Liturgical Nestorianism and the Regulative Principle

A Critical Review of Worship in the Presence of God

The ancient Nestorians believed that Jesus and God were two actual persons in one body. The "man" Jesus was totally the slave of the Second Person of the Godhead. This heresy was rejected by the Church, which maintains that in Christ there are two natures (man and God), but only one personality.

Biblical Christianity says that God created human beings good, and has glorified fallen humanity in Christ. God wants us to act out of our freedom when we worship Him, responding to His loving initiatives. God does, of course, tell us what He wants us to do, and He guides us in worship; but we are not mere slaves who do nothing more than parrot the Bible back to God in worship. We hear, receive, digest, and meditate on God's Word, and then interact with Him in worship.

In this book, Reformed liturgiologist James B. Jordan critiques what he calls "liturgical minimalism," the idea that God will be enraged if we dare do anything in worship other than what is explicitly prescribed in some New testament text. Jordan shows that such a philosophy is impossible to implement and contradicts both the clear teaching of Scripture and the logic of the Christian religion. Major topics include: six fundamental approaches to worship, the "regulative principle of worship," exclusive psalmody, and the rejection of musical instruments in worship.

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