How to become a Christadelphian

After having followed the series “Key to the Bible” and having read Concluding thought by the article series “Key to the Bible” you might wonder how to become a Christadelphian.

Being a Christadelphian requires a great commitment. first of all a commitment to God, second a commitment to Christ and the a commitment to the unity of brethren and sisters in Christ. It has to become a lifetime commitment whereby you want to put yourself under Christ.

When wanting to become a Christadelphian or Brother/Sister in Christ you should know you shall have to consider all human beings equal. For people under Christ there is no place for discrimination or inequality. To get the same love of Christ should be the aim of a person who claims to be a follower of Christ, and that is what a Christadelphian should be.

Like Jesus knew very well the Word of God, a Christadelphian should make every effort to come to know the Word of God, as presented in the Bible, very well. The gospel should the main focus and one of the key elements to let others know as well. For Brethren in Christ the full bible (Old and New Testament) is the most important Guide for life and should be embraced and shared with others in, but also outside the Christadelphian and Christian community.

As followers of Jesus and his first disciples a Christadelphian is very much aware of the need to preach the gospel of Jesus, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. Each member of the Christadelphian community welcomes that given Word by God and let their faith rest on it and not on doctrines presented by theologians or by churches. Becoming under the gospel of salvation to be a Christadelphian it is required to hold fast and keep firmly to what Jesus and his apostles preached to mankind. (1 Corinthians 15:1-4)

The apostle Paul also warns us to be wary of the many “false gospels” that are being offered to the unsuspecting. As a brother in Christ you have to be aware of the possible false teachings which are in the world. The community of Christadelphians does not forbid to read books or writings from other believers or religious groups. We even advice always to research all sayings, even those of members of the community. Not that they would not be too trustworthy and that you should not view everything with suspicion. But that you always should be alert for when some false teaching would enter the community.

⁸But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel ^[a]contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be ^[b]accursed! ⁹As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel ^[c]contrary to what you received, he is to be ^[d]accursed! (Galatians 1:8-9 NASB)

As the pure gospel of Jesus Christ — his death on the stake for sinners and his resurrection to everlasting life — is central to the Christian faith, a Christadelphian shall try to convince others that Jesus is the way to God and that we need Jesus for our salvation.

What many in Christendom do forget, but what is essential for a lover of God, and what is quite simply, is the knowledge and the belief that there is only one True God, the God of Israel whose Name is Holy or sanctified.

³“You shall have no other gods ^[a]before Me. (Exodus 20:3 NASB)

states the bible very powerfully. For God there is no place for other gods to be worshipped. Monotheism is the belief that there is only one God to be worshipped and served.

The El-Shaddai, God Almighty may at first not having given His redemptive name, but later He made Himself known to the people in acts and great miracles. He also wants His Name declared or proclaimed throughout all the earth (Exodus 9.16). A Christadelphian is willing to help to get the Name of God and the name of Christ to be known all over the earth.

⁸I am Jehovah, that is my name; and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise unto graven images. (Isaiah 42:8 ASV)

When you want to become a Christadelphian you have to be a witness for Jehovah and willing to be a servant for the Most High God. You shall have to accept that Jehovah is the sole Divine Creator and that the many gods or important figures of which some are also mentioned in the Bible (like Angels, Moses, Pharaoh, Apollo, Zeus, Baal, Jesus) may be called gods and some even be worshipped as gods by people, but that before Jehovah no god was formed, nor shall there be any after Him or to be worshipped as God.

¹⁰Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. (Isaiah 43:10 ASV)

All other “gods” are false and are no able gods at all.

⁵For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or on earth; as there are gods many, and lords many; ⁶yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we unto him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through him. (1 Corinthians 8:5-6 ASV).

In case you want to become a Christadelphian you should accept Jesus as your master teacher, accepting him as your “master” or Lord, through whom all things came and through whom we live. You have to accept that it is his ransom offer that brought salvation over mankind and that God made him higher than angels and took him into heaven to be seated next to Him, at His right hand to be a mediator between God and man and to be a high-priest for Him. Though Jesus may have been made higher than angels it shall always be God Who was, is and always shall be the Most High.

That they may know that ^[a]thou alone, whose name is Jehovah, Art the Most High over all the earth. (Psalm 83.18 ASV)

As a Christadelphian you shall take it as a serious fact to not use God’s Name unworthily, lightly or frivolously, in false affirmations or profanely.

⁷Thou shalt not take the name of Jehovah thy God ^[a]in vain; for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name ^[b]in vain. (Exodus 20.7 ASV)

As a person wanting to be a follower of Christ (a Jeshuaist or Christian), Scripture should be at the centre of your life. God has spoken to us through His Word, and His Word tells us Who He is, who Jesus is, who we are, and how we are to live our lives to grow in faith and to enter the Kingdom of God.

Wanting to become a Christadelphian you shall be willing to learn more about God and His Will. You shall be willing to study the Word of God and to discuss it with others so that you shall be able to discover gifts and abilities you have, to serve God and His people. This may help guide you as you consider your future career path, your ministry involvement, your relationships, and your passions and goals.

When wanting to become a Christadelphian your faith should make sense in the context of what you are learning and studying and you shall have to become an example to others, in the same way as Jesus was an example for us.

Wanting to become part of the body of believers in Jesus Christ whose faith is based wholly on the Bible, you shall have to accept the words of the Bible and live by faith in Jesus Christ, according to his teaching and those of his followers from the first century of this common era. You shall also have to believe like them that those who follow Jesus and his apostles, looking for strength and forgiveness from God, may confidently place their hope in Christ’s return to the earth, when he will grant eternal life to his people and establish the long-awaited Kingdom of God here on earth.

When accepting that man is mortal and sinful, in need of salvation and unable to save himself, you shall give recognition that salvation has come unto us by the ransom offering of Christ. Believing that when man dies, his existence ends until the day of resurrection from the dead. Jesus’s perfect life, sacrificial death and resurrection to immortality guarantees that man’s twin enemies (his sinfulness, sometimes referred to as the devil, and his mortality), have been altogether conquered.

As a candidate to become a Christadelphian you shall have to accept the position of the son of man and son of God, Jesus being the only begotten Son of God, who shared every aspect of our nature, and was sinless.

God’s desire to save mankind is evident in the gracious promises He made, particularly to Abraham and David. These promises concern God’s plan with mankind, His Kingdom on earth with Christ as King, and the way in which man can share these promises. When you want to become a Christadelphian you shall accept those forefathers, the patriarch Abraham, as people of faith, who fitted in that Plan of God.

Furthermore you must demonstrate your belief and need of forgiveness by asking for God’s pardon, and by being baptised by full immersion in water, confessing your faults or sins. When having pity of previous sins you also shall have to commit yourself to live according the Will of God, following His commandments. Only then shall you be able to belong to God and shall have become an heir of the promises made to Abraham. As such you shall be able with many brothers and sisters all over the world to wait in patience for God’s coming Kingdom.