Mere intellectual knowledge that Jesus is the only Mediator and the One who fulfills the covenant promises is insufficient for us to receive the promised blessings—we need to exercise personal faith in Christ as the object of the blessings. God has chosen to make faith the instrument of union with Christ. This affects our invocation of the name of Jesus in our prayers to God.

Certain practices have become so familiar among Christians that believers can be in danger of thoughtlessly performing them. We are all prone to simply going through the motions in our Christian lives. For instance, how often have we prayed the Lord’s Prayer without reflecting on the petitions that we are presenting to God? How often have we recited the Apostles’ Creed or the Nicene Creed without giving due consideration to the truths that we are confessing? We can easily go through the liturgical motions in a worship service without focusing on what we are doing before God. Similarly, it is altogether possible for believers to close their prayer with the words “in Jesus’ name” or “in Christ’s name” or “for Christ’s sake” as a sort of mindless mantra.
This raises the important question, Why should believers pray to God “in Jesus’ name”? If we are going to employ the name of Jesus in a conscientious way at the end of our prayers, a proper amount of theological reflection is required. Ultimately, we pray in Jesus’ name because He is the only Mediator between God and man, He fulfills all the covenant promises of God, and He is the object of our faith in God. Consider the following.
The Only Mediator
During His earthly ministry, Christ taught His disciples how they should approach God in prayer. He said: “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:13–14). “Whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you” (16:23). Jesus teaches us to do so because He is the exclusive Mediator between God and man. As Thomas Boston explained:
In whose name are we to pray? In the name of Jesus Christ, and of no other, neither saint nor angel, John 14:13. “Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, says he, that will I do.” We must go to the Father, not in the name of any of the courtiers, Col. 2:18 but in the name of his Son, the only Mediator.
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Written by T.M. Suffield |
Wednesday, December 20, 2023
We must keep returning to the Cross. We gather there to weep over our sin and our wayward hearts, we gather to rejoice that the Lord God Almighty—he who knew no sin—has become sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5). We can be cleansed and forgiven, even from the worst of things.

No. That was easy.
Except, I think most readers will expect me to say “yes.” Aren’t we all without excuse before the wrath of God (Romans 1)? Yes, we are. Yet this is not saying the same thing.
Having been fed—mostly evangelistically—on the (true!) idea that even the smallest sin is the enough to damn you, that even the smallest sin needs redemption, we start to think this means they’re all the same. I encounter this fairly regularly.
It’s not right, as I’ll explore in a moment, and it prevents us from being able to say that some things are worse than others. We need to be able to tell people the truth.
In Numbers 15.22-31 we have “intentional”—called here “high-handed’—sins laid against “unintentional” ones, with different sacrifices and conditions needed for atonement. High-handed sin cannot be atoned for at this point in salvation history. We could, more simply, look at the way that the various Laws in the Old Testament ascribe different punishments to different crimes, clearly not everything that is wrong should be considered in the same way.
In Ezekiel 23, the prophet draws a parallel between two sisters in their sin in graphic terms. He makes it clear that they are allegories for Samaria and Jerusalem—the capitals of the two kingdoms. In verse 11 he says that the sins of Jerusalem are worse than those of Samaria, and that she was more corrupt. In Jeremiah 16.10, the prophet lambasts Judah for being worse than their fathers.
In 1 John 5.16-17, the Apostle makes a distinction between sins “leading to death” and those that don’t, which probably scares us a bit: I understand this to be the sin of refusing to repent and turn to Jesus. He moves on to say that all wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death. There are different kinds of sin.
For a small aside, I’ve known people who would say something to the affect that “it was wrong, but it wasn’t sin,” as though sin only was the very worst of things. All wrongdoing is sin. Which means that we all sin all the time. Everything I think that’s not the truth is sinful—because thinking wrong thoughts after God is sin. It’s very possible that this post contains sinful statements. I don’t think so, and I would remove them if I did think so. If there are, I should repent. It is unlikely that I haven’t sinned in my writing so far, for all I’m not aware of where that would be. This is the nature of being fallen beings: ontological sinners made saints. As I’ll expound a little later, it’s also the wonder of grace: despite this the Lord loves me and has called me to be his chosen possession (1 Peter 2). I’m the apple of his eye (Deuteronomy 32). If you trust him, so are you.
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The vote for Recommendation #1 to dissolve Second Presbytery passed 254 yes to 43 no. Second Presbytery will be dissolved…. The Canadian Presbytery of the ARP Church, humbly petitions the 220th General Synod the ARP to release our presbytery for the formation of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in Canada beginning with our Fall Presbytery meeting, September 2025.

