The Distinctive Regulation of the Church of God as the Place of His Special Presence—1 Tim. 3:15
1 Timothy 3:15 is, of course, a key text for the doctrine of the church, but I had never realized its full implications for the regulative principle till I was doing the preparations for a conference I was asked to do some years ago in South Africa. You will notice that in this text the special character or unique identity of the church is emphasized by means of three descriptions. It is “the house of God, the church of the living God, and the pillar and support of the truth.” Our particular interest is in the first two of these three descriptions.
The church is the house or household of God. The term, house, used here may refer to the church as God’s family (1 Tim. 3:5, 12) or the church as God’s temple (1 Pet. 2:5). In either case the special and close relation of the church to God is emphasized.
The house of God is identified in this text as “the church of the living God.” The term, church, identifies the New Covenant people of God as an organized and governed assembly. This word in Greek culture was used of the official assembly of the Greek city-state. This word in the Greek translation of the Old Testament was used to describe the QAHAL of Israel, the official civil and religious assembly of the nation of Israel. Both of these backgrounds serve to emphasize the formal, official, or organized nature of the assembly to which reference is made.
But this church is described as “the church of the living God.” “The living God” is the one described in Psalm 115:1-8. The significance of the use of this description here is to emphasize the idea that this church is dominated by the Word and Presence and Power of God. It is the church in which He dwells, in which He is active, in which He rules.
Now what is the reason for this tremendous emphasis on the unique identity of the church in this verse? I believe that the stated concern of this verse provides the answer. Paul says that He is writing to Timothy “so that [he] may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.” What is Paul’s point? It is that there is a special conduct demanded by the special character of that church in which Timothy moves as Paul’s apostolic delegate or representative. The unique identity of the church requires a unique regulation of Timothy’s conduct in it. Timothy was not ignorant of the laws of God. He was not even ignorant of the regulations which had governed the Old Testament worship. From childhood he had known the sacred writings (2 Tim. 3:15). Why, then, did Paul have to write to Timothy and carefully instruct Him in the conduct becoming in the House of God? The reason is plainly that with the coming of a new temple, there come new regulations for its ordering and worship. Hebrews 9:1 asserts that “even the first covenant had regulations of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary.” The implication of such a text is that the New Covenant with its true tabernacle also has such regulations as are fitting for the divine worship conducted in the church.
When we understand the unique identity of the church as the new tabernacle and temple of God, it will not seem far-fetched to us to see an application to the church in Exodus 26:30 where Moses was strictly charged, “you shall erect the tabernacle according to its plan which you have been shown in the mountain.” The substance of this command is often repeated in the Bible (Exodus 25:9, 40; Heb. 8:5). Exodus 39 records Moses careful obedience to the detailed divine commands regarding the construction of the Lord’s house. All was completed “just as the Lord had commanded Moses” (v. 1). This statement is repeated in vv. 5, 7, 21, 26, 29, 31, 32, 42, and 43.
What is the application of these emphases of the Old Testament? God specially regulates the construction and worship of His house-temple. Nothing short of the precise and complete obedience to those special regulations which was exemplified in Moses is required. God never told Moses precisely how to construct Moses’ tent. God never told Moses precisely how to regulate His family. Those tasks He left to the discretion of Moses because it was Moses’ tent and Moses’ family. But it is for that very reason that God exercises such pervasive control over the tabernacle and its worship. The tabernacle was God’s tent; its ministers His family. Thus, He rules its worship with a special and detailed set of regulations to which He expects precise obedience. As God told Moses when He appeared to him at the burning bush, and as God told Joshua when he appeared to him outside the city of Jericho, the place of God’s special presence is holy ground and requires the removal of one’s sandals from one’s feet. Just so the church is holy ground, and this requires a unique mindset and special regulation of one’s conduct.
Similarly in the New Testament special and even unique regulations are given for God’s New Covenant house. Some illustrations of this are the following. Regulations are given for the speaking and keeping silent of prophets, tongue-speakers, and women which only apply to the meetings of the church and not necessarily to other non-church gatherings (1 Cor. 14:27-40; cf. especially the threefold emphasis on the church as the defined scope of the regulation given about women in vv. 33-35; 1 Tim. 2:1-13). Regulations are given for matters unique to the local church: church discipline (Matt. 18:15-17; 1 Cor. 5:1-13); the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 11:17-34); the number, nature, qualifications, appointment, support, and protection of church officers (1 Tim. 3:1-13; 5:17-22; Phil. 1:1; Tit. 1:5-9; and the specific arrangements for the conduct of church prayer meetings (1 Tim. 2:1-13). The major elements of the worship of the church are designated (Acts 2:42; 1 Cor. 14; 1 Tim. 2). This detail of regulation for the church is unparalleled with regard to other divine institutions like the family or the state. Of course, both the Old and New Testaments contain divine regulations for the family and the state, but the focus of biblical concern is on the regulation of the covenant community. In the New Covenant this community is in a new way different from the Old Israel fundamentally distinct from both the family and the state.
Now please do not think that I put all of this forward as my main argument for the regulative principle of the church. All of this does, however, provide the proper framework in which the scope, force and, application of those arguments are best appreciated. In my next post we will begin to take up those arguments which form its main biblical support.
Dr. Sam Waldron is the Academic Dean of CBTS and professor of Systematic Theology. He is also one of the pastors of Grace Reformed Baptist Church in Owensboro, KY. Dr. Waldron received a B.A. from Cornerstone University, an M.Div. from Trinity Ministerial Academy, a Th.M. from Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. From 1977 to 2001 he was a pastor of the Reformed Baptist Church of Grand Rapids, MI. Dr. Waldron is the author of numerous books including A Modern Exposition of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, The End Times Made Simple, Baptist Roots in America, To Be Continued?, and MacArthur’s Millennial Manifesto: A Friendly Response.
