Biblicism: Brethren Value 6

"We have no creed but the New Testament". That is, or in some ways, was, the creed of the Brethren. The Brethren were anti creedal from the standpoint of how little the creeds actually meant anything to those who used to recite them. Early on, in the beginning of the Brethren, they saw how the creedal churches engaged with their creeds. They saw the church recite empty words, and hollow meanings. The statements meant nothing, and did little in moving them to a deeper and holier walk with God. Instead, the members, including many pastors, would go to church, recite the creeds, listen to the sermon, and showed not change once they stepped back into the world. Their was no difference between them and the rest of the world.

This form of life did not sit well with the Brethren. If the creeds has little effect on the life, and showed no change or growth in the life, what was the point of creeds? The creeds became just a flow of thoughts recited together. No thought was given on what the statements meant, and how that applied to life. With this setting as a backdrop, and a desire to have a clean and pure walk, the early Brethren started to meet and simply live what they saw in the Bible. Rejecting creeds, they looked to the Bible as the source and foundation of their life and existence. Piety became a strong influence on their beginning, and demanded that life reflect their faith, and their faith be the absolute authority of how their life should be lived. Their "book of discipline" was the New Testament.

Some may believe that we believe in ONLY the New Testament. This cannot be farther from the truth. While it is true the New Testament is our basis, the New Testament finds its foundation in the Old Testament. The Old Testament finds its fulfillment in the New Testament. We cannot separate one from the other without doing devastating destruction to both the Old and New Testament. In this vein of thought, the Brethren find their place. The Brethren believed in Biblicism and desired to simply read the text and then obey. The Bible was the foundation of faith, life and practice.

Times have changed now. There are many who take the Word of God, but then mix and blend it with the writings of other people. They accept parts of the Scriptures due to their holistic nature, but reject the Bible on a whole as uninspired. Events in the Bible become allagorical, figurative, un hitched from what is really presented. In the Elizabethtowne Church of the Brethren, events like the Noah's flood, Creation, and even the sacrificial offering of Jesus on the Cross for sins become mere rehtoric that supposedly picture a deeper meaning. For example: The flood is not about God judging the earth for sin, but an allagorical meaning that when things are bad, God always provides a way. Creation was just figurative and Science has all the answers regardless of what the Bible says. The death of Jesus was not because of sin. It was because Jesus was love and the world was hate. Hate hated love and killed it.

By inheriting this stance, many Brethren have become the very thing they detested in the creedal church. The Bible has been replaced by philosophy, newspapers, and inclusivisity. As Brethren continue to abandon what it was that set the Brethren apart, there is a growing deception, liberalism, and evil that is enveloping the denomination and individual churches. Brethren, starting out strong on the Word of God, have become nothing more than just a shadow of their former selves. Stripping off any resemblance of truth, their history, legacy, and the Bible, most now look like the world than a people of faith. Their teaching is dead and empty. The denomination, for all their good, promotes, and stands behind evil as it is found in society. They have rejected God.

Where does Biblicism comes in? Biblicism is the realization of the accuracy, preservation, and power of God's Word. The Scriptures hold the key and answer to life. All who obey it are better for it. Biblicism takes the Word of God as it is. We know it is one hundred percent factual, we hold it as the truth and contains no error. But we also recognize the different genres in the Bible. We do not try to make an allegorical statement literal, but we do not ignore the truth of that allegorical statement to reality. It is wise to recognize these truths, but also recognizing the full authority of the Scriptures in our life. We believe in a literal interpretation as that flows in the genre.

To help understand where this fits, I refer to two documents from the Brethren Revival Fellowship. The BRF, in their pamphlet the BRF Witness VOL 58, NO. 1 has these main points about creeds: 1) Creeds can be misused, 2) We need Guidelines of Faith. 3) The Word of God has Authority. 4) We have a superior and complete Revelation from God. 5) We have an Immutable Revelation from God. 6) Our Standard of Faith is Objective. 7) We have a standard that we can hold and practice. Compare this to the Creeds. This forms the basis and reasons for our rejection of Creeds. Then, BRF Witness, VOL 48, NO 4, We have the topic of Biblical Inspiration and Authority. It delves into what is inspiration, proof of the inspiration, and finally the consequences of inspiration. If we notice, it is about God's Word and only God's Word. This is the beauty of the Brethren, and one that all beliefs should adopt and follow.

As Brethren, we hold to the Bible as the authority of our faith and practice. The Bible is our trust and faith in God's Word, being preserved for us to know what God expects, and then live it for His glory and honor. Since it is God breathed, the Scripture has every right to command our life in all aspects. The question to Brethren, specifically, and Christians in general, do we act and follow the Bible accordingly? It is one thing to hold the Bible, it is another to hold it in our hearts and minds. It is a supernatural book that is worthy of our devotion, our time, our love. As Brether who hold to Biblicism, this should be very high on our list of belief, not only for ourselves, but also our family.