Steelites and WCF 26

[Reformed Covenanter]

How do Steelite views of separation and close communion square with these statements in WCF 26?:

I. All saints that are united to Jesus Christ their head, by his Spirit and by faith, have fellowship with him in his graces, sufferings, death, resurrection, and glory: and, being united to one another in love, they have communion in each other's gifts and graces, and are obliged to the performance of such duties, public and private, as to conduce to their mutual good, both in the inward and outward man.

II. Saints by profession, are bound to maintain an holy fellowship and communion in the worship of God, and in performing such other spiritual services as tend to their mutual edification; as also in relieving each other in outward things, according to their several abilities and necessities. Which communion, as God offereth opportunity, is to be extended unto all those who, in every place, call upon the name of the Lord Jesus.

Surely according to their own logic they are "unlawfully constituted"?

 

[Peter]

How do Steelite views of separation and close communion square with these statements in WCF 26?:

I. All saints that are united to Jesus Christ their head, by his Spirit and by faith, have fellowship with him in his graces, sufferings, death, resurrection, and glory: and, being united to one another in love, they have communion in each other's gifts and graces, and are obliged to the performance of such duties, public and private, as to conduce to their mutual good, both in the inward and outward man.

II. Saints by profession, are bound to maintain an holy fellowship and communion in the worship of God, and in performing such other spiritual services as tend to their mutual edification; as also in relieving each other in outward things, according to their several abilities and necessities. Which communion, as God offereth opportunity, is to be extended unto all those who, in every place, call upon the name of the Lord Jesus.

Surely according to their own logic they are "unlawfully constituted"?

I believe many presbyterian denominations used to have close communion beside the Steelite splinter from the RPCNA. The RP church continued to have CC after the splinter though it doesn't today, but practice probably varies from church to church.

The mystical communion that exists between members of the body through their mutual head requires them to make actual improvement of their communion but because of other impediments I think full religious fellowship can be withheld. The association of a corrupt member with a healthy one may cause the healthy member harm. Romanists, Greeks, Lutherans, Baptists and Presbyterians, etc, should not all be treated equally.

 

[Reformed Covenanter]

Romanists, Greeks, Lutherans, Baptists and Presbyterians, etc, should not all be treated equally.

True, but Romanists and Greeks are not Christians; the Steelites virtually treat the rest of us as Romanists.

 

[Peter]

Romanists, Greeks, Lutherans, Baptists and Presbyterians, etc, should not all be treated equally.

True, but Romanists and Greeks are not Christians; the Steelites virtually treat the rest of us as Romanists.

If the Steelites treated all of Christianity as Romanists besides themselves that would still be more charitable then treating all of Christianity besides a few more as heathens

 

[timmopussycat]

Romanists, Greeks, Lutherans, Baptists and Presbyterians, etc, should not all be treated equally.

True, but Romanists and Greeks are not Christians; the Steelites virtually treat the rest of us as Romanists.

Not quite. I don't know which Steelites you have met, but not all Steelites deny all forms of Christian fellowship with non-Steelite believers. The better sort of Steelites don't accept our churches as fully healthy and so do not attend them nor do they have ecclesiastical fellowship with us on the church-to-church level. But on the level of individual Christians they are perfectly willing to share Christian fellowship with individual believers who are not Steelite.

Is such a position schismatic? On the church level yes, on the individual level no.

 

[Reformed Covenanter]

Romanists, Greeks, Lutherans, Baptists and Presbyterians, etc, should not all be treated equally.

True, but Romanists and Greeks are not Christians; the Steelites virtually treat the rest of us as Romanists.

Not quite. I don't know which Steelites you have met, but not all Steelites deny all forms of Christian fellowship with non-Steelite believers. The better sort of Steelites don't accept our churches as fully healthy and so do not attend them nor do they have ecclesiastical fellowship with us on the church-to-church level. But on the level of individual Christians they are perfectly willing to share Christian fellowship with individual believers who are not Steelite.

Is such a position schismatic? On the church level yes, on the individual level no.

That is how they try to get round it; but, they basically treat all other communions as apostate.

 

[jaybird0827]

... But on the level of individual Christians they are perfectly willing to share Christian fellowship with individual believers who are not Steelite. ...

I got into a conversation with a Steelite some time back. One thing he asked me was if I line out the Psalms. I said not as a rule but that there were times when I was riding shotgun with my pastor. He wanted to sing Psalms. I lined them, we sang, and he continued to do the driving.

Another man was a friend at one time until he became a Steelite. He cut off all communication with Christians he'd been associating with, including myself.

Those are the only two Steelites I've ever met personally. It's nice to know there are other Steelites out there that don't go to these kinds of extremes.