Always Reforming

One of the great ecclesiological debates of our day is regarding the validity of holy orders.  Whom do Roman Catholics recognize?  What about the insular, ethnically-focused Eastern Orthodox?  How do Presbyterians, Baptists, Lutherans, and other Protestants interact with clergy outside of their tradition?  Anglicans, who purport to be Catholic and to hold the Apostolic Episcopate, seem to spend an inordinate amount of time talking about this.  It certainly is an important issue as it relates to questions about full vs impaired communion, the validity of the sacraments, and how denominations work together on the mission field.  Ultimately, it is a key subset to the broader question of authority, which is the pressing issue of the Church in our era. My goal today is not to answer (or even address) this question.  My assertion, instead, is that the discussion is altogether misguided.  To say it another way, if you are debating the validity of one den...

" Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom...