Theology of the Church, Mentor's Guide, MG03

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T H E O L O G Y O F T H E C H U R C H

II. The Reformation Marks of the Church: “The Church Exists Where the Word Is Rightly Preached, the Sacraments Are Rightly Administered, and Discipline Is Rightly Ordered.” Reformation theologians were those churchmen in the seventeenth century who argued for such classic doctrines of salvation by grace through faith alone and the sufficiency of the saving power of Jesus Christ. They also wrote extensively on the nature of the true Church, which they took to mean three things: “The Church exists where the Word is rightly preached, the sacraments are rightly administered, and the discipline is rightly ordered.”

Once the Bible has been constituted as the Scripture of the Church, it becomes its main written authority, within the Church and not over

A. The first Reformation marker of the true Church is “Where the Word is rightly preached.”

or apart from it. Everything in the

Church is judged by the Bible. Nothing in the Church may contradict it.

1. This mark is related to the Reformation idea of sola Scriptura : This doctrine suggests that no magesterium , creed, or council may exercise final authority for the Church’s faith and practice over Scripture. The Word of God is our only infallible rule of faith (for what we believe) and practice (for what we are called to do).

Everything in the Church must be biblical; for the

Church, in order to be the Church, must be wholly faithful to and expressive of that reality to which the Bible is itself the scriptural witness. ~ Thomas Hopko, quoted in Theodore G. Stylianopoulos. The New Testament: An Orthodox Perspective. Vol. 1. Brookline, Massachusetts: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 1997. pp. 55-56.

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2. To feed upon and teach the whole counsel of the Word of God is the duty of both believers and leaders of the Church. In all things, the Scriptures are to be given critical priority in the life and practice of the Church.

3. Affirming sola Scriptura (Scripture alone), of course, does not mean that we should not consult the tradition of the Church, or ignore the role that the Holy Spirit plays in understanding the Bible’s teaching. It is not either/or, but both/and.