September 2018

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September 2: Van Horn on WSC Q. 91

2 September, 2018 in September 2018 by Wayne Sparkman | No comments

STUDIES IN THE WESTMINSTER SHORTER CATECHISM

Q. 91. How do the sacraments become effectual means of salvation?

A. The sacraments become effectual means of salvation, not from any virtue in them, or in him that doth administer them; but only by the blessing of Christ, and the working of His Spirit, in them that by faith receive them.

Scripture References: I Pet. 3:21. Matt. 3:11. I Cor. 3:6, 7. I Cor. 12:13.

Questions:

1. What is meant in this Question by the “effectual means of salvation?”

The “effectual means of salvation” are the appOintments of God by which He accomplishes the end He has in view, that of saving our souls. (Rom. 1:16)

2. What is the meaning of the words “not from any virtue in them” in this Question?

The words “not from any virtue in them” simply mean the sacraments have no power in themselves, as expressed by the Larger Catechism. The sacraments are simply the outward and ordinary means of grace and have no efficacy of themselves to confer salvation.

3. Why is it so important to make this distinction?

It is important to make this distinction because of the position taken by the Roman Catholic Church. They hold that the sacraments of the New Testament are true, proper, and immediate causes of grace. They insist the power of them flows from the sacramental action of receiving the external element.

4. What is meant here by “the blessing of Christ?”

The “blessing of Christ” is His divine power and life. Calvin states, “The sacraments duly perform their office only when accompanied by the Spirit. the internal Master, whose energy alone penetrates the heart, stirs up the affections, and procures access for the sacraments into our souls. If He is wanting, the sacraments can avail us no more than the sun shining on the eyeballs of the blind, or sounds uttered in the “ears of the deaf.”

5. How do we receive the sacraments bv faith?

We receive them by faith bv coming with the prayer that the Holy Spirit will do His work in our hearts, giving us the grace to believe in Christ and to apply His Word to our lives.

CHRIST AND THE SACRAMENTS

Many times the church of Jesus Christ has been led astray by those who inslst they have some sort of power to convey in the administration of the sacraments. Primarily this has been done by the Roman Catholic Church which has insisted that the efficacy of the sacraments depends upon the “intention of the priest” administering it. Those who subscribe to the Reformed Faith would certainly be opposed to such a teaching. But so many times those adhering to the Westminster Standards are not too clear as to what the correct teaching might be.

As we think of the sacraments, we must recognize that the presence of Christ is really the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Reformed Faith has never taught that it is the presence of Christ as He was in His ministry on this earth. The Reformed” Faith has always taught that Christ comes in this area through the Holy Spirit whom He has sent. It is the blessing of Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit. Therefore you can not divorce either of them from the sacraments.

The Holy Spirit mediates the presence of Christ in two ways in the sacraments. First, the Holy Spirit presents Christ to us. He makes Christ present to us on that day, at that very time we are partaking. Christ is not a far-off person who is too old-fashioned, too out-of-date for us today. The Holy Spirit makes Christ our contemporary.

Secondly, the Holy Spirit mediates the presence of Christ by enabling us to be lifted out of our woes, our troubles, our afflictions and be lifted up into the presence of Christ, spiritually speaking. We can see this teaching in Colossians 3. We are enabled to set our affection on things above and not on things on this earth.

All of this comes about by the blessing of Christ alone. It does not come about because of the particular church to which we belong. It does not come about because of the wonderful minister (to our eyes) who is administering the sacrament. It does not come about because we have worked ourselves into a certain mood for partaking. It is by, in and through God—for He is the One who “giveth the increase.” When we come in faith there is indeed a blessing for us and it will lift us up out of the troubled world. Praise God for Christ and His work in the sacrament!

Published by The SHIELD and SWORD, INC.
Dedicated to instruction in the Westminster Standards for use as a bulletin insert or other methods of distribution in Presbyterian churches.

Rev. Leonard T. Van Horn, Editor
Vol. 6, No.8 (August, 1967)

September 1: About That Motto

1 September, 2018 in September 2018 by archivist | No comments

Someone has asked a while back about the history of the PCA’s motto, the one you see every year at General Assembly, emblazoned on various banners around the room, “True to the Scriptures, the Reformed Faith and obedient to the Great Commission.”

Apparently that motto has gone through some changes over the years!

One of the earliest examples of the phrase, perhaps the first, is provided by the Rev. Don Patterson, as he announced the formation of the Steering Committee, in 1971, leading to the eventual formation of the Presbyterian Church in America.

Rev. Patterson said, in part,

“These groups have reached a consensus to accept the apparent inevitability of a division in the Presbyterian Church U.S. cause by the program of the radical ecumenists, and to MOVE NOW toward a continuing body of congregations and presbyteries loyal to the Scriptures and the Westminster Standards…”

In that same issue [Bulletin no. 22, September 1971] of The Concerned Presbyterian, the masthead motto changed from the previous motto,

“Dedicated to Returning the Presbyterian Church, U.S. to its Primary Mission—Winning the Unsaved for Christ and Nurturing all Believers in the Faith.”

into a new motto, reflecting Patterson’s words :

“Dedicated to the Formation of a Continuing Church True to God’s Word and Loyal to Historic  Presbyterian Doctrine and Polity.”

Elsewhere in that same issue of the Bulletin, there was mention of “. . . Presbyterians who will be forming a continuing Church faithful to God’s Word and loyal to historic Presbyterian doctrine and polity.”

But surprisingly, even in the very first Bulletin issued by the Concerned Presbyterian group, in March of 1965, there were hints of this motto, as yet unformed. Announcing their organization they issued a statement of core concerns, and said this in summary :

“This is the avowed purpose to endeavor to return the control of our Church once more to those who believe that the Bible is the Word of God and the only infallible rule of faith and practice, that unswerving loyalty to the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms is vital and essential to the work of our Church, and that leading the unsaved to Christ and nurturing believers in the Faith should take precedence even over every other proper activity in the Church’s program.”

Because Ruling Elder Ken Keyes was the editor of The Concerned Presbyterian Bulletin, he was probably the author of the lead article in that first issue and so it is probably safe to attribute the above statement, and thus the root form of the motto, to Mr. Keyes.

[If you want to do your own research, all of the Bulletins issued by the Concerned Presbyterian group can be viewed here. The URL for that first issue is http://www.pcahistory.org/findingaids/concerned/bulletin01.pdf]

A later variation of the motto, perhaps the more familiar version, appears in Paul Gilchrist’s last letter as Stated Clerk (1998), where he reported:

26th GENERAL ASSEMBLY IS HISTORY
Our hearts were blessed as we celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the PCA at the General Assembly in St. Louis, Missouri. How good it was to hear how the Lord moved in the hearts of our founding fathers to establish a “continuing Presbyterian Church” that would be true to the Scriptures and to the Confession, and obedient to the Great Commission.”

Obviously we could probably track some variations on the motto through the years, from 1971 to present, but most of those variations probably appeared because someone was working from memory.  For one thing, the motto was never officially adopted, so far as I can determine. If I’m wrong about that, please let me know. For now, barring other input, I’m satisfied that the motto was first envisioned by RE Kenneth S. Keyes, and later refined and voiced by TE Donald Patterson.

Words to Live By:
And more than all that history, the important thing is that we should pray and strive to remain faithful to that covenant, enabled by the Holy Spirit, always seeking to be true to the Scriptures and to the Confession, and obedient to the Great Commission.

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