Concurring Testimonies About Our Doctrine And Practice Part 2

VII. The holiday issue. A. We affirm that the observance of such holidays (holy days) as Christmas and Easter are, at best, foolish, man-made substitutes for the way that God in the Scriptures ordained the birth, death and resurrection of His Son to be honored. At worst, such observances are rank disobedience to the plain commands of Scripture and are the assimilation of devil- worship. 1. The observance of holy days was abolished with the coming of Jesus Christ and His New Testament. COL 2:16-17 c/w GAL 4:9-10. 2. Human additions / traditions displace God's order, cause His word to be of no effect and invalidate worship. MAR 7:7, 9, 13. 3. Human additions / traditions are especially obnoxious to God when they incorporate heathen customs / idol sympathies into the religion of Christ. DEU 12:30-32 c/w 2CO 6:14-18 c/w 1CO 10:18-22. B. At one time or another, Quakers, Scotch-Irish, Methodists, Baptists, Mennonites, Brethren, Amish, Congregationalists, Presbyterians (Puritans) all rejected Christmas. C. Consider these statements: 1. “The scriptures, both by precept and example, forbid the use of any form of worship which is not ordained by God. Since Christmas has no biblical warrant, it should be rejected, even if there were no other reason to question it. The reader who doubts this conclusion, should take a thoughtful look at scriptural passages which demonstrate the unlawfulness of adding to the worship of God through the innovations of man. (See Deut. 4:2; 12:29-32; Lev. 10:1-2; 1 Sam. 13:9-13; Col. 2:16.) Christmas has brought an infusion of paganism into the Church. This kind of admixture was prohibited among God's people in both the Old and New Testaments. The people of God must purge such corruptions from their midst. ‘What agreement hath the temple of God with idols?...come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you’ (2Cor. 6:16-17).” (Kevin Reed, [Reformed] Christmas: An Historical Survey Regarding Its Origins and Opposition to It ) 2. “10. Moreover, we have ever regarded all the inventions of men as an unspeakable abomination before God; such as the festival days and vigils of saints, and what is called holy-water, the abstaining from flesh on certain days, and such like things, but above all, the masses.” (Waldensian Confession of 1120) 3. “The ecclesiastical historian, Socrates, states with perfect truth that neither Christ nor His apostles enjoined the keeping of this or any other festival. The sanctity of Concurring Testimonies 11-20-22 Page 5  special times or places was an idea quite alien from the early Christian mind.” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 9th ed., art. Christmas) 4. “Herewith I shall end this year---except to recall one more incident, rather amusing than serious. On Christmas Day, the Governor called the people out to work as usual; but most of the new company excused themselves, and said it went against their consciences to work on that day. So the Governor told them, if they made it a matter of conscience, he would spare them till they were better informed. So he went with the rest, and left them; but on returning from work at noon he found them at play in the street, some pitching the bar, some at stool-ball, and such like sports. So he went to them and took away their games, and told them that it was against his conscience that they should play and others work.” (William Bradford, Bradford's History of the Plymouth Settlement, pp. 94-95) VIII. The Sabbath. A. We affirm that the observance of one day in seven as an obligatory sabbath of rest was peculiar to the nation of Israel under the O.T. All sabbaths were then only temporary shadows of Jesus Christ and His rest to be observed by the Jews until their (the sabbaths) abrogation by His New Testament. EXO 31:12-17 c/w COL 2:16-17. 1. If a Christian desires to dedicate a particular day of the week as one of rest for meditation on God, he is at liberty to do so. ROM 14:5. 2. But to hold others in contempt for not doing so is to make oneself a judge of God's law, which makes no such requirement of N.T. saints. JAM 4:11. B. Consider these statements from others: 1. “Hence, as the Apostle elsewhere says, 'Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ' (Col.ii 16, 17);... This is not contented with one day, but requires the whole course of our lives, until being completely dead to ourselves, we are filled with the life of God. Christians, therefore, should have nothing to do with a superstitious observance of days.” (John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book II, p. 341) 2. “41. We teach that in the New Testament God has abrogated the Sabbath and all the holy days prescribed for the Church of the Old Covenant, so that neither ‘the keeping of the Sabbath nor any other day’ nor the observance of at least one specific day of the seven days of the week is ordained or commanded by God, Col. 2:16; Rom. 14:5.” (Augsburg Confession [Lutheran], Triglot, p. 91, Paragraphs 51-60; M., p. 66). IX. No musical instruments in church worship. A. We affirm that the N.T. specifies congregational singing in church worship (EPH 5:19; COL 3:16; 1CO 14:15; HEB 2:12; JAM 5:13), and that musical instruments add an unscriptural element which cannot teach or admonish as God intended church music to do. 1. Adding musical instruments to church worship assumes that the simple order of God (singing) was deficient, and the instruments therefore are not unlike the “strange fire” offered by Nadab and Abihu (LEV 10:1-2), i.e., will worship (worship according to one's own will or fancy, or imposed by human will, without divine authority, per O.E.D.). COL 2:22-23. 