If there is one single Bible verse which characterizes the Reformed understanding of the church and the way it should be governed, it is 1 Corinthians 14:40–“But all things should be done decently and in order.”

We are in that section of our confession (Articles Twenty-Seven through Thirty-Two) which deals with the doctrine of the church. When working our way through previous articles from this section, we have seen that the church is the visible assembly of the mystical (invisible) body of Jesus Christ. This is why all believers are bound to join a local congregation of like-minded believers. In fact, the New Testament has no category for a professing Christian who is not also a member of a local church.

The reason church membership is so important and why our fathers in the faith (such as Calvin and De Bres) argued that apart from the church there is no salvation, is not because the church dispenses grace as the Roman church argues, but because the local church is that place where the gospel is to be preached, the sacraments are to be administered, and where church discipline is exercised over erring members. It is the presence of these so-called marks of a church which tell us whether or not a denomination or a particular congregation is a true church. The false church, on the other hand, assigns more authority to church tradition or extra-biblical sources than to Holy Scripture and the false church frequently persecutes the true church and its members.

To read the rest: An Exposition of Article Thirty -- Good Order in the Church

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