A Concordance Approach to the Scriptures
I found the passage below at http://www.culthelp.info while I was looking for information on the International Church of Christ.
Reading this passage was a light-bulb moment for me. It helps explain so much of what's wrong with the COC and its approach to scripture. First, the concordance/blueprint approach essentially negates the role of faith. What faith does it take to follow a blueprint? If we believe that salvation can be earned through performing certain acts and following certain rules, then we are being saved by works, not faith.
Second, this approach negates God's grace. If salvation is merely a matter of human knowledge and performance of a set of rules, then God has no role to play in our salvation. Again, we are earning it entirely through works, through punching our time cards in the church.
Third, the concordance approach is the reason why people in the COC have to engage in tortuous mental gymnastics to reconcile scriptures that contradict each other--because they're taking things out of context and comparing apples to oranges. They have failed to realize that just because the same word appears in two verses does not mean that those verses are talking about the same thing. Those two verses were probably written hundreds of years apart in very different socioeconomic and political climates, and unless you are a student of ancient Hebrew and Greek, you have no idea whether the words that were translated the same into English actually referred to the same thing in the original language. Pinning your salvation on a concordance is a perilous thing...
| Quote: |
| Like Campbell, the Churches of Christ also viewed the Bible as a collection of facts. Common was a "concordance approach" to the Bible which indiscriminately strung together New Testament texts based on the appearance of a single English word or phrase with little or no regard for the historical context, the author's intention, or the literary form or function. [112] Thus, disconnected texts could be strung together into codified doctrinal "facts." For with this method the New Testament became essentially a law book or divine constitution for the church, with most of the doctrinal "facts" reduced to a level of equal importance. The Bible became atomized, broken up into separate little bits of doctrine which could be codified into law. It became a document filled with workable formulas, neat blueprints, a document above all eminently rational and suited, many thought, to the new scientific way of knowing. [113] This view of the Bible had consequences not only for the mainline Churches of Christ, but also for the Boston Movement, which would also emphasize doctrinal perfection and human performance. The focus began to fall heavily on obeying the laws, building by the blueprint, working the formulas, and knowing all the right "facts," in short, upon human knowledge and performance. [114] |
Reading this passage was a light-bulb moment for me. It helps explain so much of what's wrong with the COC and its approach to scripture. First, the concordance/blueprint approach essentially negates the role of faith. What faith does it take to follow a blueprint? If we believe that salvation can be earned through performing certain acts and following certain rules, then we are being saved by works, not faith.
Second, this approach negates God's grace. If salvation is merely a matter of human knowledge and performance of a set of rules, then God has no role to play in our salvation. Again, we are earning it entirely through works, through punching our time cards in the church.
Third, the concordance approach is the reason why people in the COC have to engage in tortuous mental gymnastics to reconcile scriptures that contradict each other--because they're taking things out of context and comparing apples to oranges. They have failed to realize that just because the same word appears in two verses does not mean that those verses are talking about the same thing. Those two verses were probably written hundreds of years apart in very different socioeconomic and political climates, and unless you are a student of ancient Hebrew and Greek, you have no idea whether the words that were translated the same into English actually referred to the same thing in the original language. Pinning your salvation on a concordance is a perilous thing...
Comments
I have found it to be beneficial to study a word and see how it is used both differently and the same throughout Scripture.
Perhaps in your struggle or search to grow, it would be helpful to be thankful to the COC for something. For me my upbringing caused me to memorize scripture- for which I can be thankful. Even if the application of those scriptures were false. Now as the Holy Spirit works in my life- and I have a long ways to go, The Holy Spirit has something to work with. Romans 15 says that Faith cometh by hearing. So my point is perhaps it helps to be thankful for some of the good things.
God brought you into the COC so that he could use you better later. He has now brought you our. Perhaps you can get excited about the Plans that God has for you and look for how he is going to use you. Continuing to Search for Truth.