Loveland Protestant Reformed Church
709 East
57th Street; Loveland, CO 80538
Services: 9:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m. June
through August)
Vol. 6, No. 8 Pastor: Rev. Garry Eriks Phone: (970)
667-9481
Homepage on Internet: http://www.prca.org
Content:
The Unity
of the Church
Unfruitful Branches
What
Makes an Elder?
We have spoken of the church's holiness, her catholicity, and her apostolicity. There is another characteristic or attribute of the church, and that is her unity.
When we speak of the church's unity, we mean that there is essentially only ONE church and body of Jesus Christ. Christ is not a monster that He has more than one body.
This unity is not easily seen because of the multitude of different denominations, congregations, and churches that exist. To some extent this variety is due to the sinfulness and weakness of the church and her members, to some extent it is not.
Geographical differences and differences of language to some extent make it impossible to have perfect unity in the visible church. Those differences will be removed only in the new heavens and the new earth when there is "no more sea" (Rev. 21:1). Then no differences of language or anything else will separate believers from one another.
Nevertheless, the sins or the church and her members make institutional unity impossible also. Differences of doctrine and practice, all of which are the result of a sinful failure to understand and obey the Word of God, also separate believers from one another.
Because sin destroys our unity and keeps believers apart, we ought always to be doing all in our power to overcome these differences, by studying the Word and by speaking to one another of what we believe. We ought not be tolerant of division.
Even where ecclesiastical unity proves impossible, we ought nevertheless to keep fellowship with other believers as much as possible. Nor ought we to reject them or speak as though there are no Christians besides ourselves.
We may not, however, seek unity at the expense of the truth. We are to buy the truth and sell it not (Prov. 23:23). That is where ecumenism goes wrong. It sells the truth for a mess of ecclesiastical pottage that has no true unity in it.
Seeking and praying for unity, we should not forget that this unity is in diversity. The unity of the church does not mean that every believer must be exactly like ourselves. Nor does it mean that every congregation and church must be a carbon copy of another.
Paul makes this clear in I Corinthians 12. Not only is there a diversity of members and gifts, but every member is necessary, something we also often forget. Only thus is the church the body of Jesus Christ.
Nevertheless until sin is utterly destroyed, there will be divisions. Because of this the unity of the church is now largely a matter of faith. We believe, as the Nicene Creed reminds us, "One Holy Catholic and Apostolic church."
We must, therefore, with regard to the unity of the church, walk by faith, not by sight (II Cor. 5:7). How important that is! That faith will keep us from abandoning the visible church when we see her faults and sins and the divisions within her.
Nor is that faith vain. When Christ returns He will "gather in one all things" (Eph. 1:10) and destroy sin. Then even the possibility of disunity will be gone. Rev. Ronald Hanko
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. John 15:2
The questioner whose question we deal with in this article asks: "Arminians will quote it as proof that people can lose their salvation. How may a branch in him not bear fruit?"
The point of the questioner is quite clear. If a branch is in Christ, it must, by virtue of being in Christ, bear fruit. Yet the text speaks of branches in Christ which do not bear fruit. The only explanation would seem to be that a branch may for a time bear fruit, but cease bearing fruit and require that it be cut away. Thus a man would lose his salvation -- as the Arminians claim.
Let us first of all affirm with all possible emphasis that the Scriptures teach a preservation of the saints. God continues and perfects the work of salvation to the very end in the hearts of His people. A falling away of saints or a loss of a salvation once possessed is impossible.
It is also important to understand that the falling away of any saint is impossible because salvation is the sovereign work of God's grace. It is indeed true that a man could lose his salvation if his salvation depended upon his own free will. Man's will is fickle. One moment it wants one thing; the next moment another thing. If man's will is decisive in salvation, as so many claim, then saints can go lost indeed. But God works salvation. That implies the preservation (not perseverance) of the saints. I say, "not perseverance," because God's work is preservation. We persevere, but only because God preserves. For Biblical proof, see John 10:27-30, Phil. 1:6, etc.
To what does Jesus refer when He speaks of branches which are in Him, but which bear no fruit?
Jesus is referring in this passage to the nation of Israel as a whole; i.e., as one organic unity. And He does so under the figure of a vine of which Christ is the main trunk and God is the Husbandman. The nation of Israel, with Christ, is the whole plant with its branches.
