Answers for a Friend – The Official Answer
January 26, 2003
Dear Friends,
The next question from our friend that we shall attempt to answer is “Briefly, what is the official history Christadelphians hold to concerning the new testament books and canon of scripture, the early church, early church fathers and their writings (Tertulian, Polycarp…), the very early Catholic Church, when heresy officially began and when the church strayed from the ‘true’ church. What history support this? What history refutes this and how do you answer it.”
Before I begin to answer this excellent question, I have to make a quick modification. My friend asks for the “official” history of the early Church by the Christadelphians. An adherent to most any Christian sect, if they had the knowledge and will to do so, would be able to answer the question as asked and probably wouldn’t think twice about doing so. However, the Christadelphians do not have an “official” position on such matters. We do not have a synod, convention, council or college that meets to determine the “official” position that is binding upon all adherents. What binds Christadelphians together is a common understanding of the Bible. There is no central authority or hierarchy. The only authority we acknowledge is the authority of the Jesus Christ over his ecclesia and the authority of the Holy Scriptures as the wholly inspired word of God.
As far as I am aware, there is no other religious body of any significant size that operates without a central authority or hierarchy as do the Christadelphians. Since this position is unusual, especially to the uninitiated, we will briefly try to explain how it works. Understand that we are speaking in generalities and that local ecclesias may vary in their implementations.
Each local ecclesia is autonomous and is governed by the collective Biblical understanding of the congregation. Since the Bible is the only authoritative document, each member is responsible to be well-educated on the Scriptures and participate in the decision-making process. Typically, there is an elected board of baptized male members who are given the role of presiding over the affairs of the meeting. This is headed up by one member who is the contact point for the meeting. These offices coincide with the roles of “bishop” and “deacon” as outlined in the book of 1 Timothy and Titus. We refrain from using those terms, however, because we believe popular conception of a bishop and a deacon varies significantly from the Biblical model. We will address this more when we answer the question.
On occasion, like the so-called “Jerusalem Conference” of Acts 15, Christadelphians do get together collectively to resolve problems or issues. These typically take place on a local, regional or even, in some cases, a continental basis. Ecclesias will send representatives to hear and discuss the issue at hand. In almost all cases, these representatives are there to gather facts and report back to their respective meetings rather than make decisions or cast votes on behalf of their meeting. While we do have our differences, despite the lack of hierarchy or central authority, the Christadelphian body maintains an amazing uniformity in both practice and doctrine in almost every country in the world.
Next week, Lord willing, we will start giving an “unofficial” answer to the question.
Have a great week!
