Reflections on the Regulative Principle

Reflections on the Regulative Principle
One of the most important concepts I have learned from “Foundations and Issues in Worship 2010” is the regulative principle. Although I was skeptical about this particular concept when I first came to class, the three books we have studied this semester have convinced me from the Word of God that there is no other appropriate way to worship God corporately.
The regulative principle is well supported by Scripture, as Gospel Worship explains so adequately. Burroughs states his definition of this principle in his introduction: “In God’s worship, there must be nothing offered up to God but what He has commanded. Whatsoever we meddle with in the worship of God must be what we have a warrant for out of the Word of God. ” He claims, rightly so, that anything outside of Scripture is “merely men’s inventions. ” He supports this claim with two stories in the Old Testament where God severely punished men who refused to abide by this principle. Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, were destroyed for offering strange fire before the Lord, while Uzzah was struck dead instantly for touching the Ark in an attempt to keep it from falling to the ground. These two references serve as a reminder that God in His holiness demands and deserves reverent obedience from His creation.
David Peterson, author of Engaging with God, sheds further light on the regulative principle of corporate worship. In an acknowledgement of the sovereign reign of the Almighty God he writes, “Acceptable worship does not start with human intuition or inventiveness, but with the action of God. ” God’s covenant made with Israel on the Mount of Sinai is an example of God’s great care in establishing the pattern for worship. Peterson also includes New Testament examples that God deserves to be worshiped on His terms . In his writings concerning Romans he declares, “Paul… reflects the Old Testament perspective that the knowledge of God should lead to appropriate worship and obedience. ” Here is one of many illustrations of the continuity found between the Old and New Testaments regarding the regulative principle. The knowledge of God (i.e. revelation in His Word) is the only true foundation for corporate worship and obedience.
J. Ligon Duncan III describes this fundamental principle beautifully, “This moral law expressly teaches us that the Bible is to be our rule for how we corporately worship and even think about God. The Bible (God’s own self-disclosure and revelation)—not our own innovations, imaginations, experiences, opinions, and representations—is to be the source of our idea of God.”
After reading these three sources’ thorough citation of Scripture in support of the regulative principle, I am left with no choice but to lay down my preconceived notions regarding corporate worship. The regulative principle is rooted in the authority of the Bible, which ultimately rests in the authority of God. The church does not have to depend on her own creativity in order to worship her King: God be praised!