Quote:
Originally Posted by wsw201  Actually RE's in the PCA and OPC can only exhort, not preach. |
I'm not trying to pounce on you in particular, Wayne, but the whole distinction between "exhorting" and "preaching", is a false distinction IMO, and cannot be supported by scripture. It is rather a theological distinction that stems from a false view of the nature of preaching and its relationship to office.
I wrote a paper against this view for an ST class here, propounding what I felt to be the historic view within the broader tradition of the reformers (not just within American high-Presbyterianism, which is just about as early as I can find this semantic split ever mentioned). A fellow student, who is an elder in a local PCA, asked for a copy as their session had been studying the issue for a bit. They read it, and told me that they had basically come to the same conclusions as I, and even pointed out an area that was helpful in advancing my thesis.
Basically, the problem lies in a linking of the power and authority of preaching with the ordination of a man to his office, rather than in the power of the Holy Spirit and the authority of the Word. These men want to say that the unordained only exhort, and that their "exhorting" is not as authoritative as an ordained man's "preaching". Whereas the apostolic view (which I don't have time now to cite and discuss), is that it is the message itself that is authoritative, and that it is the work of the Spirit that brings it its power. Also, if we want to be scriptural in our description of terms, "exhorting/exhortation" is always seen as a style or a subset of preaching, it is an action done within preaching, and it is never something other or lesser.
If you look up vol. 9, p.454 in the Works of John Owen, you will find him specifically stating (in a sermon on pastoral duties) that every minister needs authority in their work (particularly their preaching), and that authority comes from the unction of the Holy Spirit, and not the office, which he is rather emphatic about. He discusses this in more detail in an essay found in vol. 13 (I believe) regarding ordinary and extraordinary callings to the ministry.
Also to be noted, the
Westminster Directory for the Public Worship of God recognizes the preaching of an unordained man as such, and describes it in no lesser terms that "preaching". Neither the term, nor the concept, can be found there from what I've read of it.
There's much more, but I haven't the time to post it - I'm preparing to preach
this coming Lord's Day at a small, out-of-state church during my Spring Break travels, which will require much driving time over the next few days. Please pray that (however we may describe the delivery of the message) the people will be made to glory in the Gospel, and that the Lord would work among them.
(Can we still be friends?
)