The Christadelphian December 2009, The Committee of The Christadelphian

“Christadelphians in a Tolerant World”

Only someone completely shut away from everyday life would fail to see the great gulf that is opening between behaviour based on Bible principles and what is now tolerated and even promoted by modern societies. There have been times in past generations when general society, particularly in Western countries, was strongly moulded by the teaching of the Bible. Laws and customs in many nations were underpinned by a morality influenced by divine commands, such as those given through Moses to Israel and in the words of Jesus and his apostles. But as time has passed, the expectations of modern societies have increasingly conflicted with the teaching of the scriptures, with the effect that its message has been almost entirely sidelined.

This has arisen because most people no longer regard the Bible as the word of God. To many, its message seems irrelevant and outdated, and its demands restrict the freedoms that men and women seek in an age that is uncomfortable with authority in any form. This should not be an unexpected development to Bible students, for in many places we are warned about serious moral deterioration in the times that lead up to the Lord’s return. Jesus warned that when he returns it will be to a world like that of Noah’s day, and to conditions such as those that were evident in Sodom (Luke 17:26-30).

A loving environment

The gulf between Bible teaching and modern expectations is particularly evident in matters touching on relationships between the sexes, for the scriptures are uncompromising. Jesus taught, “from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female’” (Mark 10:6). God thus ordained marriage, making it the basic building block of society. Godly marriages provide a loving environment for the upbringing of children, and it can now be seen that discarding scriptural values has contributed very largely to serious breakdowns in society.

Despite these clear signs of the dangers that flow from abandoning scriptural morality, there are powerful elements in many Western societies today that deny the Lord’s words, and promote the philosophy that individuals should be encouraged to make their own “lifestyle choices”, including promiscuity, cohabitation, adultery, same sex unions, etc. Such pressure groups are encouraging the very things the Almighty abhors. The wide toleration of alternatives to the model of marriage between a man and a woman can even affect those who claim to follow Christ, and there has been a reappraisal by some churches of attitudes towards those who choose different lifestyles. Bible passages that have always been understood as opposing anything other than heterosexual marriage are now being reinterpreted to mean something different, or alternatively they are viewed as relating only to past generations and other cultures, not to the modern world.

A timeless message?

This raises the question of whether the Bible has to be reinterpreted in each generation, or whether its message is timeless. The apostle leaves no doubt when he comments, “Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4). Bible teachings, commands and principles are therefore based on eternal and unchanging truths, and societies should be moulded by God’s word, rather than His word being amended by human philosophies. There are passages rooted in the cultures when they were written, which nonetheless contain eternal principles. That disciples should wash one another’s feet, for example, teaches us to show caring hospitality in the most appropriate ways (John 13:14). When we are encouraged to greet each other with a holy kiss (e.g., Romans 16:16), the message is about the genuineness of the greeting much more than the physical act of kissing. As we know from the example of Judas, even a kiss can be treacherous (Matthew 26:48,49). It is much more dangerous to suggest there are passages that contain no teaching for the modern disciple, but apply only to those who first received them.

Critics of the Bible point to its messages about aberrant sexual behaviour, painting them as edicts from a different age that are completely out of touch with reality or reason. We cannot deny that the Bible was written in a different age. The question is whether it has a message for this age, or is simply an historical account of past times. There is no halfway house available to answer this question, but just a straightforward choice. The scriptures – all of them – either apply to men and women today, or they are just quaint tales from earlier years. We are not free to pick and choose which teachings are eternal, and which contain no messages for modern disciples.

Preaching to an immoral world

In a rapidly changing world that prides itself on the speed of change and the pursuit of everything that is new, the unchanging message of the Bible is not welcome. The brotherhood therefore finds it increasingly difficult to preach about moral issues, and we have to think very carefully about the wording we include in our literature or place on ecclesial notice boards. Lobby groups aggressively pursue anything that can be characterised as critical of their position, and governments almost always bow to the pressure that is placed on them.

Our position should be clear. We must state what the scriptures teach about human sexuality, while at the same time being careful that our words do not unreasonably target specific individuals. Even current anti-discrimination legislation grants freedom to express religious principles, while protecting individuals from messages that could be deemed as inciting hatred (see pages 456-458).

Female liberation

The attitude to the scriptures displayed by those who support alternative lifestyles is often the same as those who question scriptural teaching about the role of women. One of the marked changes in Western society in the past fifty years has been the pressure for equality between the sexes. Bible teaching is widely regarded as being out of step with current thinking. And so it is. The scriptures reveal the mind of God, and not human thinking, which elevates man and demands human ‘rights’ at every turn.

