In for a Penny, in for a Pound
[Editor's note: South Seminole has been supporting Roelf Ruffner for a few years; he is currently looking for a place to preach. He is a man who upholds what the Bible teaches, as evidenced by this article he posted on January 31, 2015.]
On January 26, 2015 a woman was ordained to be a bishop (the first one of this gender) in the Church of England. The fact that the Archbishop conducting the ceremony would ask if everyone agreed with this selection is interesting. Perhaps it is a formality always followed, but it afforded an opportunity for a verbal protest, and one Anglican bishop did precisely that. He did not agree with the choice and spoke up: “No! Not in the Bible.”
He is right. But he is a little late in registering a protest. Little by little, people accept things that are not in the Bible. Many practices and ideas are not authorized. Some are specifically forbidden. Few people, however, care. They continue to go along with unscriptural yet popular practices until something occurs which they finally recognize as wrong, but it is too late to protest it because they went astray decades and even centuries earlier.
The Church of England split off from the Catholic Church in 1534 when Henry the VIII wanted an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon in order to marry Ann Boleyn. The pope refused to grant him his request; so he proclaimed himself to be the head of the Church of England so he could do as he pleased. Of course, the Catholic Church was far afield from the teachings of the New Testament (which is a whole other topic), but where did Henry get the authority to be the head of the church? He appointed himself, and thus a new denomination was born.
No one probably said, “No! Not in the Bible”—at least very loudly. Henry would probably not have appreciated such candor, and the objector would have been missing his head or his freedom. No human being has the authority to proclaim himself head over the church. Jesus is the only head over His body (Eph. 1:22-23). Some would respond by saying, “Oh, Jesus is the head of the church in heaven, and King Henry is the head of the church in England.” Sorry. Jesus said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28:18). Jesus is the head of the church, period. He does not share headship with any human being (cf. Eph. 5:22-33).
Whenever men choose to start a new denomination or a new religious group, they are wrong—no matter how good their intentions. The church does not belong to men; it belongs to God. God appointed the only head over it He desired to have. He designed worship the way He wanted. He appointed the Holy Spirit to inspire the apostles with the doctrines He wanted taught (Acts 2:42). He consulted man in none of these areas. Correct religion begins with God—not man.
Why did no one ever oppose a separate priesthood, such as was the practice in the Old Testament? God appointed the Levites to be His priests to their brethren in the other tribes. They wore the holy garments and offered up the sacrifices to God. They took care of the temple and had daily duties to perform before God. But under the new covenant there is no separate priesthood. All Christians are priests, and Jesus is the High Priest. We are called “living stones,” who are built up “a spiritual house.” We do not have a physical temple like the one in Jerusalem; we (collectively) are the temple. We are also “a holy priesthood,” and we offer up our own “spiritual sacrifices” through Jesus (1 Peter 2:5; Heb. 3:1).
No longer is there any need for a priest to offer up animal sacrifices to God. Paul wrote: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service” (Rom. 12:1). Christians deal with God directly under the new covenant; the only Mediator we have is Jesus (1 Tim. 2:5).
A bishop must be “the husband of one wife” (1 Tim. 3:1). The woman appointed in the Church of England to be a “bishop” is not. (Their definition of who a bishop is and what he does is different from the Bible's anyway.) Now some homosexuals, whether two women or two men, are calling one the husband and one the wife—probably in an effort to sound normal. Such efforts are useless—not to mention ludicrous. As the old story goes, you can call the tail of a cow a leg, but that doesn't make it one. Cows do not have five legs just because someone has redefined a tail. Likewise, neither two men nor two women are a husband and wife just because they fatuously call themselves such.
When a “Christian” group decides to have priests and bishops—not to mention archbishops—they can call them what they wish and define them however they want, but God has nothing to do with any of it. Men can only be pleasing to God by doing that which He authorizes (Col. 3:17). We cannot practice what God did not institute, nor can we change Divinely-revealed truth to suit our current culture. Those brethren who meet on Fourth Street in Franklin, Tennessee, are no better than any religious denomination that chose to defy the Word of God. We can only pray that 1) they come to their senses, and that 2) faithful congregations in the area will refuse to fellowship them.
The old English proverb, “In for a penny, in for a pound” (meaning one pound sterling), is applicable here. Someone in the Church of England should have objected long ago to their unscriptural practices. Now they have gone farther than some can stomach; thus the cry, “No! Not in the Bible.” What this man and others do not realize is that this departure had been centuries in the making. At least on this issue, he finally sees they are not following the Bible, but they never really were. If they had been, they would be trying to be the church of Christ rather than the Church of England. If only this event would provoke a re-examination of the Bible!