Smith is calling for…

Meeting in Private Homes

Spontaneous, Informal Worship

Mutual Ministry

City-Wide Elderships

No Regular Contributions

Expanded Roles for Women

Partaking of Lord’s Supper as a common meal

Al Maxey in Reflections wrote The Legalistic Leap of CENI“For those unfamiliar with the term in the title of this article, CENI merely refers to a specific hermeneutical theory, largely embraced by those who have a tendency toward legalism and patternism, the major

Radical Restoration means ...

Rejecting CENI

tenets of which are: Command, Example, Necessary Inference. The primary problem with this one particular interpretative theory is the inherent tendency toward inconsistency with regard to application, especially with respect to the establishment of religious authority. Few disciples have any real argument with the use of divine commands contained in Scripture to ascertain the will of God. The problem arises with how, and to what extent, one employs biblical examples and human inferences to determine and establish binding decrees” – page 2

Ed Fudge, in The Plague of Patternism, writes:“Pattern puzzle pieces come in three shapes, according to Church of Christ pattern-seekers. Each piece bears the form either of an express command (“C”), an approved example (“E”), or a necessary inference (“NI”). But the picture on the completed puzzle is surrounded on four sides with a very thick border. According to the pattern-seekers, this means that every detail of church structure, worship, leadership, and ministry must be “authorized” by one of those puzzle pieces, or else it is unlawful. By their reckoning, silence does not mean consent. It means absolute prohibition (“S”). We will refer to this doctrinal system as “CENI-S,” an abbreviation for “command, example, necessary inference” and “silence.”” – part 2

Radical Restoration means ...

Rejecting CENI

Others as well believe CENI is wrong:“a Church of Christ person cannot escape CENI’s influence; that is, if they’re really committed to the ‘restoration’ approach to Christianity. If one is dedicated to the ‘restoration’ of the NT church, then CENI is the only logical means by which to accomplish this task. If the goal is to do church exactly like church was done in the first century, then CENI is the hermeneutical tool to use.”

“CENI’s accompanying doctrine of ‘patternism’ is just as illegitimate as the rest of CENI’s hermeneutics,” and, “I’ll simply affirm that such an approach to Christianity is nowhere found in the text of the NT.”

Radical Restoration means ...

Rejecting CENI

CENI is a Process of Communication, NOT a System of Interpretation

Doy Moyer argues that, “the communication process involves, in the most fundamental way, something that is told, shown, or implied.”

“This, it seems, is incontrovertible, given the fact that anyone who would try to deny it cannot successfully do so without going through the very process of telling, showing, and implying. It just cannot be done!”

Radical Restoration means ...

Rejecting CENI

Criticisms of CENI:

LegalismThe idea that we take commands coldlyIt is a valid concern

Abuses of InferencesBinding as necessary inferences those that are not necessaryLikewise a valid concern

While these criticisms have some validity, they do not negate the process of communication to which we all still will appeal

Radical Restoration means ...

Rejecting CENI

Commands:Acts 17:30– “The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked; but now he commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent:”

2 Thess.3:6– “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which they received of us.”

Matt.28:19,20– “19 Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: 20 teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”

Examples:Phil.3:17– “Brethren, be ye imitators together of me, and mark them that so walk even as ye have us for an ensample.”

2 Thess.3:8,9– “8 neither did we eat bread for nought at any man’s hand, but in labor and travail, working night and day, that we might not burden any of you: 9 not because we have not the right, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you, that ye should imitate us.”

1 Cor.11:1– “Be ye imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.”

Jn.13:15– “For I have given you an example, that ye also should do as I have done to you.”

1 Pet.2:21– “For hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that ye should follow his steps:”

Necessary Inference:To imply is to suggest something indirectly – to hint at somethingTo infer is to gather, deduce, or figure outA necessary inference is a conclusion that MUST be reached

Suppose you saw me coming out of a bar at 6 am:Things inferred:

Why I was there – to get drunk!How long I was there – all night!Who I was associating with while there – loose women!

NONE of those inferences are necessary ones!A NECESSARY inference is that I had first gone into that bar!

Necessary Inference:To imply is to suggest something indirectly – to hint at somethingTo infer is to gather, deduce, or figure outA necessary inference is a conclusion that MUST be reached

Jesus and His apostles often used necessary inferenceMatt.22:23-33– Jesus used NI to prove man exists apart from body

Acts 15– Apostles used NI to counter claims of Judaizing teachers

Acts 2:25-31– Peter used NI to show David was not talking of himself when he predicted one whose flesh would not decay

Gal.3:16– Paul used NI to show the Abrahamic promise would only be available through “one” descendant, Jesus Christ