BRETHREN

BRETHREN

By David W. Cloud

[The following is from the Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible & Christianity, David W. Cloud, copyright 1994, Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org. This material cannot be placed on BBC or web sites without express permission of the author.]

DESCENDANTS OF GERMAN SEPARATISTS. "American descendants of early German Protestants, the Brethren are authentic Pietists. ... Brethren do not emphasize tight doctrinal standards. ... They live in a simple, unadorned life. In their early decades in Europe and America, Brethren were separatists from the state church and conventional churches. ... Dunker is a direct derivation of the German tunken, `to dip or immerse,' and is identified with the peculiar method of immersion employed by this group of churches--triple immersion--in which the believer is immersed not once but three times, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. ... It might be said generally that these Dunkers, or Brethren, are former German Reformed bodies which took their theology and much of their practice from the Pietists of the 17th and 18th centuries. Most Pietists were Lutherans who had become unhappy with the formal worship and ritual in their state church and the general `barrenness' of German Protestantism. They took the N.T. literally and endeavored to put its teachings into practice, even in the least detail of their living. ... From those German Pietists came Church of the Brethren, Brethren Church, Old German Baptist Brethren, and Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches. Another group historically unrelated to these, known as River Brethren, also took its ideology from the German Pietists. That group includes Brethren in Christ, Old Order Brethren, and United Zion Church" (Handbook of Denominations). Some of the Brethren distinctives are foot washing, plainness of dress and the disavowal of worldly fashions, head coverings on women, anointing the sick, eschewing worldly amusements, refusing to take oaths, pacifism and refusal to go to war. As with the Amish and Mennonites, there is a general tendency for these European Brethren descendants to retain only the outward form of their past spirituality, and to be barren today of the new birth.

MENNONITE BRETHREN. Anabaptists which trace their roots through the 16th century Reformation in Europe and beyond that to separatist Christian movements such as the Waldensians. Mennonite historian John Horsch made this connection: "As the author of the article 'Anabaptists' in the Encyclopedia Britannica points out, 'the continuity of a sect is to be traced in its principles.' Considered from this aspect, the continuity of the Waldensian denomination in the evangelical Anabaptists and Mennonites cannot be questioned. The two denominations represented a similar faith and practice. ... Indeed the rise of the Anabaptist movement is to be, at least indirectly, ascribed to Waldensian influences. Such is the opinion of a number of prominent historians, among them the late Professor Ernst Troeltsch of the University of Berlin, Germany" (Mennonites in Europe, 1942, pp. 14,15). The first Mennonite congregation of historical record was organized at Zurich, Switzerland, in 1525; it consisted of Swiss Brethren who disagreed with Ulrich Zwingli in his readiness to consent to a union of church and state. They also denied the scriptural validity of infant baptism and hence were labeled Anabaptists, or Re-baptizers. Anabaptist congregations were organized in Holland by Obbe Philips as early as 1534. Philips baptized Menno Simons (1496-1561) in 1536, and Simons, a converted Roman Catholic priest, organized so many Anabaptist congregations that his name became identified with the movement. Because they rejected infant baptism and statism, the Mennonites were persecuted by the Protestant Reformers as well as by the Roman Catholic Church. Many crossed over to England at the invitation of Henry VIII, but they met bitter persecution there as they had in Germany, Holland, and Switzerland. In 1683 the first Mennonite families settled in America, and Mennonite immigrants quickly spread across Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, Indiana, Illinois, as well as into Canada. The 18 articles of the Mennonite faith, signed in Dordrecht, Holland, in 1632, includes the belief in the fall of man, the deity of Christ, the necessity of repentance and regeneration for salvation, baptism as a public testimony of faith, Heaven, and Hell. Many Mennonites today practice baptism by pouring; they refuse to take oaths; oppose secret societies; take the Lord's supper two times a year; and practice feet-washing in conjunction with the Lord's Supper (Handbook.) There are many groups of Mennonites today, among which exist a wide variety of belief and practice.

AMISH. The Amish movement within the ranks of the Mennonites takes its name from Jacob Amman, a Swiss Mennonite bishop of the late 17th century. Many Amish, distinguished by their severely plain clothing, are found in the Conservative Amish Mennonite Church and Old Order Amish Mennonite Church. they are still the literalists of the movement, clinging tenaciously to the `Pennsylvania Dutch' language and 17th-century culture of their Swiss-German forebears. They oppose automobiles, telephones, and higher education, and are recognized as extremely efficient farmers (Handbook of Denominations).

