Church of Humans - User contributions [en]

Canon

2026-02-24T15:02:37Z

Origin: per v2

'''Canon''' names the scope of authority a text is granted within a community.

== The Witness Received ==

The [[Church of Humans]] receives a bounded set of writings as its shared public witness. These writings are read for recognition, memory, and faithful practice. They are not treated as law, nor are they used to claim authority beyond the [[New Covenant|Covenant]] freely undertaken in this church.

The collection is presented in three parts:

=== Gospel ===

Gospel bears witness to the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of [[Christ]]. These are received as the primary public testimony by which Christ is known.

* [https://openenglishbible.org/oeb/2025.6/read/b043.html John]
* [https://openenglishbible.org/oeb/2025.6/read/b041.html Mark]
* [https://openenglishbible.org/oeb/2025.6/read/b042.html Luke]

The Gospels proclaim the good news of Christ in narrative form. ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]'' is received alongside them as a collection of sayings that train [[recognition]] rather than command conduct. Together, these writings shape encounter with Christ and the call to faithful life.

=== History ===

* [https://openenglishbible.org/oeb/2025.6/read/b044.html Acts]

Acts is received as the historical witness to the early community following Christ, especially the entry of Gentiles and the life of the church after the resurrection. It is read as memory and narrative, not as law or institutional template.

=== Letters ===

The letters are received as situational counsel addressed to identifiable communities. They speak to life in common, conscience, suffering, freedom, and love, without constituting a legal code or universal system.

* James
* 1 John
* 2 John
* 3 John

These writings are read for guidance in faithful practice, restraint of authority, and life shaped by love. The letters received here address encouragement, suffering, conscience, and hope within Christian communities.

----
<center>ἀποκάλυψις · ἀφαίρεσις</center>
----

== See also==
* [[Glossary]]
* [[Historical and Theological Orientation]]

The Church of Humans

2026-02-24T15:01:05Z

Origin: update for v2

'''The Church of Humans''' receives the Gospel as witness to [[Christ]], and ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]'' as sayings of [[recognition]].

It receives the [[Commandment#Commandment and Christ|Two Great Commandments]] given by Christ: to love [[God]], and to [[love]] one’s [[neighbor]] as oneself.

It aligns with the [[Historical and Theological Orientation|earliest Christian communities]], understanding God through [[covenant]]al action and Christ through lived [[faith]],
and confessing as [[sin]]s the [[judgment]] of others before God, and [[harm]] or hatred toward one’s [[neighbor]].

== On Jurisdiction ==

=== On Covenant and Jurisdiction ===

The Church of Humans speaks within limits. Those limits are not imposed by preference or modern sensibility, but arise from [[Covenant]] itself.

The [[Old Covenant|Law]] given to Israel names its own jurisdiction. It binds those to whom it was given and does not claim authority beyond that covenantal scope. This understanding has never been disputed within Judaism, where faithfulness has always been defined by obedience within covenant rather than by universal imposition.

[[Jurisdiction]] precedes obligation. Where no covenant exists, no law may rightly bind. To claim authority without covenant is not obedience, but [[trespass]].

[[Christ]] did not erase these distinctions. He taught within Israel, honored the Law’s scope, and refused to universalize it. His teaching consistently returned authority to God and called human [[judgment]] into question.

Accordingly, any church that exists among the nations must first account for the limits of what it has been given to say and to bind.

=== Gentiles and Apostolic Restraint ===

The earliest followers of Christ confronted the question of Gentile inclusion directly: whether those from the nations must enter Israel’s covenant in order to follow Christ.

Their answer was marked by restraint.

Gentiles were received as Gentiles, without conversion, circumcision, or submission to the Law. In this way, the integrity of Israel’s covenant was honored, and fellowship was opened to the nations without alteration or extension of what had been given.

This was not a retreat from conviction, but fidelity to covenantal limits. The apostles did not enlarge authority beyond its scope, nor did they impose obligations where no covenant had been established. Unity in Christ was affirmed without legal expansion.

As a result, Gentile assemblies emerged without Torah obligation and without jurisdiction to bind by law. Their common life was shaped by witness, conscience, patience, and love rather than by codified rule.

