WLC 167 and Church Membership

I love The Westminster Larger Catechism. I didn’t always. Like many in the Presbyterian tradition, I passed over it for the Shorter Catechism. If I wanted to go deeper, I went to the Confession of Faith. If this is your current practice, I challenge you not to pass over the WLC. There are many areas the WLC addresses that the Confession and Shorter do not. For example, the Confession and the Shorter do not ask the question, “How is our baptism to be improved by us?” (WLC 167). This is a question all Christians would do well to ask themselves. The Larger’s answer to this question recognizes that this is often neglected, “The needful but much neglected duty of improving our Baptism…” A particular line from the WLC 167 directed my attention to the BCO. Question 167 says that we should improve our baptism when we witness its administration and the vows made during it, “our solemn vow made therein.” In BCO 57-5, the vows are used for those who are making a profession of faith, those professing faith and being baptized, or those who have already been baptized and are seeking to join a particular PCA church. Either way, membership vows appear connected to the sacrament of baptism. We see this in several ways they overlap.

I consulted Morton Smith’s commentary on the BCO but did not see any mention of WLC 167. I also consulted the BCO history project but saw no comment there either. I do not know if the authors of BCO 57-5 were thinking of WLC 167 when they drafted these vows. From my perspective, I find lots of similarities between the content of WLC 167 and BCO 57-5. 

By God’s grace, we’ve recently had several opportunities to witness new members join the church where I minister. It is a wonderful opportunity for us to reflect on the vows we made when we joined the church, and those promises made at our baptism whenever it occurred. We should reflect on our advancement in Christian maturity. Are we still aware of our sinfulness or downplay it? Are we still trusting in Christ alone for our salvation or starting to look to rule-keeping for justification? Are we endeavoring to live a holy life trusting that God is at work in our sanctification, as he was in our justification? Are we committed to loving those Christ has joined us in the local church? Are our hearts longing to worship on the Lord’s Day? Are we in agreement to be one body under the authority of the Elders? Do we seek the unity of the church in all our words and deeds? I pray that we will examine ourselves when we are witnesses to these moments in church life. May the Lord be faithful to his people and may we grow ever more into the likeness of his Son (2 Cor 3:18) as we ask ourselves, “How is our baptism to be improved by us?”

p.s. If this post made you want to explore the Westminster Larger Catechism or the Book of Church Order, I recommend reading both and listening to two wonderful podcasts. The first is “Larger for Life.” This podcast walks through the WLC. Come for the theology; stay for the banter. The second podcast is “Polity Matters.” This is another walk-through-style podcast on the Book of Church Order. That may sound like the most boring podcast ever, but I listen every week and can’t seem to stop.