The Christadelphians

Bible students who meet in self-governing ecclesias with no clergy, break bread every Sunday and immerse believers, and who hold that Jesus was a man, the Spirit is God's power and the dead sleep until Christ returns.

Christadelphia.org, Our Faith and Beliefs (a summary)

Christadelphia.org, The Christadelphian Statement of Faith (the Birmingham Amended Statement of Faith)

Christadelphia.org, Doctrines to be Rejected

Christadelphia.org, Ecclesias (list and locations)

Christadelphia.org, Books (description of Elpis Israel)

Christadelphia.org, Response to Mainstream Christianity: The Nature of Christ

Christadelphian Bible Mission (UK), Christadelphians

Agora (Christadelphian Books), Ecclesial Guide (GB): excerpts from Robert Roberts, A Guide to the Formation and Conduct of Christadelphian Ecclesias

George Booker, The Memorial Meeting, ch. 2, A Word of Caution (Agora)

George Booker, The Memorial Meeting, ch. 3, The Memorial Meeting (Agora)

Rachel Hocking, thesis on Sydney Christadelphian music, ch. 8, Christadelphian Views on Music and Praise (secondary source, a study of Sydney ecclesias)

Ashby Christadelphian Church, Breaking of Bread Service

Sale Christadelphians, Memorial Service

Robert Roberts, Christendom Astray (1884 edition; scanned text on the Internet Archive)

Agora Bible Commentary, John 8 (Christadelphian)

Agora Bible Commentary, John 17 (Christadelphian)

Agora Bible Commentary, Philippians 2 (Christadelphian)

Harry Whittaker, Studies in the Gospels, ch. 13, The Word (John 1:1-5) (ChristadelphianBooks Online)

The Gospel Truth (a Christadelphian member's site, Matt Davies), The Holy Spirit

The Gospel Truth (member's site), The True Identity of the Devil and Satan

The Gospel Truth (member's site), Death: the end and not the start of an afterlife

Christadelphians (Wikipedia; used for dates and counts only, last resort)

John Thomas (Christadelphian) (Wikipedia; last resort)

Unamended Christadelphians (Wikipedia; last resort)

The Christadelphians trace themselves to John Thomas, an English doctor who crossed the Atlantic in 1832, joined the movement of Alexander Campbell, and was cut off from it in 1837 for what he taught. He gathered followers through his writing and a lecture tour of Britain, and the community in Britain dates itself from that tour. The name came in the American Civil War, when a body needed a name to register its members as objectors to military service. The statement of faith was written in Birmingham, England, in 1877 and has been revised twice. A division over it in 1898 produced the Amended and Unamended fellowships that still exist.

John Thomas is immersed and joins the Restoration Movement

Thomas, born in London in 1805, emigrated to North America in 1832 and was immersed that October. He joined the Restoration Movement under Alexander Campbell, a movement that sought a church built on the Bible alone.

Thomas is formally put out by the Restoration Movement

Thomas had been rebaptized and pressed his views on the nature of man and the devil as necessary to salvation, which led to debates with Campbell. He was formally disfellowshipped in 1837, and he went on writing and teaching on his own. The Christadelphians do not date their body from this year, but it is the break with Campbell.

The British lecture tour

The Christadelphian community in the United Kingdom "effectively dates" from Thomas's first lecture tour of Britain, from May 1848 to October 1850. His message was welcomed in Scotland, and friends from several churches separated to form groups of "Baptised Believers." This is why 1848 is the traditional date for the body.

Elpis Israel

Thomas wrote Elpis Israel ("the hope of Israel") in 1849, the official Christadelphian book list says, "at the request of those who had heard his" lectures. In it he set out his understanding of the main doctrines of the Bible.

The name Christadelphian

During the American Civil War the new name was adopted so the scattered ecclesias could register with the government as a religious body opposed to bearing arms. The date is given as August or September 1864; one source places the coining in 1863.

The Christadelphian and the first hymn book

Robert Roberts began a magazine in 1864, The Ambassador of the Coming Age, and at Thomas's urging renamed it The Christadelphian in 1869. He edited it until he died in 1898. The first Christadelphian Hymn Book also came out in 1869.

John Thomas dies

Thomas died on 5 March 1871. Roberts was prominent in church matters in the years after his death and helped shape the structures of the body.

The Birmingham Statement of Faith

The Birmingham Statement of Faith was drafted in 1877, partly in answer to a dispute begun by Edward Turney of Nottingham over his teaching on the nature of Christ's sacrifice. It became the standard of fellowship for most ecclesias.

The Foundation Clause on inspiration

A paragraph was added at the head of the statement saying that the Scriptures are "without error in all parts of them." The official statement dates the addition to 1886; a history of the Unamended group dates the dispute that followed to 1885. A group meeting at Suffolk Street in Birmingham separated over it.

