Protestant Sacerdotalism

Sacerdotalism: The term refers to the doctrine that the man who ministers in sacred things, the institution through which he ministers, the acts he performs, the sacraments and rights he celebrates, are so ordained and constituted of God as to be the peculiar channels of His grace, essential to true worship necessary to the being of religion and the full realization of religious life. 


The following statement is taken from Dr. Torrance's brilliant essay on "Justification," which was printed in Christianity Divided.

Nowhere does Justification by Christ alone have more radical consequences than in regard to the pastoral ministry. Justification by Christ is grounded upon His mighty Act in which He took our place, substituting Himself for us under the divine judgment, and substituting Himself for us in the obedient response He rendered to God in worship and thanksgiving and praise. In Himself He has opened up a way to the Father, so that we may approach God solely through Him and on the ground of what He has done and is — therefore we pray in His Name, and whatever we do, we do in His Name before God. Thus the whole of our worship and ministry reposes upon the substitutionary work of Christ. Now the radical nature of this is apparent from the fact that through substituting Himself in our place there takes place a displacement of our humanity by the humanity of Christ — that is why Jesus insists that we can only follow Him by denying ourselves, by letting Him displace us from a place of centrality, and by letting Him take our place.

At the Reformation this doctrine had immediate effect in the overthrow of Roman sacerdotalism — Jesus Christ is our sole Priest. He is the one and only Man who can mediate between us and God, so that we approach God solely through the mediation of the Humanity of Jesus, through His incarnate Priesthood. When the Humanity of Christ is depreciated or whenever it is obscured by the sheer majesty of His Deity, then the need for some other human mediation creeps in — hence in the Dark and Middle Ages arose the need for a human priesthood to mediate between sinful humanity and the exalted Christ, the majestic Judge and King. There was of course no denial of the Deity of Christ by the Reformers — on the contrary, they restored the purity of faith in Christ as God through overthrowing the accretions that compromised it; but they also restored the place occupied in the New Testament and the Early Church by the Humanity of Christ, as He who took our human nature in order to be our Priest, as He who takes our side and is our Advocate before the judgment of God, and who once and for all has wrought out atonement for us in His sacrifice on the Cross, and therefore as He who eternally stands in for us as our heavenly Mediator and High Priest.

The Church on earth lives and acts only as it is directed by its heavenly Lord, and only in such a way that His Ministry is reflected in the midst of its ministry and worship. Therefore from first to last the worship and ministry of the Church on earth must be governed by the fact that Christ substitutes Himself in our place, and that our humanity with its own acts of worship, is displaced by His, so that we appear before God not in our own name, not in our own significance, not in virtue of our own acts of confession, contrition, worship, and thanksgiving, but solely in the name of Christ and solely in virtue of what He has done in our name and on our behalf, and in our stead. Justification by Christ alone means that from first to last in the worship of God and in the ministry of the Gospel Christ Himself is central, and that we draw near in worship and service only through letting Him take our place. He only is Priest. He only represents humanity. He only has an offering with which to appear before God and with which God is well pleased. He only presents our prayers before God, and He only is our praise and thanksgiving and worship as we appear before the face of the Father. Nothing in our hands we bring—simply to His Cross we cling.

But what has happened in Protestant worship and ministry? Is it not too often the case that the whole life and worship of the congregation revolves round the personality of the minister? He is the one who is in the center; he offers the prayers of the congregation; he it is who mediates "truth" through his personality, and he it is who mediates between the people and God through conducting the worship entirely on his own. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the case of the popular minister where everything centers on him, and the whole life of the congregation is built round him. What is that but Protestant sacerdotalism, sacerdotalism which involves the displacement of the Humanity of Christ by the humanity of the minister, and the obscuring of the Person of Christ by the personality of the minister? How extraordinary that Protestantism should thus develop a new sacerdotalism, to be sure a psychological rather than a sacramental sacerdotalism, but a sacerdotalism nonetheless, in which it is the personality of the minister which both mediates the Word of God to man and mediates the worship of man to God! Protestant Churches are full of these "psychological priests" and more and more they evolve a psychological cult and develop a form of psychological counseling which displaces the truly pastoral ministry of Christ. How frequently, for example, the minister's prayers are so crammed with his own personality (with all its boring idiosyncrasies!) that the worshipper cannot get past him in order to worship God in the name of Christ — but is forced to worship God in the name of the minister! How frequently the sermon is not an exposition of the Word of God but an exposition of the minister's own views on this or that subject! And how frequently the whole life of the congregation is so built up on the personality of the minister that when he goes the congregation all but collapses or dwindles away!

There can be no doubt that the whole concept of the ministry and of worship in our Reformed Churches needs to be brought back to the criticism of the Word of God in order that we may learn again the meaning of Justification by Christ alone in the midst of the Church's life and work. Jesus Christ must be given His rightful place by being set right in the center, as Head and Lord of the Church, as its sole Prophet and Priest and King, and that means in the midst of our preaching, in the basic notion of the ministerial office, in the fundamental mode of worship, and in the whole life of the congregation as the Body of Christ alone.

You Need To Read

Give yourself unto reading
The man who never reads will never be read, he who never quotes will never be quoted. He who will not use the thoughts of other mens brains proves that he has no brains of his own. You need to read. We are quite persuaded that the very best way for you to be spending your leisure time is to be either reading or praying. You may get much instruction from books which afterwards you may use as a true weapon in your Lord and Master's service.


CH Spurgeon

Is Arminianism Another Gospel?

