Does God Care How We Worship?

by Jennings Ligon Duncan III

Publisher:

P&R

, 2020

Overview

Does God care how we worship? For thousands of years, believers have answered with a resounding yes! Ever since the days of Cain and Abel, God has emphasized right worship, and it’s clear that careless worship can have serious consequences.

Worship consciously regulated by God’s Word is a distinct characteristic of the Reformed church. Yet today many churches do not understand that both the Old and New Testaments have much to say about appropriate worship before God. Ligon Duncan lays the foundations of the regulative principle in worship, providing full biblical support as well as historical context. He also answers objections: Is this “right worship” essentially European? Is it flexible to different churches and contexts? Is it really still applicable today?

Key Features

• Lays the foundations of the regulative principle in worship
• Provides biblical support and historical context
• Addresses common questions and objections

Contents

Top Highlights

“Second, true worship (like the goal of the covenant itself) has in view spiritual communion with the living God” (Page 20)

“Third, God’s worship is to be carefully ordered according to his instructions.” (Page 20)

“But I want to suggest that the main reason why many evangelicals have a hard time embracing the regulative principle is that they do not believe that God tells us (or tells us much about) how to worship corporately in his Word.” (Page 17)

“This strong and special emphasis on the corporate worship of God being founded positively on the directions of Scripture came to be known as the regulative principle.” (Page 11)

“God’s Word must govern our knowledge of God, and thus its governance of worship is vital” (Page 25)

Product Details

• Title: Does God Care How We Worship?
• Author: Ligon Duncan
• Publisher: P&R
• Publication Date: 2020
• Pages: 96
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Topic: Worship

About Jennings Ligon Duncan III

Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III, a native of Greenville, South Carolina, was born and reared in the home of an eighth generation Southern Presbyterian Ruling Elder. A 1983 graduate of Furman University, he received an MDiv from Covenant Theological Seminary and studied Systematic Theology at the Free Church of Scotland College under Professor Donald Macleod. He earned the PhD from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1995. He served on the staff of The Covenant Presbyterian Church of St. Louis from 1984-1987, and supplied pulpits in churches of the Presbyterian Association of England, Church of Scotland, and Free Church of Scotland while in Britain from 1987-1990. In 1990 he was ordained in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and joined the faculty of Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS), Jackson, Mississippi where he was Chairman of the Department of Systematic Theology, and the John R. Richardson Professor of Theology. At RTS he was responsible for teaching courses such as Systematic Theology, Ethics, Apologetics, History of Philosophy and Christian Thought, Covenant Theology, Patristics, Evangelism, and Theology of the Westminster Standards. He became the Senior Minister of First Presbyterian, Jackson in 1996. Duncan is an active churchman and has been involved in the courts of the PCA in various ways for many years. He was appointed to the General Assembly’s Committee on Psalmody, and has served on Committees of Commissioners for Covenant Seminary, MNA, and Bills and Overtures in 2002. He has been a member and Chairman of the Credentials Committee of the Presbytery of the Mississippi Valley (1996-2002). He was the Vice-Chairman of the General Assembly’s Creation Study Committee (1998-2000), a member of the Search Committee for a Coordinator of Reformed University Ministries, and currently is the Chairman of the General Assembly’s Theological Examination Committee, and is also a member of the PCA’s Strategic Planning Committee. Duncan was elected as Moderator of the Presbytery of the Mississippi Valley in 2001. At the annual denominational meeting, held in June of 2004, he was elected the Moderator of the General Assembly of the PCA (2004-2005) – the youngest minister to serve as moderator in the denomination’s history.