Clause 24 amended; Amended and Unamended

In January 1898 clause 24 was amended "to refute the teaching that one may avoid being raised for judgment by refusing baptism." The statement then became the Birmingham Amended Statement of Faith. A few ecclesias in North America kept the original, and the two fellowships are called the Amended and the Unamended. Roberts died in 1898.

Reunions in Britain and Australia

Reunions in 1957 healed the earlier Suffolk Street and Central divisions and brought most Christadelphians outside North America into one fellowship.

John Thomas

An English physician who became a lecturer and writer on the Bible. He broke with Alexander Campbell, wrote Elpis Israel and gave the movement its first teaching, and he lived to see the name Christadelphian adopted. The body calls him "Dr. Thomas."

Robert Roberts

Editor of The Christadelphian from 1869 and the organizer of the body. He wrote Christendom Astray and A Guide to the Formation and Conduct of Christadelphian Ecclesias, which sets out how ecclesias are to be run.

Thomas Williams

Editor of The Christadelphian Advocate from 1885 at Waterloo, Iowa. He supported the Foundation Clause added to the Birmingham statement.

Edward Turney

A Nottingham Christadelphian whose teaching (called "Renunciationism" and the "free life") divided the community in the 1870s. The Birmingham Statement was written partly in answer to him. He is a dissenter, not a leader of the mainstream.

The dates. Christadelphians themselves give 1848 as the beginning of the body, and Wikipedia's reference list uses that year. Thomas's formal break with Campbell was in 1837. The name came in 1864. This chart keeps all three: 1837 for the break, 1848–1850 for the community, 1864 for the name.

The two statements. The Birmingham Statement was written in 1877. The Foundation Clause was added in 1886 (the official statement says so); the Unamended history puts the related division in 1885. The clause about the judgment of the unbaptized was amended in 1898. The Amended fellowship holds the revised statement; the Unamended hold the original.

The Restoration Movement. Campbell's movement was a plea to leave creeds and go back to the New Testament. Thomas shared that plea at first. What parted them was Thomas's teaching on the nature of man, the devil and Christ, which Thomas taught as necessary for salvation. Campbell would not go that way.

The Bible alone is the source of knowledge of God, inerrant; a thirty-clause statement of faith is the standard of fellowship.

The Christadelphians say the Bible is the inspired word of God, "complete and self-sufficient," and that no Christadelphian has received any special revelation. The Birmingham Amended Statement of Faith opens with a Foundation Clause that makes the Scriptures the only source of knowledge of God and says they are "without error in all parts of them." The body also keeps a list of doctrines to be rejected. The official page says "Fellowship cannot be extended to anyone who holds, teaches, fellowships or countenances any of the doctrinal heresies" on the list. Most ecclesias use the statement as the test of fellowship. On matters the Bible does not prescribe, such as the order of a meeting, writers like George Booker tell members that God or Christ has not commanded one way.

The Christadelphians believe that the Bible (66 books) is the inspired word of God, complete and self-sufficient to instruct us in the way of salvation.

is the only source of knowledge concerning God and His purposes at present extant or available in the earth

Fellowship cannot be extended to anyone who holds, teaches, fellowships or countenances any of the doctrinal heresies referred to below

The statement's own editor's note says that "The paragraphs listed above are not what Christadelphians teach, they are what the Bible teaches," and that Christadelphians "welcome all civil discussions and disagreements with those items listed." The Unamended Christadelphians hold the original 1877 text and not the 1898 revision. Booker, writing on the memorial meeting, says: "I'm certainly not saying that God or Christ has commanded us to do it in this particular way."

Believe the gospel, be immersed for the forgiveness of sins and keep on obeying; Christ's death is not a replacement sacrifice.

The Christadelphians teach that salvation comes through faith in Christ, shown by immersion in water. Their official summary says "It is through faith that we are baptised into Christ for forgiveness of sins," and the Christadelphian Bible Mission says repentance and baptism "by full immersion in water is necessary for salvation." They reject infant baptism. The statement of faith adds that the way to salvation includes "continuing patiently in the observance of all things he has commanded." They also teach that baptism is valid only for a person who knows and believes "the Truth," meaning the Bible as the statement of faith summarizes it. They reject as unbiblical the idea that Christ died as a replacement sacrifice for sinners; forgiveness comes through his sacrifice, they say, but only to those who walk the path of self-denial he marked out.

It is through faith that we are baptised into Christ for forgiveness of sins

continuing patiently in the observance of all things he has commanded, none being recognized as his friends except those who do what he has commanded.

We reject the doctrine - that a knowledge of the Truth is not necessary to make baptism valid.

