In 1873, “Archbishop Philotheos Bryennios was browsing in the library of the Greek Convent of the Holy Sepulchre in Istanbul when, by chance, he noticed the text of the Didache hidden away within a bound collection of early church writings.”[1]
Who Discovered the Regulative Principle?
Most students of the Reformation recognize that Martin Luther discovered (more accurately re-discovered) the doctrine of justification by faith alone and that Ulrich Zwingli discovered the symbolic interpretation of the Lord’s Supper. At least, these Reformers popularized those doctrines. But who…
Jonathan Edwards on Weekly Communion
I’ve often heard that while the classical Reformers such as Martin Bucer, John Calvin and John Knox favored weekly Communion, their spiritual heirs (particularly, the Reformed experientialists of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries) did not. In general, that statement may…
Four Reasons for Weekly Communion
In recent years, weekly Communion has become increasingly popular in Reformed worship. There are many advocates and also critics of weekly Communion within the Reformed church. I consider myself an advocate of weekly Communion, but I do not think it…
John Knox and Public Prayer
One of the primary goals of the Protestant Reformation was to reform the worship of the church according to Scripture, the only infallible authority. The Reformers gave careful attention to revising the various elements of worship, including public prayer. Presbyterians…
John Calvin: Servant of the Word of God
In St. Peter’s Cathedral in Geneva there is a plaque commemorating the life and ministry of John Calvin, which simply describes him as “servant of the Word of God.”[1] Truly, above all else, Calvin was a servant of the…
The Public Reading of Scripture
In this article, we will briefly survey the history of the public reading of Scripture in worship from Moses to the apostles with a view toward developing a biblical model for this act of ministry that may be applied in…
Reforming the Eucharist
When Ulrich Zwingli began his ministry in Zurich on 1 January 1519, he announced from the pulpit that he intended to preach “the entire Gospel of Matthew, one passage after another, rather than following the usual lectionary of chopped up…
The Order of Worship
Glen Clary walks us through a Reformed order of worship, explaining the Biblical precedent and rationale for elements such as the call to worship, invocation, different types of prayer, and the benediction along with the administration of Word and sacrament.…
The Regulative Principle of Worship
Glen Clary, pastor of Providence OPC in Pflugerville, TX, explains the origins, use, and wisdom of the regulative principle of worship. The Reformed understanding of this principle states that only those elements that are commanded in Scripture or which can be deduced…
