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Transcript of 1993 Issue 10 - He Shall Glorify Me: Doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the Westminster Standards Part 7...
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8/12/2019 1993 Issue 10 - He Shall Glorify Me: Doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the Westminster Standards Part 7 - Counsel of C
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THE HOLY
SPIRIT
ND CHURCH DISCIPLINE
As noted earlier, church discipline
is one of the marks of a true church. It
is the duty of Chlist's bride to purify
herself from anything that would
profune the Blidegroom. Private and
public admonition, toward those who
persist
in
sin, is a necessary function
(Mt. lS:15-20; 1
Cor.
5:1-13). The
Westminster Confession
XXXIV,4)
avers that the Holy Spirit
is
that member
of the Trinity (economically speaking)
by whom, the
church
will
be
... purified.
Such discipline (church
censures), says
the
Confession (XXX,3), is
necessary for: the
reclaiming
and
gaining of
offending bretheren; for the
deterring of others from the
like offences; for purging out
of that leaven which might
infect the whole lump; for
vindicating the honour of
Christ, and the holy
profession of he gospel; and
for
preventing the wrath of
God, which might justly
fall
upon the
church,
i
they should suffer His
covenant
and
the seals thereof, to be
profuned by notorious and obstinate
offenders.
Church discipline is to occur by
means of the keys of the Kingdom
Mt. 16: 17-19; 1S:15-20). The keys,
according to the Westminster divines
(XXX,2,4), are committed to the
officers of the church, and consist of
the Word ofGod, and church censures
canied out in obedience
to
the Word.
Biblical discipline
is
to proceed
by
admonition, suspension from the
sacrament of the Lord's Supper for a
season, and by excommunication from
the church, according
to
the nature of
the crime, and demerit of the person.
Matthew IS: 15-20, is the biblical
locus classicus on the subject. Here we
learn that
when church
officers
faithfully carry out their task of
discipline vv. 15-lS), Jesus Chlist is
with them; He is in the midst of them
(vv.19,20).AndthewaythatChrist is
with His church at such times is through
His Sphit.
This
is
what Christ told HisdiSCiples
in John 14-16. He would not leave
them alone as they can'ied out their
ministerial functions (14:
18);
Hewould
send the parakletos to dwell with them
and in them (14: 16,17); thus, it would
be best for them i He went away
A STUDY OF THE PERSON AND WORK
OF THE HOLY
SPIRIT
B SED
ON THE
WESTMINSTER
ST ND RDS
(16:7). Jesus is continually with His
church through the person of His Spirit
Mt. 28:20). The S
phit
functions
as
the
emthly, indwelling advocate, whereas
Christ is now the heavenly advocate 1
In.2:1).
Interestingly, the name parakletos,
given to the Holy Spirit by
Chlist,
literally means one called alongSide.
It was the title given to lIial lawyers
(advocates) in antiqUity. Perhaps there
is reference to the Spirit's role in church
censures in the name.
THE HOLY
SPIRIT AND
ESCH TOLOGY
According to Pieter Potgieter, the
course
of
history between the
resurrection and the second coming of
Chlist is a course of inevitable viCtory
for His Kingdom. In this process the
Holy Spirit is fully involved. The
outpouring of the Sphit on the day of
Pentecost is nothing less than the
indisputable sign
of
his
velY
victOlY in
the world. (Potgieter, p. 3).
Section four of chapter
XXXIV
of
the Confession closes by stating thatby
the minisny of the Holy Spirit, the
church will
be preserved,
increased ..
and
at last made perfectly
holy
in
the presence of God. We have
studied the final part
of
his teaching in
chapter three. There we saw that each
and
evelY
Christian (individually and
corporately) will be preserved
throughout eternity; they
will
be
glorified. The
indwelling Parac1ete is the
seal and earnest which
assures this (Eph. 1:13,14;2
Cor. 1:22).
But the Confession also
speaks of the Spirit's role in
preserving and giving
increase to Christ's church.
The Spirit is the church
bnilder, according to the
apostle Paul (Eph. 2:22). He
is the other advocate, sent
by
Christ, to continue His
earthlyminisnyOn.14:16-lS,26; 16:7-
15; Acts 1:1,2). Thus, He assures us
that even
in
the worst
of
times, there
shall always be a church on earth to
worship God according to will. The
Westminster
Confession of
Faith
XXV,5.
