Commandment-keeping
Christianity, the religion of Christian Commandment
Keepers, is a sectarian movement currently most numerous
in America but also existing in many other countries.
This movement teaches observance of Old Testament
dietary laws, holy days including Sabbath-keeping, and
maintains a sectarian approach to society. In the late
twentieth century it has been most effectively
represented by the Worldwide Church of God. That church
has recently rejected Commandment-keeping Christianity,
but many splinter groups are preserving the earlier
teachings.
Chapter One provides
a general background to the topic. The second Chapter
contrasts the views of three major Christian theologians
with those of the Commandment Keepers regarding the
relationship of Christians to Old Testament
commandments. These theologians are Thomas Aquinas,
representing mainstream Roman Catholicism, and Martin
Luther and John Calvin, representing mainstream
Protestantism. All three are viewed by Commandment
Keepers as difficient in their representation of the
authentic Christian Church of apostolic times, because
of their rejection of certain Old Testament commandments
as binding for Christians.
Chapter Three shows
that some Radical Reformation communities in their
effort to reflect more accurately the beliefs and
practices of the primitive Church, reintroduced
practices originally found in biblical Judaism. More
recently, this approach has been promulgated by the
Radio Church of God, later known as the Worldwide Church
of God, whose roots go back to nineteenth century
Adventism.
Chapter Four
presents the overall theological framework for the
Commandment-keeping Christian position. In addition to
commandment keeping, fellowships with a Worldwide Church
of God heritage usually share certain heterodox beliefs
such as annihilationism and a benign form of Anglo-Israelism.
Chapters Five, Six
and Seven respectively analyze three assumptions used by
Commandment Keepers as hermeneutical principles to
determine which Old Testament laws are obligatory for
contemporary Christians. Briefly, the principles are: 1)
a positive view of Old Testament law 2) the centrality
of Jesus Christ in God's plan of salvation and 3) a
Christ against culture perspective on the role of the
Church in society. The epilogue comments on recent
trends in Commandment-keeping Christianity.
