Featured The Doctrine of RPW

Yes. It should be the way that all Churches worship but most often is not

 

Salty, yes, sir. I have heard of the Regulative Principle of Worship or the "RPW". I think every Reformed Christian has heard of the term. The RPW states that men are to worship God in the manner prescribed in scripture and, therefore, cannot worship God in any other manner.

 

@Salty , a good read is what the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession of Faith has to say about worship. You can find the link HERE. I will also copy and post it for those who do not want to click on the link:

Chapter 22: Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day
1._____ The light of nature shews that there is a God, who hath lordship and sovereignty over all; is just, good and doth good unto all; and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served, with all the heart and all the soul, and with all the might. But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God, is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to the imagination and devices of men, nor the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representations, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures.
( Jeremiah 10:7; Mark 12:33; Deuteronomy 12:32; Exodus 20:4-6 )

2._____ Religious worship is to be given to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and to him alone; not to angels, saints, or any other creatures; and since the fall, not without a mediator, nor in the mediation of any other but Christ alone.
( Matthew 4:9, 10; John 6:23; Matthew 28:19; Romans 1:25; Colossians 2:18; Revelation 19:10; John 14:6; 1 Timothy 2:5 )

3._____ Prayer, with thanksgiving, being one part of natural worship, is by God required of all men. But that it may be accepted, it is to be made in the name of the Son, by the help of the Spirit, according to his will; with understanding, reverence, humility, fervency, faith, love, and perseverance; and when with others, in a known tongue.
( Psalms 95:1-7; Psalms 65:2; John 14:13, 14; Romans 8:26; 1 John 5:14; 1 Corinthians 14:16, 17 )

4._____ Prayer is to be made for things lawful, and for all sorts of men living, or that shall live hereafter; but not for the dead, nor for those of whom it may be known that they have sinned the sin unto death.
( 1 Timothy 2:1, 2; 2 Samuel 7:29; 2 Samuel 12:21-23; 1 John 5:16 )

5._____ The reading of the Scriptures, preaching, and hearing the Word of God, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord; as also the administration of baptism, and the Lord's supper, are all parts of religious worship of God, to be performed in obedience to him, with understanding, faith, reverence, and godly fear; moreover, solemn humiliation, with fastings, and thanksgivings, upon special occasions, ought to be used in an holy and religious manner.
( 1 Timothy 4:13; 2 Timothy 4:2; Luke 8:18; Colossians 3:16; Ephesians 5:19; Matthew 28:19, 20; 1 Corinthians 11:26; Esther 4:16; Joel 2:12; Exodus 15:1-19, Psalms 107 )

6._____ Neither prayer nor any other part of religious worship, is now under the gospel, tied unto, or made more acceptable by any place in which it is performed, or towards which it is directed; but God is to be worshipped everywhere in spirit and in truth; as in private families daily, and in secret each one by himself; so more solemnly in the public assemblies, which are not carelessly nor wilfully to be neglected or forsaken, when God by his word or providence calleth thereunto.
( John 4:21; Malachi 1:11; 1 Timothy 2:8; Acts 10:2; Matthew 6:11; Psalms 55:17; Matthew 6:6; Hebrews 10:25; Acts 2:42 )

7._____ As it is the law of nature, that in general a proportion of time, by God's appointment, be set apart for the worship of God, so by his Word, in a positive moral, and perpetual commandment, binding all men, in all ages, he hath particularly appointed one day in seven for a sabbath to be kept holy unto him, which from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ was the last day of the week, and from the resurrection of Christ was changed into the first day of the week, which is called the Lord's day: and is to be continued to the end of the world as the Christian Sabbath, the observation of the last day of the week being abolished.
( Exodus 20:8; 1 Corinthians 16:1, 2; Acts 20:7; Revelation 1:10 )

8._____ The sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering their common affairs aforehand, do not only observe an holy rest all day, from their own works, words and thoughts, about their worldly employment and recreations, but are also taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of his worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy.
( Isaiah 58:13; Nehemiah 13:15-22; Matthew 12:1-13 )

 

At its core, the RPW says that God has given instruction on how He is to be worshipped such as: prayer, the reading of Scripture, Offerings, Communion, Baptism, singing and responsive readings

The opposite of the RPW is the Normative Principle. Churches that follow it allow such things as interpretive dance, pledging allegiance to flags (a lot of Bible Schools).

