9.29.2003

Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi... Lex Vivendi
The law of prayer (worship) is the law of belief (faith/doctrine)... is the law of life (way of living)

It is an ancient insight that the way we worship determines what we believe. Those who worship like pagans --despite an initial Christian profession-- eventually believe like pagans. Similarly, in his work The Necessity of Reforming The Church, Calvin wrote:
“If it is asked by what things the Christian religion exists (and maintains its truth) among us, we will say these two things (which comprehend under them all the other parts, and consequently the whole substance of Christianity):
First, a knowledge of the way in which God is properly worshipped; and,
Second, a knowledge of the source from which salvation is obtained.”

In his own peculiar fashion Kuyper suggests the inescapable connection between worship and worldview. It is not just one's "dogma" that is corrupted by unbiblical worship, but one's whole way-of-life. My professing Reformed friends who are either ignorant of biblical-regulative worship or have abandoned it for a form predicated on an opposite principle ought to heed Kuyper's warning. It is vain to suppose that a (community-) life committed to God's revelation can be maintained while it is principially undermined in liturgical practice.

Here are a few more articles for your edification, by T. David Gordon, G. I. Williamson, Greg L. Price, Wes Bredenhof, and Gregory Rickmar.