The Visible Church: Its Nature Unity And Witness -- By: Johannes G. Vos

Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 09:2 (May 1947)
Article: The Visible Church: Its Nature Unity And Witness
Author: Johannes G. Vos


The Visible Church: Its Nature Unity And Witness

Johannes G. Vos

I. The Nature of the Visible Church

THE visible Church, which is also catholic or universal under the Gospel (not confined to one nation as before under the law), consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion; and of their children: and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation.”1 Thus according to the Westminster Confession the criterion of membership in the visible Church is profession, whereas the divine election and gathering “into one, under Christ the Head thereof” is the criterion of membership in the invisible Church.2

While of course the ideal condition of the visible Church would be complete coincidence with the invisible Church (or more precisely, with that portion of the invisible Church which at a given time is present on earth), still it must be recognized that this ideal will not and cannot be attained in this age, but must await its full realization in the age to come when the distinction between the visible and the invisible Church will have passed away in the state of glory. The visible Church, being visible, must of necessity be essentially a professing body, for profession is a visible phenomenon, whereas divine election and vital spiritual union with Christ are not. For this reason all the attempts which have at various times and in various circles been made to limit the membership of the visible Church to the regenerate, or to such as profess to have assurance of regeneration or real piety, must be adjudged to be wrong in principle and harmful in tendency.

No doubt these attempts have been motivated by a praiseworthy and pious desire to promote the purity and holiness of the visible Church by excluding unregenerate persons from her membership. But such attempted exclusion of the unregenerate is, and always has proved, impossible to carry out in practice. Who shall say with certainty whether a particular applicant for membership is regenerate or not? Certainly no Protestant ecclesiastical judicatory can claim to be infallible. The Scriptures teach that it is possible for a Christian to attain full assurance, or certainty, concerning his own salvation, but this is something quite different from attaining certainty about another person’s salvation. If it be admitted that ecclesiastical judicatories cannot pronounce concerning an individual’s regeneration, what shall we say about the proposal to throw the burden of responsibility on the applicants, and admit to membership only...

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