The Bible

WHAT makes Christadelphians different? One thing is our attitude to the Bible. Christadelphians take the Bible at face value. Christadelphians believe the Bible. We trust the Bible. We study the Bible to learn more about God, to learn more about His plan for the earth and to learn more about how to live our lives.

This might seem strange to you. Don’t all Christians believe the Bible? Surprisingly, no. For example, the Roman Catholic Church puts a greater emphasis on the traditions of the Church rather than on what the Bible teaches. *

In fact, many Christians point out that the Bible was written over 2,000 years ago in the context of a society very different to our own. So, they argue that in modern times the Bible should not be taken at face value, but that its teachings should be updated to reflect modern thinking.

* To confirm this, visit catholic.com and search for ‘scripture and tradition’.

Bible teaching

However, the Bible teaches that God is unchangeable. Therefore His plan and purpose for the earth do not change. So, if society has changed since the Bible was written, then logic tells us that society has moved away from the truth about God as revealed in the Bible. God’s truth doesn’t change to suit society; men and women should change their lives to obey a righteous God.

Peter tells us that the scriptures were not written “by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21). So, although the Bible was physically written by a large number of different authors, they recorded God’s words, God’s thoughts, and God’s message.

For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

2 Peter 1:21, English Standard Version

Paul explains that because the Bible is God’s word it can teach us about God, it can provide evidence that God exists, it can help us to change our lives and it can help us to follow God’s commandments. Indeed Paul teaches that the Bible provides all that we need to be complete, fully-grown disciples.

Bible reading

As a result of our belief in the Bible, Christadelphians try to read the Bible every day. In this way we follow the example set by the believers in Berea who searched their Bibles daily to check that what they were being taught by men such as Paul did not contradict the message in the Old Testament.

This explains why Christadelphians always refer back to Bible teaching when trying to understand more about God.

God

GOD is introduced to us in the very first verse of the Bible: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”. As the creator, God is shown to be all-powerful and all-knowing.

God created the heavens and the earth for His own glory: “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea”.

Right from the very beginning God intended the earth to be inhabited by men and women:

For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): “I am the Lord, and there is no other.”

Isaiah 45:18, English Standard Version

The Kingdom

The Bible tells us that the ultimate fulfilment of God’s plan and purpose with the earth will be achieved when the earth will be inhabited by those who praise Him in their lives. The Bible refers to this time as the Kingdom of God. This Kingdom will be very different from any nation before it. It will fill the whole world, be a time of peace and prosperity and will be ruled over by God’s son, Jesus Christ.

After Jesus ascended to heaven and while his disciples were still looking up into the sky, two angels appeared and spoke to them saying:

Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.

Acts 1:11, English Standard Version

The Blue Marble

Image by Reto Stöckli, Render by Robert Simmon. Based on data from the MODIS Science Team

©NASA

Man

THOSE who have tried to follow God in their lives will be given the opportunity to live in the Kingdom of God. If they have died before Jesus’ return they will be raised from the dead.

This is another belief that differentiates Christadelphians from most other Christians, who believe that the ultimate reward for the righteous is a place in heaven. The Bible makes no such promise.

The Bible teaches that the reward for those who have tried to follow God in their lives will be a place in God’s Kingdom. So Christadelphians follow Jesus’ teaching to his disciples and pray for Jesus to return to the earth and establish God’s Kingdom.

Sin and death

However, the Bible teaches us that we are not all good: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” It recognises that we like to consider ourselves as good people: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

The Bible teaches that all have sinned. That is, they have fallen short of the standard set by God. The punishment for sin is death. So we all die because we have all sinned.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Romans 3:23, English Standard Version

The Gospel message

It’s not all bad news, however. The Bible also includes the gospel message (or ‘good news’) as taught by Jesus Christ in his ministry. Key to this message are the related promises of forgiveness of sins through faith in the sacrifice of Jesus and a place in God’s coming Kingdom.

The Bible teaches that those who believe God and are baptised have the promise of eternal life in God’s Kingdom. Their sins are washed away and they are counted as righteous.

Baptism

Baptism as described in the Bible is a full immersion in water. In symbol, the believer dies and is raised to life again. The alternative tradition of sprinkling water has been introduced as a convenience and has no basis in Bible teaching.

The Bible teaches that baptism is “an appeal to God for a good conscience” and the baptisms described in the Bible are of adults only. So Christadelphians do not baptise babies because they cannot have an understanding of the purpose of God.

Baptism is essential for those who wish to serve God and is the first step of the development of an active faith in a believer’s new life dedicated to following the example of Jesus Christ.

Jesus

THE Bible teaches that Jesus was born of the virgin Mary by the power of God. As a result of his unique conception, he was both the Son of God and the Son of Man.

I and the Father are one.

