Every system of church government, which declares to be
Christian, takes its starting point in the New Testament
revelation that Christ is the Head of his body, the
church, (Col. 1:18); however each of these systems arrives
at vastly different conclusions.
The Presbyterian system of church government is founded
on.the principle that Jesus Christ, the Son of God who
became man, is the organic Head of the church, the elected
mankind. "Bead" and "body" are bound together as one vital
unity, undivided and unmixed. Therefore the church, as
body of Christ, has no human head.
Christ Himself governs the church, while He at the same
time rules over heaven and earth. He, the Mediator, Who
in the unity of his Person is indivisible, is Himself personally
present in his church. He is also represented by
the Holy Spirit, who works directly in the heart and mind
of ail believers and speaks to them by means of the holy ~
Word of God. Christ reigns his church through his Holy
Spirit by his Holy Word.
The believers, as members ,in the body, the church, have
come of age as a royal priesthood by anointment with the
Holy. Spirit. Therefore the congregation is subject to the
instructions of Christ to· the church.
While the body still grows up unto Christ, its Head, He
has given the off ices to the church for the perfecting of
the saints in their ministry.
The government of the Head is served in the church by the
elders as a council of the church. Their instruction from
the Head is to be shepherds to the saints and not to be
lords over God's heritage. Of this ministration of the
church government the congregation is the object.
The Presbyterian church government, as organized in the
Church Order of Dort (1618-19), maintains the church as·
an organic unity that lives for, through and to Christ.
The church is the subordinate of its Personal Head, the
living and present Jesus Christ. Therefore the Church
Order of Dort maintains the ministerial character of the
offices in the church, the coming of age· of the believers
and the Word of God as the border of all ministerial
authority and power.
The Presbyterian church government is then, according to
the principles of the Church Order of Dort, the ministration
of the one supremacy of the one Head, Jesus Christ,
in his church as one body. / Oorspronklike uitgegawe as proefskrif voorgelê --PU vir CHO
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nwu/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/13569 |
| Date | January 1976 |
| Creators | Van der Walt, Jan Jacobus |
| Publisher | Potchefstroom : Pro Rege,1976 |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | other |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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