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While I love Dr. Frame, I disagree with his take on the regulative principle. The main problem is his blurring of the lines between public and private worship. Below is a little I wrote on that main argument:Responding to all of Frame’s argument for a general regulative principle would require more than the time allotted for this rebuttal so we will go right to the central issue of Frame’s case. On page 44 of his book, Frame writes, This position on church power, however, led some theologians to distinguish sharply between worship services that are “formal” or “official” (i.e. sanctioned by the ruling body of the church), and other meetings at which worship takes place such as family devotions, hymn sings at homes, etc., which are not officially sanctioned…. But that distinction is clearly unscriptural…. I therefore reject the limitation of the regulative principle to official worship services.He also a few pages earlier states, “The regulative principle for worship is no different from the principles by which God regulates all our life.” The central issue is whether or not Scripture distinguishes sharply between public and private worship. Is there a formal service that Scripture calls for and are there prescriptions for it? Frame argues that the distinction between public and private worship is not made in Scripture and therefore the RP applies in the same way to both. If it applies in the same way to both, then if I can do something worshipfully in “all of life” that is acceptable, I can do it in public worship. However, if there is such a thing as a definable public worship that God commands us to observe and it is distinct from worship in “all of life,” then the RP does apply and it applies in a different way. In “all of life” God’s Word proscribes what may be done, leaving other practices open. We certainly cannot set up idols but we can do things God and our consciences allow that the consciences of others might not allow. In public worship, however, God’s Word, prescribes what may be done, leaving all other practices closed. This is how the RP applies differently in “all of life” and corporate worship. Publically a church can only require its members to do what God has required them to do. Or, to put it another way, a church cannot bind the consciences of its members by making them feel guilty either for doing something against their consciences or for not doing something the leadership says they should be doing. Only God can bind men’s consciences. Only God has the right to make man feel guilty. Instead, I posit that there is a public worship service that is different from “all of life.” We must ask then, “Where does the NT call us to worship differently? Is there a distinction?” There are few explicit commands in the NT that tell us to gather together to worship (He. 10:25 being one) but that is not because the NT does not expect for there to be corporate worship. That is because the teaching of the NT apostles rests firmly on the OT view of public worship and the assumption that the NT saints gather together in a public, definable worship service. This is the Lord’s Day activity. Frame himself acknowledges this in his excellent work, Doctrine of the Christian Life, “The Sabbath commandment demands godly use of our entire calendar—six days to carry out our own work to God’s glory, and the seventh to worship and rest.” (Pg. 398, emphasis added) This assumption—that we worship corporately on the Lord’s Day—is so pervasive throughout the NT that it undergirds the entire set of NT commands concerning worship. Indeed, many of those commands are unintelligible if there is no such thing as a regulated, public worship service. •All the epistles of Paul, with the exception of the Pastorals, are written to the corporate church at each city. One can easily infer from this that they were meant to be read at corporate gatherings—the corporate gatherings/events that are assumed in much of the content of the letters. •Mt. 18:20 indicates that there is a different presence of Christ with believers when they gather together and the rest of “all of life.” Surely it is a special, distinct time of worship when Jesus is among us in a special way has He indicates here. If that is the case, then it is not the same as “worship in all of life” and must be treated differently. •In Acts 20:17-38 Paul gives his charge to the Ephesian elders, in which he distinguishes between his public teaching of them and the teaching that went on in homes. There was a public time where the Ephesian church gathered and was taught by Paul. •Paul, in 1 Co. 11:23-34 where he gives regulations for the Lord’s Supper, implies a specific service where the corporate body comes together to worship through the Lord’s Supper. This is not the early Church so-called “agape meal” for Paul tells them in vs. 34 that they are not to come physically hungry. This implies a specific service where worship is taking place and there is a proper and distinct way to observe the Lord’s Supper. Such worship must be orderly and considerate of the body of Christ. •Paul’s words concerning prophecy and tongues in 1 Co. 14:1-40, particularly vs. 23-2, make