biden has also taken advice from carbon tax advocates. The Obama-Biden administration’s science czar, John Holdren — who wrote a book outlining an Orwellian global regime, including forced abortions for Americans with discredited climate alarmist Paul Ehrlich — “worked closely with the Biden campaign,” according to The New York Times.
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