The Informed Principle of Worship
What is commanded in Scripture regarding the public
worship of God is required; whatever is prohibited is forbidden; and whatever
is not forbidden is permissible. This is a relatively new term to describe what
is an older practice of worship (in principle).[ii] Steve
M. Schlissel of Messiah’s Covenant Community Church in Brooklyn, New York has
especially actively promoted it. The Informed Principle of Worship is something
of a compromise that tries to strike a balance between the Normative Principle
on one hand, and the Regulative Principle on the other. Schlissel
claims that both the Normative and Regulative “propositions fail to
meet the test of tota scriptura,” adding
further “What is not forbidden might be permitted. It depends.”
The Normative Principle of Worship
Whatever is not forbidden in the Scriptures may be
lawfully used in the public worship of God. If a practice is not explicitly
contrary to God’s Law and has not been forbidden in the Word, then it may be
employed in worship. For example, since the Bible does not specifically forbid
putting on a play/drama, interpretive dance, or pledging the flag, then these
are acceptable to do as a form of worship under the Normative Principle. Anglican
pastor Greg Goebel boils down the Normative Principle to “seeking to
obey Scripture, honor our past, and worship him in Spirit and in Truth.”[iii]
On the one hand, the Normative Principle may
encourage creativity of practice and expression, as well as appear more relaxed
and spontaneous. On the other hand, it opens the door to the inventions and imaginations
of men that cannot be supported by Scripture and yet cannot excluded because they
are not specifically addressed (forbidden) by Scripture.
The Regulative Principle of Worship
Whatever is commanded in the Scriptures for the
public worship of God is required, and whatever is not commanded is prohibited.
This principle accepts that only God and not man ordains how he will be
worshipped. The law of exclusion is a complementary idea, noting that the
specification of one thing in worship is the prohibition or exclusion of every
other thing that is different from it.[iv]
The Regulative Principle of Worship is not man
putting blinders on God, but God putting a bit in man's heart. God knows and
looks upon our hearts, but we do not know our hearts. God should be not worshipped
by the imaginations and inventions of men, but according to the word of God
contained in the Scriptures. Or, as the Second London Baptist
Confession puts it, “…the acceptable way of worshipping the true God,
is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will…”[v] Affirmed
elements set forth in Scripture – such as preaching, praying, baptizing,
giving, communing – are therefore the natural and biblical elements of worship.
That which God introduces and not man is all that should bind and compel the
conscience of any worshipper.
[i] If you are aware of
others, I am interested to know of them.
[ii]
While the term is acceptable, it is pejorative in the sense it implies the
other two views are uninformed.
[iii]
The Anglican tradition says the Normative Principle teaches that worship “should
retain traditions that have a long history, wide use, and are not forbidden or
contradicted by Holy Scripture.”
[iv]
For example, when God specifies gopher wood, he excludes oak wood.
[v] The Regulative Principle
relates specifically to spiritual elements of worship that God requires by
command, precept, or example. It is not about wearing togas because they did so
in first-century Rome, or whether we arrive at the meetings on foot, horseback,
train, or automobile. There are also things that have to do with the elements
of the gathered meeting, either directly or that facilitate it. The printed Bible,
from which we read, preach, and teach. The communion table. The hymnbooks. The
box where the offerings are placed. Some not as important or necessary as
others. The pews on which we sit. The pulpit on which the Bible rests. Lights help
us to see the Bible and the hymnbooks, and a little HVAC can contribute to the
comfort of being there in extreme temperatures. However, those are not part and
parcel of spiritual worship. We can sing from memory, sit on the floor, and solace
ourselves with a
funeral parlour fan.
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