James H. Cagle
“For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing. For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1: 8-10 KJV).
Biblical Christianity is Bible based. It’s not an invention, a set of codes or creeds, or a standard set up by religion. It’s Christians within a religious organization called the church that adheres wholeheartedly to sound Bible preaching and teaching.
Everything with a Christian label is not Christian. For Christianity to be true Christianity it must be biblical Christianity. Biblical Christianity gets its message, methods, and mission from the Bible. Biblical Christianity does not add to or take from the Bible, which would be to compromise the truth, in order to please the flesh or to please men. Biblical Christianity is able to back up everything it does with God’s Word, which is its authority.
The church at Thessalonica gives us an example of biblical Christianity. Their response to the Word is a pattern that should be followed by all believers. Though they had no Bible as we have today, they did have the Old Testament and had received the oral teaching of Paul on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. They had received the gospel message.
In Macedonia and Achaia and everywhere else those they won to Christ mirrored what they themselves believed, taught, and lived; biblical Christianity. They like Paul reproduced after their kind.
What is biblical Christianity? It’s repentance. It’s forsaking all idols, those on the ground and in our mind and putting our faith in the only true and living God. It’s service. It’s giving our time, tithes, and talents to further the cause of Christ. It’s hope. It’s a hopeful waiting for the imminent return of Jesus Christ, who took the wrath of God for our sins upon Himself on Calvary that we might be saved. And John says this hope is the impetus for holy living (1 Jn. 3: 3).
