The Sources of Division in the RCA

There are several groups within the denomination which are advocating for changes in how we conceive of ourselves as a church. For example, the "Chicago Invitation" wants to restore the traditional views of office, and is critical of the business and secular models of administration presently at work in our midst. "Room For All," a recent advocacy group, desires to make the RCA hospitable for homosexuals. In California, classes and churches are writing theological briefs which would move us away from infant baptism to believer's baptism. In the Midwest, Regional Synod Executives are acting like bishops, forcing churches to close, forcing ministers out of their pulpits, and generally running roughshod over our polity. In our two seminaries, heresy and disrespect for the authority and infallibility of Scripture are normative. Reformed theology is not taught, but rather refuted or replaced by neo-orthodoxy, the mumblings of Moltmann and his ilk, or the fashionable musings of feminist, eco-feminist, and a dozen other "ist" theologies which will shortly be as relevant as Marxism.

A recently retired minister, with long experience at all levels of the RCA, said rather boldly that the RCA no longer really exists as a denomination. Instead, we are a loose confederation of increasingly intolerant bodies with no central, unifying identity. What are the sources of this division? Is there a remedy besides secession? I see two malignancies responsible for our weakened condition.

1. A failure to adhere to the doctrine of the plenary inspiration of the Bible.
The Bible is no longer taught in seminaries or pulpits as the Word of God. I recall at a recent classis meeting a minister who began the reading of Scripture by saying, "Let us listen for the Word of God." We were not instructed to listen to the Word. The corrosive effects of higher biblical criticism, along with a hermeneutic of suspicion, have neutered the Bible, stripping it of any real authority. The authority celebrated in most RCA churches is the authority of the individual mind. This is expressed by the phrase that the Bible is authoritative (or infallible) "in that which it seeks to teach." Attempting to arrive at what the Bible seeks to teach is impossible, as each person defines the limits of biblical authority according to what authority they are comfortable giving it. If one is uncomfortable with the Bible's teaching on sexuality, then simply say the Bible is not a book on sex, and therefore it has no relevance.

The only remedy to this chaos is to impose upon the denomination the doctrine of the plenary inspiration of Scripture. This means that every word of the Bible is God-breathed (theopneustos in Greek), and the word "plenary" means simply that every part and word of Scripture is God-breathed. "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope" (Romans 15:4). Thus, there are no disposable parts of Scripture - all were placed in the Bible by the Holy Spirit for specific reasons. These words are, according to our Lord, eternal. "But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail" (Luke 16:17). "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away" (Luke 21:33). The classic text for this doctrine is of course 2 Timothy 3:16, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God...." Even more explicitly, plenary inspiration is mentioned in Psalm 119:160, "The entirety of your word is truth." If the RCA could somehow find its way back to this high view of Scripture, it would experience both blessing and peace.

2. A failure to enforce strict subscription to the content of our Constitution, especially our Standards of Unity.
The denominations which are experiencing growth (numerically and spiritually) are those which require strict subscription to their creeds and confessions. When a minister in the RCA is ordained or installed, there is only an anemic statement that the Standards of Unity are faithful, historical witnesses. If we wish to be Reformed, then we must insist that our clergy at least be committed to teaching and preaching what is found in the Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic Confession, and the Canons of Dort. We want clergy who actually believe the content of our creeds and confessions. If they do not, let them find positions in other non-Reformed communions. If you object to the Five Points of Calvinism, or you are uncomfortable with predestination, then you have no business calling yourself Reformed. Lately, those who object to the content of the confessions are busy making mischief by "reinterpreting" the Reformed tradition. They cry out with numbing ignorance and repetition, "We are always reforming!" This, they believe, grants them a license to dispose of Reformed orthodoxy. In truth, the rubric Semper reformanda means increasing conformity to the the Word of God, not increasing deviance from it.

The only practical way of reforming the Reformed Church is to follow the pattern of the Southern Baptist Convention, and overthrow the seminaries, installing conservatives and removing liberals. The seminaries continue to be a toxic waste stream into our denomination, and it is time to stop the flow. Surgery is never pleasant, but without it the cancer will continue to spread until the patient expires. The RCA is already on the table, waiting for the ether.


{illustration: John Rylands Papyrus, the oldest known biblical manuscript, ca. 120 A.D.}