Systematic Theology, by Louis Berkhof - New Leaven

(1) That every local church is a complete church of Christ, fully equipped with
everything that is required for its government. It has absolutely no need of it that any
government should be imposed upon it from without. And not only that, but such an
imposition would be absolutely contrary to its nature.
(2) That, though there can be a proper affiliation or consolidation of contiguous
churches, there may be no union which destroys the autonomy of the local church.
Hence it is better not to speak of classes and synods as higher, but to describe them as
major or more general assemblies. They do not represent a higher, but the very same,
power that inheres in the consistory, though exercising this on a broader scale. McGill
speaks of them as higher and remoter tribunals. 31
(3) That the authority and prerogatives of the major assemblies are not unlimited,
but have their limitation in the rights of the sessions or consistories. They are not
permitted to lord it over a local church or its members, irrespective of the constitutional
rights of the consistory; nor to meddle with the internal affairs of a local church under
any and all circumstances. When churches affiliate, their mutual rights and duties are
circumscribed in a Church Order or Form of Government. This stipulates the rights and
duties of the major assemblies, but also guarantees the rights of the local church. The
idea that a classis (presbytery) or synod can simply impose whatever it pleases on a
particular church is essentially Roman Catholic.
(4) That the autonomy of the local church has its limitations in the relation in which
it stands to the churches with which it is affiliated, and in the general interests of the
affiliated churches. The Church Order is a sort of Constitution, solemnly subscribed to
by every local church, as represented by its consistory. This on the one hand guards the
rights and interests of the local church, but on the other hand also, the collective rights
and interests of the affiliated churches. And no single church has the right to disregard
matters of mutual agreement and of common interest. The local group may be even
called upon occasionally to deny itself for the far greater good of the Church in general.
3. THE MAJOR ASSEMBLIES.
a. Scripture warrant for major assemblies. Scripture does not contain an explicit
command to the effect that the local churches of a district must form an organic union.
Neither does it furnish us with an example of such a union. In fact, it represents the
local churches as individual entities without any external bond of union. At the same
time the essential nature of the Church, as described in Scripture, would seem to call for
31 Church Government, p. 457.
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