The Church of Humans stands within this same restraint. It does not speak for Israel, judge Israel, or reinterpret Jewish covenantal life. It speaks as a Gentile church among the nations, bound by what was given and by nothing more.

== On Canon ==

=== What Canon Is ===

Canon does not name a collection of inspired writings, nor does it designate a closed library of sacred texts. Canon names the scope of authority a text is granted within a particular community.

A text may be revered, studied, remembered, and treasured without being granted binding authority. Authority is not a property inherent in writing itself; it is a relationship between a community, a [[covenant]], and the limits of what has been given to command.

For this reason, canon is always bounded. It arises where authority is recognized and ends where authority is not granted. Inclusion of a text does not enlarge obligation, and reverence does not imply [[jurisdiction]].

Within the Church of Humans, Scripture is received as witness rather than statute. Texts testify to God’s action, to Christ’s life, and to the faith of earlier communities. They do not legislate conduct beyond the [[New Covenant|covenant]] freely undertaken within this church.

Canon therefore functions not to expand control, but to restrain it. It marks where obedience is possible and where coercion must cease. Where no authority has been given, no command may rightly be drawn.

This understanding precedes any listing of texts. Before asking which writings are received, the church must first name what it understands authority to be, and where that authority ends.

=== Why the Canon Is Bounded ===

Canon is bounded because authority is bounded. Authority does not expand by accumulation, repetition, or historical layering. It is given, not inferred.

The growth of sacred literature across time reflects the life, struggle, and reflection of communities, but such growth does not imply the growth of [[jurisdiction]]. A larger collection of writings does not confer a larger mandate to command. Expansion of memory is not expansion of authority.

For Gentile Christians in particular, this distinction is essential. The apostles did not grant the nations the authority of Israel’s Law, nor did they authorize the creation of new systems of binding command. Gentile life in Christ was shaped by witness, conscience, and mutual responsibility, not by legal extension.

When canon is treated as unbounded, texts written for particular moments are pressed into service as universal law. Counsel becomes command, warning becomes weapon, and testimony becomes coercion. What was given to guide faith is repurposed to govern persons.

The Church of Humans therefore refuses the expansion of canon as a means of expanding control. Its canon is bounded to what is necessary to bear public witness to Christ, to remember the formation of Gentile assemblies, and to guide faithful life without exceeding the authority that was given.

The writings received as canon speak through witness, persuasion, exhortation, and shared recognition within covenantal life. They do not ground their authority in extraordinary claims that override ordinary communal discernment, nor do they bind by decree what must instead be recognized in faith and lived in love.

This limitation is not a rejection of Scripture, but an act of fidelity. By refusing to bind where no authority has been given, the church preserves both the integrity of the texts it receives and the freedom of the people who read them.

=== The Witness Received ===

Having named the limits of authority and the bounds of canon, the Church of Humans now names the writings it receives as its shared public witness.

These writings are received for recognition, memory, and faithful practice. They are not treated as law, nor are they used to extend authority beyond what was given. They are sufficient for Gentile Christianity among the nations, and no more is claimed of them than this.

The canon received here is presented in three parts.

==== Gospel ====

The Gospel writings bear witness to the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Christ. They are received as the primary public testimony by which Christ is known.

* John
* Mark
* Luke

The narrative Gospels proclaim the good news of Christ in story and testimony. The ''[[Witness of Thomas]]'' is received alongside them as a collection of sayings that train recognition rather than command conduct. Together, these writings shape encounter with Christ prior to doctrine, discipline, or institution.

==== History ====

* Acts

Acts is received as historical witness to the earliest communities following Christ, with particular attention to the entry of Gentiles and the apostles’ refusal to impose the Law upon them. It is read as memory and narrative, not as law or institutional template.

==== Letters ====

The letters are received as situational counsel addressed to identifiable communities. They speak to life in common, suffering, freedom, conscience, and love, without constituting a legal code or universal system.

* James
* 1 John
* 2 John
* 3 John

These writings are read for guidance in faithful practice and restraint of authority. The letters received here address encouragement, suffering, conscience, and hope within Christian communities.