This figure is very common in Scripture. In Psalm 80 the nation of Israel is described as a vine as well, which God took out of Egypt and planted in Canaan, but which is now broken down. In Isaiah 5:1-7 the figure of the nation as a vineyard is used, but the idea is the same. And the similarity is striking, so much so that Jesus undoubtedly had these two passages in mind when He spoke the words of John 15.
In Isaiah 5, God is the Husbandman and the text even speaks of the fact that He has done everything possible for His vineyard. This same passage specifically states: "For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah, his pleasant plant." And just as John 15 speaks of unfruitful branches, so also does Isaiah 5 speak of the fact that the vineyard brought forth wild grapes.
Now it is not my purpose to go into the figure in Isaiah 5 and Psalm 80 in detail. But Jesus has the same idea in mind in John 15.
There are four or five points we ought to notice about this figure.
1) God is the Husbandman in the vineyard because He set Israel apart from all the nations of the earth as His special people.
2) Christ is the vine because the whole nation has its only reason for existence in Christ. He was present in the nation from its inception, for He was born from Israel, specifically from the line of Judah and David. I mean, the whole nation lived as God's peculiar people because Christ was "in" the nation and God's purpose was realized in Christ. He, as it were, "bore" the nation. It grew out of Him. He is, in fact, called the root out of a dry ground.
3) But the nation had in it elect and reprobate. This does not differ from creation. A vine has fruit-bearing branches and non-fruitful branches. A corn plant is grown for the few kernels of corn in produces, and then is destroyed. A tomato plant must have its "sucker" stems cut out. An apple tree must be pruned every year. This is the same as God's purpose in election and reprobation within Israel and within the church.
4) The elect are the fruit-bearing branches who are truly in Christ. The reprobate are the unfruitful branches who, though organically a part of the nation (and the church) for a time, must be cut away.
5) The text looks at the matter from the viewpoint of our calling -- a calling we must never forget. We are called to bear fruit. The only way to do that is to abide in Christ. The nation of Israel rejected Christ and the nation was destroyed for its sin.
But through it all God accomplishes the sovereign purpose of His will. Prof. H. Hanko
We have received a further question about the office of elder in connection with an earlier article. A friend writes: "I have often wondered about the distinct office of ruling elder. It seems to me Paul is making a comment on the actions of certain elders and not actually saying it is an office all on its own. The Geneva Bible comment is to the effect that if they do their job well they are to be accounted right Pastors. Surely most elders at some time of other must rule or should stand before others (I Tim. 5:17) - does leading worship then make one a ruling elder?"
That the office of elder is a real and distinct office in the N.T. church is evident first from the fact that ordination is necessary (Acts 14:23, I Tim. 4:14). It is also evident from the fact that elders have an "authority" which we are called to obey (Heb. 13:17), and are, therefore referred to as "overseers" (I Tim. 3:1, Acts 20:28, I Pet. 5:2) and rulers (I Tim. 5:17).
The fact that elders must have certain qualifications that are not necessarily required of other members also suggests that they have an office in the church (I Tim. 3:2-7). So does the fact that there are separate rules for disciplining them if necessary (I Tim. 5:19, 20), and double honor to be paid them when they rule well (I Tim. 5:17). All these things "set them apart" in the church.
That they are pastors is also clearly taught in Scripture. The fact that ruling and teaching elders have different functions does not change that. Acts 20:28 makes that clear. Paul says that it is the duty of all the elders to "feed" (literally "shepherdise" or "be a pastor to") the flock of God. Along the same lines, even those who are referred to as "ruling" elders must be "apt to teach" (I Tim. 3:2).
The reference to "standing before" others comes from the Greek word used in I Timothy 5:17. That it does not just refer to leading worship is clear from the use of the word in I Thessalonians 5:12 and I Timothy 3:4. In both those passages it has more the idea of ruling. It even has the idea of "giving attention to" (similar to overseeing) in Titus 3:8 and 14, where it is translated "maintain."
Whatever the word means, though, it is not "leading worship" or any other activity - not even the activity of ruling that makes them elders. That is just their function and work as elders.
What makes them elders is ordination, involving the "laying on of hands" and prayer (Acts 6:6). That act makes them elders not because it has some magical power, but because it symbolizes and marks the fact that they are called by Christ and given by Him the gifts and abilities that are necessary for their office.
That call of Christ comes through His church (Acts 13:1-4). No man ought to thrust himself forward or take it upon himself to decide that he is so called by Christ. Rev. Ronald Hanko