The Limits of Church Power


In his classic work "The Church of Christ" James Bannerman (1807-1868), who was for twenty years Professor of Apologetics and Practical Theology at the Free Church College, Edinburgh, describes four different ways in which the power of the Church of Christ, while a real one, is distinctly limited and bounded. A truth which some in the Free Church would do well to pause and consider.

Nature
  1. Church power is limited by the nature of it as distinctively and exclusively a spiritual power.
    This first limitation excludes the possibility of the power of the Church being made use of in the way of Romish usurpation arrogating a right to a temporal or civil supremacy following up ecclesiastical sentences with civil or semi-civil pains and penalties, such as bodily penances, pecuniary fines, or legal disabilities and trampling under foot the political liberties and social rights of men....

    Source
  2. Church power is limited by the source of it, or by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church, from whom it is derived.
    This second limitation very clearly points to the character of the power vested in the office-bearers of the Church as entirely subordinate and ministerial, and bounded, as respects its authority and obligation, by the institution and rule of Him who has appointed it. It excludes the possibility of that power becoming an independent despotism or lordship in the hands of the rulers, and of their regarding it as if it were given for their own aggrandisement and exaltation, or to be used for the subjugation, by a spiritual tyranny, of the consciences and understandings of the other members of the Church. Because limited by the authority of Christ, that power can never become independent itself, or make the administrators of it independent. They are, in the strictest sense of the terms, the ministers or servants of Christ.

    Rule
  3. Church power is limited by the rule prescribed for its exercise, or by the Word of God.
    This third limitation ties down the administration of Church power to certain fixed principles and a certain definite law, and excludes the possibility of its becoming a wayward and arbitrary authority, to be wielded at the will or caprice or man. It forbids the unauthorised addition or subtraction of anything in the constitution, doctrine, worship, or discipline of the Church, such as Christ has not sanctioned in His Word.

    Subjects
  4. Church power is limited by the subjects of it, or by the rights, privileges, and liberty of the Christian people.
    This fourth limitation more especially prevents Church power from becoming the instrument of spiritual oppression and tyranny as directed against members of the Church, and shields from violence and wrong the liberty wherewith Christ has made His people free. Beneath the shelter of such a limitation, the conscience has a sanctuary which is blessed and sanctified by Christian freedom within, and over the threshold of which authority, even the authority of the Church, cannot pass. Within that sanctuary none but the Lord of the conscience may enter; and because it is His dwelling-place and home, His presence protects the conscience from the intrusion of the Church. The right of Church power is limited by the rights of conscience.

    Any comments or questions please E-Mail me or Rev William Macleod the editor.

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