Book Review Re-Posted: Richard Barcellos, In Defense of the Decalogue: A Critique of New Covenant Theology

Note: I wrote this review in March 2006 and it was posted at the time to an online site which is no longer available. I had a recent conversation with a friend about New Covenant Theology and shared this review with him. I thought it would be worthwhile to re-post the review for others who might be interested. I also recorded an audio version of the review and posted it to sermonaudio.com (listen to it here). 

Richard C. Barcellos.  In Defense of the Decalogue:  A Critique of New Covenant Theology.  Enumclaw, WA:  WinePress Publishing, 2001, 117 pp.

New Covenant Theology (NCT) is a recent attempt to find a middle ground between Covenant (Reformed) and Dispensational theology in the areas of ecclesiology (the relationship between Israel and the Church) and ethics (the relationship between law and grace).  Most central, according to Barcellos, is the issue of the continuing function and role of the law (and the Ten Commandments in particular) for Christians.  NCT sees no continuing role for the Old Testament law in general and the Decalogue in particular for New Covenant believers.  Barcellos’ book offered this critique even before a definitive work by NCT scholars appeared on the market [That work has since appeared:  Tom Wells and Fred Zaspel, New Covenant Theology:  Description, Definition, Defense (New Covenant Media, 2002)]!

Barcellos writes from the confessional perspective of being a Reformed Baptist.  His disagreements with NCT are clearly but amicably presented.  They fall into eight general areas:

First: NCT’s view of the promise of the New Covenant.

The contention here is that NCT misreads Jeremiah 31:31-34 by assuming that the “New Covenant” “will be the death knell of the Decalogue as a unit”, rather than ‘the death knell of the Old Covenant” (24).

Second: NCT’s view concerning the identity of the Old Covenant.

Here the author takes NCT to task for equating the Decalogue with the Old Covenant.  Instead, Barcellos argues that “the Decalogue is still binding as a unit under the New Covenant, though not in the same manner in which it was under the Old” (40).

Third: NCT’s views related to the abolition of the Old Covenant.

The primary bone of contention here is the proper interpretation of Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:17-20.  Counter to NCT, Barcellos argues that the Old Testament is still binding, “but not in the same way it used to be”, since its application is now conditioned by the coming of Jesus (65).  This argument is buttressed by appeal to Ephesians 2:14-16.  He concludes this unit: “The abrogation of the Old Covenant does not cancel the utility of the Old Testament” (69).

 

Fourth: NCT’s perspective on the Sermon on the Mount.

Barcellos contends that, “Christ is not altering the Law of Moses in the Sermon on the Mount, but rightly applying it, unlike the scribes and Pharisees who were hypocrites” (76).

Fifth: NCT’s position on the identity of the Moral Law.

At core here is an exposition of Romans 2:14-15.  According to Barcellos, NCT contends that nine of the ten commandments (excluding the 4^th commandment to observe the Sabbath) comprise “the Moral law common to all men” (77).  Barcellos sees no reason to exclude the 4^th commandment from the Moral Law as it is made known to the Jews through special revelation and to Gentiles through general revelation.

Sixth: NCT’s hermeneutical presuppositions.

Barcellos contends that NCT holds to the maxim “Not repeated, not binding.” On the other hand, “The historic Reformed hermeneutic assumes continuity between the testaments unless rescinded” (85).  His point:  Just because each of the Ten Commandments is not explicitly repeated in the New Testament does not diminish the fact that they are still binding.

Seventh: NCT’s implications for canonics.

Barcellos’ warning here is that though NCT may give formal recognition of the complete canon (Old and New Testaments), it results in an ethical approach that functionally acknowledges only the New Testament.  NCT, therefore, “leaves itself open to the accusation of Neo-Marcionism, due to its reductionistic, myopic, and truncated approach to ethics” (88).

Eighth: NCT and historical theology.

