scholarly journals An exploration into Historical and Political factors for the deviation of the Early Church from Scriptural Principles of Government in Reformed Church perspective

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rev. Dr. Humphreys Frackson Zgambo
Keyword(s):  
Early Church ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Church Polity ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
History Of ◽  
Church Structures ◽  
The Church ◽  
Church Government

The question of church government deals with order and authority of the church. The basic principles for sound church polity base on the Scriptural conviction of the Sovereignty of God and Christ as Head and Ruler of the church. The church moved away from this Scriptural principle due to historical and political factors beyond her authority. The study holds that nowhere in the Scriptures do we find an exclusive picture related to any of the fully developed systems of church government today. The New Testament Scriptures suggest a flexible evolving format of plurality of elders in church polity. The aim of the study is to investigate how some ideas and concepts of church government evolved and developed in the history of the church, how historical and political factors forced the church to shift away from principles of Scripture to advocate for a prelacy theory of government practiced over the centuries. In reformed traditional view, the characteristics of hierarchicalism and clericalism in church structures are not accepted. There is no such a thing as highly hierarchical and clerical or ecclesiastical power in the church of Jesus Christ.

scholarly journals Redefining a relevant Church Government Model for the Contemporary Church: An Analysis of Church Polity Principles in the New Testament Church

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Humphreys Frackson Zgambo
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Ecclesiastical Authority ◽  
Church Polity ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
New Testament Church ◽  
The Church ◽  
Church Government

The church government in the New Testament deals with how ecclesiastical authority, operations and order were exercised in the church. The historical and Scriptural principles for church government suggest flexibility in orientation. Evidence for church government from the early New Testament Church is inconclusive. Nowhere in the Scriptures do we find an exclusive picture related to any of the fully/ officially developed systems of church government today. In the New Testament Church, there was no such a thing as highly hierarchical, clerical and ecclesiastical power. The principles of church government for the Supremacy of the reign of Christ in organization and operation characterized the New Testament Church. From a Reformed church perspective, the characteristics of hierarchicalism, clericalism and ecclesiastical power are rejected in entirety.

Die Bedeutung der Reformation Luthers für die kirchenrechtliche Entwicklung in den Niederlanden

2016 ◽  
Vol 102 (1) ◽  
pp. 381-405
Author(s):  
Herman J. Selderhuis
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Church Members ◽  
Active Involvement ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Church Polity ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
History Of ◽  
Church Law ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Church

Abstract The Impact of Luther’s Reformation on the development of Church Law in the Netherlands. This essay describes how essential the specific history of the reformation in the Netherlands was for the developments of reformed church law in that country. The Dutch reformation was relatively late and was more Calvinistic than Lutheran. Calvin’s model of structuring the church, the essential effect of the refugee situation of many reformed believers and the fact that the revolt as well as the reformation were movements mainly ,from below‘, result in a church polity with the following characteristics: self-government of each individual congregation, active involvement of all church members, independence towards political authorities and a presbyterial-synodical church organisation. This church model was reached through a series of synodical meetings that started in the 1560ies and came to a conclusion at the Synod of Dordt in 1618/1619.

Die Bedeutung der Reformation Luthers für die kirchenrechtliche Entwicklung in den Niederlanden

2016 ◽  
Vol 102 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Herman J. Selderhuis
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Church Members ◽  
Active Involvement ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Church Polity ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
History Of ◽  
Church Law ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Church

AbstractThe Impact of Luther’s Reformation on the development of Church Law in the Netherlands. This essay describes how essential the specific history of the reformation in the Netherlands was for the developments of reformed church law in that country. The Dutch reformation was relatively late and was more Calvinistic than Lutheran. Calvin’s model of structuring the church, the essential effect of the refugee situation of many reformed believers and the fact that the revolt as well as the reformation were movements mainly ,from below‘, result in a church polity with the following characteristics: self-government of each individual congregation, active involvement of all church members, independence towards political authorities and a presbyterial-synodical church organisation. This church model was reached through a series of synodical meetings that started in the 1560ies and came to a conclusion at the Synod of Dordt in 1618/1619.

scholarly journals Die verband tussen doop en lidmaatskap van die kerk

1999 ◽  
Vol 55 (2/3) ◽  
Author(s):  
W. A. Dreyer
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Of Christ ◽  
Main Thesis ◽  
Initiation Rite ◽  
Church Polity ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church