The Spirit will preserve Christ's
church.
Not only this, the Spirit
is
also the
one who assures Christ's church that
the gates of hades shall not prevail
against it (Mt. 16:1S). We can expect
times 0 f great gospel prospelity in the
New Covenant era, prior to the second
advent of Jesus Chlist. The Great
Commission will be fulfilled; the
nations will be discipled (Mt. 2S: lS-
20). Chlist, in the person of His Holy
Spirit, will be with His church always
to assure her victOlY (v. 20). The
Puritans, who
were
strongly
December 1993 l
TH
COUNSEL o ChaIcedon ;.
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8/12/2019 1993 Issue 10 - He Shall Glorify Me: Doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the Westminster Standards Part 7 - Counsel of C
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Posnnillennial
in
their eschatology,
often referred to this time as the latter
day glory of the saints. For more on
this see lain H. Murray, The
Puritan
Hope.
In explaining what Christ meant
when He enjoined the church to pray
Thy Kingdom come (Mt.
6:10),
the
larger Catechism (Q 191) states:
In the second petition, (which is,
'Thy Kingdom come'), acknowledging
ourselves and all
mankind
to
be
by
nature under the dominion of sin and
Satan, we pray, that the
11:9).
Joseph
c.
Morecraft, III,Studies
on
the
Church ofJesus Christ pp. 90, 87.
The book of Acts should then be
somewhat paradigmatic as to what we
should
expea
to see
in
the whole ofthe
New Testamentera.]. Gresham Machen
agrees. He writes:
The triumphes
of
the gospel,
however, were not confined to the age
of the apostles. The apostolic age was
prophetic of the Christian centuries.
There were
many
days
of
darkness;
but
the church always emerged again
16:5;
17:4,12; 18:8; 19:10,26; 21:20;
28:30). Regardless of the obstacles
and trials the church faced ... Nothing
could stop its expansion.
2) Geographical growth 0:8; 5:16;
9:31; 13:46,49;
17:2ff;
18:5ff;19:8ff;
28:17-31).
According to Acts
1:8,
the
gospel is to spread from Jerusalem,
through allJudea and Samaria, until it
reaches 'the remotestpart of he earth'.
3) Heterogeneous growth
(2:9-
11,16-21; 6:7; 8:9-12,26-40; 9:39,43;
10:1; 13:7; 16:14,27; 17:4,12,34;
kingdom
of sin and Satan
may
be
destroyed,
the
gospel
propagated
throughout the world, the
Jews called, the fullness of
the Gentilesbrought in; the
church furnished
with
all
gospel-officers and
ordinances,
purged
from
corruption,
countenanced
and maintained
by
the civil
magistrate:
that the
ordinances of Christ may
be purely dispensed,
and
The fact that no one person
has all
of
the
gifts of
the
Spirit
reveals
to
u the
need
for
the
unity of the church, the
fellowship of
the
body, for the
full
spiritual development of
the
individual and
the
corporate community.
18:3,8; 21:5). The
early
church
was comprised of
people
from every
race,
people, nation, and walk of
life.
There were
men,
women, priests, tanners,
converted
magicians,
centurions, philosophers,
proconsuls, and so forth.
4) Qualitative growth
(2:37-47; 4:31-35; 9:31;
16:5; etc.). Numerical
growth alone is not the goal
of evangelism and
world
miSSion. It is numerical
growth coupled with spiritualade
effectual t
the
converting of those that are yet
in
their
sIns,
and
the confirming, comforting,
andbuildingup of hose thatarealready
converted:
that
Christ would rule
in
our hearts here, and hasten the time of
His second coming, and our reigning
with
Him forever: and that
He
would
be
pleased
so
to exercise the Kingdom
of His power
in
all the world, as may
best conduce to these ends.