2. The O.T. service had limited musical instruments as part of that system’s carnal ordinances (HEB 9:10) but the N.T. is more gloriously of the spirit which gives life (2CO 3:6-8), which musical instruments do not have. 1CO 14:7. Concurring Testimonies 11-20-22 Page 6 B. Consider the following observations: 1. “Instruments of music, such as harps and psalteries, the church does not adopt for divine praises, lest it should seem to Judaize... Instruments of this sort more move the mind to delight than form internally a good disposition. Under the Old Testament, however, there was some utility in such instruments, both because the people were more hard and carnal, and needed to be stirred up by instruments of this kind as by promises of earthly good, and also because material instruments of this sort figured something.” (Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, II. ii. 2, xci., A. ii., 4, et conclusio: Tom. iv., Ratisbona, 1884, p. 646) 2. “Musical instruments in celebrating the praise of God would be no more suitable than the burning of incense, the lighting of lamps, the restoration of the other shadows of the law. The Papists, therefore, have foolishly borrowed this, as well as many other things, from the Jews.” (John Calvin's Commentary, on PSA 33) 3. John Wesley said, “I have no objection to instruments of music in our chapels, provided they are neither heard nor seen.” (Adam Clarke's Commentary, Vol. IV, p. 684) 4. “I am an old man, and an old minister; and I here declare that I never knew them (musical instruments) productive of any good in the worship of God; and have had reason to believe that they were productive of much evil. Music, as a science, I esteem and admire; but instruments of music in the house of God I abominate and abhor. This is the abuse of music; and here I register my protest against all such corruptions in the worship of the Author of Christianity.” (Ibid.) 5. Martin Luther “...called the organ an ensign of Baal.” (McClintock and Strong's Encyclopedia, Vol. VI, p. 762) 6. Charles H. Spurgeon did not have musical instruments in the worship at Metropolitan Tabernacle. 7. Conybeare and Howson, scholars of the Church of England, said, “Make melody with the music of your hearts, to the Lord...let your songs be, not the drinking of heathen feasts, but psalms and hymns; and their accompaniment, not the music of the lyre, but the melody of the heart.” (Comment on EPH 5:19 in Life and Epistles of St. Paul, Vol. II, p. 408) 8. A Jansenist (order of Augustinian Catholics which included the likes of Blaise Pascal), when asked why there were no adornments or musical instruments in their place of worship said, “Because the purpose of church worship is to feed the sheep, not entertain the goats.” (Instrumental Music In Church Worship, p.?) 9. “This mirth and gaiety in the worship would be very agreeable to carnal sensual minds, that are strangers to that spiritual worship which is due to God who is a spirit... That way that sense directs the most will go; there is nothing so bad which the careless world will not be drawn to by a concert of music, or driven to by a fiery furnace. And by such methods as these false worship has been set up and maintained.” (Matthew Henry Commentary on Nebuchadnezzar’s instrumental worship service, DAN 3:5-6) 10. “It is remarkable that corruption of religion and morals advanced most rapidly in the line of Cain, where the greatest progress had been made in art and in science; thus showing that knowledge and civilization, apart from religion, have no power to purify the heart, or to preserve society from corruption.” (W.G. Blaikie, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland, 1892, on GEN 4:16-22, note v. 21) 11. “Instrumental music is permissible for a church under the following conditions: 1. Concurring Testimonies 11-20-22 Page 7  When a church never had or has lost the Spirit of Christ. 2. If a church has a preacher who never had or has lost the Spirit of Christ, who has become a dry, prosing and lifeless preacher. 3. If a church only intends being a fashionable society, a mere place of amusements and secular entertainment and abandoning the idea of religion and worship. 4. If a church has within it a large number of dishonest and corrupt men. 5. If a church has given up all idea of trying to convert the world.” (Benjamin Franklin, editor of American Christian Review, 1860.) X. Feetwashing. A. We affirm that the example of saints humbly washing one another’s feet which the Lord Jesus Christ ordained in JOH 13:4-17 is to be occasionally observed as part of our obedient service to Him and tokens of our servant-mindedness and need of regular spiritual washing from defilements. PHIL 2:3; 1PE 5:5; 1JO 1:9. B. Feetwashing is practiced by Primitive Baptists, Freewill Baptists, Mennonites, Seventh- Day Adventists, Churches of God and there is even a feetwashing ceremony in the Roman Catholic Church. C. Consider these statements: 1. “The action of Christ after the Last Supper (John 13:1-15) must also have invested it with a deep religious significance, and in fact down to the time of St. Bernard we find ecclesiastical writers, at least occasionally, applying to this ceremony the term Sacramentum in its wider sense, by which they no doubt meant that it possessed the virtue of what we now call a sacramental. Christ's command to wash one another's feet must have been understood from the beginning in a literal sense, for St. Paul (1 Timothy 5:10) implies that a widow to be honoured and consecrated in the Church should be one ‘having testimony for her good works, if she have received to harbour, if she have washed the saints' feet.’ ” (Catholic Encylopedia [online], art. Washing of Feet and Hands) 2. “The Master ordained the service of foot washing to signify renewed cleansing, to express a willingness to serve one another in Christlike humility, and to unite our hearts in love.” (Seventh Day Adventist Confession) 3. “We believe that Jesus Christ calls us to serve one another in love as he did. Rather than seeking to lord it over others, we are called to follow the example of our Lord, who chose the role of a servant by washing his disciples' feet. Just before his death, Jesus stooped to wash the disciples' feet and told them, ‘So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.’ In this act, Jesus showed humility and servanthood, even laying down his life for those he loved. In washing the disciples' feet, Jesus acted out a parable of his life unto death for them, and of the way his disciples are called to live in the world. Believers who wash each other's feet show that they share in the body of Christ. They thus acknowledge their frequent need of cleansing, renew their willingness to let go of pride and worldly power, and offer their lives in humble service and sacrificial love.” (Confession of Faith in Mennonite Perspective, 1995) 4. “Christ washed his disciples' feet that he might signify to them spiritual washing, and the cleansing of the soul from the pollutions of sin. This is plainly intimated in his discourse with Peter upon it, Joh 13:6-11...” (Matthew Henry Commentary) XI. The Millennium. A. We affirm that the church age in which we are living is the “last days” which shall end Concurring Testimonies 11-20-22 Page 8  with the visible coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and there shall be one resurrection of the dead, just and unjust, at which time He will destroy the present heavens and earth, judge all men and reveal a new heavens and earth for His redeemed. We look for no future “golden age” or “millennium” in this world, but for a new heavens and earth characterized by righteousness. HEB 1:2; JOH 6:40; 5:28-29; ACT 24:14-15; MAT 13:24-30, 37-43; 2PE 3:10-14. B. We affirm that the church of Jesus Christ in this world is the prophesied kingdom of God which was to come (DAN 2:44) and that its pilgrimage in this world until the return of Christ is the “thousand-year reign” of REV 20. This is also reflected in Catholic eschatology and among certain Protestants (including Presbyterian and Lutheran confessions). 1. “The evangelical accounts clearly prove how fervently the Jews at the time of Christ expected an earthly Messianic kingdom, but the Saviour came to proclaim the spiritual kingdom of God for the deliverance of man from his sins and for his sanctification, a kingdom which actually began with His birth. There is no trace of chiliasm to be found in the Gospels or in the Epistles of St. Paul; everything moves in the spiritual and religious sphere...” (Catholic Encyclopedia [online], art. Millennium and Millenarianism) 2. “With the Augsburg Confession (Art. XVII) we reject every type of millennialism, or Chiliasm, the opinions that Christ will return visibly to this earth a thousand years before the end of the world and establish a dominion of the Church over the world; or that before the end of the world the Church is to enjoy a season of special prosperity; or that before a general resurrection on Judgment Day a number of departed Christians or martyrs are to be raised again to reign in glory in this world; or that before the end of the world a universal conversion of the Jewish nation (of Israel according to the flesh) will take place. Over against this, Scripture clearly teaches, and we teach accordingly, that the kingdom of Christ on earth will remain under the cross until the end of the world, Act 14:22; John 16:33; 18:36; Luke 9:23; 14:27; 17:20-37; 2 Tim. 4:18; Heb. 12:28; Luke 18:8; that the second visible coming of the Lord will be His final advent, His coming to judge the quick and the dead, Matt. 24:29, 30; 25:31; 2 Tim. 4:1; 2 Thess. 2:8; Heb. 9:26-28; that there will be but one resurrection of the dead, John 5:28; 6:39, 40; that the time of the Last Day is, and will remain, unknown, Matt. 24:42; 25:13; Mark 13:32, 37; Acts 1:7, which would not be the case if the Last Day were to come a thousand years after the beginning of a millennium; and that there will be no general conversion, a conversion en masse, of the Jewish nation, Rom. 11:7; 2 Cor. 3:14; Rom. 11:25; 1 Thess. 2:16. According to these clear passages of Scripture we reject the whole of Millennialism, since it not only contradicts Scripture, but also engenders a false conception of the kingdom of Christ, turns the hope of Christians upon earthly goals, 1 Cor. 15:19; Col. 3:2, and leads them to look upon the Bible as an obscure book. (Lutheran Confession) 3. “Although amillennialists expect no millennial kingdom, this does not mean amillennialists deny a millennium entirely, as the terminology may seem to imply. Anthony Hoekema provides a concise amillennial interpretation of Revelation 20: Amillennialists interpret the millennium … as describing the present reign of the souls of deceased believers with Christ in heaven. They understand the binding of Satan … as being in effect during the entire period between the first and second comings of Christ, though ending shortly before Christ’s return. They teach that Christ will return after this heavenly reign.” Concurring Testimonies 11-20-22 Page 9  (Alan S. Bandy (Reformed / Presbyterian), Views of the Millennium: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/views-of-the-millennium/#footnote-3)