The Second Helvetic Confession ‑ Chapter 5
Of the Adoration, Worship and Invocation of God Through
the Only Mediator Jesus Christ
God Alone Is To Be Adored and
Worshiped. We teach that the true God alone is to be adored and worshiped.
This honor we impart to none other, according to the commandment of the Lord,
You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve (Matt. 4:10).
Indeed, all the prophets severely inveighed against the people of Israel
whenever they adored and worshiped strange gods, and not the only true God. But
we teach that God is to be adored and worshiped as he himself has taught us to
worship, namely, in spirit and in truth (John 4:23 f.), not with any
superstition, but with sincerity, according to his Word; lest at any time he
should say to us: Who has required these things from your hands? (Isa.1:12; Jer.
6:20). For Paul also says: God is not served by human hands, as though he needed
anything, etc. (Acts 17:25).
<A beautiful statement of the honor, adoration and
singular worship the believer is commanded to reserve for God alone.
We see here one of the statements that set the stage of a doctrine that
has become known as the Reformed Principle of Worship.
This doctrine says that we can only worship God in ways that are
specifically commanded in Scripture, all else being strange fire on the altar of
God; much as stated in this paragraph. This
is said to be the Calvinistic approach as opposed to the Lutheran view, which
says everything is legitimate, that is not expressly forbidden in Scripture.
While both sides are reaching for the same goal of the proper worship of
God as God has commanded there is a difference when approached from the two
polar views. The core elements will
remain close, and both will lead to the worship of God alone.
Yet, the Lutheran view does leave latitude for the imagination of the
created that can be more easily corrupted and lead into gross error.
At the same time the Calvinistic view is more legalistic and restraining
than many will accept. As in most
things the answer perhaps lies in a median position.
However the big AC@ side sees any and all practices not
specifically commanded not as tolerance, but strange fire.
In other words the two are not strange bedfellows, you seldom find both
in the same church. The Lutheran or a combined position does leave much to the
created, but also speaks of the liberty in Christ the believer has, and of the
leading of the Holy Spirit. To
worship in truth (by the Bible) cannot be set aside nor corrupted.
Nonetheless to forbid some things because they are not specifically
commanded is a binding of the spirit that also should not be.
Once more I would say the more conservative (Calvin’s view) is a safe
place if in doubt, but will not personally allow such a binding of conscience
and denial of the freedom I have in Christ.
Paul’s word to the church at Corinth is a good and broad definition, Aall
things decently and in order.@
The Bible sets the parameters, and is the order of things, but it does not
command every detail of what the church calls worship.
There is room without sin for many things a strict Calvinistic view would
not allow. Music would perhaps be
the most current example of this difference.
The first four commandments or the so-called first table are very much at
the center of proper worship. >
God Alone Is To Be Invoked
Through the Mediation of Christ Alone. In all crises and trials of our life
we call upon him alone, and that by the mediation of our only mediator and
intercessor, Jesus Christ. For we
have been explicitly commanded: Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will
deliver you, and you shall glorify me (Psa. 1:15).
Moreover, we have a most generous promise from the Lord Who said: If you
ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you (John 16:23), and: Come to
me, all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest (Matt. 11:28).
And since it is written: How are men to call upon him in whom they have
not believed? (Rom. 10:14), and since we do believe in God alone, we assuredly
call upon him alone, and we do so through Christ.
For as the apostle says, There is one God and there is one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (I Tim. 2:5), and, If any one does
sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous etc. (1
John 2:1).
<This sounds great and looks good on paper.
However pragmatically speaking I am not sure I have ever listened to a
prayer that held to these guidelines totally.
This appears to say that we pray to Jesus alone who is our Mediator.
It is a truth that all contact, position, and relationship man has with
God is through Jesus Christ. Nonetheless
we all pray “Dear God,” as if entitled to a more direct access. We are, and have been told because of the work of Christ we
have been adopted and have direct access and that boldly to the throne of grace.
These are not two statements that contradict.
The reformers have it right here, and when we exercise this bold access
should remember it is only by Christ we can come to the Father, speaking of
initial regeneration and approach and the approach in prayer later.
It is not that we invoke the name of Christ alone in prayer.
The whole Godhead (Trinity) is God and each may be worshiped (prayer is
worship) or as another Reformed document renders it, prayer is the asking of God
that which He has already promised. The wording of question ninety-eight of The
Westminster Shorter Catechism uses the wording, “in the name of Christ.”
This may be a better wording for understanding how we can pray to God directly
as illustrated in the Lord’s Prayer,
yet be consistent that Christ is our only access and mediator.
Christ is our only Mediator,
yet we read in the Bible that at times the Holy Spirit intercedes for us praying
in our behalf that which we may not even know we have need of.
