I agree with a lot of what you are saying. I too think the CRCNA has over stepped it's bounds in many of the areas you mention. But there are also some worries I have. First, I'm not so sure the Kuyper a lot of people mention is the 'real' Kuyper, this is not an attack on your use of Kuyper, just an observation. One central aspect of Kuyper's doctrine of the church that we often miss is the centrality of the church as institution. If there is no true church (as defined by the Belgic Confession), then the transformative work neo-Calvinists/'Kuyperians' tend to emphasize cannot properly work, according to Kuyper. We need to be continuously made light and salty (to borrow biblical metaphors) in order to be salt and light to the world, and this occurs in the church (you seem to be getting at this point in your post). Second, there is a strange obsession we in the CRCNA have with Kuyper. Kuyper is a relatively minor figure in the history of reformed thought, and yet he gets much more prominence over the likes of Calvin, Witsius, Turretin, Owen, Edwards, etc. I think it may be helpful for the CRCNA to reclaim more of its reformed heritage beyond Kuyper and the dutch reformers. The Synod of Dordt was not just a collection of dutch reformers but also reformers from around Europe. Third, why should we hold to sphere sovereignty? This in many ways is tied to my last point, why should we choose Kuyper's sphere sovereignty over other and different reformed models? Sphere sovereignty, or anything like it, is something the confessions remain silent about. It thus has no binding for professing members or pastors in the CRCNA, and this seems correct to me. I don't think it is something Scripture clearly teaches and is debatable. Fourth, I'm not so sure Kuyper saw as clean a cut between spheres as you make him out to. And even if he does, I'm not sure that I would find his bifurcations plausible and non-arbitrary.
To end on a good note, I think you are right when you mention that, "[t]his [the church stepping outside its bounds] leads to confusion about the task of the church and forces ministers, elders, and deacons in church assemblies to act on matters outside of the "narrow" confines of Scripture and Confession." The church is the body of God guided by the Scriptures and our confessions and is thus confined to what the Scriptures and confessions speak to.
Posted in: Whatever Happened to Sphere Sovereignty?
I agree with a lot of what you are saying. I too think the CRCNA has over stepped it's bounds in many of the areas you mention. But there are also some worries I have. First, I'm not so sure the Kuyper a lot of people mention is the 'real' Kuyper, this is not an attack on your use of Kuyper, just an observation. One central aspect of Kuyper's doctrine of the church that we often miss is the centrality of the church as institution. If there is no true church (as defined by the Belgic Confession), then the transformative work neo-Calvinists/'Kuyperians' tend to emphasize cannot properly work, according to Kuyper. We need to be continuously made light and salty (to borrow biblical metaphors) in order to be salt and light to the world, and this occurs in the church (you seem to be getting at this point in your post). Second, there is a strange obsession we in the CRCNA have with Kuyper. Kuyper is a relatively minor figure in the history of reformed thought, and yet he gets much more prominence over the likes of Calvin, Witsius, Turretin, Owen, Edwards, etc. I think it may be helpful for the CRCNA to reclaim more of its reformed heritage beyond Kuyper and the dutch reformers. The Synod of Dordt was not just a collection of dutch reformers but also reformers from around Europe. Third, why should we hold to sphere sovereignty? This in many ways is tied to my last point, why should we choose Kuyper's sphere sovereignty over other and different reformed models? Sphere sovereignty, or anything like it, is something the confessions remain silent about. It thus has no binding for professing members or pastors in the CRCNA, and this seems correct to me. I don't think it is something Scripture clearly teaches and is debatable. Fourth, I'm not so sure Kuyper saw as clean a cut between spheres as you make him out to. And even if he does, I'm not sure that I would find his bifurcations plausible and non-arbitrary.
To end on a good note, I think you are right when you mention that, "[t]his [the church stepping outside its bounds] leads to confusion about the task of the church and forces ministers, elders, and deacons in church assemblies to act on matters outside of the "narrow" confines of Scripture and Confession." The church is the body of God guided by the Scriptures and our confessions and is thus confined to what the Scriptures and confessions speak to.