Barcellos begins by defending the position on the law, often chided by NCT, taken in the Second London Baptist Confession (1689).  He then attacks two areas where NCT has claimed historical support for its position.  First, NCT has looked to the so-called “continental Reformers” for support of its Decalogue and Sabbatarian ideas.  While acknowledging that Calvin’s views on the Sabbath, in particular, are complex, Barcellos concludes that NCT “does not bear the mantle of John Calvin when it comes to the issue of the Sabbath” (100).  Second, NCT has often appealed to the writings of John Bunyan on the Sabbath for historical support for its ideas.  In fact, an annual gathering of NCT-sympathetic pastors and theologians is called “The Bunyan Conference.”  Barcellos, however, contends that NCT has misread Bunyan who “was not combating the Puritan view of the Sabbath” “but writing against a movement that sought to impose the seventh day Sabbath as Moral Law upon Christians” (101).  He concludes, “Fairly stated, John Bunyan is not New Covenant in his view of the Sabbath” (107).

Conclusion and Assessment:

Barcellos concludes his critique by offering four specific areas of disagreement with NCT:  (1) NCT and exegetical theology; (2) NCT and Biblical theology; (3) NCT and historical theology; and (4) NCT and systematic theology.  The author is to be commended for the charitable spirit with which he conducts this review, analysis and critique of NCT.  In the opinion of this reviewer, the stiffest challenges that he places before NCT proponents are the exegetical ones involving the New Testament’s own reference to the Ten Commandments (Rom 3:19-20; 2 Cor 3:3; Eph 6:2-3; and 1 Tim 1:8-11) and his caution concerning NCT’s neo-Marcionite tendencies.  I would also be interested to know how those who hold to NCT might respond to Barcellos’ challenges concerning Bunyan’s views on the Sabbath.  Barcellos admits that NCT is not “totally fallacious” but in the end he charges that it “goes astray at the point of exegesis and thus produces a faulty theological system” (111).  Here we find perhaps the harshest assessment in an otherwise charitable work, as Barcellos argues that NCT “ends up producing a diseased system of doctrine, which produces diseased Christian thinking and living” (110). This book is brief but well argued.  At this point, it has convinced me that NCT does not offer a viable middle ground between New Covenant and Dispensational theology. Ω

JTR

Thomas Vincent: Ten Ways to Keep the Seventh Commandment

Note:  In my series through Spurgeon’s Baptist Catechism, I have been making heavy use of the Puritan Thomas Vincent’s exposition of the Shorter Catechism.  Here is an excerpt from my part 2 sermon on the Seventh Commandment in which I made use of this adaptation from Vincent:

Thomas Vincent on 10 ways to preserve one’s chastity and thus keep the seventh commandment:

1.  By watchfulness:

a.  Over our hearts and spirits, to oppose uncleanness in the first desires of it and inclinations of the heart to it, and risings of it in the thoughts.  Proverbs 4:23:  “Keep thy heart with all diligence.”

b.  Over our senses; our eyes, to turn them away from such objects as may provoke lust.  Job said he made a covenant with his eyes not to look lustfully upon a maiden (Job 31:1).  Our ears, to shut them against lascivious discourse; we must watch also against such touches and wanton dalliances as may be an incentive to unchaste desires, and take heed of all light and lewd company, and watch to avoid all occasions, and resist temptations to uncleanness.  When Joseph was approached by Potiphar’s wife he refused, saying, “How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” (Gen 39:9).

2.  By diligence in our callings:

His point is that temptation to unchastity often arises out of idleness.  Thus, he urges that our bodies and minds be busily employed so that we might be preserved from unclean practices and desires which idle persons are prone unto.  Proverbs 31 describes the virtuous woman as one who does not eat “the bread of idleness.”

3.  By temperance in eating and drinking:

Vincent argues that excess in either tends to pamper the body and so excite lust.  In Jeremiah 5:8, the prophet describes his own generation as overfed horses who “neighed after” their neighbor’s wife.  The Proverbs wisely warns against drunkenness which leads men to “behold strange women” and to utter “perverse things” (Proverbs 23:33).