In receiving these texts, the Church of Humans does not claim completeness, universality, or finality. It claims only sufficiency for faithful life among the nations within the authority that was given.

=== On Omitted Writings and Scope ===

Writings not received within this [[canon]] are not thereby dismissed, denied, or disparaged.

The Law, the Prophets, and other Jewish and Christian texts remain indispensable for historical understanding, comparative study, and faithful interpretation of the world in which Christ lived and taught. They are read as witnesses to covenantal life, moral struggle, and the formation of communities before and alongside the emergence of Gentile assemblies.

Such writings are not received here as binding authority, not because they lack depth or truth, but because their instruction presumes covenants and obligations not given to the nations. Respect for those covenants requires restraint, not appropriation.

The Church of Humans therefore studies these texts freely and seriously, while refusing to treat them as law where no authority was granted.

== On Authority and Limits ==

Authority within the Church of Humans is bounded, derivative, and restrained. It is received, not assumed; exercised, not possessed; and limited to what has been given.

Authority does not arise from office, consensus, tradition, or volume of text. It does not accumulate through repetition or institutional inheritance. Where authority is claimed beyond what was given, obedience becomes coercion.

Within this church, authority is exercised as testimony rather than enforcement. It takes the form of witness to [[Christ]], recognition of faithful life, and mutual accountability freely undertaken within [[Covenant]]. It does not take the form of command imposed upon conscience or control asserted over persons.

[[Discernment]] is not [[judgment]]. Discernment names actions, patterns, and consequences within shared life; judgment claims standing before God. The former belongs to communities; the latter belongs to God alone. To confuse them is to trespass beyond authority.

Leadership is therefore not dominion. Those who teach, serve, or guide do so without claim to final verdict, coercive power, or exclusionary mandate. Influence may be offered; submission may be given; neither may be compelled.

Scripture functions within these limits. It forms, warns, encourages, and corrects as witness. It does not authorize the governance of persons beyond covenant, nor does it license harm in the name of obedience.

Exclusion, discipline, and enforcement require authority. Where such authority has not been given, they may not be exercised. The Church of Humans therefore refuses practices that rely on fear, threat, or social control to produce conformity.

These limits are not a weakening of the church, but its integrity. By refusing authority it does not possess, the church preserves both the freedom of its members and the credibility of its witness.

== On Membership ==

Those who seek membership do so by freely consenting to the limits described in ''[[A Rule for Humans]]''.

The Church of Humans

2026-02-24T14:48:27Z

Origin: /* Gentiles and Apostolic Restraint */ updates v2

'''The Church of Humans''' receives the Gospel as witness to [[Christ]], and ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]'' as sayings of [[recognition]].

It receives the [[Commandment#Commandment and Christ|Two Great Commandments]] given by Christ: to love [[God]], and to [[love]] one’s [[neighbor]] as oneself.

It inherits a [[Historical and Theological Orientation|pre-Nicene Christian tradition]] that understands God through [[covenant]]al action and Christ through lived [[faith]],
and admits as [[sin]]s both [[judgment]] of others before God and [[harm]] or hatred toward one’s [[neighbor]].

== On Jurisdiction ==

=== On Covenant and Jurisdiction ===

The Church of Humans speaks within limits. Those limits are not imposed by preference or modern sensibility, but arise from [[Covenant]] itself.

The [[Old Covenant|Law]] given to Israel names its own jurisdiction. It binds those to whom it was given and does not claim authority beyond that covenantal scope. This understanding has never been disputed within Judaism, where faithfulness has always been defined by obedience within covenant rather than by universal imposition.

[[Jurisdiction]] precedes obligation. Where no covenant exists, no law may rightly bind. To claim authority without covenant is not obedience, but [[trespass]].

[[Christ]] did not erase these distinctions. He taught within Israel, honored the Law’s scope, and refused to universalize it. His teaching consistently returned authority to God and called human [[judgment]] into question.

Accordingly, any church that exists among the nations must first account for the limits of what it has been given to say and to bind.

=== Gentiles and Apostolic Restraint ===

The earliest followers of Christ confronted the question of Gentile inclusion directly: whether those from the nations must enter Israel’s covenant in order to follow Christ.

