church of christ creed

Men are incapable of living up to the righteousness of God on their own accord.
This was made obvious in the Old Testament where we saw the gentiles completely
turned over to paganism and idolatry and the Jews unable to live up to the stringent
standards of the Law of Moses. We do not have it in us to decide matters of
righteousness on our own, for our wisdom only proves to be foolishness when set
beside the wisdom of God. Knowing this, we do not presume to write any creed
books or to create any doctrine or form of worship or ANY innovations at all that
cannot be found within the book of books. The bible is God breathed and complete
and it is our only creed.

If we are honest, we’ll admit that we usually get into a big mess if we do the
“manly” thing and throw out the instructions that came with the new gadget we just
purchased… If we can flub up such trivial things as this, why mess around with
trying to figure out God’s will on our own when he has furnished us the instruction
manual?

The completeness and thoroughness of the Bible is not something we dreamed up.
Paul said of the scriptures when writing to the young evangelist Timothy,

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped
for every good work.” (II Timothy 3:16,17)

We realize and concede that this is stated in the context of the law and the prophets,
yet Paul claims inspiration for his writings as well. In his first letter to the church
at Corinth, he wrote:

“If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the
things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 14:
37)

Paul admonishes the Corinthians not to think their wisdom superior to his words,
not because he is necessarily smarter or wiser than them in human terms, but
because the words he speaks to them are the commandments of God! Paul spoke
to the Corinthians earlier in the same letter about the words of inspiration that came
to him by the Spirit and he is now revealing to them:

“But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the
heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him. "But
God has revealed [them] to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things,
yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the
spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except
the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit
who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us
by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but
which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.” (1
Corinthians 2:9-13)

Paul also speaks to the Ephesians of the current dispensation that was not
previously made known to men but has now been revealed to the apostles and
prophets:

“…if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was
given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I
have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my
knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to
the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and
prophets:” (Ephesians 3:2-5)

Even in Paul’s age there were those who doubted the sufficiency of the inspired
words delivered to them by the apostles and other inspired men, this prompted Paul
to warn those in Corinth, “If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let
him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of
the Lord.” (I Corinthians 14:37) He also commends the Thessalonians for their
readiness to accept the inspired words they received… “For this reason we also
thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which
you heard from us, you welcomed [it] not [as] the word of men, but as it is in
truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.” (I
Thessalonians 2:13)

The word of God is all that was needed by the early church which we can read of
in the New Testament, and it is good enough for us as well. When you visit our
services, you will never hear the will of the speaker being taught from the pulpit,
only the will of God, which we carefully learn through study of the scriptures, we
take Peter’s admonishment seriously when he writes, "For prophecy never had its
origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried by the Holy
Spirit." (II Peter 1:21) Because of this warning we will listen to the inspired writers
and not to our own thoughts or the thoughts of others.

In closing we’ll note that in James 1:25 the writer refers to something he calls “the
perfect law of liberty,” he is obviously speaking of the New Testament, since the
old testament was not a law of liberty, but a “handwriting of ordinances that was
against us…(Colossians 2:14)” James refers to it as perfect, and we are more than
willing to take him at his inspired word… aren’t you?

NOTE: You may also want to read this article: "What is the Gospel for Today?"