4.  By abstinence, and keeping under the body, when there is need, with frequent fastings.

5.  By the fear of God, and awful apprehension of his presence and all seeing-eye. 

All sin, in fact, we might say is an act of practical atheism.  Consider:

Proverbs 5:20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? 21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.

We cannot justify unchastity as a “victimless sin” if done among consenting adults or if done in the privacy of one’s inner thought life.  All is seen by God.  And all sin, public or private, in an affront to a holy God.

6.  By faith in Jesus Christ, and thereby drawing virtue from him for the purifying of the heart and the crucifying of the fleshly lusts.

In Galatians 5:24 Paul writes that those who belong to Christ “have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts.”

7.  By the applications of the promises of cleansing the heart, and subduing iniquity.

Micah 7:19 promises:  “He will subdue our iniquities.”  And Paul urges:

2 Corinthians 7:1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

8.  By the help of the Spirit:

Vincent cites Paul:

Romans 8:13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

John Owen had a famous exposition of this verse called The Mortification of Sin in which he warned that we will either kill sin or sin will kill us.

9.  By frequent and fervent prayer:

Think of David’s prayer to God in Psalm 51 in which he pleads for God to create a clean heart within him.

Jesus himself taught us to pray:  “And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil” (Matt 6:13).

10.  When no other means will avail to quench burning desires, marriage is to be made use of; and that must be in the Lord.

Paul said it is better to marry than to burn (1 Cor 7:9).  His point is that God has given a lawful arena for the expression of sexual desire and it is within marriage.

The Vision (10.24.13): Thomas Vincent on the Lawful Preservation of One's Life

Note:  Last Sunday afternoon we returned to our occasional series through Spurgeon’s Baptist Catechism, examining the sixth commandment, “Thou shalt not kill.”  The catechism teaches that this commandment “forbids the taking away of our own life, or the life of our neighbor unjustly, or whatsoever tends thereunto.”  On this point, I borrowed from the Puritan Thomas Vincent who suggested the following lawful means that one should employ to preserve his life and thus keep the sixth commandment:

1.  Defense of ourselves with arms and weapons, against the violence of thieves and cutthroats that seek to murder us.

2.  Defense of ourselves with clothes, and in houses, against the violence of the weather and cold.

3.  The nourishing and refreshing of our bodies in a sober and moderate use of meat, drink, and sleep.

4.  The exercise of bodies with labour and moderate recreations.

5.  The use of physic [medicine] for the removal of sickness and the recovery of health.

6.  “Patience, peacableness, contentment, cheerfulness, and the moderate exhilarating our spirits with God’s gifts … using all good means to get and keep our minds and hearts in a good temper….”  This is a Puritan call to good mental and emotional health.  He cites Proverbs 17:22:  “A merry heart doth good like a medicine; but a broken spirit drieth the bones.”

May the Lord lead us to honor his moral law including the preservation of our own lives as dictated by the sixth commandment.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Thomas Vincent on the wider implications of the fifth commandment: The relationship between the younger and the older

Note:  Below are notes from yesterday's final installment in the mini-series on the wider implications of the fifth commandment, focusing on the relationship between the younger and the older.  Again, Thomas Vincent's exposition of the Shorter Catechism served as a guide.

In our final installment in this series we examine the relationship between—as Vincent puts it— those who are “younger and inferior in gifts and graces” and “the aged and superior.”

Notice, first of all, the striking, counter-cultural assumption of this description.  It assumes that those who are older in age will have superior gifts and graces to which the younger should defer, offering respect and admiration, in humility.  I think that reflects not only a Puritan mindset but also a Biblical mindset.  We have turned this wisdom nearly completely on its head.  We live in a culture that overvalues and worships youth and overlooks the aged.  The marketers aim their products at the coveted youth consumers.  The rapid rise of technology has also contributed greatly to this, as it the young who have largely mastered technological proficiency while the older have been left behind.  The fault is not only with the younger generation but also with the older who rather than relishing in reaching an age of maturity and exercising its inherent benefits instead too often abandon this position of responsibility and enter into a sort of second teenage existence, desiring to live selfishly or to finish off their “bucket list” before death.

