The RPW
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Ploutos
Puritan Board Graduate
The primary source for the regulative principle is the second commandment. If it seems strange to view the second commandment as being about worship, remember the hermeneutic that undergirds that we formed interpretation of the other nine commandments where the commandment gives an obvious or particularly egregious violation of a broader principle. The sixth commandment tells us not to kill, so it is therefore wrong to seek to injure our neighbor in thought, word, and deed. The fifth commandment tells us to honor our parents; it is therefore a biblical expectation that we honor all legitimate authority structures in society: government, workplace, church, and family.
Likewise, although the second commandment is specifically aimed at the use of carved images in worship, its application is much more broad. Imagine using the 7th commandment to justify intimate relations before marriage on the grounds that the commandment forbids adultery but says nothing about fornication. We would all recognize the absurdity of such a line of reasoning. It was an almost universal practice in the time of the patriarchs to have various depictions of pagan gods and for those depictions to feature in worship. That practice was at the heart of every form of man-made worship, and still is in many pagan or animistic cultures around the world today. One only need a handful of missionary stories from the last two centuries to realize that this practice is not some ancient relic of far distant millennia. In forbidding this practice, the Lord was directing Israel to the larger issue of worshipping him only in the way in which he told them he wanted to be worshiped, not according to the imagination and invention of idolatrous human minds.
One can then search the scriptures to see if there's other biblical evidence for this way of looking at the second commandment, and there is. The golden calf is the most obvious example. Jeroboam's institution of a counterfeit religion is another one: he had substitute feast days, substitute priests, and ultimately substitute gods. We see from the story of Elijah that the Israelites wanted to worship both Baal and Yahweh. And the prophetic writings of the Old Testament are replete with scathing excoriations of the syncretistic religious practices of the Israelites. This interpretation of the second commandment is scrawled all over the Old Testament from beginning to end. If the first commandment tells us who to worship, the second commandment tells us how to worship him, and the answer is simple: the way he tells us to.
The key passages used in deriving the RPW are Deuteronomy 4:2, 12:32, Exodus 20:4-6, Leviticus 10:1-2, Matthew 15:7-9, and John 4:23-24; 1 Corinthians 11:23–26 shows Paul adhering to a direct command. Acts 2:42 shows the church adhering to specific parts of worship (apostles' doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread, prayer). The Westminster Standards don't speak in multiple categories (forms, rubrics). Think in terms of the worship which is commanded of us being made up of parts (the Westminster divines' term), which must be found by warrant from Scripture. "The reading of the Scriptures with godly fear; the sound preaching, and conscionable hearing of the Word, in obedience unto God with understanding, faith, and reverence; singing of psalms with grace in the heart; as, also, the due administration and worthy receiving of the sacraments instituted by Christ; are all parts of the ordinary religious worship of God", etc. WCF 21.5. In order to do these parts you get the things attending them, the circumstances. To worship, we need a time, a place, lighting to see, if providing seating what kind, etc. Some of these circumstances are commanded in Scripture as well. For the day of public worship, it is the Lord's Day; for the time, it is not commanded and so must be determined by the church, which is governed by wisdom and prudence, avoiding offense, etc. (if free, 5am worship is not wise; if under persecution, perhaps it is). Similarly, the Lord's Supper is commanded as a part of worship; some circumstances are commanded, must be bread and wine, some are not, how frequently the supper is to be observed. "there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God, and the government of the Church, common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the Word, which are always to be observed." WCF 1.6. "The communion, or supper of the Lord, is frequently to be celebrated; but how often, may be considered and determined by the ministers, and other church-governors of each congregation, as they shall find most convenient for the comfort and edification of the people committed to their charge. And, when it shall be administered, we judge it convenient to be done after the morning sermon." DfPW.
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DNM300
Puritan Board Freshman
What treatises posit or develop the RPW? Let’s say I wanted to study it deeply. I’m not sure I have many leads. Commentaries on the Confession? Standalone treatises? Is it in Calvin’s Institutes? How about any of the big name systematics?
I would appreciate as many recommendations as you all can give.
Happy Lord’s Day, everyone!
I would appreciate as many recommendations as you all can give.
Happy Lord’s Day, everyone!
For the modern literature that would recognize the moniker regulative principle of worship, start with Frank Smith's lengthy overview The Regulative Principle of Worship: Sixty Years in Reformed Literature, part one of which (through 1999) is at the link below. GPTS is setting up a new site that will or does have all the articles for v1-20 online but I don't have that link and couldn't find it just now searching.
www.cpjournal.com
The Regulative Principle of Worship: Sixty Years in Reformed Literature - The Confessional Presbyterian
The Regulative Principle of Worship: Sixty Years in Reformed Literature. Part One (1946–1999), by Frank J. Smith, Ph.D., D.D., with Chris Coldwell. Introduction (PDF). The Confessional Presbyterian 2.89–92. Extract of 4 pages from the 76 page article. Note of Interest: The editor first proposed...
www.cpjournal.com
Northern Crofter
Puritan Board Junior
William Cunningham wrote a pretty concise essay titled "The Reformers and the Regulative Principle" which might contain references to what you are looking for. It is in a collection of his writings titled Select Writings of William Cunningham which is available free from Monergism as an eBook here: https://share.google/OnXp5NZPoIwxCewzM
Start here: https://www.westminsterconfession.org/resources/worship/the-puritan-principle-of-worship/
There is a book length treatment, Worship in the Presence of God. A bit of a mixture but again Young's essay stands out. Then I think older works like Begg's Anarchy in Worship, and then start to explore expositions of the second commandment. But I would begin with the link.
The authors are coming from a variety of backgrounds and perspectives. For example, there would not be one position on Psalmody. When I read the book (way back when) I got the impression they were working with different views as to how the Word regulated worship.
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