by Kevin Bauder | Jul 24, 2017 | Baptists, Ecclesiology, Pastoral Theology
The local church which elects its pastor is the source of his ecclesiastical authority. He carries no inherent authority as a person and does not rule the local church by any native rights or gifts. This type of authority is bestowed by the local church and may be...
by Kevin Bauder | Jul 21, 2017 | Bauder's Reading, Ecclesiology, Local Church, Universal Church, What We're Reading
Some Baptists (e.g., Landmark Baptists) insist that the only ekklesia in the New Testament is a local church. Every usage, according to them, refers to the local church, individually or collectively. However, this view runs up against serious problems. For instance,...
by Kevin Bauder | Jul 17, 2017 | Bauder's Reading, Ecclesiology, Local Church, Universal Church, What We're Reading
The body of Christ is meaningful in so far as individual Christians have Christ as their collective head. It is not individual local churches of which Christ is the head. It is not even individual Christians who are members of local churches. Rather, all Christians of...
by Kevin Bauder | Jul 17, 2017 | Baptists, Conservatism, Culture, Ecclesiology, Vocation, Work
African theologian David DeBruyn offers a clear and important biblical reason to reject populist objections to special knowledge. God has so made the world and limited man that we each need to specialise in some domain of human life. We need some to give themselves to...
by Kevin Bauder | Jul 13, 2017 | Bauder's Reading, Ecclesiology, Pneumatology
[1 Cor. 12:13] says, “We were all baptized into one body.” The “we all” transcends the local church at Corinth for a couple of reasons. (1) The addressees of the epistle imply or designate a wider audience than the local church at Corinth (1 Cor 1:2). The latter part...
by Kevin Bauder | Jul 12, 2017 | Art and Literature, Church Services, Ecclesiology, Lord's Day, Sacred and Mundane, Worship
Here is a video of three men performing a concert dance to the Largo from Glinka’s Trio Pathétique in D Minor. The occasion is an offertory at Tim Keller’s Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. The audience responds with applause after the...