The Christadelphian Bible Mission puts it briefly: "Repentance and baptism into Christ by full immersion in water is necessary for salvation." The official summary adds: "We reject as unbiblical the idea that Christ could die as a replacement sacrifice for us, thus covering all our sins forever with that one act. Certainly it is through his sacrifice that we may be forgiven, but only if we walk the path of self-denial that he marked out for us." The statement of faith also teaches that Jesus, in his own nature, shared the condemned nature of Adam and by his obedience won a title to resurrection.

Bread and wine every Sunday as a memorial, shared by baptized members.

The Christadelphians break bread and drink wine at the memorial meeting every first day of the week. Robert Roberts's guide calls it "a law of the house that each brother and sister must meet at the table of the Lord on the first day of the week for the breaking of bread." The Ashby ecclesia says "The Bible shows this became a weekly Sunday service." They keep it as a memorial of Christ's death, and the elements are shared by baptized members. Sale offers the bread and wine only to baptized Christadelphians.

The Christadelphians memorialize the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ through the sharing of bread and wine each time we meet together in worship, as Jesus commanded.

It is a law of the house that each brother and sister must meet at the table of the Lord on the first day of the week for the breaking of bread.

The Bible shows this became a weekly Sunday service.

Booker writes that "There are two absolutely essential aspects of worship: baptism and the memorial supper." The official summary says the "breaking of bread" or "communion" is "shared among our members who have declared their faith and have been baptised." In Roberts's guide the table is also where the ecclesia keeps its unity: a brother may stay away only for "denial of the truth in the assembly, or overt disobedience of the Lord's commandments among them."

No clergy, no central body; each ecclesia is self-governing and led by rotating mature brothers.

The Christadelphians have no paid ministers and no central leadership. The official summary says "The highest level of organization is the ecclesia (i.e. local church) which is typically led by a rotating selection of the more mature members." Roberts's guide teaches that each ecclesia judges for itself: "An ecclesia has no right to judge except for itself." Ecclesias keep fellowship with one another by sharing a statement of faith, and a withdrawal by one is generally honored by the others. Men teach and lead the meeting. Withdrawal of fellowship is the discipline: the guide calls it "a serious step" that "ought not be lightly taken against any brother."

The Christadelphians have no central leadership.

The highest level of organization is the ecclesia (i.e. local church) which is typically led by a rotating selection of the more mature members.

An ecclesia has no right to judge except for itself.

The guide also says "Withdrawal is a serious step, and ought not be lightly taken against any brother. It erects a barrier and inflicts a stain not easily removed. It ought never to be taken until all the resources of the Scriptural rule of procedure have been exhausted." It applies the rule of Matthew 18:15-17 for personal offenses. A brother or an ecclesia put out has, in the guide's words, "the right of appeal to someone."

Hymns, prayer, Bible reading and an exhortation, usually with piano or organ; no set form is commanded.

The memorial meeting has hymns, prayers, Bible readings, the exhortation and the bread and wine. The Ashby ecclesia says "You can take part in hymns, worship songs, prayers, Bible readings, and the exhortation." Booker's guide for the meeting assumes a pianist or organist who plays before and after, and he writes: "I'm certainly not saying that God or Christ has commanded us to do it in this particular way." A study of Sydney ecclesias says that most avoid the instruments of popular music, so that the preferred instrument is the piano or the organ, while one ecclesia uses a band with drums and guitars. The body's own writers say the Bible gives no set rule about the music used in worship. Hymns are drawn from the Christadelphian Hymn Book.

You can take part in hymns, worship songs, prayers, Bible readings, and the exhortation.

It may be helpful for the pianist or organist to play, as the final part of his or her prelude, Hymn 168

After the closing prayer, the pianist will play a final piece of music.

Hocking's study of Sydney ecclesias says "The instruments associated with popular music are also shunned in many ecclesias, leaving the preferred accompaniment instrument to be either a piano or organ," and, of the Bible and music, that "the Bible makes no clear cut prescriptions as to what is acceptable music for worship." Many Christadelphian writers rest on Colossians 3:16, "psalms, hymns and spiritual songs," as the kinds of songs to sing. This chart reports what these sources say; the practice varies from one ecclesia to another.

The Holy Spirit is God's power, not a person; the miraculous gifts were for the first century and ended.

The Christadelphians teach that the Spirit of God is not a person distinct from the Father. The Christadelphian Bible Mission says "The Spirit of God is His power by which He sustains creation, is everywhere present, and reveals and fulfils His will." The list of rejected doctrines includes that "the Holy Spirit is a person distinct from the Father." A member's site says the passages that seem to treat the Spirit as a person are personifications, like Wisdom crying in the street, and that the miraculous gifts of the first century were given to confirm the message and were withdrawn when the New Testament was complete. The body teaches that Jesus was begotten by the Spirit and anointed with it at his baptism.

The Spirit of God is His power by which He sustains creation, is everywhere present, and reveals and fulfils His will.

We reject the doctrine - that the Holy Spirit is a person distinct from the Father.

