Thank you for a very thought provoking discussion. I will confess that I felt some objections rising up in my mind and the motivation behind the objections was “people won’t come to do that.” I was caught with the truth that I was being practical and not scriptural. May the Lord change my heart.
A couple of things should be noted here. For understandable reasons, Godfrey wanted to distance the Reformed approach to worship from traditionalism. That the Reformed approach involved more than just practices that are repeated because that is how it was "always" done. But the dictionary definition of the word 'tradition' involves the conveying of beliefs as well as practices. And so though there are theological reasons for the Reformed approach to worship, that doesn't remove the Reformed approach from being traditional and the strict adherence to it as traditionalism. Though not explicitly mentioned, the concept involved in the discussion is the Regulative Principle of Worship. And the question is does the New Testament teach the Regulative Principle. After all, the New Testament does not explicitly mention such a principle. And so we have to ask if the concept of the Regulative Principle of Worship is taught in the New Testament. The following is the beginning of why I can't agree with the Regulative Principle of Worship being mandated. I hasten to add that we should not seek to correct those who only follow that principle. If we take what Jesus told the woman at the well along with the Great Commission, we see that Jesus is talking about a transition in how and where worship was to be approached. Worship was being changed from a well-regulated form of worship in a centralized location, but it was to be in Spirit and in Truth. Then if we add to that the charge of the Great Commission and how we are to make disciples throughout the world, isn't the important ingredient here the worship of God in Spirit and in Truth? And when we add to that the comparison the way of life of Gentile converts to the Gospel with that of Jewish converts, is the Regulative Principle of Worship one that was followed in the New Testament? I value the reverence that is in much of the Reformed approach to worship. But I don't see it being mandated by the New Testament. And mandating it as the only proper form of worship runs the risk of conflating a given culture with worship or the Christian way of life. And those who strictly follow the Reformed approach run the risk of missing out on the contributions that other approaches provide.
Clicked on this so fast. Dr. Godfrey is a gift to the modern reformation.
Thank you for a very thought provoking discussion. I will confess that I felt some objections rising up in my mind and the motivation behind the objections was “people won’t come to do that.” I was caught with the truth that I was being practical and not scriptural. May the Lord change my heart.
Thanks for this, gentlemen!!
Pls tell me there will be more of this!
A couple of things should be noted here. For understandable reasons, Godfrey wanted to distance the Reformed approach to worship from traditionalism. That the Reformed approach involved more than just practices that are repeated because that is how it was "always" done.
But the dictionary definition of the word 'tradition' involves the conveying of beliefs as well as practices. And so though there are theological reasons for the Reformed approach to worship, that doesn't remove the Reformed approach from being traditional and the strict adherence to it as traditionalism.
Though not explicitly mentioned, the concept involved in the discussion is the Regulative Principle of Worship. And the question is does the New Testament teach the Regulative Principle. After all, the New Testament does not explicitly mention such a principle. And so we have to ask if the concept of the Regulative Principle of Worship is taught in the New Testament.
The following is the beginning of why I can't agree with the Regulative Principle of Worship being mandated. I hasten to add that we should not seek to correct those who only follow that principle. If we take what Jesus told the woman at the well along with the Great Commission, we see that Jesus is talking about a transition in how and where worship was to be approached. Worship was being changed from a well-regulated form of worship in a centralized location, but it was to be in Spirit and in Truth.
Then if we add to that the charge of the Great Commission and how we are to make disciples throughout the world, isn't the important ingredient here the worship of God in Spirit and in Truth? And when we add to that the comparison the way of life of Gentile converts to the Gospel with that of Jewish converts, is the Regulative Principle of Worship one that was followed in the New Testament?
I value the reverence that is in much of the Reformed approach to worship. But I don't see it being mandated by the New Testament. And mandating it as the only proper form of worship runs the risk of conflating a given culture with worship or the Christian way of life. And those who strictly follow the Reformed approach run the risk of missing out on the contributions that other approaches provide.