Spiritus Naturae
May 10th 2004, 07:16 PM
For those of us familiar with the "Restoration Movement" and it's 'offspring' (Acapella Churches of Christ, Disciples of Christ, Christian Church etc) this article is quite informative and raises some wonderful questions for those within these congregations. The writings of people like Gary Freeman, Roy Bowen Ward, Don Haymes and others have been a great help to me in trying to understand the hermenuetic an mindset of this 'Movement'.
Introduction
In 1804 Barton W. Stone and five other preachers determined to dissolve the Springfield Presbytery. In "The Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery" was included an item: "We will, that the people henceforth take the Bible as the only sure guide to heaven . . ."(1) Five years later Thomas Campbell published the "Declaration and Address" for the Christian Association of Washington, Pennsylvania. Campbell wrote:
Our desire therefore, for ourselves and our brethren would be, that rejecting human opinions and inventions of men as of any authority, or as having any place in the Church of God, we might forever cease from further contentions about such things; returning to and holding fast by the original standard; taking the Divine word alone for our rule . . .(2)
From these historical beginnings there came a movement to restore New Testament Christianity, using only the Bible as authoritative. The principle of this Restoration Movement soon became captured in the motto "Back to the Bible."
Generally speaking, the validity of the Restoration Principle appears to have been taken for granted by most within the Restoration Movement. The motto "Back to the Bible" has been effective, especially among Protestants who already stood in the tradition of Luther's sola scriptura. A thorough critical analysis of the Restoration Principle is certainly appropriate if this principle is to be taken seriously.(3) However, the nature of the task is one that should involve the joint work of men trained in several disciplines: biblical studies, church history in general, American church history in particular, theology and philosophy. This article is written from the viewpoint of NT studies and ancient church history. It is offered as a suggestive problematic essay, not as the definitive solution.
Explicit Textual Basis for the Restoration Principle
In the spirit of the Restoration Movement, it should be appropriate to begin from a NT point of view. But if one starts exclusively with the NT, certain problems immediately present themselves. Nowhere does the NT provide explicit scriptural basis for the Restoration Principle--that is, there is no text within the NT which states explicitly that later generations should go "Back to the Bible," nor are there examples of this principle at work within the NT material (since the NT qua NT did not yet exist).(4)
Appeal has been made to •texts which employ such terms as euaggelion, logos, didache, etc., as providing the rationale. The assumption that these texts explicitly support the Restoration Principle is probably due in large measure to the contemporary use of the terms "Gospel," "the word," and "doctrine" as synonyms for the "New Testament." But this usage is nowhere to be seen in the texts of the NT itself. euaggelion in the NT (e.g., Rom 1:16; I Cor 15:1; etc.) always refers to a message preached, not to a book or collection of books(5)--nor even to the broad range of contents included in the NT.(6) The term logos has a wider range of meanings,(7) referring sometimes to Jesus (John 1:1), the Christian message (=euaggelion) (Acts 6:2; I Cor 14:36; etc.), etc. Where logos refers to books, usually the reference is to the OT, and the term logos is modified in such a way as to make the reference clear: "the word of Isaiah" (John 12:88); "the word which is written in the Law" (John 15:25); "the prophetic word" (2 Pet 1:19); "the word which is written" (I Cor 15:54); "the words of the prophets" (Acts 15:15); "the words of Isaiah" (Lk 3:4). In addition, the contents of one book in the NT, the Revelation to John, is referred to as "words of prophecy" (Rev 1:3) and "the words of this book" (Rev 22:7; etc.).
The expression didache tou christou in 2 John 9 is sometimes used to support the Restoration Principle, but this passage is ill-chosen. A. J. Malherbe has shown that this text was directed against docetic heretics who denied that Jesus Christ had come in the flesh. Malherbe thus paraphrases: "Everyone who is so progressive that he does not continue to hold the doctrine of the incarnation of Christ does not have a knowledge of God."(8)
At this point a historical question ought to be raised. Did the early Restoration leaders begin the movement because they found the Restoration Principle in the NT or because they were reacting to a certain historical situation, viz., disunity among those who called themselves Christians?(9) Historical documents, such as the Last Will and Testament, the Declaration and Address, and numerous other sources would seem to suggest that the latter was the case. Faced with such problems, they employed the Bible to achieve their purposes, but it may be questioned whether or not the initial impetus to the movement came simply from a discovery of the Restoration Principle within the text of the NT.
Another group of NT texts which speak in general of a "falling away" have been employed to provide a rationale for the Restoration Principle. These texts have functioned thus: a) the NT foresees a falling away; b) this necessarily means that a restoration is called for; c) the NT should be the criterion for this restoration. The Restorers identified this "falling away" with developments within church history which produced the Roman Catholic Church and later the various Protestant denominations.