The scriptures then teach that the miraculous gifts were given until the early eccleasia was mature.

Robert Roberts wrote that the Father is eternal and underived, that the Son is the Father's manifestation in a man begotten by the Spirit, and that the Holy Spirit is the focalisation of the Father's power, which fills heaven and earth. The member's site argues that "Personification is a common way in which concepts are described in scripture," and names Wisdom, Riches, Sin and Death. It also says the apostles alone could pass on the gifts, so the gifts ended with them, and that they will be given again when Jesus returns.

Christ returns to the earth, raises the responsible dead and judges them; the faithful reign with him in a restored kingdom of Israel; the wicked are destroyed.

The Christadelphians teach that the dead are unconscious until the resurrection: "In the death state a man is a body deprived of life, and is utterly unconscious as if he had never existed." They teach that Jesus will return personally to the earth, that the dead who knew God's will are raised and judged, that the faithful are given immortality and reign with Christ, and that the unfaithful are consigned to "the second death," the final extinction of the wicked. The kingdom he sets up will be "the Kingdom of Israel restored," with its center at Jerusalem and the Jews returned to their land. It lasts a thousand years, in which sin and death continue in a milder form among the nations, and then comes a final judgment and God is "All-in-All."

In the death state a man is a body deprived of life, and is utterly unconscious as if he had never existed.

That God will set up a Kingdom in the earth, which will overthrow all others

We reject the doctrine - that the wicked will suffer eternal torture in hell.

The official summary says: "We believe that God will establish a Kingdom on earth at the return of Christ." The Christadelphian Bible Mission adds: "Jesus will return to the earth, to judge the living and the dead, and to establish upon the earth a universal and abiding Kingdom." The statement of faith limits resurrection to the "responsible," meaning those who know the revealed will of God. The Amended and Unamended fellowships divided in 1898 over exactly how this applies to the unbaptized.

Jesus was a man and did not exist before his birth

God is one person, the Father alone. Jesus is the Son of God, begotten of Mary by the Spirit, and did not exist before he was conceived.

The Christadelphians reject the Trinity. Their statement of faith names "the ONE FATHER" as the only true God, and the list of rejected doctrines includes "that God is three persons" and "that the Son of God was co-eternal with the Father." Jesus is the Son of God and a man, "begotten of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit." He was God's manifestation in the flesh, they say, by God's indwelling Spirit, but not God himself. Where texts seem to speak of his existing before Mary, they read them as God's purpose: Robert Roberts says the glory Jesus had before the world was is a glory he had in the Father's purpose and in no other sense. Their arguments are plain. God cannot die or be tempted, and Jesus died and was tempted; Jesus learned and prayed and said his power came from the Father.

We reject the doctrine - that the Son of God was co-eternal with the Father.

Either Christ died, and he was mortal during his time of ministry 2000 years ago, or he's God and could have never died.

viz., that he was purposed before Abraham existed, and that the Father, of whom he was then the manifestation, existed before all.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made.

Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad. The Jews therefore said unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was born, I am. They took up stones therefore to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple.

And now, Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men;

The Christadelphians are right that the Father is the one God, that the Son did not seize equality with him, and that the Lord Jesus truly was tempted, suffered and died; but the texts will not let him begin at Bethlehem. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God," and "All things were made through him" (John 1:1-3); the one through whom "the world was made" is the one of whom "the world knew him not" (John 1:10). When the Jews asked how a man "not yet fifty years old" could have seen Abraham, a question of years, he answered in years: "Before Abraham was born, I am," and they "took up stones" (John 8:57-59). He asked for "the glory which I had with thee before the world was" (John 17:5), and he said, "I came out from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go unto the Father" (John 16:28), so that his coming from the Father is as real as his going back. And the one who, "existing in the form of God," "emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men" (Philippians 2:6-7), existed before he was made like men, for no one who begins as a man is made in the likeness of men.

Their own rule on "form." The Agora commentary on Philippians 2 makes it the "key point" that whatever is meant by the morphe of a servant in verse 7 "must also be what is meant by" the morphe of God in verse 6, and takes both as status or rank. The rule can be granted. The servant's rank was no role he played: he was "obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:8). By the same rule the rank of God was no role either, and the commentary itself says "existing" means "being continuously." It also says equality with God was "something which he did not have." But Paul says he did not count it a thing to be grasped and then "emptied himself," and a man empties himself only of what he holds: "though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor" (2 Corinthians 8:9).

Robert Roberts, answered. Roberts reads John 8:58 to mean "that he was purposed before Abraham existed," and says of John 17:5, "Literally, he had not the glory referred to before the world was." He sets these beside God's words about Jeremiah and Cyrus before they were born (Jeremiah 1:5; Isaiah 45:4). Those are God speaking of men he foreknew; neither man ever said "I had" glory "with thee." Jesus did not say "I was purposed" but "I am," and in the same prayer, "thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world" (John 17:24): the love was given to a Son who was there to be loved. The Agora note on John 8, "Christ establishes preeminence, not preexistence," does not meet the question he was asked, which was about his age; and John the Baptist, born first, said, "He that cometh after me is become before me: for he was before me" (John 1:15).

