As I said above (twice now), if you want to include the public reading of God’s word under the umbrella of the ministry of the word (teaching), that’s fine. I listed it separate because the Confession does. But they’re both intimately related. And I agree with you that Paul’s exhortation to Timothy to read the Scripture publicly was particularly relevant in the first century context where laypeople didn’t have access to Scripture.

The Confession itself takes the RPW “beyond” corporate gatherings. See 1.6 where it includes church “government.” What’s more, both the church’s and the Christian’s “holy calling” is defined as τὴν λογικὴν λατρείαν, as I noted above. That Greek word λατρεία refers to “worship.” But it’s not limited to the narrow sense of what’s done Sunday morning when the church gathers corporately for teaching, prayer, sacraments, etc. It also includes the ministry of the saints (corporately and individually) to the world outside the corporate gatherings. For a defense of lay-ministry, click here, and for a defense of lay-evangelism, click here.

Cordially

Viewing the RPW as going beyond corporate worship is interesting. But again, how do we distinguish biblical requirements in general from worship? Again, isn’t the RPW about corporate WORSHIP?

As I indicated above, the RPW applies to the church’s identity and calling as a whole. This includes her gatherings for teaching, the sacraments, fellowship, and prayer. It also includes her scatterings for ministry and evangelism. And as one Reformed writer has put it, a church that doesn’t evangelize the lost is not just a weak church, it’s not a church at all.

The Confession (WCF and 2LBC) does include a chapter on the “communion of saints.” So the Puritans did recognize the importance of Christian community for mutual edification, etc. I think it would have been helpful for them to include “fellowship” or “communion” among the list of elements in the chapter on worship. I address that here under “Enlarging the Means of Grace.”

Grace and peace.

I wasn’t thinking of 1 Corinthians 14:26ff. when I referred to the public reading of the Scripture in worship. I was thinking, rather, of a passage like 1 Timothy 4:13: “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.” Once again, if you prefer to include reading under the broader umbrella of “the ministry of Word,” that’s fine with me. And I agree that “dialogue” or “interactive” teaching is warranted from Scripture. Accordingly, we have both kinds, i.e., discourse (sermon) and discussion (interactive teaching) in our church gatherings.

Also, I don’t restrict the regulative principle just to the church’s corporate gatherings. It also applies to the church’s life, government, ministry, mission, etc., all of which constitute the church’s priestly τὴν λογικὴν λατρείαν. Financial support is an element of that. Where and when the people of God gathered seemed to be the common venue when such giving took place (Mark 12:41-44; 1 Cor 16:1-2). But the where and the when may be viewed as circumstantial. That God’s people give is elemental.