Basically the Normative states that unless the Bible forbids it, you can do it while the RPW states that we will only do what scripture commands.

 

There is also debate about the extent of the RPW. Example, instruments, yes or no? Some people point to the OT and say the RPW permits instruments, others say because they are not shown in the NT churches explicitly they are not.

 

So, these 'Reformed' folks do their offerings the Bible way (lay them at the church elders' feet, Acts 4,5)?
No?

 

Jerome. Scripture tells us to give, how we give is not mandated. The Apostles did not require your example

 

Correct. Some use a pitch pipe to start the song on the correct note while down playing instruments. Umm, isnt a pitch pipe a musical instrument?

 

Exactly! Flush toilets are not mentioned in Scripture & a lot of churches in southern Indiana don't have them.

Is Wikipedia reliable for anything?

 

I really would like to consider the RPW authoritative, but I just don't see it. I believe the men behind it were sincere in aspiring to worship correctly, and have gleaned out important Scripture to consider when ordering your service, but if a set order was mandatory it would have been spelled out.

 

The RPW does not require worship to be spelled out. We are to make sure that God is the focal point of worship, not man made whims

 

One thing I have always found curious is the numbers of exclusive psalmodists (those who think we should sing only the Psalms) who also oppose the use of musical instruments. It puts them in the odd position of singing songs about singing songs/praising God with instruments, while sternly refusing to do so.

 

I have known of the Regulative Principle of Worship for quite some time now. However, I did not grow up with the term. I was raised up in a rural East Texas Baptist church. It had many advanced Bible students. On the other hand, we were simple unsophisticated folks. Knowledge of the Bible came from the Bible and the study of it. No sophisticated scholars with dangling degrees – and usually no talk in intricate institutional terms to describe and categorize details of belief. Many years after the fact, I decided that they held the “regulative principle” (in some fashion) without having ever heard of it. If any had ever heard of it, they did not speak of it. They spoke of believing the Bible and “doing what the New Testament church did,” that God and not man ordains how He will be worshipped – but this was never articulated as the Regulative Principle.

I did hear expressions such as “command, precept and example” or “command, example, and necessary inference”. John Spilsbury would invoke such in his rejection of infant baptism, stating that “there is neither command, or Example in all the New Testament for such practise.” Likewise, Hercules Collins on the same subject wrote, “We have neither precept nor example for that practice in all the Book of God.” Daniel Parker raised the issue in his rejection of the missions system, saying, “It has neither precept nor example to justify it within the two lids of the Bible.”

I also learned about “the law of exclusion” – sometimes expressed as “inclusio unius, exclusio alterius,” though we had never heard of the Latin terminology. The law of exclusion is the idea that the specification of one thing is the prohibition or exclusion of every other thing. For example, if Jesus commanded His disciples to immerse professed believers, the specification of that excludes the sprinkling of professed believers, or the immersion of professed unbelievers, and so on.

All this so say, that it seems to me that a version of the Regulative Principle was maintained in our country Baptist church, even though the members may have never heard of it.

 

Can we all agree that in the OT that God constantly voiced His dispeasire with how they were worshipping? Sometimes even unto death

God constantly condemns to people for profaning the Sabbath (lack of worship and wrong worship). Saul was rebuked by the prophet Samuel for offering the evening sacrafice in I Samuel. Nadab and Abihu were killed by God for offering strange fire which God had not commanded.

 

I worship God everyday not just on Sunday. I'm worshiping every time I pray so is everybody else. I understand fellowship but fellowship is for man and it is needful. Worship is praise, Prayer,adoration, and Love. Where in scripture it is ever said we have to do this in a certain way. Sounds like tradition to me.
MB

 

It's explained in an article by the Reformed Baptists' historian Tom Chantry:

http://chantrynotes.wordpress.com

"the Regulative Principle is the view that we may only do that which God commands in worship; any innovation in the elements of worship is a form of idolatry....Reformed theology understands worship....more strictly. Nothing which is not explicitly commanded is permitted."

 

Rather than copy and paste, I will link here to a combination of quotes concerning “Regulative Worship” in Baptist Thought. This will show it is not a new idea, even if not articulated under that particular heading.

 

Rob, the RPW is not a "set order" as in the order of worship. It is about the components of worship as commanded in scripture.

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