John 1, both of their readings. The common reading makes the Word God's purpose, which became flesh in Jesus. A purpose is not "with God" as one beside him, and the world is not "made through" a plan in the way verse 10 says it was made through the one it did not know. Harry Whittaker himself says the purpose reading is "almost impossible to defend against the onslaughts of a skilful Trinitarian." The other reading, in an Agora article, grants that the Word is a title of Christ but makes "the beginning" the new creation. Then "the world was made through him" must be the new world, yet it is the old world that "knew him not" (John 1:10); and "he is before all things" (Colossians 1:17).

Their other arguments. God cannot die, and Jesus died. The Lord died in the human nature he took; the Father did not die; and Thomas says to the risen Christ, "My Lord and my God" (John 20:28). God cannot be tempted (James 1:13). He was tempted in the nature he took, "in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15). He learned, prayed and called the Father greater. That fits one who took a servant's place (Philippians 2:7). Their statement calls Jesus "God manifested in the flesh," meaning God at work in a man; "the Word became flesh" (John 1:14) says more. The verdict stands at full strength: whoever denies that the Son is God, and was with the Father before the world, has set aside the Scriptures that say so.

Christ shared our condemned nature

Jesus took Adam's fallen, mortal nature and by perfect obedience won his own resurrection and ours.

The Christadelphian statement of faith teaches that Jesus was raised up "in the condemned line of Abraham and David," "wearing their condemned nature," and that by perfect obedience he gained "a title to resurrection" and by dying would "abrogate the law of condemnation for himself, and all who should believe and obey him." Jesus is "of like nature with mortal man" and shared "the death that passed upon all men." The list of rejected doctrines includes "that Christ's nature was immaculate" and "that there is no sin in the flesh." The body says this makes his temptation real and his victory ours to follow.

and who, though wearing their condemned nature, was to obtain a title to resurrection by perfect obedience

We reject the doctrine - that Christ's nature was immaculate.

Him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

For such a high priest became us, holy, guileless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; who needeth not daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people: for this he did once for all, when he offered up himself.

For we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one that hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:

The Christadelphians are right that Jesus was truly human and truly tempted, "in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15). They go further than the text when they say he wore the condemned nature and had to win a "title" to his own resurrection. The Scriptures say he "knew no sin" (2 Corinthians 5:21), and that he is "holy, guileless, undefiled, separated from sinners" (Hebrews 7:26). The high priest of Hebrews "needeth not daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people" (Hebrews 7:26-27); a man who first had to win his own release from condemnation is the very picture of the priest this verse says he was not. The cross is then no longer the giving of an innocent life for the guilty: "who did no sin" (1 Peter 2:22).

The atonement. This is the root of the rejection of substitution in their official summary: "We reject as unbiblical the idea that Christ could die as a replacement sacrifice for us," and forgiveness comes "only if we walk the path of self-denial that he marked out for us." If the Lord needed saving himself, he cannot stand in another's place. But the text puts him there: "he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities" (Isaiah 53:5), and "Jehovah hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6). He came "to give his life a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45); he "redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us" (Galatians 3:13); and "his own self bare our sins in his body upon the tree" (1 Peter 2:24). The Christadelphians are right that the forgiven must walk as he walked. In the New Testament that walk is the fruit of a forgiveness already given at the cross, not the price of it. The lineage chart weighs this under who Christ is, not under baptism, and this chart does the same: the course on salvation measures the act of entry, and this verdict carries the weight of the cross.

No personal devil

The devil and Satan are sin and human opposition to God, not a fallen angel.

The Christadelphians reject "that the devil is a supernatural being." A member's site says "the devil is actually sin which manifests itself in individuals and organisations." Robert Roberts gave a lecture whose title says the devil is not a personal supernatural being but the scriptural personification of sin in its manifestations among men. Where Scripture speaks of Satan, they read it as sin at work in people and in their systems.

We reject the doctrine - that the devil is a supernatural being.

the devil is actually sin which manifests itself in individuals and organisations

Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he afterward hungered. And the tempter came and said unto him, If thou art the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him into the holy city; and he set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou art the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and, On their hands they shall bear thee up, Lest haply thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, Again it is written, Thou shalt not make trial of the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him unto an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and he said unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him; and behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

And he said unto them, I beheld Satan fallen as lightning from heaven.