John 10:30, English Standard Version

Son of God

The Bible does not describe Jesus as being part of the Trinity*. Instead the Bible shows us that Jesus inherited his Father’s characteristics in the same way that we inherit characteristics from our parents. The relationship was so close that Jesus could say, “I and my Father are one.”

Those who met Jesus could understand the character of God from observing his actions and listening to his words because Jesus manifested God’s character perfectly.

Son of Man

However, the Bible record demonstrates that Jesus inherited his mother’s nature; that is her tendency to sin. We know that he was tempted during his ministry and the writer to the Hebrews tells us that Jesus “was in all points tempted as we are”.

However Jesus did not sin. He conquered sin in the one place where sin should naturally have thrived. That is in the life of one who shared our tendency to sin.

Jesus, the Son of God … who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Hebrews 4:14-15, English Standard Version

Sacrifice for sin

His obedience to God’s commands extended to allowing himself to be executed by the Roman authorities at the request of the Jews. As a result of his obedience God raised him from the dead and accepts Jesus’ death as a sacrifice for our sins.

This is why those who associate themselves with the life of Jesus through baptism live in the hope of eternal life in God’s Kingdom. Their sins have been covered by the perfect life of Jesus Christ. They become adopted sons and daughters of God whom the Lord Jesus is pleased to call brothers and sisters.

Remembering Jesus

The night before he was executed, Jesus shared a final meal with his disciples. During the meal he commanded them to share a loaf of bread and a cup of wine to remember him and his sacrifice for their sins when they meet together in this way.

As a result, Christadelphians follow the example of the disciples and meet together on Sunday to remember Jesus and his sacrifice in bread and wine.

* The word ‘Trinity’ does not appear in the Bible. In fact, even the concept of mysterious three-person Godhead cannot be found in the pages of the Bible. God is described as the one God, see Deuteronomy 6:4, Mark 12:29, 32, Galatians 3:20, Ephesians 4:6 and 1 Timothy 2:5.

Israel

THE Bible teaches that the Jews are witnesses to the existence of God. When He asked Abram to leave the city of Ur, He promised that Abram’s descendants would become a great nation.

A nation is born

That great nation was born when God called the children of Israel out of Egypt and led them into the Promised Land. Moses told the children of Israel that God had chosen them because he loved them. If they were prepared to obey his commandments, they they would be blessed, but if not they would be cursed.

The Old Testament records how throughout their history as a kingdom Israel did not follow God, but instead served pagan idols. In the end God allowed the Assyrians and the Babylonians to take the nation captive as a punishment.

God’s witnesses

This was not the end of God’s relationship with the Jews. He promised, through the words of Isaiah and Jeremiah, that the Jews were His witnesses and that he would never forsake them. God brought them back to the land of Israel under the guidance of Ezra and Nehemiah.

After the death of Jesus, God allowed the nation to be taken into captivity again. This time it was the Romans who defeated Israel. For nearly two thousand years it appeared that God had forsaken Israel, the Jews were victimised and persecuted wherever they lived. Yet they remained as a distinct people and God brought them back to the land in 1948. So there is no doubt that Israel exists as a nation. They don’t recognise Jesus as their Messiah yet, but they are still witnesses to God’s existence.

Signs of the Times

The return of the Jews to the land of Israel isn’t just a modern-day witness to God’s existence. It is also one of many signs that show that the return of Jesus to the earth to set up God’s Kingdom is imminent.

When Jesus was speaking to his disciples on the Mount of Olives, just outside Jerusalem, he prophesied that Jerusalem would be destroyed again and spoke of the time when the Jews would regain control of Jerusalem. He explained that at that time the world would be full of trouble and war. His words describe our world today: “on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth”.

Yet Jesus goes on to say that, at this time of trouble, we should be prepared because his return is imminent: “then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near”.

Looking at the world around us it is clear that Jesus will return to establish the Kingdom of God very soon.

Consider this

WE do respect that your own religious views may differ considerably from our beliefs, but we ask you to consider here just one aspect in more detail, namely: the return of Jesus to this earth to establish the Kingdom of God and to rule all nations of the world, from Jerusalem.

We know that His coming is near because the Bible says it will be when the Jews, God’s people, are returning to the land of Israel.

Jesus himself said that he would return when there was international distress and fear – with no human way out at all. The Bible also tells us that there will be war and destruction worldwide and that God’s wrath will be poured out on mankind.

We believe that Jesus Christ will raise the dead who have known God’s message and grant immortality to those who are faithful. They will help Jesus to rule the world until sin and death are abolished and the earth will be full of God’s glory for ever.

In a world full of uncertainties we enjoy a simple, direct and logical faith offering peace of mind and contentment now and the promise of everlasting joy to come. May we share this hope with you? For more information, please get in touch.