Their answer was marked by restraint.

Gentiles were received as Gentiles, without conversion, circumcision, or submission to the Law. In this way, the integrity of Israel’s covenant was honored, and fellowship was opened to the nations without alteration or extension of what had been given.

This was not a retreat from conviction, but fidelity to covenantal limits. The apostles did not enlarge authority beyond its scope, nor did they impose obligations where no covenant had been established. Unity in Christ was affirmed without legal expansion.

As a result, Gentile assemblies emerged without Torah obligation and without jurisdiction to bind by law. Their common life was shaped by witness, conscience, patience, and love rather than by codified rule.

The Church of Humans stands within this same restraint. It does not speak for Israel, judge Israel, or reinterpret Jewish covenantal life. It speaks as a Gentile church among the nations, bound by what was given and by nothing more.

== On Canon ==

=== What Canon Is ===

Canon does not name a collection of inspired writings, nor does it designate a closed library of sacred texts. Canon names the scope of authority a text is granted within a particular community.

A text may be revered, studied, remembered, and treasured without being granted binding authority. Authority is not a property inherent in writing itself; it is a relationship between a community, a [[covenant]], and the limits of what has been given to command.

For this reason, canon is always bounded. It arises where authority is recognized and ends where authority is not granted. Inclusion of a text does not enlarge obligation, and reverence does not imply [[jurisdiction]].

Within the Church of Humans, Scripture is received as witness rather than statute. Texts testify to God’s action, to Christ’s life, and to the faith of earlier communities. They do not legislate conduct beyond the [[New Covenant|covenant]] freely undertaken within this church.

Canon therefore functions not to expand control, but to restrain it. It marks where obedience is possible and where coercion must cease. Where no authority has been given, no command may rightly be drawn.

This understanding precedes any listing of texts. Before asking which writings are received, the church must first name what it understands authority to be, and where that authority ends.

=== Why the Canon Is Bounded ===

Canon is bounded because authority is bounded. Authority does not expand by accumulation, repetition, or historical layering. It is given, not inferred.

The growth of sacred literature across time reflects the life, struggle, and reflection of communities, but such growth does not imply the growth of [[jurisdiction]]. A larger collection of writings does not confer a larger mandate to command. Expansion of memory is not expansion of authority.

For Gentile Christians in particular, this distinction is essential. The apostles did not grant the nations the authority of Israel’s Law, nor did they authorize the creation of new systems of binding command. Gentile life in Christ was shaped by witness, conscience, and mutual responsibility, not by legal extension.

When canon is treated as unbounded, texts written for particular moments are pressed into service as universal law. Counsel becomes command, warning becomes weapon, and testimony becomes coercion. What was given to guide faith is repurposed to govern persons.

The Church of Humans therefore refuses the expansion of canon as a means of expanding control. Its canon is bounded to what is necessary to bear public witness to Christ, to remember the formation of Gentile assemblies, and to guide faithful life without exceeding the authority that was given.

The writings received as canon speak through witness, persuasion, exhortation, and shared recognition within covenantal life. They do not ground their authority in extraordinary claims that override ordinary communal discernment, nor do they bind by decree what must instead be recognized in faith and lived in love.

This limitation is not a rejection of Scripture, but an act of fidelity. By refusing to bind where no authority has been given, the church preserves both the integrity of the texts it receives and the freedom of the people who read them.

=== The Witness Received ===

Having named the limits of authority and the bounds of canon, the Church of Humans now names the writings it receives as its shared public witness.

These writings are received for recognition, memory, and faithful practice. They are not treated as law, nor are they used to extend authority beyond what was given. They are sufficient for Gentile Christianity among the nations, and no more is claimed of them than this.

The canon received here is presented in three parts.

==== Gospel ====

The Gospel writings bear witness to the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Christ. They are received as the primary public testimony by which Christ is known.

* John
* Mark
* Luke

The narrative Gospels proclaim the good news of Christ in story and testimony. The ''[[Witness of Thomas]]'' is received alongside them as a collection of sayings that train recognition rather than command conduct. Together, these writings shape encounter with Christ prior to doctrine, discipline, or institution.