Moderator Alan Broyles introduced his Synod Emphasis for the year, “To the ends of the Earth together, Acts 1:8.” Agency Directors held a banner on stage to show the denomination working together.
The Special Committee to Study Church Officers and Secret Societies was discussed. The report showed a summary of findings from other denominations as well on Freemasons along with Bible proofs and Westminster Confession references. A motion was passed at this point, “That the Officers or Officer nominees who are members of a secret society be encouraged to consult with their session on the questions every believer must ask before they join a secret society.”
Following that motion, another one was passed stating, “That the 220th General Synod explicitly and forthrightly declare that Freemasonry is incompatible with Christianity.”
The Special Committee to Study the Work of the Office of Deacon report was discussed.
The summary of the report says, Those whom Christ is calling to exercise spiritually-centered authority, He sets apart by gifts including an ability to teach (Ephesians 4:11; James 3:11). In order that those officers might focus on the ministry of the Word and prayer, Christ calls others to serve as deacons and care for the physically-oriented needs of the Chruch (Acts 6:3-4; 1Timothy 3:8-13).
The scope of the office of deacon is to undertake those tasks entrusted to them by the Session in order to facilitate the Session’s attention to prayer and the ministry of the Word (Acts 6:2). Such tasks may include, but are not limited to, caring for physical needs through the collection and distribution of goods/resources and administrative duties (Deuteronomy 16:10-15; Psalm 68:18-19).
The authority of deacons is the authority of Christ Himself, delegated to them through the giving of spiritual gifts from Christ and the laying on of hands (Acts6:6). Just as Christ the King came to serve rather than to be served (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45), so His lowly service is to be an exemplar not only to all Christians (Philippians 2:3-11), but especially to those who exercise authority while serving in His Name (John 13:14-17).
There was a motion to adopt this as an official position paper for the denomination. The discussion continued after dinner that if it was adopted, it would make it an authoritative position which women can not hold. The report was not made an official paper.
The Special Committee to Investigate Second Presbytery’s Handling of Allegations Against Chuck Wilson was next on the agenda.
The committee’s report expressed multiple challenges including the massiveness of the case and the difficulties in dealing with members and officers of Second Presbytery. The committee completed their investigation and presented 20 events that happened. Two of those were deviations from our Book of Discipline. Others were lack of records after requested and how things were handled. The recommendations from the committee were as follows

That Second Presbytery be dissolved as of September 1, 2024.
That the bounds of Catawba Presbytery be changed to include the entire state of South Carolina.
That the bounds of Tennessee-Alabama Presbytery be moved to include the entire state of Georgia.
That the General Synod encourage members of Second Presbytery to transfer their credentials to Catawba or Tennessee-Alabama presbyteries (depending on their geographical location).
That the Moderator appoint a commission in order to oversee the transfer of assets and dissolution of Second Presbytery.
That the General Synod encourage Catawba and Tennessee-Alabama presbyteries to use assets received the for purpose of church strengthening, already existing church plants, and new church planting, giving special consideration to the geographical areas of the former Second Presbytery.
That the General Synod review Catawba and Tennessee-Alabama presbytery boundaries after a period of three years.
That the Moderator appoint a committee to review and revise The Standards of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Churchwith special emphasis on the church discipline process in the Book of Discipline and special emphasis on the Form of Government, as it relates to judicial commissions.

Due to the weight of this issue, James Almond offered prayer. There was heavy discussion as delegates worked through the understanding of this report. The question was called and the vote for Recommendation #1 to dissolve Second Presbytery passed 254 yes to 43 no. Second Presbytery will be dissolved.
Delegates heard from both Catawba and Tennessee-Alabama Presbytery clerks that their presbyteries are willing to accept men as long as their views have not changed. These Presbyteries cannot decline a church.
The following two motions were made to clarify the original recommendations from the committee’s report:

That the moderator establish a commission to oversee and distribute funds to fulfill and continue the existing financial obligations of Second Presbytery and that the same commission study the best use of the remaining funds for the furtherance of the gospel in our denomination. ­
That the moderator direct the commission to deal with funds of Second Presbytery and be allowed to deal with the dissolution of Second Presbytery and to handle any requests for churches in Second Presbytery to change from their new presbytery.

A report was heard from Iglesia Presbiteriana Asociada Reformada de Mexico and it was approved to move to Fraternal Fellowship. Scott Moore translated as three representatives addressed Synod. “Missionaries were first sent to Mexico in December 1879. It is our desire and prayer that fellowship can increase and be strengthened,” the IPAR delegate said.
Reverend David Walkup, pastor of Chapel by the Sea in Florida was elected Moderator Elect and Frank Hunt, III was elected Vice-Moderator Elect.
The Memorials Report was next with the reading of the Canadian Presbytery Memorial.
Therefore, The Canadian Presbytery of the ARP Church, humbly petitions the 220th General Synod the ARP to release our presbytery for the formation of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in Canada beginning with our Fall Presbytery meeting, September 2025.
This Memorial brought a lot of discussion. “We share the expression of affection. This has been a wonderful home for over 30 years. The only agenda we have is to be faithful to the Word of God. We pray to continue to have cooperative relations,” Jeff Kingswood said.
“I am thankful for the wisdom of these men. My heart doesn’t want to let them go,” Rick Anderson said.
The Memorial passed.
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