By Rev. Kampen

           The seriousness and extent of Arminian thinking can be a point of contention at times.  It is not unheard of that in Reformed circles critical comments about Arminianism are met with blank stares, a degree of indifference, or even a degree of hostility.  The hostility may arise as it is felt that the criticism is unjust, extreme, inaccurate, or, even if it is correct, unnecessary as despite the differences those holding to Arminian theology are still Christians.
           In recent reading I came across some remarks concerning Arminianism which showed both the seriousness and extent of Arminian thinking and how it is incompatible with the Reformed faith which, after all, is the Scriptural faith.  In essence, in Arminianism we have a different gospel (see 2 Cor. 11:4;  Gal. 1:6-8), a gospel which denies salvation is the complete gift of the sovereign God who graciously justifies sinners through faith alone.
Just to refresh your memory,  Arminian thinking, so soundly renounced in the Canons of Dort, denies God's sovereign eternal election unto salvation.  While affirming God's grace, Arminianism claims that God merely offers salvation and it is up to man who decides to accept or reject the gospel.  One author summed up Arminian thinking as follows,"....God was made dependent on free-will-equipped-men for whom He politely had to wait, looking to see whether the man would be so kind as to believe"(1).
           Though the Reformers of the early 16th Century did not have to contend with Arminianism as such, since Arminianism arose late in the 16th century and early in the 17th century,  they did have to contend with its theological cousin, Semi-Pelagianism.  Semi-Pelagianism teaches that man is spiritually sick.  As such he does need the help of God's grace in order to get better.  However, it is up to man to take the spiritual medicine which God offers.  God must have man's co-operation.  In theological terms this was called "synergism". You can see the similarity to the Arminian position.   The Reformers responded to this by stressing the sovereign grace of God, as heard in the cry "Sola gratia". God calls those dead in sin to new life (see Eph. 2:1-10).  The Reformers stressed the helplessness of man in sin and the sovereignty of God in grace.  This was a point of unity between the Reformers despite differences about other issues.(2) In the Book "The Bondage of the Will"  this was the point that Luther argued with Erasmus.
           We should note then that Arminianism is a reincarnation of Semi-Pelagianism with its emphasis on man's freedom.  This explains why the churches acted so resolutely with respect to Arminianism.  They saw it as a serious threat to the gospel and condemned it "as being in principle a return to Rome (because in effect it turned faith into a meritorious work) and a betrayal of the Reformation (because it denied the sovereignty of God in saving sinners, which was the deepest religious and theological principle of the Reformer's thought). Arminianism was,indeed,  in Reformed eyes a renunciation of New Testament Christianity in favour of New Testament Judaism; for to rely on oneself for faith is no different in principle from relying on oneself for works, and the one is as unchristian and anti-Christian as the other."(3)
           The Reformed faith thus teaches the helplessness of man in salvation.  Arminianism, in typical Semi-Pelagian style, teaches self-help religion.  It is sovereign God versus sovereign man.  It is indeed the different gospel which Paul warned about.  It is appealing because it extols the dignity of man.  It is a lie because man is dead in sin, totally helpless.
While the aforementioned points show the seriousness of the Arminian teaching and how it stands in contrast to true Reformation theology, to what extent is it found today?  One author stated that "Arminianism ... has had American evangelicalism in a stranglehold since the days of Charles Finney."(4)  Charles Finney (1792-1875) was a revivalist preacher who was very influential with his revival techniques. Another author states that 86 percent of Americanevangelicals hold to the Arminian position as comes out in their agreement with the phrase, "God helps those who help themselves." (5)This comes out very clearly in the writings of the well known Billy Graham who has even written a religious self-help manual titled "How To be Born Again" in which the various steps to salvation are clearly spelled out.(6)
           The apostle Paul  fought with great vigour against the "different gospel".  In that gospel they will speak of Christ and use words like grace, election, faith, regeneration, etc.  Yet, it is not the gospel of sovereign grace received through faith but of grace received on the ground of one's faith.  The earlier mentioned reference linking Rome and Arminianism is worth drawing to your attention again. Actually,there is a common denominator in all false religion in that it ascribes ability and free will to man by which he can effect his own salvation if he so wishes.  It displays the arrogance of sinful man,even more so when he dresses lies with words of the gospel.  That makes the enemy all the more difficult to detect as he works in his subtle way.  We can all the more understand Paul's warning about Satan disguising himself as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14).
           Personally I don't enjoy having to harp on the point of the Arminian danger.  I fear, however, that it is necessary because it is not realized how serious and extensive a threat it is.  The true church glories in the gospel of sovereign grace where God rescues dead sinners and grants them the righteousness of Christ through faith.  Let me conclude quoting in full Paul's words in Gal. 1:6-9,
 

  I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called youin the grace of Christ and turning to a different gospel --not that there is another gospel, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.  But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we preached to you, let him be accursed.  As we have said before, so now I say again, If any one is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed.

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1. K. Schilder, Extra-Scriptural Binding -  A New Danger (In AmericanSecession Theologians on Covenant and Baptism & Extra-Scriptural Binding). (Neerlandia:  Inheritance Publications, 1996.  p. 131.)
   2. J.I. Packer and O.R. Johnston, "Historical and Theological Introduction," in Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will, trans. J.I. Packer and O.R. Johnston (Cambridge: James Clarke/Westwood, N.J.: Revell,1957, pp. 57-58)
   3. Ibid. p. 59
   4. R.C. Sproul, Grace Unknown.  (Grand Rapids:  Baker Books, 1997)  p.180
   5. M. Horton, In the Face of God.  (Word Publishing, 1996)  Appendix CURE (Christians United for Reformation).
   6. To give just two examples, Graham writes "The context of John 3 teaches that the new birth is something that God does for man when man is willing to yield to God", and "He gives the Holy Spirit to draw you to the cross, but even after all this, it is your decision whether to accept God's free pardon or to continue in your lost condition."   (B. Graham, How To Be Born Again.  Originally published 1977.  Quoted from  the 1989 edition by Word Publishers, pages 150, 162)

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