That one verse: How a single OT command turns the Regulative Principle on its head

Also in the day of your gladness and in your appointed feasts, and on the first days of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be as a reminder of you before your God. I am the Lord your God.” (Numbers 10:10)

The RPCNA uses their interpretation of the Regulative Principle of Worship to claim that instruments in worship were only associated with sacrifices in the Old Testament, and thus, forbidden in worship in the New Testament.

Worship is to be offered only in accordance with God’s appointment, and in harmony with the scriptural principle that whatever is not commanded in the worship of God, by precept or example, is forbidden. (RP Testimony 21:2)

The Psalms are to be sung without the accompaniment of instruments, which are not part of the New Testament pattern of worship. Musical instruments were commanded for use with the offering of sacrifices in the Old Testament temple worship. The death of Christ being the perfect and final sacrifice brought an end to this way of worship. There is neither command for nor example of the use of musical instruments in the words or practice of Christ and the apostles. The command of the New Testament is to offer the sacrifice of praise—the fruit of our lips. (RP Testimony 21:6)

Eisegesis is a common failing in Biblical interpretation. When the Bible is interpreted through the lens of "what do I want it to say" and not "how do I gain understanding from what it says," we end up with convoluted and often inconsistent approach to practice.

The RP Testimony goes above the Westminster Confession of Faith which says:

The light of nature showeth that there is a God, who hath lordship and sovereignty over all, is good, and doth good unto all, and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served, with all the heart, and with all the soul, and with all the might. But the  acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by Himself, and so limited by His own revealed will, that He may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation, or any other way not prescribed in the holy Scripture. (21:1)

WCF says that worship is "limited by [God's] revealed will" and he "may not be worshipped" in "any other way not prescribed in ... Scripture". RPT says whatever is not commanded or demonstrated by example is forbidden. Very clear cut and black and white.

There is a secondary argument, though. "the New Testament pattern of worship". So, the RPT seems to be saying that command and example must be specifically through the lens of New Testament worship. What this means is that even though musical instruments are used throughout the Old Testament, their use is forbidden in modern worship. That also applies to dancing, even though the Psalms suggest, or even command praising God with instruments and dancing (e.g. Psalm 150).

What about baptism?

What is missing in the RPCNA consideration of worship is a careful evaluation of other worship practices. For example, circumcision was done on the 8th day after birth in the Old Testament. It is not coupled to any sort of worship. In the New Testament, the examples of baptism are arguably outside the context of congregational worship. People are baptized when they are converted, not when they are presented to the congregation.

What we see here is thus eisegesis. Instruments are forbidden not because of "command or example" but because "command or example" is a convenient way to claim the spiritual high ground over personal opinion. If "command or example" is the litmus test, baptism cannot be done in worship, as there is neither command nor example in the New Testament of baptism being done in worship.

What about the offering?

What else gets dismissed? Offerings. Offerings are clearly an aspect of worship in the Old Testament, although it's questionable how it worked within congregational gatherings. Paul says, "On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come." (1 Cor 16:2) As far as I know, this is the only suggestion that offerings belong in worship, and it fails on two points. First, it is a special collection for downtrodden saints in Jerusalem, not an offering to support the ministry of the local church. Second, the fact that it is "on the first day of the week" does not couple it to corporate worship. That would be like saying that churches can "thresh grain" in worship, because the disciples did it and it was clearly on the Sabbath.

What about the benediction?

The benediction is clearly commanded in the Old Testament in Numbers 6:22-27, but, that is the Old Testament, and RPT is saying that only New Testament commands and examples count for determining what can and can't be part of modern worship. Even if we can make that argument, the command is specifically the Aaronic Blessing - "The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord..." not the blessings sprinkled throughout the New Testament writings.

As an ex-RP, I don't agree with the RPT interpretation of everything must be re-established in the New Testament (it's clear that they do not walk the talk anyway!) I hold the WCF interpretation, that what God wants in worship can be understood from scripture and that we are likely sinning when we invent new worship practices (bowling??) or try to follow practices from other religions without supporting them from scripture.

What are your thoughts on how God wants to be worshiped?

Scot McKnight on blogs - "like a coffee table conversation"

This came across my feed this morning. It's a very good read. After decades of experience as a preacher and professor, Scot McKnight proposes a mental model of blogging that is less about trying to proclaim or teach, but more like having a discussion in a coffee shop. Here are some excerpts, but the full post is worth a read. https://scotmcknight.substack.com/p/an-oldie-but-i-think-goodie

When I first began to blog I had to learn that blogging is not the same as the pulpit or the rostrum, no matter how deep those instincts were for me. A blog post might be written as a sermon or as a lecture or even an outline for a dialogue, but once the post goes public it can become a free-for-all. It can turn south, get ugly, or go ballistic faster than any media of communication I know. Some other image had to give me an image of what was going on.