The article in it's entirety can be seen here (complete with reference notes) at: http://www.restorationquarterly.org/Volume_008/rq00804ward.htm
Any opinions/insight? :wink:
Jonathan
Introduction
In 1804 Barton W. Stone and five other preachers determined to dissolve the Springfield Presbytery. In "The Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery" was included an item: "We will, that the people henceforth take the Bible as the only sure guide to heaven . . ."(1) Five years later Thomas Campbell published the "Declaration and Address" for the Christian Association of Washington, Pennsylvania. Campbell wrote:
Our desire therefore, for ourselves and our brethren would be, that rejecting human opinions and inventions of men as of any authority, or as having any place in the Church of God, we might forever cease from further contentions about such things; returning to and holding fast by the original standard; taking the Divine word alone for our rule . . .(2)
From these historical beginnings there came a movement to restore New Testament Christianity, using only the Bible as authoritative. The principle of this Restoration Movement soon became captured in the motto "Back to the Bible."
Generally speaking, the validity of the Restoration Principle appears to have been taken for granted by most within the Restoration Movement. The motto "Back to the Bible" has been effective, especially among Protestants who already stood in the tradition of Luther's sola scriptura. A thorough critical analysis of the Restoration Principle is certainly appropriate if this principle is to be taken seriously.(3) However, the nature of the task is one that should involve the joint work of men trained in several disciplines: biblical studies, church history in general, American church history in particular, theology and philosophy. This article is written from the viewpoint of NT studies and ancient church history. It is offered as a suggestive problematic essay, not as the definitive solution.
Explicit Textual Basis for the Restoration Principle
In the spirit of the Restoration Movement, it should be appropriate to begin from a NT point of view. But if one starts exclusively with the NT, certain problems immediately present themselves. Nowhere does the NT provide explicit scriptural basis for the Restoration Principle--that is, there is no text within the NT which states explicitly that later generations should go "Back to the Bible," nor are there examples of this principle at work within the NT material (since the NT qua NT did not yet exist).(4)
Appeal has been made to •texts which employ such terms as euaggelion, logos, didache, etc., as providing the rationale. The assumption that these texts explicitly support the Restoration Principle is probably due in large measure to the contemporary use of the terms "Gospel," "the word," and "doctrine" as synonyms for the "New Testament." But this usage is nowhere to be seen in the texts of the NT itself. euaggelion in the NT (e.g., Rom 1:16; I Cor 15:1; etc.) always refers to a message preached, not to a book or collection of books(5)--nor even to the broad range of contents included in the NT.(6) The term logos has a wider range of meanings,(7) referring sometimes to Jesus (John 1:1), the Christian message (=euaggelion) (Acts 6:2; I Cor 14:36; etc.), etc. Where logos refers to books, usually the reference is to the OT, and the term logos is modified in such a way as to make the reference clear: "the word of Isaiah" (John 12:88); "the word which is written in the Law" (John 15:25); "the prophetic word" (2 Pet 1:19); "the word which is written" (I Cor 15:54); "the words of the prophets" (Acts 15:15); "the words of Isaiah" (Lk 3:4). In addition, the contents of one book in the NT, the Revelation to John, is referred to as "words of prophecy" (Rev 1:3) and "the words of this book" (Rev 22:7; etc.).
The expression didache tou christou in 2 John 9 is sometimes used to support the Restoration Principle, but this passage is ill-chosen. A. J. Malherbe has shown that this text was directed against docetic heretics who denied that Jesus Christ had come in the flesh. Malherbe thus paraphrases: "Everyone who is so progressive that he does not continue to hold the doctrine of the incarnation of Christ does not have a knowledge of God."(8)
At this point a historical question ought to be raised. Did the early Restoration leaders begin the movement because they found the Restoration Principle in the NT or because they were reacting to a certain historical situation, viz., disunity among those who called themselves Christians?(9) Historical documents, such as the Last Will and Testament, the Declaration and Address, and numerous other sources would seem to suggest that the latter was the case. Faced with such problems, they employed the Bible to achieve their purposes, but it may be questioned whether or not the initial impetus to the movement came simply from a discovery of the Restoration Principle within the text of the NT.
Another group of NT texts which speak in general of a "falling away" have been employed to provide a rationale for the Restoration Principle. These texts have functioned thus: a) the NT foresees a falling away; b) this necessarily means that a restoration is called for; c) the NT should be the criterion for this restoration. The Restorers identified this "falling away" with developments within church history which produced the Roman Catholic Church and later the various Protestant denominations.
The article in it's entirety can be seen here (complete with reference notes) at: http://www.restorationquarterly.org/Volume_008/rq00804ward.htm
Any opinions/insight? :wink:
Jonathan