Friday, August 08, 2003
Plymouth Brethren FAQ
www.brethrenonline.org/faqs/Brethren.htm
Shawn Abigail
October 2001
Last accessed by myself on 8 August 2003
To What Should We Be Loyal?
MacDonald, William
Kansas City: Walterick Publishers
users.bigpond.net.au/joeflorence/loyal.html
Argues that Christians should not be loyal to a specific church or denomination, but be loyal to Scripture alone. He applies this as much to Brethren assemblies as to 'denominational' churches. Membership of the church, the body of Christ, belongs to all Christians and is not institutionally based.
States the idea of the presidency of the Holy Spirit during services, who will lead in prayer, preaching etc. Argues that clerical or on-man ministry tends to stifle the Holy Spirit's power.
Scriptural Principles of Gathering or Why I Meet Among Those Known as Brethren
Gibbs, Alfred P.
1935
www.brethrenonline.org/books/GATHER.HTM
The church is not something that one joins, but an organism (the body of Christ) to which the believer is joined by the Holy Spirit at spiritual rebirth. On these grounds no Christian should be able to 'form' a church, because the church is already there in Christ. No one should be called the head of the Church because it has a Head - Christ, and its authority is the Bible: "Those who are called 'brethren' recognize and act upon the scriptural truth of the one body; and seek, not to form another body, but to own, as sufficient, what God has already formed. They therefore meet together as members of the body of Christ, in subjection to the authority of the Head, and in accordance with the principles He has laid down in His own word."
Baptism is the God-ordained symbol of a believer's death, burial and resurection with Christ. It is for believer's only. Though it does not save an individual, it is essential because commanded by Jesus and because of its spiritual significance (Paul - Romans 6). There seems to be some ambiguity on the theology of baptism.
The bread and wine of the Lord's Supper are symbols of the body and blood of Jesus, which is celebrated in order to remember Jesus and 'proclaim his death'. There is no president of the service, but Christ himself is present as the host of the supper, and the Spirit leads people in open worship. Christ is therefore believed to be present, though not locally in the bread and wine.
Shawn Abigail
October 2001
Last accessed by myself on 8 August 2003
To What Should We Be Loyal?
MacDonald, William
Kansas City: Walterick Publishers
users.bigpond.net.au/joeflorence/loyal.html
Argues that Christians should not be loyal to a specific church or denomination, but be loyal to Scripture alone. He applies this as much to Brethren assemblies as to 'denominational' churches. Membership of the church, the body of Christ, belongs to all Christians and is not institutionally based.
States the idea of the presidency of the Holy Spirit during services, who will lead in prayer, preaching etc. Argues that clerical or on-man ministry tends to stifle the Holy Spirit's power.
Scriptural Principles of Gathering or Why I Meet Among Those Known as Brethren
Gibbs, Alfred P.
1935
www.brethrenonline.org/books/GATHER.HTM
The church is not something that one joins, but an organism (the body of Christ) to which the believer is joined by the Holy Spirit at spiritual rebirth. On these grounds no Christian should be able to 'form' a church, because the church is already there in Christ. No one should be called the head of the Church because it has a Head - Christ, and its authority is the Bible: "Those who are called 'brethren' recognize and act upon the scriptural truth of the one body; and seek, not to form another body, but to own, as sufficient, what God has already formed. They therefore meet together as members of the body of Christ, in subjection to the authority of the Head, and in accordance with the principles He has laid down in His own word."
Baptism is the God-ordained symbol of a believer's death, burial and resurection with Christ. It is for believer's only. Though it does not save an individual, it is essential because commanded by Jesus and because of its spiritual significance (Paul - Romans 6). There seems to be some ambiguity on the theology of baptism.
The bread and wine of the Lord's Supper are symbols of the body and blood of Jesus, which is celebrated in order to remember Jesus and 'proclaim his death'. There is no president of the service, but Christ himself is present as the host of the supper, and the Spirit leads people in open worship. Christ is therefore believed to be present, though not locally in the bread and wine.
