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Originally Posted by KMK  Do you have a citation for this sermon, Mr. Myer? I would love to read it. |
Ken (and, by all means, please feel free to call me Adam!),
You will find it in Owen's sermon
The Duty of a Pastor in vol. 9 of his
Complete Works. He writes something similar as part of an essay entitled
The Duties of Pastor and People Distinguished in vol. 13 of the same, yet addressing a somewhat different issue.
Although I do not have a direct citation for you here, I did notice that I had footnoted p. 454 of vol. 9 in a summary review I had written of several of his works regarding the pastoral ministry, and in particular the issue of preaching authority and ordination, so you may want to begin there.
-----Added 7/7/2009 at 07:15:49 EST----- Quote:
Originally Posted by fredtgreco Quote:
Originally Posted by brianeschen Quote:
Originally Posted by fredtgreco
This is a distinction typically employed in OPC circles. It is incorrect in the PCA, since the entire premise of being licensed to preach is that such licensure applies to those who preach "regularly." Others who preach may do so on an irregular basis.
(This is also, by the way, why the dictum that "a woman may do anything an unordained man may do" is wrong on its face. Unordained men may preach in accordance with the BCO.)
| Thanks for the info. I had heard this distinction not only from friends, but also at last year's GA in the outgoing moderator's sermon. It seems then that the PCA holds less distinction between teaching and ruling elders than the OPC. Is that accurate? | Yes, that would be accurate. The OPC tends very strongly to a three office view (TE, RE, Deacon), whereas the PCA's BCO is explicitly two-office (elder, deacon). In practice it sometimes works itself out with a greater or lesser distinction, hence the term "two and one half office" view.  |
As I am sure Fred is aware, much of that comes from the Dutch Reformed influence found in the OPC. Most of the students arguing for that position during my seminary years were URCNA students, and following upon their heels some of the OPC students. The Belgic confession divides the offices into "minister, elder, and deacon", and it has been a tradition in Dutch churches, from what I understand, to make this distinction that attaches the authority of preaching to formal ordination.