For it is not the prerogative of the church to define either its status or activity. It is Christ’s church, not humankind’s. It is Christ, therefore, who declares both that his church shall have a government and what the nature of that government will be. This he has done through the inspired Scriptures (“History and Character of Church Government” by Joseph H. Hall in Paradigms in Polity: Classic Readings in Reformed and Presbyterian Church Government, eds. David W. Hall & Joseph H. Hall, 4).