PLYMOUTH BRETHREN. The Plymouth Brethren is a Christian movement which originated in England in the 19th century. According to Roy Huebmer, a Brethren historian and author of Precious Truths Revived and Defended Through J.N. Darby, this movement can be traced to 1827 when John Nelson Darby (1800-1882) and three other men began to conduct Bible studies and to break bread together in Dublin. Darby was the grandson of Lord Nelson of Trafalgar fame. He gave up a law practice to work as a deacon in the Church of England and to preach and do visitation work. He left the Anglican Church in the summer of 1827. He never married, and he used his personal estate to support himself. Eventually Darby moved to Plymouth, England, and the church he established there grew to over 1,200 members by 1845. Darby was a diligent student and prolific writer. William Kelly compiled and published 34 large volumes of J.N. Darby's works (in the Collected Writings). Seven volumes of Darby's Notes and Comments were published from his notebooks posthumously. Darby also produced translations of the Bible in German, French, and English. The Darby English translation follows the Received Text for the most part, though it does contain a number of Westcott-Hort omissions and other textual departures from the TR. For example, the eunuch's testimony in Ac 8:37 is omitted, as is the trinity statement of 1 Jn. 5:7. He did not intend that his versions replace the Luther German and King James English translations; his stated goal was to provide very literal interpretations of the Hebrew and Greek to aid Christians in Bible study.

"As a result of a division in England in 1848, there are two basic types of Brethren assemblies, commonly known as exclusive and open. Led in the beginning by Darby, the exclusive assemblies produced most of the movement's well-known Bible teachers--Kelly, Grant, Mackintosh, [Darby himself], and others. ... Open assemblies were led by George Muller, well known for his orphanages and life of faith. ... today there are an estimated 850 open assemblies in the U.S. with only 250 exclusive" (Handbook).

"Within these churches, the common terminology is simply Brethren, or assemblies, or Brethren assemblies. The term Plymouth Brethren is not used by the Brethren themselves, but was a label outsiders gave to them in Plymouth, England. The matter of names is a sensitive issue among Brethren, reflecting a historical emphasis on the unity of all believers. The early Brethren envisioned a basis for Christian unity--not in the ecumenical merging of denominations, but rather in forsaking denominational structures and names in order to meet simply as Christians. ... names like Bible Chapel or Gospel Hall, usually prefixed with the name of a city, community, street, or some biblical term like Grace, Bethel, or Bethany, are preferred to Church when naming a building" (Ibid.).

The Brethren have been zealous for Bible doctrine and hold to the evangelical Bible faith in areas such as Inspiration, Salvation, God, the Trinity, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, Resurrection, Heaven, and Hell. Though Bible prophecy was interpreted allegorically by most Christians in the 19th century, the Brethren were instrumental in popularizing the dispensational method of interpretation, which views biblical history as dispensations or eras in which God has been worked out His purposes through men, and which interprets Bible prophecy in a consistent literal-historical manner. The Brethren believe that God's promises to the nation Israel will be fulfilled literally, that the Tribulation and Millennium will be fulfilled literally. The Brethren emphasized the imminent coming of Christ for His own in the Rapture of the saints, though they did not fall into the error of setting dates. The writings of Darby, William Kelly, C.H. Mackintosh, and other Brethren dispensationalists had a powerful influence on C.I. Scofield, and these views are reflected in the popular Scofield Reference Bible of 1909. Another well-known Brethren was Sir Robert Anderson, who was chief of Scotland Yard and who wrote books on Bible prophecy which were widely distributed.

Some of the distinctives of the Plymouth Brethren movement are as follows: (1) The remembrance meeting held each Sunday, during which the Lord's Supper is received. All men of the assembly are free to take part in the service and to testify. (2) Though the Brethren believe in preachers, they do not believe in strong pastoral leadership. The assemblies are ruled by a plurality of elders. They reject any form of clergy/laity divisions, and refuse the title "Reverend." Brethren preachers normally receive no regular salary. (3) Many of the Plymouth Brethren have been opposed to the use of musical instruments, which they traced to the influence of Cain's descendants.

Three Brethren publishers in the U.S. are Loizeaux in Neptune, New Jersey, publisher of Harry Ironside's many popular books, Present Truth Publishers of Morganville, New Jersey, and Bible Truth Publishers in Addison, Illinois. While the Plymouth Brethren have been strong in Bible teaching, pure Christian living, and evangelism in days gone by, that is changing rapidly, as it is in most Christian groups. Sadly, there is a general tendency toward spiritual lethargy and evangelistic coolness today.