One aspect of this is that many of our churches are having a hard time finding mature, qualified men to serve as officers and leaders.  Note well, however, that I am not suggesting men be placed in office merely because they are older.  They must meet the Biblical qualifications.  Another aspect of this in the church is that we have many congregations that are essentially age segregated, often due to the musical aspects of the church’s worship (contemporary or traditional).

 

Again, the Biblical outlook is quite different.  In this worldview, the younger look to the experience of the older to learn and gain wisdom from them, looking forward to the time when they too will reach this position of responsibility and influence.  And the older see themselves as carefully living exemplary lives so as to provide a model and pattern for those behind them to follow. Thus the church is a rich mutually encouraging intergenerational fellowship.

Three duties of the younger to the older:

First:  To rise up before them and given place to them, with reverence and respect.

Consider:

Leviticus 19:32 Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head [the gray-headed], and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the LORD.

Second:  Humble submission to them, so as to follow their wise counsels.

Consider:

1 Peter 5:5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.

By elder (presbyteros) Peter calls younger men to be submitted not merely those in the office of elder (though they would be mature men, over the age of 30) but also to all Christian men in the body who are older in age.  Sadly I have sometime seen situations in churches where younger do not demonstrate the attitude for which Peter here calls.  The results can be harmful and chaotic to all.

Consider Philemon 9 where Paul appeals, in part, to his authority not only as an apostle but as a aged or older Christian man:

Philemon 1:9 Yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the aged [presbytes], and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.

Third:  Imitation of them in their graces and holy conversations.

Paul could say:

1 Corinthians 11:1 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

Too many today are like the athlete Charles Barkley who said, “I don’t want to be a role model.”  I don’t want the responsibility.

Consider in Luke 2 when the infant Jesus is brought to the temple.  Who meets him and recognizes who he is:  the aged Simeon and the aged Anna.  They serve as models and examples.

The duty of the older to the younger:

Vincent:  “The duties of the aged and superior in gifts and graces, unto the younger and inferior, are—To adorn their old age, and show forth the power of their grace in a holy and exemplary conversation [by this he meant not just their words but the pattern of their lives].”

The passage that he cites in support of this point is Titus 2:

Titus 2:1 But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine: 2 That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. 3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; 4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. 6 Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded. 7 In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, 8 Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.

What a beautiful thing it is when there is this kind of intergenerational fellowship and mutual encouragement with the body of Christ.

Let me add before closing that Vincent also contributes a few words about the duties of equals one to another including:

First:  To love in peace, with sincere love to one another, preferring each other in honor.  He cites:

1 Thessalonians 5:13: “Be at peace with one another.”

Romans 12:9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. 10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;

Second:  To be pitiful, courteous and affable, and ready to promote one another’s good, and to rejoice therein. He cites:

1 Peter 3:8 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful [compassionate or tenderhearted] be courteous:

1 Corinthians 10:24 Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth [good or well-being].

Let these things be our aim as we live out the wider principles of this fifth commandment.

Thomas Vincent on the wider implications of the fifth commandment: citizens and magistrates

Note:  Here are my notes from my 8/4/13 afternoon sermon continuing our series on the wider implications of the fifth commandment, based upon and expanding from Thomas Vincent’s exposition of the Shorter Catechism.  This segment focuses on the implications of the fifth commandment for understanding the relationship between citizens (subjects) and magistrates.

Five Duties of subjects to their magistrates:

First:  High estimation and honor of them.

1 Peter 2:17 Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.

This is to be true whether one is in agreement politically with the magistrate or not.

