Book: Beresford Job's Biblical Church - 1

In this series, I'll review Biblical Church: A Challenge to Unscriptural Traditions and Practice, by Beresford Job, chapter by chapter.

Job is a long-time house church elder, and has been active in promoting the idea of New Testament church. He is, I take it, one of the founders of the Chigwell Christian Fellowship in England. The book, it seems, is based on his series of lectures called Traditions.

I once heard him teach at a house church conference and instantly took a liking to him. He's got the accent of Roger Daltrey, the humor and front tooth gap of David Letterman, and the heart of Paul of Tarsus. He oozes practical wisdom and common sense, and is always eager to pass on his practical experiences as well as New Testament teaching on Christian life. He's not a scholar and doesn't pretend to be one (he has too much personality to!), but he's made good use of a lot of scholarship, as we'll see.

So order the book (mine came quickly) and follow along - join in the discussion! We'll start in a few days, and take our time.

The book is a bold one. It aims to prove that the prevailing traditions of church life followed by most Christians "are based on teachings which have little or nothing to do with the Bible." The traditions aren't just non- but are largely anti-biblical, "virtually the opposite" of what the New Testament teaches on church life. (15) While he holds that the Reformation restored a correct doctrine of justification and faith, the idea of sola scriptura never was allowed to reform church practice.

Bold words!

Next time: 2 laws, 2 sources, 1 ultimate authority.