☩ Ecclesiology & Worship · Regulative Principle

Normative-Whatever-Not-Forbidden

Whatever is not forbidden may be done in worship — the Anglican-Lutheran principle the Standards reject.

This is a contested or rejected alternative.

The Westminster baseline on Regulative Principle is Strict-Only-What-Commanded. Personas and schools listed below hold this alternative position instead — either because they argued for it at the Assembly (like the Erastians on polity) or because they represent a receiving tradition that departed from the Standards on this point.

Who holds this position

Schools (1)

The Reformed Episcopal Absentees

Cruxes on this attribute

The Assembly navigated 2 cruxes that bear directly on Regulative Principle.

The Regulative Principle of Worship 1644–1645 Only what God commands may be done in worship. The Rouse Psalter and Metrical Psalmody 1643–1648 The metrical psalms that became the Scottish Psalter.

Other positions on Regulative Principle

Strict-Only-What-Commanded WCF Only what is instituted by God in Scripture (by precept, approved example, or good and necessary consequence) may be done in worship (WCF XXI.1). Moderate-With-Circumstances Regulative in substance but allows circumstantial adiaphora (time, place, posture) governed by light of nature and Christian prudence (WCF I.6, XXI.1).

Cite this position

Study Reformed, “Normative-Whatever-Not-Forbidden” (Position), Westminster Standards Atlas, version 79a5f9880ac1, https://studyreformed.com/atlas/cite/position/ecclesiology_worship/regulative_principle/normative/.

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Ontology version 79a5f9880ac1 — the state of the Atlas you are reading, so a citation stays checkable when the ontology is revised.