==== History ====

* Acts

Acts is received as historical witness to the earliest communities following Christ, with particular attention to the entry of Gentiles and the apostles’ refusal to impose the Law upon them. It is read as memory and narrative, not as law or institutional template.

==== Letters ====

The letters are received as situational counsel addressed to identifiable communities. They speak to life in common, suffering, freedom, conscience, and love, without constituting a legal code or universal system.

* James
* 1 John
* 2 John
* 3 John

These writings are read for guidance in faithful practice and restraint of authority. The letters received here address encouragement, suffering, conscience, and hope within Christian communities.

In receiving these texts, the Church of Humans does not claim completeness, universality, or finality. It claims only sufficiency for faithful life among the nations within the authority that was given.

=== On Omitted Writings and Scope ===

Writings not received within this [[canon]] are not thereby dismissed, denied, or disparaged.

The Law, the Prophets, and other Jewish and Christian texts remain indispensable for historical understanding, comparative study, and faithful interpretation of the world in which Christ lived and taught. They are read as witnesses to covenantal life, moral struggle, and the formation of communities before and alongside the emergence of Gentile assemblies.

Such writings are not received here as binding authority, not because they lack depth or truth, but because their instruction presumes covenants and obligations not given to the nations. Respect for those covenants requires restraint, not appropriation.

The Church of Humans therefore studies these texts freely and seriously, while refusing to treat them as law where no authority was granted.

== On Authority and Limits ==

Authority within the Church of Humans is bounded, derivative, and restrained. It is received, not assumed; exercised, not possessed; and limited to what has been given.

Authority does not arise from office, consensus, tradition, or volume of text. It does not accumulate through repetition or institutional inheritance. Where authority is claimed beyond what was given, obedience becomes coercion.

Within this church, authority is exercised as testimony rather than enforcement. It takes the form of witness to [[Christ]], recognition of faithful life, and mutual accountability freely undertaken within [[Covenant]]. It does not take the form of command imposed upon conscience or control asserted over persons.

[[Discernment]] is not [[judgment]]. Discernment names actions, patterns, and consequences within shared life; judgment claims standing before God. The former belongs to communities; the latter belongs to God alone. To confuse them is to trespass beyond authority.

Leadership is therefore not dominion. Those who teach, serve, or guide do so without claim to final verdict, coercive power, or exclusionary mandate. Influence may be offered; submission may be given; neither may be compelled.

Scripture functions within these limits. It forms, warns, encourages, and corrects as witness. It does not authorize the governance of persons beyond covenant, nor does it license harm in the name of obedience.

Exclusion, discipline, and enforcement require authority. Where such authority has not been given, they may not be exercised. The Church of Humans therefore refuses practices that rely on fear, threat, or social control to produce conformity.

These limits are not a weakening of the church, but its integrity. By refusing authority it does not possess, the church preserves both the freedom of its members and the credibility of its witness.

== On Membership ==

Those who seek membership do so by freely consenting to the limits described in ''[[A Rule for Humans]]''.

The Church of Humans

2026-02-24T14:45:22Z

Origin: /* Why the Canon Is Bounded */ update per v2

'''The Church of Humans''' receives the Gospel as witness to [[Christ]], and ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]'' as sayings of [[recognition]].

It receives the [[Commandment#Commandment and Christ|Two Great Commandments]] given by Christ: to love [[God]], and to [[love]] one’s [[neighbor]] as oneself.

It inherits a [[Historical and Theological Orientation|pre-Nicene Christian tradition]] that understands God through [[covenant]]al action and Christ through lived [[faith]],
and admits as [[sin]]s both [[judgment]] of others before God and [[harm]] or hatred toward one’s [[neighbor]].

== On Jurisdiction ==

=== On Covenant and Jurisdiction ===

The Church of Humans speaks within limits. Those limits are not imposed by preference or modern sensibility, but arise from [[Covenant]] itself.

The [[Old Covenant|Law]] given to Israel names its own jurisdiction. It binds those to whom it was given and does not claim authority beyond that covenantal scope. This understanding has never been disputed within Judaism, where faithfulness has always been defined by obedience within covenant rather than by universal imposition.

