Presbyterian Polity, Worship, and Sacraments — Unit 1: Christ, King and Head of the Church

Key Verse

"And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence." (Colossians 1:18, NKJV)

Learning Objectives

When you finish this unit, you should be able to:

1. Explain why Presbyterian church government begins with the kingship and headship of Jesus Christ, and not with a system of offices.

2. Describe Christ as prophet, priest and king, and show how His kingly rule reaches the church through His Word.

3. Explain what it means to say that the church has no head on earth, and why Reformed churches have defended the church's spiritual independence from the state.

4. Distinguish ministerial authority (the power to serve and declare Christ's Word) from lordship (the power to command in one's own name).

5. State the main objections from the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Congregational and modern viewpoints, and give the Reformed answer to each.

The Voice of This Course

This course is written from inside the Reformed and Presbyterian tradition, for students who belong to it. It is conservative and confessional. When it says "we" or "our churches," it means the Presbyterian and Reformed churches that confess the Trinity, hold the Bible to be the inspired and inerrant Word of God, and subscribe to the Westminster Standards or the Three Forms of Unity. Other Christians see these matters differently. We state their views fairly and then give our answer. Paul wrote, "Test all things; hold fast what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

The history of how these churches began belongs to Course 1 of this specialization, and we will not repeat it. Here we ask a different question. What does the Bible teach about how Christ governs His church, and how should a pastor lead a congregation in light of it? We begin where all good church government begins: with the Lord Himself.

Why Begin with Christ

Many books on church government begin with a list of offices. Our tradition begins somewhere else. Before we ask who rules in the church, we ask whose church it is.

Jesus said, "I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18). He did not say "the church that you will build." He said "My church." The church belongs to Christ because He bought it with His own blood. Paul told the elders of Ephesus to "shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood" (Acts 20:28). Every office and every rule exists to serve the one to whom the church belongs.

A pastor who thinks the church is "his" will become a tyrant, or a hireling who leaves when the people disappoint him. A congregation that thinks the church is "ours" will treat the pastor as an employee and the Bible as advice. When we remember that it is Christ's church, both pastor and people are humbled and both are protected.

Christ Is the Head

The New Testament uses the picture of a body and its head. Paul says that God "put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body" (Ephesians 1:22-23). In Colossians 1:18, our key verse, Christ is called the head of the body and the one who has first place in all things. In Ephesians 5:23 Paul writes that "Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body."

Three truths follow from this picture.

First, the head gives life. A body without its head is dead. The church is not a human organization that Christ visits from time to time. He lives in it by His Spirit and gives it life. Pastors plant and water, but God gives the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6-7).

Second, the head gives direction. The body does not decide for itself where to go. Before Jesus ascended, He said, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth" (Matthew 28:18). Then He gave His church its work: to make disciples, to baptize and to teach everything He commanded. The church receives its mission, its message and its worship from Him.

Third, the head is present. Jesus promised, "I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). He is a living king who rules now from the right hand of the Father, and who is present with His people by the Holy Spirit.

Prophet, Priest and King

The Reformed tradition has long taught that Christ holds three offices. John Calvin explained this in his Institutes (Book 2, chapter 15), and the Heidelberg Catechism teaches it in Question and Answer 31, which says that Christ is called "anointed" because He was appointed to be our chief prophet and teacher, our only high priest and our eternal king. The Westminster Shorter Catechism teaches the same truth in its answers on Christ as prophet, priest and king.

• As prophet, Christ reveals the will of God to us. He does this in His own teaching, and through the apostles and prophets who wrote the Scriptures.

• As priest, Christ offered Himself once as a sacrifice for sin and now intercedes for His people (Hebrews 7:25; 9:26).

• As king, Christ rules over His people and over all things. He is "King of kings and Lord of lords" (Revelation 19:16).

For our subject, the third office matters most. Christ's kingship over the church is not a figure of speech. He gives His people laws, He appoints officers, He sets the pattern of worship and He disciplines those who rebel. Isaiah promised that "the government will be upon His shoulder" (Isaiah 9:6). Church government is therefore the way the risen King has chosen to govern His own people.

How does the King rule? He rules by His Word. The Reformed churches have always said that Christ governs the church through the Scriptures, applied by the Holy Spirit. This is why the Westminster Confession, in chapter 1, teaches that Scripture is our final authority in matters of faith and life. When the elders meet, they do not ask, "What do we prefer?" They ask, "What has the King said?"

No Other Head

The Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 25, teaches that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only head of the church. It follows that no pope, king, president, bishop or pastor holds that place. Calvin held this view, and so did the Belgic Confession (Article 31), the Second Helvetic Confession (chapter 17, titled "Of the Catholic and Holy Church of God, and of the One Only Head of the Church"), and the Scots Confession.

This doctrine had a cost. Reformed Christians were often told by rulers that they must obey in religion as well as in civil matters. Where kings claimed authority over the church, Reformed believers answered that there are two kingdoms, and that Christ alone rules the church. In Scotland this conviction ran through the work of Andrew Melville and many others after him. It was also at the heart of the Disruption of 1843, when a large body of ministers left the established Church of Scotland to form the Free Church of Scotland rather than accept the state's control over the calling of ministers. In 1934, churches in Germany gathered at Barmen and declared that the church belongs to Christ alone.

We should be fair to the other side. Historians debate how much freedom the church had in Calvin's Geneva. Some say that Geneva came close to a church ruled by the state, since the city council held great power. Others point out that Calvin worked for years to win for the church its own right to discipline its members, apart from the magistrates. Both claims have some truth. What we can say is that Calvin taught in the Institutes (Book 4, chapters 11 and 20) that the spiritual rule of the church and the civil rule of the magistrate are different, and that each has its own sphere. The Reformed answer to those who say the church should be under the state is therefore plain: the state is God's servant for civil order (Romans 13:1-4), but it is not the head of the church.

