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Originally Posted by Pergamum  Your quote: The Presbyterian church has never been preoccupied with "reaching the unsaved," but with the faithful administration of Word and sacraments. seems like a false dichotomy to me. I have seen churches do both. |
One cannot adapt Word and sacraments to "reaching the unsaved" without making them ill-suited to their fundamental purpose of "gathering and perfecting of the
saints," WCF 25:3.
John 21:15, "Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He [Jesus] saith unto him, Feed my
lambs." John Calvin comments: "nothing could have been spoken that was better fitted for encouraging the ministers of the Gospel, than to inform them that no service can be more agreeable to Christ than that which is bestowed on feeding his flock. All believers ought to draw from it no ordinary consolation, when they are taught that they are so dear and so precious in the sight of the Son of God, that he substitutes them, as it were, in his own room. But the same doctrine ought greatly to alarm false teachers, who corrupt and overturn the government of the Church; for Christ, who declares that he is insulted by them, will inflict on them dreadful punishment."