THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY THE HIGHEST TRIBUNAL OF AUTHORITY FOR THE INTERPRETATION OF THE SCRIPTURES

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

THE HIGHEST TRIBUNAL OF AUTHORITY

FOR THE INTERPRETATION OF THE SCRIPTURES

Gary Graves, Sr.

Elizabeth, In

The first General Assembly of the last days Church of God was held on January 26 and 27, 1906 in the home of J. C. Murphy in Camp Creek, Cherokee County, North Carolina during a fierce snow storm. It was held in January “because [the ministry] did not want to take the time off in the summer from [their] revival and evangelistic work” (Eighty-two General Assemblies, pg. 8).

What prompted the call for a General Assembly was two-fold: the growth of the Church since its arising in 1903 and that many members had not yet gotten acquainted with one another and the ministers felt the need of an Assembly of some kind to consider questions of importance and matters of general interest to all and to search the Bible for additional light and knowledge. The decision to have a General Assembly was not made overnight, but only after “a careful and prayerful search was made of the Bible to determine if such an Assembly was in harmony with the teachings and practices of the apostles and elders of the early Church” (cf. Eighty-two General Assemblies, pg. 7; History and Polity, pg. 25).

As host pastor, A. J. Tomlinson called the meeting to order after which he was unanimously selected chairman, following the pattern of how James was the moderator of the Assembly of the early Church as recorded in Acts, chapter fifteen. “The Lord had not at that time given us a General Overseer … We only knew that James presided over the Jerusalem council (Assembly) as recorded in the 15^th chapter of Acts” (Eighty-two General Assemblies, pp. 7, 8).

One of the first things the 1906 Assembly adopted was a motto that became the precedence for future General Assemblies: “‘We do not consider ourselves a legislative or executive body but judicial only’ … [making it] clear they were not there to make laws … nor to enforce them … but to seek God for the correct interpretation of the laws already stated in the Scriptures” (History and Polity, pg. 121). And because the General Assembly (still) sits “as a court of justice deciding and determining the laws of God given to the Church by the Word of God (God’s law book) and though the Spirit” (History and Polity, pg. 134), it makes the Assembly rulings “decrees for to keep,” not its own laws; neither are the Assembly Minutes considered laws but records of the Assembly’s findings. (cf. Eighty-two General Assemblies, pp. 7, 8; History and Polity, pg. 120).

“Since the assembly is the highest tribunal of authority for the interpretation of the Scriptures” (for they are not ‘of any private interpretation’), its purpose is to search the Scriptures for additional light and knowledge on the Church, to give prayerful consideration to all necessary business matters, and to recommend practices relative to the administration of the Church’s commission. It must strive to keep everything in harmony with the Word of God,” “as it [seems] good to the Holy Ghost, and to us” (the entire General Assembly in unanimous agreement). “[And being] the final authority in interpreting the Word of God through the Spirit [the Assembly] stands at its rightful place as the voice of authority in …‘matters of doctrine’ … ‘Church discipline’ … [and] in all ‘general practices’” (cf. History and Polity, pp. 134, 187).

“[With] the fundamental purpose of the General Assembly being to interpret the Word of God, then the Word of God itself becomes the authority of the Assembly. The Word of God (written and incarnated - Jesus Christ, the Head and Supreme Ruler of the Church), through the ministration of the Holy Ghost, is not only the final authority of the Assembly but the final … and supreme voice of authority in the Church of God as well … The General Assembly, [is] under the Word of God … ” (History and Polity, pp. 134, 187).

The Church of God is a theocracy; it is the place where God rules. Theocracy is government by God, through God, and in God. Under His immediate direction, God rules the Church “by the means of the Bible and the Holy Ghost.” When the General Assembly finds God’s perfect will in the Scriptures, it has found that which God rules and governs the Church by. “Only when God’s perfect will is done in [the Assembly] is theocracy in its purest sense at work. If the [Assembly does] not transmit God’s will, God’s rule, then it is not pure theocracy. Theocratic government is the rulership of God. If God does not rule (through man’s inability to know what saith the Lord), it is not pure theocracy but some lesser form of government” (cf. History and Polity, pp. 119, 123, 134).

“The Church of God is the greatest, wisest and most glorious government that has ever been inaugurated on this earth. To be called upon as is this honorable body and sacred assembly, to search out and apply the laws of the greatest, wisest, and most glorious government that has ever made its appearance on this earth should certainly be considered the highest honor conferred upon men … It should be approached with all seriousness and much trembling before the Word of God for the decisions will affect untold millions. The very realization that no people on earth has ever been called upon to occupy such an exalted position …” should move the Assembly to be very careful in all its “… decisions to make sure the will of God is being performed thereby insuring pure theocracy for the Church of God. All that is said and done on the floor of the Assembly ‘should be for the building up of God’s Church and the salvation of souls’” (History and Polity, pp. 122, 140).

“But ye are come unto mount Sion … and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn … and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant” (Heb. 12:22-24). “And he said … put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground” (Ex. 3:5).