Quote:
Originally Posted by armourbearer  Quote:
Originally Posted by Zadok Those who argue church authority, are you not removing the problem just one step - viz. away from the individual to the corporate entity. | In this instance removing the problem one step is the the surest and safest course. It is God's own prescribed course. Eph. 5:18, 21, "but be filled with the Spirit ... submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God." Phil. 3:16, "Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing." |
Yes a true church is the House of God, the pillar and ground of truth .. but as the BCF 1689 puts it ..
"...The purest churches under heaven are subject to mixture and error; and some have so degenerated as to become no churches of Christ, but synagogues of Satan; nevertheless Christ always hath had, and ever shall have a kingdom in this world, to the end thereof, of such as believe in him, and make profession of his name."
When dealing with the question of the supreme judge in controversies there is no mention of the church but it does state:
"The supreme judge, by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Scripture delivered by the Spirit, into which Scripture so delivered, our faith is finally resolved.
( Matthew 22:29, 31, 32; Ephesians 2:20; Acts 28:23) "
From this I glean that a true church upholds and spreads the truth, but the truth is only to be found in the Word of God.
So we are still back to the question - who has the truth when Christians differ and how should we tell?