[[Jurisdiction]] precedes obligation. Where no covenant exists, no law may rightly bind. To claim authority without covenant is not obedience, but [[trespass]].

[[Christ]] did not erase these distinctions. He taught within Israel, honored the Law’s scope, and refused to universalize it. His teaching consistently returned authority to God and called human [[judgment]] into question.

Accordingly, any church that exists among the nations must first account for the limits of what it has been given to say and to bind.

=== Gentiles and Apostolic Restraint ===

The earliest followers of Christ confronted the question of Gentile inclusion directly: whether those from the nations must enter Israel’s covenant in order to follow Christ.

Their answer was restraint.

Gentiles were received as Gentiles, without conversion, circumcision, or submission to the Law. This decision preserved the integrity of Israel’s covenant while opening fellowship to the nations. Authority was not expanded; it was deliberately withheld.

This restraint was not a concession to weakness, but an act of faithfulness. The apostles refused to bind where no authority had been given, choosing unity in [[Christ]] over legal extension.

As a result, Gentile assemblies were formed without Torah obligation and without mandate to govern themselves or others by law. Life together was shaped instead by witness, conscience, patience, and love.

The Church of Humans stands within this apostolic restraint. It does not speak for Israel, judge Israel, or reinterpret Jewish covenantal life. It speaks only as a Gentile church among the nations, bound by what was given and by nothing more.

== On Canon ==

=== What Canon Is ===

Canon does not name a collection of inspired writings, nor does it designate a closed library of sacred texts. Canon names the scope of authority a text is granted within a particular community.

A text may be revered, studied, remembered, and treasured without being granted binding authority. Authority is not a property inherent in writing itself; it is a relationship between a community, a [[covenant]], and the limits of what has been given to command.

For this reason, canon is always bounded. It arises where authority is recognized and ends where authority is not granted. Inclusion of a text does not enlarge obligation, and reverence does not imply [[jurisdiction]].

Within the Church of Humans, Scripture is received as witness rather than statute. Texts testify to God’s action, to Christ’s life, and to the faith of earlier communities. They do not legislate conduct beyond the [[New Covenant|covenant]] freely undertaken within this church.

Canon therefore functions not to expand control, but to restrain it. It marks where obedience is possible and where coercion must cease. Where no authority has been given, no command may rightly be drawn.

This understanding precedes any listing of texts. Before asking which writings are received, the church must first name what it understands authority to be, and where that authority ends.

=== Why the Canon Is Bounded ===

Canon is bounded because authority is bounded. Authority does not expand by accumulation, repetition, or historical layering. It is given, not inferred.

The growth of sacred literature across time reflects the life, struggle, and reflection of communities, but such growth does not imply the growth of [[jurisdiction]]. A larger collection of writings does not confer a larger mandate to command. Expansion of memory is not expansion of authority.

For Gentile Christians in particular, this distinction is essential. The apostles did not grant the nations the authority of Israel’s Law, nor did they authorize the creation of new systems of binding command. Gentile life in Christ was shaped by witness, conscience, and mutual responsibility, not by legal extension.

When canon is treated as unbounded, texts written for particular moments are pressed into service as universal law. Counsel becomes command, warning becomes weapon, and testimony becomes coercion. What was given to guide faith is repurposed to govern persons.

The Church of Humans therefore refuses the expansion of canon as a means of expanding control. Its canon is bounded to what is necessary to bear public witness to Christ, to remember the formation of Gentile assemblies, and to guide faithful life without exceeding the authority that was given.

The writings received as canon speak through witness, persuasion, exhortation, and shared recognition within covenantal life. They do not ground their authority in extraordinary claims that override ordinary communal discernment, nor do they bind by decree what must instead be recognized in faith and lived in love.

This limitation is not a rejection of Scripture, but an act of fidelity. By refusing to bind where no authority has been given, the church preserves both the integrity of the texts it receives and the freedom of the people who read them.

=== The Witness Received ===

Having named the limits of authority and the bounds of canon, the Church of Humans now names the writings it receives as its shared public witness.

