Of Religious Worship, and the Sabbath Day, XXI:5

The reading of the Scriptures with godly fear, the sound preaching and conscionable hearing of the Word, in obedience unto God, with understanding, faith and reverence, singing of psalms with grace in the heart; as also, the due administration and worthy receiving of the sacraments instituted by Christ, are all parts of the ordinary religious worship of God: beside religious oaths, vows, solemn fastings, and thanksgivings upon special occasions, which are, in their several times and seasons, to be used in a holy and religious manner.

Recall in our discussion of the first paragraph of this chapter we briefly touched on a concept known as the "regulative principle of worship." This principle reserves to God the right to determine how he is to be worshipped. He has set boundaries, revealing them to men in his written word. Accordingly, worship may not properly be offered by men in any way not prescribed by Scripture. There are differences of opinion as to exactly what those boundaries encompass.

Here the Confession lays out several additional elements of biblical worship, having already dedicated some discussion to prayer. These other elements include:

1. Reading the Scriptures with godly fear, and...

2. Sound preaching and conscionable hearing of the word of God. Notice the pride of place that these first two elements enjoy. It has been said that "true worship cannot altogether perish where there is yet faithful preaching of the word." Yet it does not suffice simply to listen to the word properly preached. That hearing must be "conscionable" and produce obedience, understanding, faith, and reverance.

3. The singing of psalms. No mention is made here of hymns or spiritual songs, to round out the three types of music mentioned by the apostle Paul. Puritanism was known for its allegiance to psalm-singing. It is not unreasonable to think that the divines intended by this statement to limit congregational singing to metrical psalms. On the other hand, there is much value in a well-constructed hymn or song that exalts God and biblical teaching.

4. The due administration and worthy receiving of the sacraments. Much more will be said on this subject in the three upcoming chapters devoted to the sacraments (of which there are two in Christianity according to the Reformed faith). We pause here only to note that the sacraments are not optional in biblical worship.

5. Religious oath, vows, solemn fasting, and thanksgivings upon special occasions. The subject of oaths and vows will be taken up in our discussion of chapter XXII. The contemporary American church is not particularly known for its observance of fasts. Giving up stuff goes against the grain of American nature. It also has whiffs of legalism (which, in other contexts, is not offensive to American Protestants) and Roman Catholic asceticism. It seems to us to be just a bit fanatical. But that the practice is eminently biblical cannot be denied.

The Larger Catechism adds church discipline and receiving offerings for the maintenance of the ministry to this list. The former has its own chapter (again, forthcoming).

Tomorrow: Specific worship practices.