What should the bishops decide to do after Living in Love and Faith?
by Martin Davie:
What bishops are called to do.
As the Living in Love and Faith website explains,[1] the bishops of the Church of England are meeting this month, and again in December and January, to formulate proposals for a way forward for the Church of England following the conclusion of the Living in Love and Faith process.
When considering what proposals they should bring forward a key consideration for the bishops needs to be to fulfil the promise made by bishops in the 1662 Ordinal to ‘banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrine contrary to God’s Word; and both privately and openly to call upon and encourage others to the same.’
Taking this kind of action has been a central part of a bishop’s calling ever since the first bishops were appointed by the apostles. Bishops are the senior elders (presbyters) of the Church, and like their fellow presbyters they are called to protect the sheep of God’s flock from the dangers posed by the wolves who will seek to lead them astray by means of false teaching (Acts 20:28-31). As John Stott comments on these verses:
‘Paul warned the elders of the Ephesian Church that after his departure fierce wolves would come in among them not sparing the flock (v.29). He went on to explain that these wolves, who not only devour some of the sheep but divide and scatter the flock, are false teachers ‘speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them’ (v. 30).
Sometimes, as Jesus warned in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:15) , they come in sheep’s clothing. In this case the sheep themselves do not notice their arrival until it is too late . But the shepherd has no business to be thus deceived. He should be constantly on the lookout for them. ‘Be alert,’ Paul said (v.31). The shepherd should be keeping watch over his flock by day, and by night as well, like certain privileged shepherds that we often think about at Christmas. If he is a good shepherd, he will protect the sheep from the ravages of wolves even at personal peril.
All this (being interpreted) means that presbyter-bishops will engage not only in the teaching of the truth, but also in the repudiation of error… Both our Lord and his apostles did not shrink when necessary from the task of exposing and overthrowing false teaching ….If we sit idly by and do nothing, or if we turn tail and flee, we shall earn for ourselves the terrible epithet ‘hirelings,’ who care nothing for the sheep. Are we to abandon God’s flock to the wolves, as defenceless sheep without a shepherd? Is it to be said of the Church of God today: ‘so they were scattered because there was no shepherd: and so they became food for all the wild beasts’ (Ezekiel 34:5)? ’ [2]
For bishops in the Church of England today what the calling to be a faithful shepherd protecting the flock from the wolves involves is combatting all form of teaching which are contrary to: ‘the faith which is revealed in the Holy Scriptures and set forth in the catholic creeds and to which the historic formularies of the Church of England bear witness.’[3]
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