We should note that the early Christians urged honoring the king even when the kings of the earth were all polytheistic pagans.

Second:  Subjection to them, and obedience to their laws, so far as they are not contrary to the laws of Christ.

The key passage in the Bible would be Romans 13, which begins:  “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers….”

But we also see, concurrently, a constant stream in the Bible of conscientious civil disobedience:

The Hebrew midwives would not murder the male children (cf.  Exodus 2:17:  “But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.”).

In the days of Elijah God preserved 7,000 who had not bent the knee to Baal (1 Kings 19:18).

Daniel did not cease to pray three times daily to his God, though his life was threatened in Babylon.

When Peter and the apostles were told to stop preaching Jesus they replied, “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).

Third:   Ready payment of their dues.

Romans 13:7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.

Fourth:  Defense of them in danger:

The passage Vincent cites here is 1 Samuel 26:15 where David taunts Abner for not protecting King Saul.

Romans 13:4 says the civil magistrate does not bear the sword in vain.

With respect to our Anabaptist Brethren, the Bible does not teach pacifism. When John the Baptist was preaching and soldiers came to him, John did not tell them to lay down their arms and leave military service.  But he said:  “Do violence to no man [in other words, do not abuse your power], neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages” (Luke 3:14).

Military men like Cornelius the Centurion were among the early converts to Christ, but nowhere are we told that men like him were required to leave their vocations.

A Christian is expected to be willing to defend his nation.

Fifth:   Prayer and thanksgiving for them.

1 Timothy 2:1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

Again, Paul could say this is the Christian duty toward pagan rulers.  We must do so today.  If we intensely dislike our civil rulers, the least we can do is to pray for them.  When we visited China in 2008 and talked with some Christians there, one of the things that impressed me most was that they were committed to praying for their government and its leaders.

Four duties of magistrates to subjects:

First:   Government of their subjects under Christ, with wisdom, justice, and clemency, endeavoring above all things to promote the interests of religion among them.

Vincent speaks here as a Puritan, and he describes how a Christian ruler should see his vocation.

He cites here the prayer of Solomon in 2 Chronicles 1:10:   “Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people.”

Second:  Making good laws for the benefit of their subjects, and appointing faithful officers, with charge of due execution of them.

It is said of King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles:

2 Chronicles 19:5 And he set judges in the land throughout all the fenced cities of Judah, city by city, 6 And said to the judges, Take heed what ye do: for ye judge not for man, but for the LORD, who is with you in the judgment. 7 Wherefore now let the fear of the LORD be upon you; take heed and do it: for there is no iniquity with the LORD our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts.

Why is it that our nation has been able to be free from the degree of corruption suffered by many other nations?  The leavening influence of Christianity.

Third:  Care of the common safety of their subjects.

Vincent again cites a passage from 2 Chronicles 17:1-2 from the rule of Jehosphaphat when he established fortresses to defend his nation.  We can again turn to Romans 13 and the magistrate holding the sword to punish evil doers and to defend society.

Fourth:  Encouragement of them that do well, by their example, countenance, and reward, together with the discouragement and punishment of evil-doers.

1 Peter 2:14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.

Again, these are expectations of Christian rulers.  No, we have not always had Christian rulers in this nation.  But we have had men influenced by Christian principles and this made all the difference.  Sadly, it seems our nation is turning a corner.

We can say with the Psalmist:  “If the foundations be destroyed what can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3).

Isaiah 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

But we have a greater Sovereign on the throne.  He is working all things together for good and we can trust in him.

Thomas Vincent on the duties of churches and ministers (flowing from the Fifth Commandment)

Note:  Sunday afternoon I continued our “series (on the fifth commandment) within a series (the ten commandments) within a series (on the Baptist Catechism)” with a sermon titled The Fifth Commandment:  Part 4.  I was once again flowing the wider implications of the fifth commandment, this time addressing its implications for how ministers and churches are to relate to one another.  And, again, I was using Thomas Vincent’s Puritan exposition of the Westminster Shorter Catechism as a guide.  Here are my notes riffing off Vincent’s listing of mutual duties between ministers and churches:
 

Six duties of the people to their ministers:

First:  High estimation of them, and endeared love to them for their work’s sake.

