The Christadelphian January 2010, The Committee of The Christadelphian

“Should Christadelphians Be Separate?”

A century and a half ago, when the brotherhood was in its infancy, most individuals accepted the Bible as the word of God, they knew what they believed, and were able to point to verses supporting their beliefs. Time has passed and things have changed. Much less attention is paid now to what a person believes, and even many confessed Bible believers would be unable to support their beliefs from scripture.

As the proportion of people who have a Christian faith diminishes, it is sometimes asked if there are still good reasons for Christadelphians to remain as a separate group. The question ignores the reasons our early brothers and sisters stood aside from the established churches. They did not separate because churches were overcrowded, but because they found no common cause on fundamental issues. There is great value for us in rehearsing some of the differences that they discovered were irreconcilable.

The first was a question of authority. Though they found that lip service was given to the importance of Bible teaching, it often proved to be the case that other things – the authority of the church, or claims of personal possession of the Holy Spirit – were given precedence.

Different teachings

Following directly from the failure always to turn to the Bible to learn about God and His ways were differences of belief about the Lord God and His Son, which seriously altered how men and women can be saved from sin and death. Our early brothers and sisters had a very distinctive understanding about sin and the source of temptation; and about what it means to be mortal.

Christadelphians discovered that the importance of God’s promises to Adam, Noah, Abraham and David was not recognised, and thus the relevance of God’s dealings with the Jewish people. Almost invariably churches were teaching of future rewards in heaven into which men and women would enter immediately upon death, and ignoring plain Bible teaching about a future kingdom of God to be established on the earth.

When it came to the organisation and form of worship, they did not find churches being faithful to what the scriptures reveal about apostolic arrangements. Churches often had complex rituals, as if pomp and ceremony can properly express spiritual devotion, and a priesthood to mediate between worshippers and God.

Even allowing for the fact that there is generally less emphasis on what a person believes, the above list represents the position of most Christian churches today. So those who wonder if there are still good reasons for Christadelphians to remain separate have to decide if they are prepared to compromise on those important subjects.

Our beliefs are not accepted

Churches are simply not prepared to accept anyone who teaches that church authority must be subservient to the scriptures; that there is only one God, whose Son did not personally pre-exist before his birth to Mary; that the Holy Spirit has no separate personality, but is the power of God; that men and women do not have to receive the Holy Spirit in order to believe; that the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ was preached to Abraham and David; and that the hope held out to men and women is not eternity in heaven, but living again on a redeemed earth where Jesus will be king.

Anyone openly upholding these Bible teachings is not welcome in other churches, and in the case of beliefs about the nature of God will only be welcome so long as there is no dissent over the doctrine of the Trinity. The simple fact is that it is our understanding of Bible teaching that makes us distinctive and opens up an unbridgeable gulf between Christadelphians and other Christian groups.

Christadelphians have not chosen to remain separate from other churches like children who petulantly refuse to join in a playground game. Nothing could bring more joy to the hearts of brothers and sisters than a widespread acceptance of the true Bible message of salvation. But we honestly believe that the churches are in serious error. One of the seminal works of the brotherhood was deliberately titled, Christendom Astray, which set out to show how “popular Christianity (both in faith and practice) is unscriptural; and [fails to exhibit] the true nature of the ancient Apostolic faith”. Even if the churches do not openly teach these errors as stridently as they did 150 years ago, their basic beliefs have not changed throughout that period of time.

Furthermore, the scriptures reveal and predict the development of a false religious system, claiming to follow the Lord Jesus, growing in power as the Lord’s coming draws nearer (Acts 20:30; 2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 2:19; Jude 4; Revelation 17:1-6). Those who press for closer ties with other churches have to ignore these teachings, and turn away from the advice of the apostles, “Come out from them, and be separate from them, says the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:17).

It is sometimes suggested that the form of worship in other churches is more attractive than in many Christadelphian ecclesias. Yet the form of worship cannot be separated from its content, and can only be regarded as acceptable if what it teaches agrees with a person’s beliefs. Because the differences are fundamental, there are no sound grounds for joining with other churches, or believing it is possible to attend them regularly or occasionally without seriously compromising our beliefs.

Problems with literature and music

There are other consequences to be considered too. Doctrinal differences permeate into other areas, such as literature and music, and the principles of separation also apply here. Think first of books and articles produced by those with different beliefs. Many are written by individuals who do not accept the supreme authority of the scriptures; who do not believe that Jesus fully and completely shared our mortal nature; and who are not waiting for his return to restore the kingdom to Israel. The value of their material is seriously limited by these differences. When they comment directly on the text of scripture, the different approaches are more evident, and can usually be filtered out without too much difficulty. Indeed, there can be value in discovering the results of recent scholarship on the text of scripture. But where material is more loosely based on the Bible, perhaps talking about practical aspects of discipleship, we should be alert to the fact that the authors do not believe in a coming kingdom, or in the importance of following the practices of the first century ecclesias. They often believe in the present possession of the Holy Spirit in one form or another. These doctrines may not be directly addressed in such books, but they provide the scaffolding that supports what is written. In such cases the basic errors are introduced more subtly, and are less easily distinguished.

For these reasons, the brotherhood has developed its own literature to ensure that brothers and sisters have soundly reasoned arguments to support their beliefs, and material they can happily present to any who are searching for the true Gospel message. It is therefore disturbing when material produced by people with distinctly different views on important aspects of the Gospel is preferred to writings produced within the brotherhood. Even more disturbing is the development of an attitude of dismissive criticism of works produced by brothers and sisters, while recommending material written by people with fundamentally contradictory beliefs.

Musical praise

The same principles apply in the case of musical praise. In the early days of the brotherhood, only the music and words used in other churches was immediately available. From these collections careful selections were made of items that upheld the Christadelphian understanding of Bible teachings. Gradually Christadelphian compositions became available, often dealing with aspects of the Gospel not accepted by the churches, such as God’s purpose with Israel and the future kingdom on earth. These were added to what had been selected from other sources so that there was a balanced coverage of major Bible teachings.

Even apparently innocuous material can easily mean different things to different people. A common ambiguity in many modern religious compositions, for example, fails to distinguish adequately between the Father and the Son. We do our own beliefs serious disservice if we ignore the ambiguity so often introduced. Also, many modern religious compositions are almost wholly emotional, ignoring the fact that what we sing should enable us to teach and admonish one another, as we sing with grace in our hearts to the Lord (Colossians 3:16).

The whole counsel of God

But the difficulty does not end simply by ensuring that the message presented in alternative hymns and songs conforms to the teaching of the scriptures. Even if we select material that does not offend our beliefs, the exclusive use of other sources will result in the overall message presented by our musical praise being limited and incomplete. It is highly unlikely, for example, that there would be any material about the resurrection, or a future judgement; there would be nothing about restoring the kingdom to Israel, or Jerusalem being the centre of a worldwide future kingdom; anything about baptism would be confusing about its application or object; and there would probably be nothing about the importance of preaching. We have, both in worship and witness, to follow the example of the apostle, who was able to say, “I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27).

As Bible teaching about the Gospel is so important, we need to ensure that our beliefs are in complete harmony with its message, and that we preach all these truths to others, emphasising the practical outcome of accepting Bible teachings. Experience teaches us that there is no viable alternative to careful and systematic instruction. This was Paul’s counsel to Timothy when he wrote about sound words and sound doctrine (1 Timothy 1:10; 2 Timothy 1:13). These are tests that should be applied, and which have caused Christadelphians to preach a distinctive Gospel and to stand separately from all other churches.