The Due West ARP Church

In lectures inaugurating this year's Bicentennial Synod focus on history, Dr. Donald Fairbairn, Associate Professor of Historical Theology and Missions at Erskine Theological Seminary, and noted author Dr. Hughes Oliphant Old spoke to a gathering of ARP delegates and others at the Due West ARP Church Sunday night.

Fairbairn examined the question "Is the Early Church Relevant to the Scottish Reformation?" and Old spoke on "Preaching As Worship."

Fairbairn, who joked, "I live in the fifth century," referring to his special interest in the early Church, used the issue of Christology, the question of Christ's nature, addressed at the Council of Chalcedon in 451, as an example of how studying the thought of the early Church can help modern Christians understand the thought of the Scottish Reformers.

"The background of the Reformation is the Bible, but it is also the way the early Church understood scripture," said Fairbairn. He said Calvin and other Reformers devoted considerable study to the thought of the early Church. For example, John Knox, while regarding scripture alone as the ultimate authority, relied heavily on some of the councils of the early Church and the early Church fathers in interpreting scripture.

In order to understand the thought of the Scottish Reformers, 21st century Christians must go back to the thought of the early Church. "If we don't, we will subconciously understand the Reformers in light of our own background — the Enlightenment and modernism."

Fairbairn stressed that it is not enough to accept and repeat formulas of belief without examining what the framers of such formulas meant by their words. The Christology of the Scots Confession is often reduced to the phrase, "true God and true man, two perfect natures united and joined in one person." While this is what Christian orthodoxy professes about Christ, Fairbairn said it misses the key issue the Church was wrestling with at Chalcedon, and this has implications for the underlying issue — salvation.

"The key issue was not whether Christ is one person with two natures, but who that one person is," said Fairbairn. Looking carefully at the Chalcedonian definition means viewing Christ as God the Son who already had the divine nature when he took on human nature, so that he could rescue sinful humanity. "We've dug ourselves into a pit and cannot get out without help — Christ is God the Son who has come down to save us," said Fairbairn.

"The Scots Confession reflects patristic Christology in a much fuller way than we recognize," said Fairbairn. He challenged his audience to look at the substance that lies behind theological definitions and to avoid seeing the Reformation too much in terms of modern ideas without reference to the early Church tradition that preceded it.

Fairbairn has spent time as a missionary in the Ukraine and is the author of Eastern Orthodoxy Through Western Eyes.

Old, who teaches worship at Princeton Theological Seminary, traced the diminishing role of preaching in worship, noting that as the charismatic, liturgical renewal, and contemporary approaches to worship gained ascendancy, preaching was pushed back to the edge of the church.

"It never occurred to anyone that preaching was worship, too," said Old. He outlined several approaches to worship that include a significant element of preaching.

The "temple" or evangelistic approach has at its heart the liturgical acclamation of God as Lord of the universe, Old said. In recognizing God as king, worshippers assert that "even the Gentiles" owe God homage. Thus missionary concern is a liturgical concern, moving toward the day when all nations acknowledge the Lord. In this approach, Old said, preaching is proclamation of the lordship of Christ and expounding on His worthiness.

The "Sinai" or covenantal approach focuses on God gathering His people together and teaching them His law as well as on sacrifice. Old cited the story in Exodus 24 in which Moses reads the book of the covenant to the people, sacrifice is made, and the blood is sprinkled both on the altar and on the people. In the same story, Moses and others share a meal in the presence of God, Old said, and this is the great pattern of covenantal worship — coming to the table is based on reading and preaching.

The "synagogue" or wisdom approach understands that to know God is to enter into a sacred wisdom, Old said. Quoting a second-century Christian text, the Didache, Old said, "Where Christ's word is taught, there is he present," and drew a parallel between the glory of God in nature and the glory of God when God's word is proclaimed. "When the sun shines, when the stars twinkle, that glorifies God," said Old. "It is the same with His word — when it is proclaimed, the people are sanctified, cleansed, and purified — this glorifies God as the creation glorifies God."

Reflecting on what it means to remember the Sabbath day, Old said the essence of the Lord's Day is a memorial of sacred history. "The recounting of sacred history is part of worship," he said, adding that it was during the Passover meal, in which the story of the Israelites is told, that Jesus told his disciples, "From now on, do this in remembrance of me."

"Where God's word is systematically and sincerely preached, God is glorified," Old said. "I'm confident that if the Church today would return to the essential ministry of reading and preaching the word of God, our churches would be filled."

Old is the author of a number of books, including The Patristic Roots of Reformed Worship (1975); Worship, Reformed According to Scripture (1984); and a four-volume work, The Reading and Preaching of Scripture in the Worship of the Christian Church (1998, 1999, 2002).