These writings are received for recognition, memory, and faithful practice. They are not treated as law, nor are they used to extend authority beyond what was given. They are sufficient for Gentile Christianity among the nations, and no more is claimed of them than this.

The canon received here is presented in three parts.

==== Gospel ====

The Gospel writings bear witness to the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Christ. They are received as the primary public testimony by which Christ is known.

* John
* Mark
* Luke

The narrative Gospels proclaim the good news of Christ in story and testimony. The ''[[Witness of Thomas]]'' is received alongside them as a collection of sayings that train recognition rather than command conduct. Together, these writings shape encounter with Christ prior to doctrine, discipline, or institution.

==== History ====

* Acts

Acts is received as historical witness to the earliest communities following Christ, with particular attention to the entry of Gentiles and the apostles’ refusal to impose the Law upon them. It is read as memory and narrative, not as law or institutional template.

==== Letters ====

The letters are received as situational counsel addressed to identifiable communities. They speak to life in common, suffering, freedom, conscience, and love, without constituting a legal code or universal system.

* James
* 1 John
* 2 John
* 3 John

These writings are read for guidance in faithful practice and restraint of authority. The letters received here address encouragement, suffering, conscience, and hope within Christian communities.

In receiving these texts, the Church of Humans does not claim completeness, universality, or finality. It claims only sufficiency for faithful life among the nations within the authority that was given.

=== On Omitted Writings and Scope ===

Writings not received within this [[canon]] are not thereby dismissed, denied, or disparaged.

The Law, the Prophets, and other Jewish and Christian texts remain indispensable for historical understanding, comparative study, and faithful interpretation of the world in which Christ lived and taught. They are read as witnesses to covenantal life, moral struggle, and the formation of communities before and alongside the emergence of Gentile assemblies.

Such writings are not received here as binding authority, not because they lack depth or truth, but because their instruction presumes covenants and obligations not given to the nations. Respect for those covenants requires restraint, not appropriation.

The Church of Humans therefore studies these texts freely and seriously, while refusing to treat them as law where no authority was granted.

== On Authority and Limits ==

Authority within the Church of Humans is bounded, derivative, and restrained. It is received, not assumed; exercised, not possessed; and limited to what has been given.

Authority does not arise from office, consensus, tradition, or volume of text. It does not accumulate through repetition or institutional inheritance. Where authority is claimed beyond what was given, obedience becomes coercion.

Within this church, authority is exercised as testimony rather than enforcement. It takes the form of witness to [[Christ]], recognition of faithful life, and mutual accountability freely undertaken within [[Covenant]]. It does not take the form of command imposed upon conscience or control asserted over persons.

[[Discernment]] is not [[judgment]]. Discernment names actions, patterns, and consequences within shared life; judgment claims standing before God. The former belongs to communities; the latter belongs to God alone. To confuse them is to trespass beyond authority.

Leadership is therefore not dominion. Those who teach, serve, or guide do so without claim to final verdict, coercive power, or exclusionary mandate. Influence may be offered; submission may be given; neither may be compelled.

Scripture functions within these limits. It forms, warns, encourages, and corrects as witness. It does not authorize the governance of persons beyond covenant, nor does it license harm in the name of obedience.

Exclusion, discipline, and enforcement require authority. Where such authority has not been given, they may not be exercised. The Church of Humans therefore refuses practices that rely on fear, threat, or social control to produce conformity.

These limits are not a weakening of the church, but its integrity. By refusing authority it does not possess, the church preserves both the freedom of its members and the credibility of its witness.

== On Membership ==

Those who seek membership do so by freely consenting to the limits described in ''[[A Rule for Humans]]''.

The Church of Humans

2026-02-24T14:39:33Z

Origin: but the johns

'''The Church of Humans''' receives the Gospel as witness to [[Christ]], and ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]'' as sayings of [[recognition]].

It receives the [[Commandment#Commandment and Christ|Two Great Commandments]] given by Christ: to love [[God]], and to [[love]] one’s [[neighbor]] as oneself.