The relationship between baptism and membership of the church. This aricle examines the relaionship between bapism and membership of the church. The author's main thesis is that baptism signifies the unity with Christ, and as such unity with the body of Christ (the church). Research has shown that baptism exists in different religions, cults and sects as an initiation rite. This forms the background to the New Testament,s presentation of baptism as (inter alia) an initiation rite. This article examines not only these baptism rites, but also the different metaphors in the New Testament concerned with baptism as initiation. The history of baptism in the church and the way bapism functions in the Reformed tradition, in terms of church polity and membership of the church, are also examined.

scholarly journals An inquiry into ethnicity in the structures of the church: the case of Malawi

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Humphreys Frackson Zgambo
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
New Testament ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Church Polity ◽  
The World ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
New Testament Church ◽  
The Church

Ethnicity, tribalism and xenophobia could be found inside and outside church walls. Ethnic and racist behaviours in human beings are natural, learned and nurtured within societies around the world. However, ethnic identity and relations exist whether the ethnic groups are competing or not. The first challenge of the early church in the New Testament Church was to overcome ethnicity and hostile divisions between Jews and Gentles. The New Testament Church’s principles of open plural government overcame the phenomenon. The contemporary church is in dilemma to understand its archaic church polity and order in her own challenging context today.

scholarly journals Die verband tussen ekklesiologie en kerkreg: ’n Hervormde perspektief

2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry J. Van Wyk
Keyword(s):  
Reformed Church ◽  
Church Polity ◽  
The Church

This article discusses the meaning of ecclesiology and church polity as such, in relation to each other, but also in connection to church order which lies in the elongation of both. From a reformed perspective, it is indicated that the ecclesiology of the Netherdutch Reformed Church over the last fifty to hundred years, centred round the viewpoint of the Church as a volkskerk, in conjunction with the church orderly, of the Kerkwet till 1997. The author is of the opinion that the above-mentioned viewpoint limited the church to be a true church of the Word.

Lamennais

1947 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Waldemar Gurian
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Early Church ◽  
The Third ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Papal Infallibility ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

The history of the Catholic Church includes men who, after brilliant services to the Church, died outside her fold. Best known among them is Tertullian, the apologetic writer of the Early Church; less known is Ochino, the third vicar-general of the Capuchins, whose flight to Calvin's Geneva almost destroyed his order. In the nineteenth century there were two famous representatives of this group. Johann von Doellinger refused, when more than seventy years old, to accept the decision of the Vatican Council about papal infallibility. He passed away in 1890 unreconciled, though he had been distinguished for years as the outstanding German Catholic theologian. Félicité de la Mennais was celebrated as the new Pascal and Bossuet of his time before he became the modern Tertullian by breaking with the Church because Pope Gregory XVI rejected his views on the relations between the Church and die world. As he lay deathly ill, his niece, “Madame de Kertanguy asked him: ‘Féli, do you want a priest? Surely, you want a priest?’ Lamennais answered: ‘No.’ The niece repeated: ‘I beg of you.’ But he said with a stronger voice: ‘No, no, no.

scholarly journals Die stryd om die aard en omvang van die tugreg by die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Sendingkerk (1881−1994)

2012 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary-Anne Plaatjies Van Huffel
Keyword(s):  
Southern Africa ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
Disciplinary Power ◽  
Inaugural Meeting ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Church Polity ◽  
Mission Church ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Church ◽  
Mission Churches

The struggle of the Dutch Reformed Mission Churches (1881–1994) with reference to the character and extend of discipline. In this article the struggle concerning the nature and extent of the disciplinary power in the Dutch Reformed Mission Church (DRMC) (1881–1994) is discussed. Since the establishment of the DRMC in 1881 until 1982 the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) retained the right to censure and discipline the missionaries in the DRMC. The article argues that the struggle for disciplinary power under the Constitution of the DRMC, the Statute of the DRMC as well as under the memorandum of agreement between the DRMC and the DRC, was nothing less than an attempt by the DRMC to entrench the principles of Voetius in the disciplinary power of the church polity and church government of the DRMC. In 1982 the DRMC accepted a new church order in which these principles were entrenched. The acceptance of this church order provision concluded the DRMC’s struggle for disciplinary power of all its officers, missionaries included, which already began in 1908. At the inaugural meeting of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa a Church Order was adopted in which provisions with regards to the disciplinary power based on above principles was hedged.