Consider:

1 Thessalonians 5:12 And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; 13 And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves.

Paul could write to the Galatians (Gal 4:14-15) and remind them of how they had received him as “an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus” and would have plucked out their own eyes for him.

Second:  Diligent attendance upon the word of God preached, and other ordinances administered by them.

Luke 10:16:  “He that heareth you, heareth me.”

Well has it been said that full pews and attentive listeners lift the preacher as if on wings, while empty pews and disinterested listeners take the wind from his sails.

Third:  Meek and patient suffering the word of reproof, and ready obedience unto the word of command, which ministers shall, from the Scriptures, make known unto them, together with submission unto the discipline intrusted with them by the Lord.

In James 1:21 we read of the necessity of receiving with meekness “the ingrafted word.”

Consider also:

Hebrews 13:17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.

Fourth:   Communicating to them of their temporals.

That is, the church should, as it is able, give to provide for the material needs of the pastor and his family so that he might pursue with full devotion of his time the ministry of the word and sacrament. 

Compare:

1 Corinthians 9:14 Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.

Galatians 6:6 Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.

Fifth:  Prayer for them.

Paul in his letters often asked the churches to pray for him.  Consider:  “Brethren, pray for us” (1 Thess 5:25).

Sixth:  Shutting their ear against reproaches and slanders, believing nothing without proof; and standing up in their defense against an ungodly world, and many false brethren, and rotten hearted hypocrites, who are made of the devil to cast dirt upon them, and thereby people receiving prejudices against them, might be kept either from hearing them, or receiving benefit from their doctrine, and so be either drawn to ways of error, or hardened in ways of profaneness.

He cites:

1 Timothy 5:19 Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses.

Correspondingly, five duties of the minister to their people in the church:

First:  Dear and tender love of their souls.

Consider the example of the apostle Paul:

1 Thessalonians 2:7 But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children: 8 So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us.

Second:  Diligent, sincere, and frequent preaching of the word unto them, with administration of all ordinances.

Consider Paul’s charge to Timothy:

2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

The minister’s primary calling and duty is to preach.

Third:  Watchfulness over them, with willingness and cheerfulness.

Consider:

 1 Peter 5:2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;

Well has it been said that the minister is to feed the sheep and not to fleece or beat the sheep.

Fourth:  Prayer for them, and praise for the grace of God which is in them.

In Paul’s letters he very often thanks and blesses God for the churches and their dear members to whom he writes. For example:

Ephesians 1:15 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, 16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;

So ministers are to be addicted to prayer for their people.

Fifth:  Showing themselves an example of holiness and good works unto them.

Consider again Paul’s word to Timothy:

1 Timothy 4:12 Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

The hermeneutical justification for the wider implications of the fifth commandment

Note:  In our Sunday afternoon services at CRBC we are continuing to work our way through Spurgeon's revised version of the Baptist Catechism.  I have devoted the last three messages in the series to the catechism's instruction on the wider implications of the fifth commandment (first in the so-called "second table" of the law and, therefore, first in treating man's relation to his fellow man) and have at least one (and possibly two) more messages to go before moving on to the sixth commandment.  The Fathers who prepared the catechism note that the applications flowing from the underlying principles of the fifth commandment go beyond merely the duty of children to honor parents but requires, "the preserving the honour, and performing the duties belonging to every one in their several places and relations, as superiors, inferiors, or equals." As Thomas Vincent points out in his study of the Shorter Catechism, this commandment addresses proper relations between children and parents, wives and husbands, servants and masters, citizens and magistrates, churches and ministers, etc.  Here are some notes I shared in the second message in the series offering a brief hermeneutical justification for these wider applications. 