Be sober, be watchful: your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour,

Be subject therefore unto God; but resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

The Christadelphians are right that sin begins in the heart and that a man is drawn away by his own lust (James 1:14), and that the devil is no rival god. But the Scriptures speak of one who acts. The devil takes Jesus up to the holy city and to an exceedingly high mountain, shows him the kingdoms and offers them; Jesus answers him, "Get thee hence, Satan," and the devil leaves him (Matthew 4:1-11). Peter writes of "your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion," who seeks "whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8), and James says to "resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4:7). Sin in the flesh does not flee from a man who resists it, and it does not stand in the wilderness to offer him kingdoms. The text speaks of a person, and to deny him is to read away what Jesus himself answered.

The dead are unconscious

Man is mortal; at death he ceases to exist until the resurrection.

The Christadelphians teach that man has no immortal soul. The Christadelphian Bible Mission says "Man is mortal" and that "Soul" in the Bible "never expresses the idea of immortality." The list of rejected doctrines includes "that man has an immortal soul," "that man consciously exists in death" and "that the righteous will ascend to the kingdoms beyond the skies when they die." A member's site says "The Bible does not teach man became an 'immortal' soul."

We reject the doctrine - that man consciously exists in death.

The Bible does not teach man became an “immortal” soul.

And he said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if to live in the flesh,—if this shall bring fruit from my work, then what I shall choose I know not. But I am in a strait betwixt the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ; for it is very far better:

we are of good courage, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord.

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as worshipped not the beast, neither his image, and received not the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand; and they lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

The Christadelphians are right that Scripture calls death a sleep, that man was formed from dust and that the hope of the church is the resurrection, not a soul floating free. The text still does not let them say there is nothing between death and the resurrection. Jesus tells the thief, "To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43). Paul sets "to depart and be with Christ" against staying in the flesh and calls it "very far better" (Philippians 1:23), and he is "willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8). John sees "the souls of them that had been beheaded" living and reigning with Christ (Revelation 20:4). These describe a conscious state before the resurrection of the body.

Refusing military service

A Christadelphian does not serve in the army or police or take part in politics or lawsuits.

The Christadelphians were named as a body opposed to bearing arms. The list of rejected doctrines includes "that we are at liberty to serve in the Army, Navy, Police Force, or any service whatsoever requiring the Oath of Allegiance or use of force," and "that we are at liberty to take part in politics, or recover debts by legal coercion." They are conscientious objectors.

We reject the doctrine - that we are at liberty to serve in the Army, Navy, Police Force, or any service whatsoever requiring the Oath of Allegiance or use of force.

Ye have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: but I say unto you, Resist not him that is evil: but whosoever smiteth thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

for he is a minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is a minister of God, an avenger for wrath to him that doeth evil.

And soldiers also asked him, saying, And we, what must we do? And he said unto them, Extort from no man by violence, neither accuse any one wrongfully; and be content with your wages.

Can any man forbid the water, that these should not be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.

The Lord's command is plain: "Resist not him that is evil" (Matthew 5:39), and the Christadelphians have kept it when the state asked otherwise. On how a disciple treats his enemy they stand near the line. Their further rule, that no disciple may serve in the police or bear the sword in any office, is not in the text. Paul calls the ruler who bears the sword "a minister of God to thee for good" (Romans 13:4); John the Baptist told soldiers to "be content with your wages" and did not tell them to leave the ranks (Luke 3:14); and Peter baptized a centurion's household without a word about his post (Acts 10:48). The command to the believer is the Lord's, but the bar on offices and on every legal remedy is a rule that goes beyond what is written.

The plumb line is the New Testament: what the apostles commanded, and what the churches practiced with their approval. Each position above is set against it, and the wall below shows how far each one stands from it. Choose a course to read the Scripture and the reason. The Christadelphians went to the Bible in earnest and came out with answers other churches did not; where they stand nearer the pattern, they are credited plainly, and where they stand further, that is said too.

Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.

Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written; that no one of you be puffed up for the one against the other.

Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so.

But in vain do they worship me, Teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men. Ye leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men.

The Christadelphians say the Bible is "complete and self-sufficient," that no one has a special revelation, and that the book is without error, and on those words they stand on the line (2 Timothy 3:16-17). They stand far from it in what they bind beside it. The Birmingham statement, written in 1877, added to in 1886 and amended in 1898, is the test of fellowship, and the list of doctrines to be rejected bars from fellowship anyone who "countenances" one of them. Baptism is held invalid without a knowledge of what the statement teaches. A creed that is added to and amended is a rule that goes "beyond the things which are written" (1 Corinthians 4:6). The Bereans tested what they heard by "examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11); they set no second standard beside the text. Their openness on matters the Bible leaves free of command is true as far as it goes. It reaches too far when it permits what the text does not (see worship).

The editor's note on the statement claims the clauses "are not what Christadelphians teach, they are what the Bible teaches," and that is the claim every creed makes. The test is not whether a statement is true to the writer but whether the church may bind others by it. The apostles bound the churches to what they taught, in person or by letter, and to nothing else.