no sense if there is not a definable, public worship service that is different from worship in “all of life.” o In it Paul assumes they are meeting publically (cf. vv. 26, 28, 34-35), which is an implicit command to meet publically. o He regulates tongues and prophecy for public worship because public worship is supposed to edify the body whereas private worship edifies the individual. It is difficult to see how Frame can mention this passage in a several places in his book and miss the principles that distinguish public from private use of worshipful gifts. o He also commands that women should be silent in “the churches” (i.e. corporate gathering places) and ask their husbands at home if they have a question. No matter the interpretation of women’s roles in the Church, this clearly distinguishes public from private worship and shows that some things which are permissible at home are not permissible in public worship. o Vs. 40 commands that all things should be done decently and in order. Frame mentions this verse once but he does not address how it distinguishes public and private worship. Does this mean my private devotions and worship life must follow an orderly fashion or else I am sinning? Does this mean that if my home is messy, I am not worshiping properly? Or, does this show us the separation between public and private worship? This command makes no sense unless “all things” refers to all things in public worship, as opposed to private. •In 1 Ti. 2 Paul gives Timothy principles for worship that depend on there being a public worship service that is different from private life. o Prayer is to be offered but without anger or quarrelling (vs. 8). Why? Because public prayers in a worship service are to edify the body (Paul’s general rule) and are not to be disruptive to public worship or personal expressions of anger. Yet, does this mean we can never express the feelings of anger we might have to our heavenly Father who already knows them? Certainly not. o Paul regulates what woman can wear here. Now, the specific things mentioned are the cultural application of a principle, but what is that principle? That woman should dress in a godly, non-disruptive way in public worship. Well, let me ask a provocative question. Is it godly for a wife to wear lingerie before her husband? I think most would answer, yes, because sex is godly in the context of marriage. Could she wear that in church? Of course not! Because it would be disruptive in public worship but it is perfectly acceptable in the private worship of the marriage bed. o Women are not allowed to exercise authority over a man. Does this mean that a female boss in the business world is a violation of how worship is to proceed in “all of life.” Or, does this mean that there is a different order for God’s people in local body? Again, public worship is different from “all of life.” o Paul clearly distinguishes between public and private worship in this text because he is giving Timothy guides for the church when they gather to worship God publically. •In 1 Ti. 4:6-13 Paul gives Timothy more commands about what it means to be a minister in the Church. What does he command in vs. 13? The public reading of Scripture, exhortation, and teaching. Does this mean there is to be no reading of Scripture, exhortation, or teaching privately? I doubt Paul would say that, but when the Church gathers publically they must be devoted the reading the Scriptures, exhortation, and teaching. Again, he makes a distinction between what is necessary in public worship and what is permitted, but not required, in private. •I could go on. Many other passages like Ro. 14; 1 Co. 7-10; 16:2; 2 Ti. 4; Tt. 2; He. 4:9; and Re. 1:10 all depend on a distinction between corporate worship and worship in “all of life.” If that distinction does not exist, then these passages and the rest already mentioned are unintelligible.In addition to the Scriptural arguments above that show a distinction between public and private worship, one can simply make a logical argument. There are things one can easily say are worship in “all of life” but would not at all be acceptable in a public worship service, thus showing the distinction. Clowney gives a very important example: sex. In the context of marriage it is a God-honoring act of “worship in all of life,” but it is categorically unacceptable in the worship service. I, personally, find a good time for prayer to be when I practice martial arts katas because it is time when my mind is focused and I find it worshipful. Does that mean I can do that in worship service and expect them to watch because I find it worshipful and edifying? I know people who find their jogging a precious time of worship in their daily activities. Should we let them bring in a treadmill and run before the congregation? Another more contentious example: lyrical dance holds a special place in the hearts of those who understand it and participate in it, and it is a way they can express emotion and worship before God. If it is done in a worship service, however, how does it edify the body? Most people there will not understand at all how it is worship and it may in fact wound the conscience of a believer who does not