Answers for a Friend
November 10, 2002
Dear Friends,
I recently received an e-mail from a person with whom I have exchanged ideas with over the last couple of years. The main subject of our discussion has centered on the question of how salvation occurs. He recently sent me thirteen interesting questions concerning my point of view on several areas. Not having an abundance of extra time to address these issues separately, but already committed to the Thought for the Week (which he receives), I decided to incorporate my response into this venue.
So with that introduction, here is his first question: 1. Have Christadelphians always existed?
In order to really answer the question and not make it a “yes” or “no” response, I must make a few assumptions. My assumption is that this question is asked because the questioner believes that there must be a documented, consistent and continuous belief system traceable from the first century in order to validate any church or denomination. To my knowledge, not only does this not exist for the Christadelphians, it does not exist for any Christian denomination including Baptists (to which my friend belongs). The closest any Christian denomination can come is the Roman Catholic Church. They can trace their roots roughly back to the third century with the amalgamation of Roman pagan religions and the orthodox Christian church. However, they cannot tie their system to the first century ecclesia nor can they show doctrinal consistency through their nearly two centuries of existence. Catholicism has had widely vacillating doctrines during its long history.
The name, Christadelphians, came into existence in the Civil War. This being the case, the capital “C” Christadelphians have only existed in name for a nearly 150 years. Little “c” christadelphians (or Brethren in Christ as it is in the Greek) have always existed. By “christadelphians”, I do not mean the current christadelphian belief system as express in the Christadelphian Statement of Faith. I mean nothing more than any people who Christ considered his brethren. It seems implausible to me to deny that Christ has always had a remnant that have worshipped him “in spirit and in truth” for the past two millennia. The question is how do you define these people. Is it a denominational name? Is it one unifying doctrine or collection thereof?
I would suggest that the question “Have the Christadelphians always existed?” is insufficient to get to the true heart of the matter. The real question is what is the unifying principle or principles that have denoted true believers. I would also suggest that it is entirely insufficient to limit this question to going back to the first century (which the questioner correctly did not do). The true religion that has always been in existence was not a new phenomena of the first century. The touchstone that the first century believers used to determine or prove true faith was Abraham. This being the case, the religious system we adopt needs, in fact requires, that we incorporate the religion of Abraham, Moses, David and so forth. The artificial break in the Bible between Old and New Testaments needs, for the purpose of this exercise, to be eliminated. The continuous true belief system is in its very nature Jewish and Abrahamic leads the apostle Paul to say “For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel.” (Romans 9:6) As Gentiles, we are grafted into a Jewish Tree of Faith.
If we suppose that what happened to Israel before Christ might be an indication of what would happen to spiritual Israel after Christ, we are enlightened even further on the question. There are times in Israel’s history when they didn’t even have the Scriptures (as in the days prior to Josiah). There are times in the Old Testament when they went long periods of times completely oblivious to God’s commands such as the Jubilee. There are times when they had no temple to even comply with the commands of God concerning feasts and sacrifices even had they wanted. It is reasonable to assume that the number of true believers was reasonably proportional to the state of those tools (access to the temple, availability of Scripture, faithful leadership, etc.) This seems to me to be consistent with what is observable in the time since Christ. Their practices and teachings may have manifested themselves in ways that we might not be entirely comfortable with today. Yet, I believe that there were always true believers who did they best they could with what they had. Paul states as much when he quotes from 1 Kings 19 and says “But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.”
In conclusion then, I believe that although ecclesiastical history is important to understand, the true believer needs focus their attention on one thing – what does the entire Bible teach us concerning what God would have us believe and do. If we pursue that consistently, faithfully, prayerfully and with a teachable mind, we will find ourselves, by God’s grace, among that remnant.
Have a great week!
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