Thread: Reading Law of God in Worship

My PCA Brethren,

In my congregation's order of worship we read the Ten Commandments each week in preparation for our prayer of confession. We also read Christ's summary of the Law (love God, love neighbor as self)

I was told last night that this is an oddity in PCA churches, and that someone who has been in a lot of PCA churches has never been in one that did this.

Can I poll the audience and find out how many PCA churches read the Moral Law of God in the worship service?

Thanks,
TE Brian Carpenter

Brian,
Never heard of such a thing.

Sounds like a good idea, as long as you also read a passage that encapsulates the Gospel.

I know the OT Gospel is somewhat encapsulated in the preface to the 10C, but the redemption from Egypt is not quite the same as the Gospel Gospel.

Do you have the standard reading of any other passages?

We read the law in worship, but not every week. We do it more often on a communion Sunday (once a month).

I am in a PCA church and we read the 10 commandments each week also prior to our time of private and corporate confession.

We've done this for the past couple of years. I find it an important measuring rod each week. No matter how much I shrug something off as OK during the week, hearing that law reminds me of God's perfect standard and my need for His grace.

My church, Trinity Presbyterian Church of Aledo, Illinois (PCA), does this every-so-often, but not every week, but it is done approximately once a month.


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We do it on occasion, generally in connection with the Lord's Supper, but not every week.

I wish I could say we do it every week, but I don't think we've ever done this.

The reading of the Law before a prayer of confession is common in OP churches. I suspect this practice comes from continental Reformed influence, which has always been present in the OPC.

Such was not prescribed in the Westminster Directory for the Public Worship of God, and doesn’t seem to be part of historic Scottish-Irish Presbyterian practice.

This is not the practice at SRPC because it takes time from the consecutive reading of Old and New Testament and from preaching. Commonly, we incorporate the Shema (Deut. 6:4-5) in the call to worship, which underscores the most important commandment to love God. The confession of sin is incorporated into the first prayer, followed by words of assurance of forgiveness. Then, we have a consecutive reading from both testaments, interspersed with the singing of Psalm selections (Psalm, OT Reading, Psalm, NT Reading). This is followed by the pastoral prayer for congregational concerns; then, the sermon.

If the Commandments were read week after week, from either Exodus or Deuteronomy, this would become repetitious and eat into the time for reading other scripture passages or preaching. As our service already runs toward an hour and fifteen minutes, this doesn’t seem the best use of available time.

Obviously, the reading and preaching of the law, which brings conviction of sin and leads to God’s provision of grace needs to happen; but such emphasis is possible in prayers, scripture readings, psalms, and sermon, without a formal reliance on a repetitious reading.

At the same time, this is not intended as a condemnation of the practice.

I must say we have never done this as long as I have been going there, about 10 months.

I've been in some (PCA and Reformed) that do it as a regular practice, typically a law reading and later a gospel reading. It seems it used to be more common in Reformed churches when I was young, and the law reading typically was always the Ten Commandments. My dad, then a Reformed pastor, would guest preach in such churches and choose to read the Commandments from Deuteronomy instead of Exodus just to freshen things up. Sometimes he'd run into complaints from traditional elders who weren't sure that was acceptable!

Those churches I've seen more recently that do it effectively will vary what passages they read each week, not merely the Commandments time after time.

We have a call to confession prior to the confession of sin. The words of assurance come after. The call to confession is a scripture verse, but not usually the Ten Commandments. Calvin had his congregation sing the Ten Commandments after the confession of sin.

The use of the Decalogue elsewhere in the broader Reformed tradition:
In the State Kirche in Wuerttemberg [a mixed Church, Lutheran and Reformed] either the Decalogue or the Summary of the Law is recited in the liturgy of Holy Communion. Besides the way the service of Holy Communion is conducted, the other way to know if a Wuerttemberg congregation is Lutheran or Reformed is to see if they read the Law or just the summary of the Law. The Reformed read the Decalogue, the Lutherans tend to read the Summary of the Law in its place.
In Anglican Churches the Law is usually read at least seven times a year. [The rubric in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer requires that it be read at least once a month.] It tends to be recited more frequently in Low Church Congregations then in High Church Congregations. On occasions when the Decalogue is not read, the summary of the Law from Matthew 22 is read.
When the Decalogue is read the response, "Lord have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this Law" is sung after the first nine commandments. At the conclusion of the Decalogue the response is "Lord have mercy upon us, and write all these laws in our hearts, we beseech thee."

It is common practice in the liturgy of the reformed churches...

Originally Posted by bouletheou

My PCA Brethren,

In my congregation's order of worship we read the Ten Commandments each week in preparation for our prayer of confession. We also read Christ's summary of the Law (love God, love neighbor as self)

I was told last night that this is an oddity in PCA churches, and that someone who has been in a lot of PCA churches has never been in one that did this.

Can I poll the audience and find out how many PCA churches read the Moral Law of God in the worship service?

Thanks,
TE Brian Carpenter

I'm kind of new to this whole Reformed thing, but here's my

The PCA church I attended for several weeks didn't formally read the law, but in the pastoral prayer would acknowledge our sinfulness and need for Christ.

Lately, I have been attending an OPC church and the law is read each week. Not specifically the 10C, but some section that details our duty to be holy before God. This is followed by a prayer of public confession of our sins and then a reading from Scripture that pronounces God's pardon of our sin. Personally, I like this! It's a weekly reminder of our failure to keep God's commands and a weekly reminder of God's pardon of our sins in Christ!

As I understand things, this is part of the dialogical nature of the OPC liturgy.

Originally Posted by carlgobelman

Lately, I have been attending an OPC church and the law is read each week. Not specifically the 10C, but some section that details our duty to be holy before God. This is followed by a prayer of public confession of our sins and then a reading from Scripture that pronounces God's pardon of our sin.

This is what my OPC does every Lord's Day. Presently we are reciting portions of the Heidleberg Catechism where it expounds the 10Cs.

When I ministered at Trinity Reformed Chapel we would have a reading of the law followed by a confession of sin, and then a reading of the gospel and followed by an assurance of pardon. The law and gospel scripture readings were passages that reflected such respectively, and were not strictly a repetition of the Decalogue and one gospel verse. I have been in congregations where the Decalogue was read weekly, and it does tend to lose its edge through over familiarity.

Originally Posted by Edward

We do it on occasion, generally in connection with the Lord's Supper, but not every week.

I mentioned it to my Pastor and he's interested in reading the Law before the Lord's Supper but not familiar with how it's done.

My PCA church is not currently practicing this. However, we do participate in the Lord's Supper every Lord's Day.