Yesus Sebagai Yang Sulung Lebih Utama Dari Yang Diciptakan

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 62-85
Author(s):  
Yosef Yunandow Siahaan
Keyword(s):  
Literal Meaning ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Main Topic ◽  
Chronological Order ◽  
Jehovah’S Witnesses ◽  
Jehovah's Witnesses ◽  
Figurative Meaning ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church

Throughout the history of the church, from the early Church to the present, Christology has become the main topic of discussion, and it has often led to debates and even polemics for both the Church and those outside the church. The point of a long debate in the field of Christology is about Jesus as a creator or only as a creation. This study investigates this by using theological research, this study uses the exegesis method. The text that will be executed to provide evidence that Jesus was the Creator or creation is Colossians 1:15-20. Jehovah's Witnesses say that this text shows that Jesus was God's First creation. Whereas true Christians actually view this text as saying that Jesus is the Creator. The research used the exegesis method. The results show that Christ is the agent of creation. In building the understanding of the eldest word (Prototokos), it is not allowed to use the isolated text method. There are at least 2 meanings of this word, the first literal meaning is as the first born according to the order of time, and the second, the figurative meaning The eldest means the main, superior. Of course when looking at the context in Colossians 1:16-17, then Christ is not the first born according to chronological order, and comes from creation. Rather, He is the Creator, so it is not surprising that He is supreme or superior to all creation. Abstrak Indonesia Sepanjang sejarah gereja mulai dari Gereja mula-mula hingga kini Kristologi menjadi topik utama diskusi bahkan tak jarang menimbulkan perdebatan bahkan polemik baik bagi Gereja maupun kalangan di luar gereja. Yang menjadi titik perdebatan panjang dalam bidang Kristologi adalah Mengenai Yesus sebagai pencipta ataukah hanya sebagai ciptaan. Penelitian ini menyelidiki hal tersebut dengan menggunakan penelitian Teologi, penelitian ini menggunakan metode eksegesis. Teks yang akan dieksegesa guna untuk memberikan bukti Yesus adalah Pencipa atau ciptaan adalah Kolose 1:15-20. Saksi-saksi Yehuwa mengatakan bahwa teks ini menunjukkan bahwa Yesus adalah ciptaan Pertama dari Allah. Sedangkan Kristen sejati justru memandang teks ini mengatakan bahwa Yesus adalah Pencipta. Penelitian menggunakan metode eksegesis. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan Kristus adalah pelaku penciptaan. Dalam membangun pemahaman kata yang Sulung (Prototokos), tidak boleh menggunakan metode teks terisolasi. Paling tidak ada 2 makna dari kata ini, yang pertama makna literal adalah sebagai yang lahir pertama menurut urutan waktu, dan yang kedua, makna figuratif Yang sulung berarti yang utama, unggul. Tentu ketika melihat konteks dalam Kolose 1:16-17, maka Kristus bukanlah sang pertama lahir menurut urutan waktu, dan berasal dari ciptaan. Melainkan Ia adalah Pencipta, sehingga tidak mengherankan bahwa Ia adalah yang utama atau paling unggul di atas segala ciptaan.

scholarly journals Historiese teologie in ʼn veranderende konteks

2016 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wim A. Dreyer
Keyword(s):  
Biblical Interpretation ◽  
Church History ◽  
Church Polity ◽  
History Of ◽  
Missions History ◽  
History Of Theology ◽  
Historical Theology ◽  
History Of Biblical Interpretation ◽  
The Church ◽  
Precarious Situation

In this contribution, the author reflects on historical theology as theological discipline. After a short introduction to the precarious situation of church history as a theological discipline in South Africa and the question of faith and history, the contribution presents an analysis of Gerhard Ebeling’s 1947 publication on church history in which he proposed that church history should be understood as a history of Biblical interpretation. Based on some of the principles Ebeling delineated, the author proposes that historical theology could be applied to five areas of research: prolegomena, history of the church, history of missions, history of theology and church polity. The point is made that historical theology, when properly structured and presented, could play a major role in enriching the theological and ecclesial conversation and in assisting the church in the process of reformation and transformation.Keywords: Gerhard Ebeling; Hermeneutics; Church History

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