Abstract:
According to the tradition of the Reformed church polity, believers commit themselves
on grounds of their common faith and confession to certain matters. The critical
question which has to be answered in this study, is: To what extent do believers commit
themselves to the decisions of the church and what are the implications of such a
commitment? The central theoretical argument of this study is: The mutual agreement
between believers to commit themselves to decisions of the church is 'n voluntary
commitment, because believers consider themselves as devouted to the Scriptures,
confession and church order on which grounds decisions of the church are taken.
Chapter 2 investigates the origin and leading thought of the binding and commitment to
decisions of the church. Then there is a short historical overview on the shaping of the
concept "binding and commitment to decisions of the church". Subsequently the scope
of this binding agreement to decisions of the church as well as the role of fundamental
and indifferent matters are explored.
Chapter 3 focuses on the way in which believers commit themselves to the confession
and also on the conflict surrounding the binding agreement to the confession.
Furthermore the importance of church denomination and the negative consequences
when the binding agreement to decisions of the church are ignored, are examined. In
the last instance, the way in which churches should bind themselves to the church order
and the positive results of such a binding, are investigated.
Chapter 4 highlights the main problems which lead to a misconception in the
understanding of the binding agreement to decisions of the church. Then the history of
deviation from the binding agreement to the decisions of the church, is reviewed.
Furthermore the conflict in South-Africa about the binding to the decisions of the
church, especially within the Reformed Churches in South-Africa, is looked at.
In chapter 5 the misconceptions about binding to the decisions of the church are
pointed out. Next, the distinctive character of the binding to the decisions of the church
is dealt with. Subsequently the demands and commitments which arise from the binding
to the decisions of the church are explored, as well as the positive results obtained when
maintaining the binding agreement to the decisions of the church. The final part
emphasizes the responsibility to extend and to bring to the attention of believers the
concept of binding to the decisions of the church.
