What make 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.
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 holy men of God spoke as they were moved 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.
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.
* To confirm this, visit www.catholic.com.
