Monthly Archives: April 2009

 The Biblical Situation             When one seeks to develop an idea of the biblical structure of the Church one encounters a problem.  Clearly the Bible speaks of “servants” (generally just transliterated into English as “deacons”, 1 Tim. 3:8) and “elders” (generally … Continue reading →

  The doctrine of individual soul liberty (sometimes called “soul competency”) is the belief that each individual is ultimately and personally responsible to God.  Given this, it would be inappropriate for human persons or institutions to set themselves up as … Continue reading →

 When Christ established His Church He provided it with both His teachings and a number of sacred rituals for its guidance.  These rituals, sometimes called “sacraments” (from the Latin for “to consecrate”), sometimes called “ordinances” (from the Latin for “to … Continue reading →

            During the medieval period, a serious division was introduced into Christ’s Church.  This division was not so much between one region and another region or one theological position and another theological position.  Instead this particular division cut through each … Continue reading →

The Old Order               From about the year AD 150 to 1500 the Church was uniformly organized along geographic lines.  Generally speaking a number of local congregations were clustered together into what is called a diocese under the authority … Continue reading →

             The center of the Christian faith is Jesus Christ.  Christ’s life, death, and resurrection form the core of our beliefs and it’s only through His person and work that we are lead to other theological issues.  Of course, since … Continue reading →

 This series of posts is based on a series of Wednesday night studies centering on the Baptist tradition.  The first article in this series concerns the various views of Baptist origins and an overview of distinctly Baptist doctines and following … Continue reading →