Joseph Morecraft, maintains that
the
book ofActs is abookwhich reveals
. the power of the Holy Spirit. God
personally
builds
His
church
by His
Spirit. Further, the purpose of the
book of Acts is to show the triumphant
progress of Christianity, to show the
ever expanding nfluence of he gospel
as it breaks through all bartiers
religious, ethniC, and national-until
'the knowledge of the Lord covers the
earth as the waters cover the sea' (Is.
triumphant. So it will
be
today. God
has
not
deserted His people;
He
will
attest His truth with the power of His
Spirit;
there
is no room
for
discouragement. One thing, however,
should
to
be remembered; thevictories
of the church are victories, not of
brilliant preachers, not of human
wisdom or human goodness,
but
of he
cross of Christ. Under that banner all
true conquests move. J. Gresham
Machen,
The
New
Testament: An
Introduction to its Literature
and History
p.310.
Morecraftcitesfour particularways
in which we see the HolySpiritbringing
about church growth
in
the book of
Acts: Morecraft, pp.
88-9l.
1 Numerical growth (2:41,47; 4:4;
5:14; 6:1,7; 8:6,12;9:31,35,42; 10:44;
11:21,24,26; 12:24; 13:49; 14:1,21;
12 THE COUNSEL
of
Chalcedon December,
1993
growth. The focal point for Luke
in
his
understandingofchurchgrowthislarge
numbers of believers who are being
built
up in
Christian maturity of life
and thought. ..Churchgrowthinvolves
a growth in quantity
and
in quality.
Implications
At the
end
ofchapterone we studied
some of he implications of he doctrine
of the person of the Holy Spirit. Now,
at the end of chapters two through
four, we shall look at some of the
implications
of
His work: Millard
J.
Erickson, Christian
Theology
pp.
882,883.
1 The entirety of salvation, along
with the gifts and graces given to
Christians, are bestowals
of
grace from
God
the Spirit, not human
CONT. ON PG.
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with paganism
in
the raw are the
cheapest of cheap shots. But then
again, unfounded prtggishness has al-
ways been
at
a discount behind the
tenured walls
of our
honored institu-
tions of higher learning. )
Their violent acts must be seen
in
the light of the realities they faced. It
was literally a life and death situation
(for them as well as for the benighted
people of Mexico). Ifthey failed, not
only
would
they die, but (and what
wasjustas important
to
these men) the
people who
had
been deceived by the
old Dragon would pertsh. Descola
remarks, the violent acts of the Con-
quistadors. . . . though sometimes
performed 'in the name of' religion,
were never 'under the pretence
of
religion. (Eidsmoe, op. cit., p. 162)
That is
t
say, though they might, at
times, have gone too far, the conquis-
tadors were never insincere. They had
legal warrant (from the Pope) and they
were on a crusade, not t defeat the
Mohamedans but to convert the hea-
then. Their religion was not a pretext
but a banner. (Ibid., p. 163)
To the hypocrttes of our age who
know nothing
but
pretense, this seems
impossible. And the fact that most
scoff
at
this view of he conquistadores
says far more about the bankruptcy of
our times
than it
does about the sins of
those
in
the past.
I
CRAMP1ON CaNT.
ROM
PAGE 12
accomplishment. Thus, the gifts and
graces are to
be
used for His glory.
2) Because
it
is the Spirtt who
empowers every believer
in
Chrtstian
life
and service, personal inadequacies
should not deter or discourage us.
3) Since the gifts are sovereignly
dispensed by
the Spirtt to the church,
possession or lack of a particular gift
should be no cause for prtde or regret.
4) The fact that no one person has
all of the gifts of the Spirtt reveals t us
the need for the unity of the church,
the fellowship of the body, etc., forthe
full spiritual development of the
individual
and the corporate
cOIJlmunity.
5 The fact that we can come to the
Spirtt in prayer encourages us to pray
for His sanctifying work
in
us, both
individually and corporately. Prayer
for guidance, a greater understanding
ofHis inspired Word, the advancement
of His Kingdom, etc., should be a part
of our daily walk with God.
Come gracious Spirit, heavenly dove,
With light and comfort from above;
Be
Thou our guardian, Thou our guide;
O'er every thought and step preside.
The light of truth to us display,
And make us know and choose Thy way;
Plant holy fear in every heart,
That we from God may ne'er depart.
Lead us to holiness, the road
Which we must take to dwell with God;
Lead us to Christ, the living way,
Nor let u from is presence stray.
(Simon Browne)
6
THE COUNSEL of
Chalcedon
December,
993