And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.

And as they went on the way, they came unto a certain water; and the eunuch saith, Behold, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.

who his own self bare our sins in his body upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed.

On how a person comes into Christ the Christadelphians stand on the line, and they should be credited plainly: they immerse a penitent believer, they baptize "into Christ for forgiveness of sins," and they will not baptize infants, which is Acts 2:38 and Romans 6:3-4 held when much of the world has left it. Two things they join to it are charged elsewhere, at full weight. The rule that a baptism is valid only with a knowledge of the statement's doctrines is a creed bound beside Scripture and is weighed under authority; the New Testament never asks it, for the eunuch asked "what doth hinder me to be baptized?" and was baptized on the road (Acts 8:36-38). Their rejection of Christ as a substitute is weighed under Christ shared our condemned nature, against the plain word that "his own self bare our sins in his body upon the tree" (1 Peter 2:24). The baptism is right; the account of the cross taught with it is not.

The lineage chart's questions on salvation ask who is baptized, how, and for what, and on all three the Christadelphians are on the line. The doctrinal examination before baptism belongs to what a body binds, and the atonement to who Christ is and what he did, so this chart weighs them there and does not count them twice. Obedience follows faith in the New Testament, and the Christadelphians are right that faith without works is dead; but obedience is the fruit of a forgiveness already given, not the price of it (Galatians 3:13).

And upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and prolonged his speech until midnight.

And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a communion of the body of Christ? seeing that we, who are many, are one bread, one body: for we all partake of the one bread.

But let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup.

The Christadelphians break bread every first day of the week, and Roberts's guide calls it a law of the house, which is exactly Acts 20:7: "upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread." The Supper has no priest, no sacrifice and no altar, and the elements are the bread and the cup. On the day, the frequency and the form they stand on the line, which most churches do not. The one thing to note is the table: it is fenced by the statement of faith, so that a baptized believer who is not in the fellowship may not eat. The text places the examination on the person: "let a man prove himself, and so let him eat" (1 Corinthians 11:28), and the Supper is the "communion" of the one body, in which the many share one bread (1 Corinthians 10:16-17).

And when they had appointed for them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.

For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge; if any man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children that believe, who are not accused of riot or unruly. For the bishop must be blameless, as God’s steward; not self-willed, not soon angry, no brawler, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but given to hospitality, a lover of good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled; holding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching, that he may be able both to exhort in the sound doctrine, and to convict the gainsayers.

The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.

Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops, to feed the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood.

The Christadelphians have no clergy and no body above the ecclesia, and on that they stand on the line; the apostles set up no hierarchy over the churches. They are credited for it plainly. They stand one course off the line on the eldership itself, as the lineage now records: the churches had elders appointed in every church (Acts 14:23), men who met the standards of Titus 1:5-9 and who were told, "Tend the flock of God which is among you" (1 Peter 5:2). In the ecclesia the work is passed round "a rotating selection of the more mature members," with no standing, named and qualified elders. The ecclesias are also bound to each other: a withdrawal by one is "practically the withdrawal of all," so that a doctrinal standard drawn up in Birmingham reaches into every congregation.

Roberts's guide teaches that each ecclesia is independent: "An ecclesia has no right to judge except for itself." In practice the fellowship of ecclesias has divided over the statement more than once (1885 and 1898). Where the apostles set a church in order, it was with a plurality of elders chosen for their record and character (1 Timothy 3:1-7).

speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God.

What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.

Praise him with trumpet sound: Praise him with psaltery and harp. Praise him with timbrel and dance: Praise him with stringed instruments and pipe.

The Christadelphians keep the shape of apostolic worship: prayer, readings, teaching, singing and the Supper each Sunday, with no priest, no incense and no ritual. They sing, and they ask that the mind take part: "I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also" (1 Corinthians 14:15). They stand one course off the line because the ecclesias use the piano and the organ, and their own writers assume them; the lineage row records the instruments, and this is its mean. The New Testament commands the church to sing, "singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord" (Ephesians 5:19), and it nowhere gives a church an instrument. The instruments of Psalm 150 belong to the temple. A church that wants to worship as the apostles' churches did sings, and adds nothing to the singing.

Booker answers that "God or Christ" has not commanded one way, and Hocking says the Bible "makes no clear cut prescriptions" on music. That is the reasoning of a church that treats silence as permission. The command is to sing; the New Testament names one kind of music, and the church that adds another has added to what the Lord commanded.

But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land? While it remained, did it not remain thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thy power? How is it that thou hast conceived this thing in thy heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the truth: for he shall not speak from himself; but what things soever he shall hear, these shall he speak: and he shall declare unto you the things that are to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall take of mine, and shall declare it unto you.

Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away.

Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money,

On the gifts the Christadelphians stand on the line, and the credit is plain: the miraculous gifts came "through the laying on of the apostles’ hands" (Acts 8:17-18) and passed away with them, as "they shall be done away" and "they shall cease" (1 Corinthians 13:8-10), and they do not claim them today. They are wrong that the Spirit is God's power and not a person. Peter says Ananias lied "to the Holy Spirit," and then, "thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God" (Acts 5:3-4): the Spirit is God, and a lie is told to someone. The Lord promised the Comforter who "shall teach you all things" (John 14:26), who "shall not speak from himself; but what things soever he shall hear, these shall he speak," and who "shall glorify me" (John 16:13-14); a power does not hear, keep from speaking on its own, or glorify another. He gives the gifts "even as he will" (1 Corinthians 12:11), and he says, "Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them" (Acts 13:2).

Personification. The member's site says "Personification is a common way in which concepts are described in scripture," and names Wisdom, Riches, Sin and Death. Wisdom cries in the street in a poem (Proverbs 1 and 8). John 14-16 is no poem: it is the Lord's plain teaching on the night before he died about who would take his place with the apostles. The site is right that those promises were made to the apostles, to teach them and bring things to their remembrance. But what was promised them was "another Comforter" (John 14:16), and the first Comforter was the Lord himself; the Father sends him "in my name" (John 14:26), so the Father, the Son and the one sent are three, not one. Acts 5. A Christadelphian may answer that a lie to God's power at work in the apostles is a lie to God. That accounts for the word "God" in verse 4; it does not account for the Spirit who is tempted (Acts 5:9), who "maketh intercession for the saints" and has a "mind" (Romans 8:27), and who is grieved (Ephesians 4:30). A power is not grieved, and it has no will to divide gifts by. He is named with the Father and the Son in the one name into which the church baptizes (Matthew 28:19).

Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free, there can be no male and female; for ye all are one man in Christ Jesus. And if ye are Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise.

And these shall go away into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life.

but ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable hosts of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better than that of Abel.

The Christadelphians hold that Christ will come again in person, that the dead will be raised and judged, and that the faithful will reign with him. All of this is on the line. They go beyond it in two places, and a third is left open. The statement of faith, which is their test of fellowship, binds a kingdom of Israel restored to the land, with the Jews as its center. The text does not state that, and it leans the other way: the Lord said "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36), and Paul says "if ye are Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise" (Galatians 3:29), with no distinction of Jew and Greek. Holding the view is an opinion; binding it as a clause of fellowship is the fault. And the end of the wicked is not extinction: "these shall go away into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life" (Matthew 25:46), where one word, eternal, describes both the punishment and the life.

On the first point, the Christadelphians correctly say that the resurrection is the hope. The statement's account of the intermediate state is treated under The dead are unconscious. The word "eternal" carries equal weight on both sides of Matthew 25:46, so it cannot mean "ending" on one side and "unending" on the other. The Jerusalem the church has come to is the heavenly one (Hebrews 12:22-24). How the thousand years of Revelation are read is argued among believers, and this chart does not make it a test. The pages read show a kingdom to come but do not say whether the Christadelphians deny that Christ reigns now, so this chart does not charge them with that.

The Christadelphians hold much that Scripture also teaches, and it should be said plainly. They immerse penitent believers and baptize "into Christ for forgiveness of sins," and they will not baptize infants, which most churches have not held. They break bread every first day of the week, as the church did at Troas. They have no clergy, no priesthood and no body above the congregation. They treat the Bible as the only source of knowledge of God and as free from error, and they send their members to read it daily. They confess the virgin birth, the cross, the resurrection and the return of Christ in person. They teach that the miraculous gifts came through the apostles and ended. They have no purgatory, no saints to pray to and no pope. And they take the Lord's word about not resisting evil seriously (Matthew 5:39). Their ancestor John Thomas began in Alexander Campbell's Restoration Movement, which sought the New Testament church; he went further than Campbell in some things and, as this chart finds, in others the wrong way.

Measured by the New Testament alone, the Christadelphians stand on the line in baptism, in the Supper, in having no clergy, and in holding that the gifts ended with the apostles. They stand short in the creed they bind beside Scripture, in who the Son and the Spirit are, in the atonement, in the state of the dead, and in elders and instruments. A statement of faith that has been added to and amended is the test of fellowship, and a person is not baptized unless he assents to it. The Lord Jesus is not only the man from Nazareth: he was with the Father before the world was, and the Spirit is not God's power but God. Christ did not die for himself and then for us; he bore our sins in his body on the tree. The apostles' churches sang, and no instrument is named.

These are not the failings of people who left the book alone. The Christadelphians read it more closely than most, and they have paid for their convictions. The answer to them is not to doubt that faith but to bring the last of it to the Scriptures alone: to confess with John, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1), to see the Spirit who spoke to the church as God (Acts 13:2), and to bind no one by anything but "the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints" (Jude 1:3).

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