Church of Christ: Encyclopedia II - Church of Christ - Hermeneutics

Church of Christ - Hermeneutics

A closer look at the Church of Christ requires an understanding of its historically accepted hermeneutic. This hermeneutic is often summarized in three parts: "Command", "Example", and "Necessary Inference".

• "Command" refers to a direct command found in the Scriptures (this being further complicated by what some mainstream evangelicals would refer to as the dispensation principle; for example, the command to build an ark was directed to Noah specifically, as opposed to being directed to Christians in general. Additionally, commands are classified as 'Specific' or 'Generic' in nature.)
• "Example" is sometimes phrased as "an approved Apostolic example." The intent here is that the apostles or 1st century Christians performed some action or engaged in some practice that was approved of (or not condemned).
• "Necessary inference" refers to some interpretational conclusion that would be necessary in order to obey a command or example.

The principle of silence is also observed by the Churches of Christ, to varying degrees. When the Bible does not specifically or indirectly allow a practice, it is considered forbidden. The disagreements within the Churches of Christ primarily derive from differences in interpretation of the meaning of "necessary inference", and the conclusions which can be rightly drawn from "silence". For example, the non-instrumental chuches of Christ agree that the absence of references to instrumental music in New Testament worship mean that their use is forbidden. (It should be noted, however, that the Independent Christian Churches and Churches of Christ do use musical instruments and do not see their use as forbidden.)

However, the New Testament is necessarily silent about many other issues, such as orphanages/children's homes, Sunday school, and congregationally-owned houses of worship ("church buildings"). In each case, the "mainstream" group has reasoned that "necessary inference" allows their use as a way of providing for otherwise-homeless children, facilitating study of the Scriptures, and providing for a reasonable and convenient setting for worship services. In each case, a dissident faction, using the "principle of silence", finds these developments to be unwarranted and sinful innovations; the most prominent of these are the non-institutional churches and the non-class churches.

Also, Churches of Christ historically do not use the Old Testament to authorize practices, relying solely on the New Testament for matters of practice. They believe that the commands of the Old Testament were to Jews only and were done away with when Christ died, pointing to verses such as Galatians 3:16-29, Ephesians 2:13-16, Colossians 2:13-14, Hebrews 7:12 and 18-22, and Hebrews 8:6-13. Thus, things used under the Old Testament by Israel in worship (instruments, incense, animal sacrifice, etc.) which are not repeated in the New Testament are not considered authorized for Christians today.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Hermeneutics", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki