The term "brotherly love" came to prominence with the Christian Gospel. Prior to this, the Greeks and Romans practised infanticide, rape and violence as a matter of form. Jesus introduced brotherly love as a new Christian commandment, by which they would know His disciples Jn 13:34-35. It is a premium mark of the godly. It …
Category: Congregational life
The future for Scottish Presbyterianism
There is a debate about the future of Presbyterian churches in Scotland. The debate is inadequate because it does not begin with Scripture but with historical and theological analysis, presumably to detect where things went wrong in order to put them right. There is certainly a role for this, but the cure should arise from …
Presbyterian prejudices
I have recently published a few blogposts on Presbyterianism. I am familiar with other branches of Christ's visible church and I critique many unbiblical doctrines promoted by these, but zugological balance necessitates the critique of those that are nearer home. I have already done so with evangelical errors but Presbyterianism itself needs not only a …
The Reformation of Presbyterianism
Current Presbyterianism needs a Reformation as surely as Roman catholicism needed it in the 16th century, and still needs it in the 21st century. Roman catholicism never learned from the Protestant Reformation, but instead it battened down the hatches and carried on worse than before. This is a natural reaction, and not many people learn …
The spirit and form of Presbyterianism
If you ask what Presbyterianism is, you may be told that that it is a form of church government in which the church is structured in a hierarchical manner with lower courts subordinate to higher courts until a General Assembly oversees them all. This is inadequate. This describes the form, not the substance nor the …
Church courts or helpers?
In Presbyterianism it is common to hear of church assemblies being described as church courts. Why? This terminology promotes legalistic thinking, and this is too commonly found in dealing with cases of conscience or cases of discipline. This legal thinking needs to be balanced with the biblical teaching about office-bearers in the Church of Christ: …
The failure of Gentile Christianity
The failure of Gentile Christianity is predicted in Scripture at Rom 11:15. Its revival will come with the conversion of national Israel. Meanwhile, why has Gentile Christianity failed to convert the world? It has been successful in what the Lord called it to. It has evangelized the world Mat 28:18-20, making disciples of all ethnic …
Reviving the Christian Church
How do we revive the Christian church? Many people can see the decline in the Christian church, although there are not so many that are able to diagnose the problem. There are two things that are urgently needed for the revival of the Christian church. The first need is exegetical preaching, with emphasis on both …
Jesus’ views on ecclesiastical leadership
Having considered Jesus' view of those Christians who do not pay attention to His Word I now turn to notice Jesus' opinion about ecclesiastical leadership. Leadership During His time on Earth, Jesus criticized Jewish officialdom. It was not "the Jews" but the leadership who persecuted Jesus and finally secured His crucifixion. The ordinary Jewish public "heard …
Reforming the Reformed Church
The Reformed Church is the Christian church that emerged in Europe during the 16th-century European Reformation, reforming the church from the Roman Catholic corruptions that had emerged under the Roman Catholic pope in Rome. These reforms are generally described as "Reformed in Doctrine, Worship and Practice". 500 years after these events, there has been a …
