Key Definitions

Some of the terms Anabaptists use aren’t familiar to non-Anabaptists. Also, some of the terms I’m using on this site aren’t widely understood. So this post is meant to include short, understandable definitions of the terms as I use them. If any of these definitions aren’t clear enough, please let me know. Terms Used by …

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Development of Doctrine | Why Catholic & Orthodox Changes Fail

In a previous article, I showed that Scripture and the early church both agreed that all doctrine had been revealed to the apostles. Only Jesus and the apostles are “upstream” from doctrine; in other words, only statements by them can be taken as definitive of Christian doctrine. Everyone else is “downstream” from doctrine; our statements …

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Why Doctrine Comes from Scripture—Foundations for an Anabaptist View of Doctrinal Authority

As Christians, we believe some teachings to be true and others to be false. But how can we tell which is which? Where does true Christian doctrine come from, and can those doctrines change or develop? This article will answer those questions and offer a from-the-ground-up defense for the view that Christian doctrine comes from …

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Do Post-Nicene Fathers Exemplify Apostolic Christianity?

The Eastern Orthodox Church bases much of their theology on the “Fathers.” Typically, this means Christian writers who lived before approximately the 800s. The most influential church fathers for them tend to be those who lived and wrote between 325 and 787, when the first and last of the seven ecumenical councils took place. Some …

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Standards & Ordnung

Anabaptists have a distinctive set of beliefs based on our plain reading of Scripture. However, many Anabaptist churches, especially those that are considered Conservative Anabaptist (see the definition in this article), have church standards (called Ordnung by the Amish) over and above the New Testament requirements. Sometimes these are written rules; sometimes they are unwritten. …

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