...nowhere does the Bible say that the church is supposed to do justice. Of course, a distinction may need to be made between the church as Christians and the institutional church, and I believe Keller needs to make this one the way contestants on “Wheel of Fortune” often buy vowels. But with that distinction in mind, where does Scripture talk about the corporate church as an agent of social justice or social anything? (Warning: if you appeal to the Old Testament you are entering a world of theonomic pain.)

Jesus and the apostles did not engage in social justice. Paul’s instructions to Timothy about preaching did not include telling Christians to do justice. In fact, the New Testament call to submit to rulers and to live quiet and peaceable lives is not the basis for social justice Sunday or word and deed ministry.

The idea that the church has only ministerial authority can be defined rather simply: the officers of the church have authority only to minister what the Word of God teaches, not to make up their own doctrines for believing or rules for living, no matter how compelling or wise they might seem to be. Ministerial authority stands in contrast to legislative authority, which leaders in the common kingdom possess. While the state, for example, has a broad discretionary power to make laws, the church has only the power to declare the laws and doctrines that already appear in Scripture. In short, church officers can say and do only that which Scripture authorizes them to say and do. At first this may sound constricting and burdensome for the church, but its effect and driving motivation is actually to protect the liberty of Christians. If church officers cannot teach anything beyond what Scripture teaches, then they are unable to bind the consciences of Christians beyond how Scripture already binds it. Thus Christian liberty is maximized. Christian consciences are bound to believe and to do as Scripture instructs, but Christians are free to exercise their own wisdom in deciding how to live and what to think about all matters that Scripture does not address (within the bounds of respecting other legitimate authority structures in society). I might also add that this idea should be liberating for pastors. They do not need to be experts on everything from the pulpit. They have only one simple but profound responsibility: ministering the Word of God.