Welcome to the "Housechurch Interchange" and thank you for your post! You have touched on a very vital topic! The Lord Jesus spoke of a very similar contrast in His day. He charged religious people of His day with setting aside the commandments of God for the sake of their own traditions! You have mentioned scriptural doctrines versus "principles" or practices instituted by men.

Many people think that it would be absolutely heretical not to have "Sunday school", not to have worship music before "the message" and for a congregation not to have a "duly elected board of elders"! But I know of many scriptural gatherings of believers which have none of those things!

Sunday schools began as a very good thing. Christians reached out into their communities with a burden to reach street children. They gathered them into warehouses and halls to teach them about Christ. Originally, the churches would have nothing to do with them and "good church people" wouldn't even dream of sending their children to such gatherings!

But today it is usually the reverse! Sunday schools are THE major CHURCH PROGRAM for children of churched families! Sunday schools are often the only Christian education which children of church going people receive! Many parents have abdicated their responsibility to teach the scriptures to their own children because, "They get all they need in Sunday school!!!"

Could I also comment on the subject of "doctrine"? You have mentioned two Christian doctrines: the deity of Christ and Atonement, and also that our major Christian doctrines are BASED ON scripture. I have discovered that almost every doctrine (based on scripture) which is found in any creed or doctrinal statement is a false doctrine! If it is simply based on scripture rather than a statement of the very words of scripture, it will be just like "Eve's Creed" (Gen.3:2,3) which was based on scripture (Gen.2:16,17). Creeds and doctrinal statements always follow the pattern of Eve's creed in that they change, add to and subtract from what God has stated in His Word!

Take the doctrine of "Atonement" for example. If you were to ask ten Christians in any gathering of believers with which you are familiar, I doubt if even one in ten has any idea what atonement actually is! Many would tell you that it is "redemption" or "salvation". Many theologians would tell you that it means to be "made AT ONE with God"! But it means none of those things! The Day of Atonement (YOM KIPPUR) was the day of COVERING when, once a year, Israel's sin was covered. The purpose of that covering was so God could be righteously long-suffering with them for another year rather than allowing His wrath to fall in judgment upon them immediately! The whole nation of Israel was atoned for, but none of them were thereby made right with God, justified, or forgiven! And whenever any Israelite died in their sins, atonement was no longer efficacious for them. Atonement only lasted while a person lived. So too, in Christ, atonement has been provided for all men. That is why God can righteously be longsuffering toward us not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But if a man dies in his sins, the Lord Jesus declared, "Where I am, ye cannot come."

Many also speak of "substitutionary" atonement. Here is a good example of a word which never appears in scripture which has been added to attempt to explain what God actually meant! (i.e. The Holy Spirit really didn't do a very good job of explaining Himself!) We all know what a substitute is: -one who takes the place of another. But every "substitute" with which we are familiar (substitute teachers, nannies, or even plywood which replaces a broken window) take the place of another TO DO SOMETHING THE ORIGINAL COULD DO! The Lord Jesus was NOT our substitute! He did not come to do something for us which normally we were able to do for ourselves! He came to do something for us which WE NEVER COULD HAVE DONE! So it always far better to simply state our doctrines in the very words of scripture rather than to state our doctrines in our own words which we think are "based on" scripture! . i.e. "Christ died FOR the ungodly." "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just FOR the unjust that he might bring us to God."

As far as deriving "principles" from scripture for our practices today, I believe an excellent way to do that is to build our church practices on practices which find both precept and practice, instruction and illustration, exhortation and example in the words of scripture. I'm also convinced that judging and evaluating our existing practices by the same sort of standard is a very healthy habit to cultivate!

Trust this will be a help to you, brother. Hope you'll be a regular visitor and contributor here!

Your servant for Jesus' sake,
Bruce Woodford
Norwich, Ontario, Canada