This is not a contradiction, but the working of the equality of essence
present in the Godhead. The emphasis is the humility that is present in the believer
when they properly acknowledge they stand before God of no merit of their own,
but through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
This understanding of position before God the Father does not need to be
verbalized in all prayer and it is valid to pray to the Spirit, the Son, or God
as the responsibility of each, as we understand the mysterious workings of God,
is permissible. Thus we pray to the
God of providence, to the Son of righteousness, and the Spirit of enablement
without separating or co-mingling the persons of the Godhead, nor violating the
doctrine as written down by the reformers. The result is because of the present
and constant mediation of Jesus Christ. >
The Saints Are Not To Be
Adored, Worshipped or Invoked. For this reason we do not adore, worship, or
pray to the saints in heaven, or to other gods, and we do not acknowledge them
as our intercessors or mediators before the Father in heaven. For God and Christ
the Mediator are sufficient for us; neither do we give to others the honor that
is due to God alone and to his Son, because he has expressly said: My glory I
give to no other (Isa. 42:8), and because Peter has said: There is no other name
under heaven given among men by which we must be saved, except the name of
Christ (Acts 4:12). In him, those who give their assent by faith do not seek
anything outside Christ.
<In this paragraph we see part of the logic used by the
reformers in trying to remove centuries of excess and error that had crept into
the Church of Rome. The teaching of
Rome concerning saints is pure idolatry. It
cannot assume any other title that is in accord with the Scriptures where we
read that God is no respecter of person. It is in this light that the necessity of the first paragraph
becomes apparent. In trying to
understand the Reformed faith and the tenets she has clung through despite the
test of time and fire, we must remember the historical context these men of God
worked in. It is a miracle that in
this place of darkness the church had become we find men of such godliness and
intelligence, and yes education willing to defy the emperor of the world (Which
the Pope had become) and say this is what the Word of God says and this we
should do. At times they over
reacted rather than simply apply the Scriptures in what is the clearest way.
In places they hold to the letter of the law that becomes a bondage
Christ did not intend, yet they are not to be faulted when all circumstance are
considered. Can the church at this
late date correct their shortcomings? Yes,
but it will be a most difficult process because of the diversity and division
that has came to be the church of Christ in this so-called post-modern world.
The hand and direction of God in the lives of these reformers is so
apparent we must use extreme care when changing what they have left as our
heritage. They were not prophets
and their works are not Scripture, yet one of the purposes of the Scripture is
for sound doctrine. Thus the very
duty of modern theologians is to revisit these men and where error exists, make
the needed corrections, but only in the full light of the Bible with much prayer
and consensus among the people of God. This
is a place where the value of many counselors is apparent.
The command to be in all subjection to our fellow presbyters is perhaps
nowhere else as crucial to what may come forth as the child of such change. John
Calvin went to great lengths in his book, The Necessity of Reforming the
Church, to bring out these very points as central to the necessity of
reformation. >
The Due Honor To Be Rendered to
the Saints. At the same time we do not despise the saints or think basely of
them. For we acknowledge them to be living members of Christ and friends of God
who have gloriously overcome the flesh and the world. Hence we love them as
brothers, and also honor them; yet not with any kind of worship but by an
honorable opinion of them and just praises of them. We also imitate them. For
with ardent longings and supplications we earnestly desire to be imitators of
their faith and virtues, to share eternal salvation with them, to dwell
eternally with them in the presence of God, and to rejoice with them in Christ.
And in this respect we approve of the opinion of St. Augustine in De Vera
Religione: "Let not our religion be the cult of men who have died. For if
they have lived holy lives, they are not to be thought of as seeking such
honors; on the contrary, they want us to worship him by whose illumination they
rejoice that we are fellow‑servants of his merits. They are therefore to
be honored by way of imitation, but not to be adored in a religious
manner," etc.
<Indeed due honor of person is to be given.
They have fought the good fight and have gone to their eternal reward.
This does not bring adoration or worship.
We also need to pay attention to such honor of later men who have labored
in the vineyard of the Lord, such as Bullinger in this present work that we
dissect. Any attempt at correction
is to be approached with due caution and appreciation of the work of the saints
before us, not just those some church court or authority has wrongly called
saint in a strange ceremony before God. All
believers are called to be saints, and it is not a title to be bestowed by man.
It is only out of respect in this manner that we see the reformers give
honor in allowing the title saint to continue to be attached to these early
leaders within the family of God. This is also due obedience to the Fifth
Commandment, which deals with all relationships, not just those with parents.
>
Relics of the Saints. Much
less do we believe that the relics of the saints are to be adored and
reverenced. Those ancient saints seemed to have sufficiently honored their dead
when they decently committed their remains to the earth after the spirit had
ascended on high. And they thought that the most noble relics of their ancestors
were their virtues, their doctrine, and their faith. Moreover, as they commend
these "relics" when praising the dead, so they strive to copy them
during their life on earth.
<We know the practice of the Church of Rome then and now
so that the need for this paragraph is clear.
I doubt it can be worded in a more revealing way, or with more due
respect for the person of the saint. It has been said that if all the bones of
Peter supposedly held by the church were gathered there would be several
complete human skeletons represented. If God does not need the hands of the
living, how can the living need the bones of the dead? Our Mediator is alive for
evermore. >
Swearing by God's Name Alone.
These ancient men did not swear except by the name of the only God, Yahweh, as
prescribed by the divine law. Therefore, as it is forbidden to swear by the
names of strange gods (Exod. 23:13; Deut. 10:20), so we do not perform oaths to
the saints that are demanded of us. We therefore reject in all these matters a
doctrine that ascribes much too much to the saints in heaven.
<Here is another clear paragraph necessitated by the
excess and error of Rome. It is
clear and the Bible states this doctrine in no uncertain terms, Christ Himself
having laid down the command again in the New Testament.
>
