Classes 7 & 8:The Crossroads

A Vision of Unity•“There is one body and one Spirit -just as you were called to one hope when you were called -one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” -Ephesians 4:4-6

•“I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one; I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” - John 17:22-23

Commitment to Scripture•“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

• -2 Timothy 3:16

Commitment to worship as a

transforming act•“Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off -for all whom the Lord our God will call.” With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about 3,000 were added to their number that day.” -Acts 2:38-41

Passion for evangelism

•Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nation, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” -Matthew 28:18-20

Strength of the local church

•Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another -and all the more as you see the Day approaching. -Hebrews 10:25

•But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. -1 Peter 2:9

Passion for Christian education

•Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God -this is your spiritual act of worship. -Romans 12:1

A Reality of division

•One cup vs. Multi-cup communion

•Instruments in worship

•Old style vs. New style of worship

•Para-church organizations

•Church buildings

•Premillennialism

Increased arrogance leading to isolationism

Created uniformity without practicality

Inconsistent in practice

Often emphasizes Bible knowledge over relationship with Christ

•Are we teaching people to know Christ or know about Christ?

In the past we have assumed that the church for which Christ died and for which he is lawgiver is basically one of correct structure in polity, worship, and discipline. Salvation results from entering that church through baptism and maintaining the structure sacrosanct. But now that vision has eroded. The question has arisen whether the church of the NT was a structure or an amicable, sharing, family-like, fellowshipping community. If the latter, then the older presumptions and strategies are called into question. The result has been considerable confusion, which worries some and leaves others without a formulated hermeneutic but probably finds the majority of church members indifferent. Members seem currently more interested in personal struggles than in reflection upon how to interpret the Scripture.

-Olbricht (Hermenteutics in Churches of Christ)

How may we move beyond our current impasse? We must make a shift in our model of biblical literature, a shift perhaps as radical as the change of paradigms that Thomas S. Kuhn argues takes place in scientific revolutions. Such conceptual revolutions, he says, occur not in a simple linear process where learning builds upon learning, but in quantum leaps: A Kepler, a Copernicus, a Galileo, or an Einstein proposes a whole new way to put together the evidence that the scientific community has perhaps long had access to. Such a revolution involves changing world views, changing paradigms. We need a hermeneutic revolution in our paradigm of biblical literature. We cannot equate restoration with the process of recovering biblical patterns; the formalistic approach has shown itself spiritually unequal to the task.

Restoration must be spiritual as well as formal. If we are to be true restorationists, we must develop a literary model and a hermeneutic more truly suited to the nature of our texts. A literary theory and a theological method dating to John Locke, British Empiricism, and Scottish Common Sense are not adequate for the ongoing purpose of recreating pure New Testament Christianity. Like a science based upon a flat view of the earth, a hermeneutic based upon a flat view of the Bible will not allow us to see biblical realities truly, without which we can never do true restoration. If we are truly to go 'Back to the Bible, " we must read the Bible on its own terms, in keeping with the actual nature of biblical literature.

-Russ Dudrey (Churches of Christ at an Impasse)