believe dancing is proper. Frame argues that dancing is permissible simply on the grounds that it can be worshipful and it is not forbidden. How does it edify the body? What about the consciences of people in the audience who feel guilty because they do not understand what is going on but think they should? We do not have the right to bind them that way. There is also the flipside of the coin: there are things which are acceptable in corporate worship and not in private, i.e. the sacraments. They are not to be done unless administered by God’s called, ordained men and then only in the context of public worship. Thus, by giving examples of things acceptable privately but not publically and vise-versa, one can logically show that there is a strong distinction between public and private worship.Since there is a definable worship service that is distinct from the believer’s worship in the rest of life, then, as the Westminster divines taught, the RP must apply differently there than in the rest of life. To be sure, man cannot make sacrifices in his private life because God has forbade them since Jesus is the final and ultimate sacrifice, but that is not tantamount to saying the RP applies to “all of life” in the same way it does to public worship. It does apply to all of life but by what is proscribes, and it applies to corporate worship by what it prescribes. There may be many ways of worshiping God privately that are not acceptable publically because they may bind the conscience of man. The RP tells us that because of the distinction between public and private worship, in public worship only God can say, “You must do this” and therefore bind our consciences. Since that is the case, public worship must follow prescription only. This is the only way to make it a freeing time of worship for all men and not a time of tyranny under the whims of a worship leader or pastor. What, then, are the prescribed elements of corporate worship? First, it is worth pointing out that Frame does not do justice to the continuing continuity of Old Testament worship. In chapter three Frame states, “From a NT perspective, we can see all the various elements of OT worship pointing to Jesus.” He then cites many examples of aspects of the ceremonial law that Jesus did fulfill and concludes, “Essentially, what is left is worship in the broad sense: a life of obedience to God’s Word, a sacrifice of ourselves to His purposes.” While we do not deny that the ceremonial law is fulfilled in Christ that does not reflect the whole of OT worship. There are many trans-covenantal aspects of worship, reflected in passages like Joshua 24, which continued into the synagogue period and the NT—prayer, praise, reading of the Scriptures, teaching on the Scriptures, and sacramental meals. These map very clearly to the NT elements of worship—preaching, reading Scripture, praying, singing, and the sacraments. Are these elements commanded in the NT or are they just descriptive, as Frame holds. In 2 Ti. 4:2, where Paul is giving his final instructions to Timothy for leading of the church, Paul tells him to preach the Word “in season and out.” Of course, this is just a repeat of the command he gave Timothy in 1 Ti. 4:6-13 where he tells him to devote (imperative) himself to public teaching and exhortation, i.e. preaching. This is, of course, crucial to the converting of the lost as Paul tells us in Ro. 10:14, 17. In Acts 2 what was one of things the church was devoted to? The apostles teaching, which is a description of what carried through the NT and is commanded here to Timothy. What about the reading of Scripture? Again, in 1 Ti. 4:13 Paul commands Timothy to be devoted to the public reading of Scripture. Early on in 1 Ti. 2 Paul says that protos, first, chiefly he wants prayer to be a part of public worship, all kinds of prayers for all kinds of people. Again, this is one of the things Acts 2 tells us the early Church was devoted to. Much like preaching, that is a description of what carried through the NT and Paul commands Timothy to continue in the church at Ephesus. What about singing? In Eph. 5:18-19 and Col. 3:16 command the saints to sing, which matches nicely with the descriptions of singing in corporate worship in Mt. 26:30 and Re. 5:9. Of course, as Jesus told us to repeat the Lord’s Supper and baptize in the names of the members of the Trinity, the sacraments are an element of worship, shown in Mt. 28:19; Lk. 22:14-20; Ac. 2:38-39; 1 Co. 11:23-26; Col. 2:11-12.To be sure, there is plenty of description in the NT, but as most of the NT writings often assumed the corporate gathering of God’s people for worship so they often assumed the elements of worship that were taught to them by the apostles. Such things could certainly be deduced as elements of public worship of God because they are derived by good and necessary consequence. However, we do not even need to do that because the elements are commanded in various places in the NT. It is not enough for Dr. Frame to say that the NT merely describes the elements worship. He must content with these passages in their contexts and show they are not what they appear to be, i.e. commands.
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