So, as I sat there and watched it happen, all along deleting inflammatory, accusing, personally-destructive comments, I arrived at an image that has worked for my blog. A blog is like a coffee table conversation at a public café. If the pulpit gives the image of preaching and teaching and the rostrum the image of dialogue, the café table gives the image of personal conversation.

...

Our goal on the blog is to create civil conversations about Jesus and about orthodox theology and about sports and (sometimes) about politics. Keeping some topics civil can be immensely challenging and one reason is that civil conversation is not easy for some of us.

That idea resonates with me. A coffee shop conversation has to recognize that people are not on the same page.

This blog is meant to be a coffee table discussion for those in various stages of questioning the RPCNA culture. I would like it to encompass more than just theology and church polity because there are many more aspects of growing up within the RPCNA microcosm that have affected me personally.

One big example is that it is easy for me to transfer the legalistic baggage. For example, it's hard to navigate a grace-filled approach when I find patriarchy to be abusive towards women, but there are a lot of versions of patriarchy that are, in my opinion, still wrong, but much more thoughtful and caring towards women. Preston Sprinkle talked about a patriarchal church that had a sermon review committee. Since it was not "eldership", women were welcomed to the committee and he said that many times the women on the committee provided valuable insight on points or illustrations. They might say, "have you thought about how the single moms in the church will hear this?" He said it really improved the quality of his sermons and still fit within the patriarchal bent of male-only eldership, while giving women the ability to use gifts of spiritual discernment within the church.

That's at least the goal. I don't do it perfectly or even well at times, but I ask participants to embrace or at least respect that goal. We're not on the same page or even in the same book as we seek to more closely align our lives with Jesus. What is straightforward to you might seem wrong to me, and what I think is true might seem false to you. I don't believe truth is relative, but I also don't think I get to disrespect others who have different opinions on what is true.

That one verse: How verses, often taken out of context and used anachronistically have led to the fracturing of the church (Eph. 5:15-21)

*** UPDATE ***

I've re-enabled comments on the blog and most of the posts. I will be doing some moderation and delete comments that are off-topic or uncivil.

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Ephesians 5:15-21 (NASB):

Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,  speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

I can't tell you how many times I heard a sermon on the passage. It was a favorite because this was the passage that divided the RPCNA from most other NAPARC churches. We could shake hands with the OPC, the PCA, the URC and the ARP, but never quite enjoy full fellowship because they sinfully chose to sing man-written songs instead of God's inspired Psalms in worship as Paul "clearly indicated" here.

There's a strong argument that Paul isn't talking about corporate worship at all in this passage. What follows is clearly talking about how Christians interact in everyday life and this first starts with how we use our time, not getting drunk, etc., very practical advice.

Despite there being plenty of RP and RP-affiliated books on why Exclusive Psalmody is commanded in scripture, scholars dismiss exclusive psalmody for good reasons.

I think the most clear example is Hezekiah. Isaiah 38 describes how Hezekiah was going to die and God relented and gave him 15 more years of life. Hezekiah writes a song and in the song says that "we will sing my songs all the days of our lives in the house of the Lord" (vs. 20). There are other examples, though that are not as clear. Moses records a song Israel (a nation/church) sang. Miriam's song is there. There is also a song Deut 32, which is taught to the nation that is meant to remind them of the punishment for unfaithfulness. It's hard to distinguish here between what might be called "corporate worship" and what was nationalistic. Was the giving of the law in Exodus 20 a worship service or a national gathering?

I don't think that there's anything wrong with singing Psalms and I actually prefer the Psalms to a lot of what I sing. How many hymns allow us to be angry with God? How many hymns let us despair? I think the church gets stuck in this rut where only positivity and smiles are allowed in church. You got into a huge argument with your spouse this morning and divorce is on the table? Praise God! You got fired yesterday and don't know where your next mortgage payment comes from? Hallelujah! In a sense, the church becomes irrelevant when real people aren't accepted and only picture-perfect painted smiles are welcome.

I think the RP church ends up being worse off. Real people still aren't accepted. Psalms are sung in the same joyless monotone whether it's Psalm 22, 27, 51, 100 or 150. Only emotional flatlines are accepted. Want to lift your hands in worship? You're doing it just to be a show-off! If you are in tears, you can be ignored because no one wants to get sucked into your pain.

When the RP church considered joining another church and possibly allowing freedom on Psalms, I was one of those horribly offended that we would stoop to such levels. But consider this argument. I think that God has commanded Psalm singing in worship and it is a great blessing to everyone to sing God's words back to Him. However all these other people sing hymns because they are cheesy and it makes them feel better. Aren't RPs talking out of both sides or their mouths? We say don't commit adultery because we believe that adultery hurts the offenders, not because marital fidelity is some cruel suffering we must endure to be true Christians. If Psalmody is truly what God uses to bring joy and blessing to his people if they sing inspired psalms only, then the RPCNA should be full of joyful people blessed by worship, not a bunch of people who are afraid of showing any emotion.