The church also has duties toward the state. We pray for rulers (1 Timothy 2:1-2) and honor them, and we speak the whole Word of God to them when it is needed. But we do not take our orders from them in matters of faith and worship.

Ministerial Authority, Not Lordship

If Christ is the only head, what authority do pastors and elders have? The Reformed answer is that their authority is real but is ministerial. That word means "the authority of a servant." An officer in the church has power only to declare what Christ has said, and to apply it. He has no power to make new laws for the conscience.

Jesus taught this directly. When the disciples argued about greatness, He said that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, "yet it shall not be so among you" (Mark 10:42-45). He said, "One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren" (Matthew 23:8, 10). Peter wrote to the elders not to be "lords over those entrusted to you" but to be examples to the flock (1 Peter 5:3).

The Westminster Confession, chapter 20, adds that God alone is Lord of the conscience. Chapter 31 teaches that church councils may err, and that they are not to be made the rule of faith, but a help in it. A session of elders is not infallible, and when it speaks truly, it is because it repeats what Christ has already said.

This humility also protects the sheep. A member who is told to do something that Christ has not commanded is not bound by it. The Reformed tradition therefore teaches that ministers and elders have a real but limited authority. Hebrews 13:17 says, "Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls." The people must give a joyful obedience. The rulers must remember that they will give account to the King.

Objections and Answers

Objection 1 (Roman Catholic): Christ left a visible head on earth.

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that Peter was given the first place, and that the pope, his successor, is the visible head of the church. Catholics point to Matthew 16:18-19, where Jesus says to Peter, "on this rock I will build My church" and promises him the keys of the kingdom.

Our answer. We honor Peter's place among the apostles. But Scripture gives the title "head" to Christ alone, as in Ephesians 1:22 and Colossians 1:18. In Matthew 18:18 Jesus gave the power of binding and loosing to the church as a whole, and in John 20:23 to the apostles together. Peter himself called himself a "fellow elder" (1 Peter 5:1) and not the lord of the elders. In Acts 15 the decision of the council rested on the whole body, with James giving the summary. The New Testament shows no line of popes. Reformed churches therefore hold that a visible earthly head takes a place that belongs to Christ alone.

Objection 2 (Anglican and state-church): The civil ruler may be the supreme governor of the church.

After the English Reformation, the monarch was named supreme governor of the Church of England. Defenders said that a godly king cares for the church as Hezekiah and Josiah did.

Our answer. The kings of Israel served God's people, but they did not take over the priestly office. When King Uzziah entered the temple to burn incense, the priests stopped him (2 Chronicles 26:16-21). The New Testament speaks of no Christian king as head of the church. Where the state and the church are joined, the state tends to rule the church and not the church the state.

Objection 3 (Congregational and Baptist): If Christ is head, the local congregation answers to Him alone, and no courts above the congregation are needed.

Many of our Baptist and Congregational friends say that Christ rules each local church directly and that a larger structure takes His place.

Our answer. We agree that Christ rules each local church. We believe He also gave a pattern in which the churches are connected and share one government. Acts 15 shows a council of apostles and elders deciding a question for the churches. We take up this subject in Unit 3. For now we note that the unity of the one body under the one head does not stop at the walls of one building.

Objection 4 (modern): "Headship" talk gives pastors a reason to claim Christ's authority for themselves.

Some fear that the doctrine is used by leaders who say, "I speak for the King, so do not question me."

Our answer. The abuse is real and the doctrine condemns it. Because Christ alone is head, no minister speaks for Him except when he speaks His Word. The Bereans were praised for examining the Scriptures to see whether Paul's teaching was true (Acts 17:11). A faithful elder welcomes that kind of testing.

Pastoral Application

A young pastor leads a small church in a town in southern Mexico. A wealthy family gives more than any other and has paid for the building. One Sunday the head of the family tells him that a certain member of the congregation must be removed from the teaching of the children, and that the family will stop giving if the pastor does not obey. The man in question has done nothing against the Word.

First, the pastor remembers whose church it is. He thanks the family sincerely, and prays for them, but he does not answer from fear.

Second, he brings the matter to the session of elders, so that he does not carry the decision alone. The question is not who gives the most, but what Christ has said in His Word about the qualifications for teaching and the discipline of members.

Third, he speaks to the family with love and plainness. He explains that no gift can buy a say in the church's doctrine or discipline, because the church is the Lord's.

Fourth, he accepts the possible cost, trusting the Lord who is head of the church to provide, and he keeps a door open for the family.

Summary

Presbyterian government begins with the question "Whose church is it?" and answers, "Christ's." He is the head of the body, giving it life, direction and His presence. He holds the offices of prophet, priest and king, and He rules His church by His Word. No pope, monarch or pastor is the head of the church on earth, and Reformed churches have defended this truth at a high price, as in Scotland in 1843. Officers in the church have ministerial authority only: they serve Christ and declare His Word, and they may not be lords over the conscience. We answer the Roman Catholic, state-church, Congregational and modern objections from Scripture. We hold these convictions with humility and with thanks to the King.

Further Reading

• John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (Beveridge translation, 1845), Book 2 chapter 15; Book 4 chapters 1-3 and 11.

• The Westminster Confession of Faith, chapters 20, 25 and 31, and the Shorter Catechism on Christ as prophet, priest and king.

• The Belgic Confession (1561), Articles 27-32.

• The Heidelberg Catechism (1563), Question and Answer 31 and Question and Answer 54.

• The Second Helvetic Confession (1566), chapters 17 and 18.

• The Scots Confession (1560), chapters 16 and 18.

• Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology (1872-73), the section on the church.

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