What then are we to make of Bible teachings that describe different roles for men and women? Are they relevant today? Just as with scriptural teaching about sexuality, some Bible believers have approached this problem by suggesting that the writers – particularly the Apostle Paul – were writing for a different culture and giving advice only to those who first received the message. They claim that Paul’s comments in 1 Corinthians, for example, applied only to the brothers and sisters in the ecclesia at Corinth in the first century. They believe there were specific problems in that ecclesia, and that his strictures about women provided a local solution to a local problem.

The brotherhood’s response

How has the brotherhood responded to the challenge that has been popularly called ‘Women’s Liberation’? Criticism has sometimes been levelled against Christadelphians, saying that we are organised on the basis of Victorian principles. This is an easy jibe, but it does not stand up to careful analysis. A hundred and fifty years ago, when human governments denied women the vote, sisters were fully involved in ecclesias’ decision-making processes. Even though it has always been recognised amongst us that there are some roles which sisters should not fill, there are others that they can and do fill, taking a full part in ecclesial life, and bringing their individual strengths to the mutual benefit of the whole brotherhood.

A review of our history shows that, rather than trimming our practices to comply with changes in surrounding society, we have always sought to apply Bible principles and allow God’s word to be our guide and authority. But as the modern challenges of sexual equality have increased in intensity there have been some extreme reactions. Some brothers and sisters have adopted the widespread view in society that all people, regardless of gender, should have equal access to all roles. This requires them to reinterpret passages of scripture – either to make them say what they do not say, or to relegate them to a fixed historical context.

This approach is unacceptable. As we have seen, it changes the way we view the Bible, and negates the teaching, “All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). To treat Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians as applicable only to first century Corinth claims that they are not profitable to us, or able to guide the lives of those who live in the twenty-first century.

God is supreme

There are two further reasons why the teaching cannot be limited to first century Corinth. First, the passage itself indicates that the teaching has formed part of the apostle’s preaching in other cities where ecclesias were established (1 Corinthians 11:2,16), and this is borne out by references in other epistles, such as those to Timothy and Titus. Secondly, Paul’s teaching is firmly based on principles that were established at the dawn of human history. To deny his application of those principles to us today, means that we ought also to deny their application to the brothers and sisters in first century Corinth. But it is impossible to read Paul’s words in any other way than seeing the events in Eden as establishing a pattern for brothers and sisters in Corinth – and indeed in all the ecclesias of God in every age.

Perhaps most important of all is that Paul’s teaching is not simply about different roles for brothers and sisters, but about the supremacy of God and His revelation in Christ: “the head of every man is Christ … and the head of Christ is God” (1 Corinthians 11:3). The relative roles for men and women are established both to reflect and manifest that teaching. The apostle’s concluding comments clearly recognised that the position he outlined is contrary to human thinking. He anticipated controversy: “If any one is disposed to be contentious”, he wrote, “we recognize no other practice, nor do the churches of God” (verse 16).

The old ways were better

There has been another response in parts of the brotherhood to changes in modern society, which assumes that all scriptural teaching was only correctly understood by past generations. Bible passages are therefore interpreted in the light of earlier times, such as the nineteenth century when the Christadelphian movement in its present form commenced. This reaction can be as serious as the response that treats some parts of scripture as not applying to today’s disciple. Is the final authority the word of God, or the culture of a past (or present) society? The problems inherent in this second approach are largely masked by the fact that earlier societies were generally much closer to the scriptures than those of today, so that in many respects (but not all) nineteenth century society was patterned on the scriptures.

Hand in hand with a reliance on what has been practised in the past is often a view of woman’s place in society that does not wholly accord with Bible teaching. While it is true that certain aspects of ecclesial work are confined to male disciples, that provides no grounds for refusing to allow sisters to be involved in areas where no such restrictions apply. Though the Lord Jesus did not appoint any of the women who followed him to undertake the work of an apostle, his attitude towards them never suggests that he saw women as disadvantaged in any way. In fact, we are told that in Christ (i.e., in his work of salvation), “there is neither male nor female; for (we) are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). To be true to the scriptures, we should all try to pattern our behaviour on that of our Lord.

No one should therefore fear testing the practices of the brotherhood against scriptural teaching. Indeed, that is what every disciple should do, as the Apostle Paul recommended: “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? – unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” (2 Corinthians 13:5).