Before going forward I want first to address a question of hermeneutics or the proper interpretation and application of Scripture.  Some of us were discussing the approach of our Puritan and Particular Baptist fathers reflected in this catechism in their interpretation and expansion of this commandment in particular.  Did they go beyond what is written to say that the fifth commandment addresses not only children honoring parents but also other human relationships?

I want to argue that this approach is appropriate for the following two Biblical reasons:

First:  It follows the example of how Jesus interpreted the Ten Commandments in the Sermon on the Mount (see the so-called antitheses of Matthew 5:21, 28 where Jesus says that the prohibition against murder also includes in principle a prohibition against unjust anger and the prohibition against adultery also includes a prohibition against lust).

Second:  It follows the example of how Paul applied the fifth commandment in the household code of Ephesians 6:1-4 [cf. Colossians 3:20-21].  Note especially how Paul's citation of the fifth commandment in Ephesians 6:2-3 appears literally at the very conceptual center of the Ephesian household code:

A.  Wives and husbands (Eph 5:22-33)

B.  Children (6:1)

C.  Citation of the fifth commandment (6:2-3)

B'  Fathers (6:4)

A' Servants and masters (6:5-9)

And for the following logical reason:

If the Ten Commandments are the summation of the moral law of God, then we should be able to trace the root of any moral law to at least one of the Ten Commandments.  One cannot say, for example, the Bible does not forbid bank robbery explicitly, so bank robbery must be OK.  No, the prohibition against bank robbery is included in the eighth commandment, Thou shalt not steal.

There is, of course, a caution here.  The applications we draw from the principles underlying the Ten Commandments must be logically and Biblically consistent.

JTR

Thomas Vincent on the duties of children and parents flowing from the Fifth Commandment

In my Sunday afternoon exposition of Spurgeon's revision of the Baptist Catechism, I have been making frequent use of Thomas Vincent's "The Shorter Catechism Explained from Scripture" (1674; Banner of Truth ed., 1980).

 

Yesterday, we began to look at the fifth commandment (Exodus 20:12).  Here is an abbreviated list of Vincent's seven duties of children to parents and seven duties of parents to children (with his copious proof text references largely omitted):

The duties of children to parents:

1.      Inward honor, reverence, and estimation.

2.     Outward reverent carriage and behavior.

3.     Diligent hearkening to their instructions.

4.     Willing obedience to all lawful commands.

5.     Meek and patient bearing their reproofs and corrections, with amendment of the faults they are reproved and corrected for.

6.     Ready following their reasonable counsel, in reference to their calling, station, marriage, and any great affairs of their lives.

7.     Grateful kindness to them, in nourishing them, providing for them, and bearing with their infirmities when aged, and fallen into want and poverty.

The duties of parents to children:

1.      Tender love and care of them, especially when infants and helpless; particularly, mothers ought to give suck [nurse] their children, if they are able. 

 

2.     Training them up in the knowledge of the Scriptures, and principles of religion, and giving them good instructions in the laws and ways of the Lord, as soon as they are capable of receiving them.

3.     Prayer for them, and giving good examples of holiness, temperance, and righteousness unto them.

4.     Keeping them under subjection whilst young, yet requiring nothing of them but what is agreeable to the law of the Lord.  He adds, “As children must obey, so parents must command in the Lord” (Ephesians 6:1, 4).

 

5.     Encouragement of them by kind looks and speeches, and rewards in well-doing, together with discountenance, reproof and loving and seasonable correction of them for evil doing (Proverbs 29:15, 17).

6.      Provision for them of what is needful for the present; as also laying up for them according to the proportion of what they have, for the future (1 Timothy 5:8; 2 Corinthians 12:14).

7.      Disposal of them to trades, callings, and in marriage, when grown up, as may be for their good; therein using no force, but consulting and considering their capacity and inclination.