They believe that their group has restored the New Testament church—"the ancient order." All other groups are in error, lost, and apostate.
They reject denominationalism and believe that they themselves are not a denomination. This is an unquestioned orthodoxy and they are careful not to use the term "other denominations" as that would include themselves in the denominational world.
They often deny that there are true Christians in the denominational world.
They put very high emphasis on "wearing the right name," which means that any group that does not call itself the "church of Christ" cannot be part of the true church. (The word church in church of Christ often has a lower case c, implying that they themselves are the church universal.)
They shun the use of the historic creeds and confessions of Christendom and believe that they have no creed themselves, relying only on the Bible. Their views, however, are in print in journals and numerous tracts. And they are famous for the creed-like formula: "Hear, Believe, Repent, Confess, and Be Baptized."
The gospel is often defined in terms of what a person must do to be saved—"obey the gospel." This is distinctly different from other Christian groups who understand the gospel to be the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins.
Baptism is only by immersion and it is an unstated inference that baptism can only be performed by another member of the Church of Christ. It is crucial that the one being baptized understand that his baptism is specifically for the remission of sins. Anyone not baptized by this formula is doomed to hell. (They even pronounce the word baptized differently by placing the accent on the second syllable.)
They believe that the New Testament is primarily a new legal code—the Law of Christ—that replaces the one of the Old Testament. One must follow rigidly the New Testament by their hermeneutic formula (Bible interpretation) of "Direct Command, Approved Example, and Necessary Inference"—although exactly what examples are "approved" and what inferences are "necessary" divide the various factions within the group. No faction, however, ever provides a list of exactly what things one must do to be saved.
They believe in patternism, that is, they attempt to copy what they think the earliest Christians did in their life and worship. They find patternism to be a necessary inference that must be rigidly followed in order to be pleasing to God (and thus saved).
This approach, they believe, leads to certain important conclusions such as the prohibition of instrumental music in worship.
They generally reject the Old Testament except in such instances that they find passages in the Old Testament that lend support to their doctrine.
According to historian Richard Hughes (see bibliography), grace is understood by the CC as something that God is obligated to give the believer who is obedient—though they would not phrase it this way. They will say that we are saved by grace, but . . . . It's what comes after the "but" that is important. What comes after the "but" is not consistent among them; here are some answers they may give: (a) God's grace provides a "way" to salvation, but it's up to us to save ourselves. (b) We are saved by grace up to the time of baptism and then is up to us to maintain our salvation by obedience. (c) Our response to God's grace is essential to receive the free gift of salvation, but that response involves "works of obedience" and not "works of merit." They do not see grace as the regeneration of our dead spirits, as a work of God apart from anything we do or can do.
They may also believe that grace is what God bestows to one who has done everything he can to be obedient. Again, while they may not state it in exactly these terms, we think that it is a necessary inference from their theology; thus grace is the small remaining step that remains toward salvation after one is correctly obedient. God fills the gap with his grace. (Interestingly, this is the same view of grace held by Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses.)
When asked how they know that they are saved, they will probably say something like, "I have been obedient" or "I have been pleasing to God."
The role of Christ, and thus the atonement, was merely for the purpose of displaying God's love for man and giving him a law to obey that would bring life. Christ is said to save by furnishing man an example. He simply showed man how to save himself.
Their theology may be either semi-Pelagian (salvation by works plus God's grace) or full-Pelagian (God's grace and the righteousness of Christ may be nice to have, but are not necessary for salvation because one can save himself by obedience).
Despite their emphasis on patternism, works righteousness, the Law of Christ, and their view of grace that is similar to the pseudo-Christian cults, they deny that they are legalists.
The Holy Spirit is not well defined and is limited in his activities. The Holy Spirit is often said to be either not active today, or the Holy Spirit's activities may be limited to the words of the New Testament, or that the Spirit's activities are limited to helping us understand the Bible. In any case, they see the Holy Spirit's activities in a much more confined role than other Christians. So the Holy Spirit becomes, in a sense, the same as the Bible. There is little or no place for the Holy Spirit in regeneration or sanctification. Some even reject the notion that the Holy Spirit indwells a person, despite numerous mentions of this in the New Testament.
They deny (vehemently) the historic Christian doctrine of Original Sin, even though they may admit that (a) everyone sins, and (b) children have to be taught not to be sinful. Thus man sins, not because of any corruption in his nature, but because of his lack of understanding or simple stubbornness. This is a view they share with non-Christian groups: Muslims, communists, eastern religions, Mormons, and Jehovah's Witnesses.
go worship a statue.
t.
