Reformed Presbyterian Minutes of Synod 1993

144 1993 MINUTES OF THE SYNOD OF THEown covenanted body of commitment to Christ (1 Cor. 1:10).c. Serious departures from these commitments, in doctrine or in life,must be dealt with and solved by instmctive discipUne (positive ornegative), or they ultimately wiU result in the Church's loss of credibiUtyand internal division. Sometimes final separation from the persons involvedis necessary.d. The importance of ordination causes it legitimately to fall within theproper spheres involving vow commitments (promises before God involvingan oath) (Acts 14:23; 20:28-32; 1 Peter5:1-5). (See Synod report, 1981Minutes, pp.124-125).e. The Church is committed to the "semper reformanda" process; thatin a sinful world the Word will always be reforming the Church, Godthrough that means bringing her into subjection to Him more and more.This has almost always involved heavy deliberative processes in theChurch Visible before reformation of the Church's convictions andsubordinate standards has occuned. (2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Peter 1:19). John PiperinThe Pleasures ofGod (p. 123) states, "Are there any significant biblicalteachings that have not been controversial? I cannot think of even one, letalone the number we all need for the daily nurture of faith. If this is tme,then we have no choice but to seek our food in the markets of controversy... as much as we would like it, we do not have the luxury of Uving in a worldwhere the most nourishing truths are unopposed." Therefore it should notsurprise us that issues where believers are deeply divided trouble thechurch, and that resolution of these often involves painful time-consumingeffort.f. Every believer conducts his life, and must make his decisions, inharmony with his God-enlightened conscience. Conscience is never thefinaljudgeof truth orright ("Thy Word is tmth," John 17:7), yet the Churchmust recognize the inviolability of its people's consciences in response tothat tmth ("Whatsoever is not of faith is sin," Romans 14:23). The Churchmust not only seek to train its people's consciences in the tmth, but it mustrecognize the presence of these consciences in every member and make asfull provision as possible for its people to live and act conscientiously.g. There is a corporate conscience in the body of Christ. In addition tothe individual conscience, all believers must recognize the existence andvalidity of this group conscience, a sample of which, with respect to lawfulchurch authority, is described in Acts 15 and 16 (vs. 4,5). The JemsalemCouncil clearly was one of those "lawful authorities" now referred to in ourRP Testimony, Chap. 20, Para. 5. BeUevers are called to render "duesubmission to them." These conscientious stmctures, made up as they areof many individual consciencesi acting corporately in mling the Church,