It inherits a [[Historical and Theological Orientation|pre-Nicene Christian tradition]] that understands God through [[covenant]]al action and Christ through lived [[faith]],
and admits as [[sin]]s both [[judgment]] of others before God and [[harm]] or hatred toward one’s [[neighbor]].

== On Jurisdiction ==

=== On Covenant and Jurisdiction ===

The Church of Humans speaks within limits. Those limits are not imposed by preference or modern sensibility, but arise from [[Covenant]] itself.

The [[Old Covenant|Law]] given to Israel names its own jurisdiction. It binds those to whom it was given and does not claim authority beyond that covenantal scope. This understanding has never been disputed within Judaism, where faithfulness has always been defined by obedience within covenant rather than by universal imposition.

[[Jurisdiction]] precedes obligation. Where no covenant exists, no law may rightly bind. To claim authority without covenant is not obedience, but [[trespass]].

[[Christ]] did not erase these distinctions. He taught within Israel, honored the Law’s scope, and refused to universalize it. His teaching consistently returned authority to God and called human [[judgment]] into question.

Accordingly, any church that exists among the nations must first account for the limits of what it has been given to say and to bind.

=== Gentiles and Apostolic Restraint ===

The earliest followers of Christ confronted the question of Gentile inclusion directly: whether those from the nations must enter Israel’s covenant in order to follow Christ.

Their answer was restraint.

Gentiles were received as Gentiles, without conversion, circumcision, or submission to the Law. This decision preserved the integrity of Israel’s covenant while opening fellowship to the nations. Authority was not expanded; it was deliberately withheld.

This restraint was not a concession to weakness, but an act of faithfulness. The apostles refused to bind where no authority had been given, choosing unity in [[Christ]] over legal extension.

As a result, Gentile assemblies were formed without Torah obligation and without mandate to govern themselves or others by law. Life together was shaped instead by witness, conscience, patience, and love.

The Church of Humans stands within this apostolic restraint. It does not speak for Israel, judge Israel, or reinterpret Jewish covenantal life. It speaks only as a Gentile church among the nations, bound by what was given and by nothing more.

== On Canon ==

=== What Canon Is ===

Canon does not name a collection of inspired writings, nor does it designate a closed library of sacred texts. Canon names the scope of authority a text is granted within a particular community.

A text may be revered, studied, remembered, and treasured without being granted binding authority. Authority is not a property inherent in writing itself; it is a relationship between a community, a [[covenant]], and the limits of what has been given to command.

For this reason, canon is always bounded. It arises where authority is recognized and ends where authority is not granted. Inclusion of a text does not enlarge obligation, and reverence does not imply [[jurisdiction]].

Within the Church of Humans, Scripture is received as witness rather than statute. Texts testify to God’s action, to Christ’s life, and to the faith of earlier communities. They do not legislate conduct beyond the [[New Covenant|covenant]] freely undertaken within this church.

Canon therefore functions not to expand control, but to restrain it. It marks where obedience is possible and where coercion must cease. Where no authority has been given, no command may rightly be drawn.

This understanding precedes any listing of texts. Before asking which writings are received, the church must first name what it understands authority to be, and where that authority ends.

=== Why the Canon Is Bounded ===

Canon is bounded because authority is bounded. Authority does not expand by accumulation, repetition, or historical layering. It is given, not inferred.

The growth of sacred literature across time reflects the life, struggle, and reflection of communities, but such growth does not imply the growth of [[jurisdiction]]. A larger collection of writings does not confer a larger mandate to command. Expansion of memory is not expansion of authority.

For Gentile Christians in particular, this distinction is essential. The apostles did not grant the nations the authority of Israel’s Law, nor did they authorize the creation of new systems of binding command. Gentile life in Christ was shaped by witness, conscience, and mutual responsibility, not by legal extension.

When canon is treated as unbounded, texts written for particular moments are pressed into service as universal law. Counsel becomes command, warning becomes weapon, and testimony becomes coercion. What was given to guide faith is repurposed to govern persons.

The Church of Humans therefore refuses the expansion of canon as a means of expanding control. Its canon is bounded to what is necessary to bear public witness to Christ, to remember the formation of Gentile assemblies, and to guide faithful life without exceeding the authority that was given.

No text is received as canon if its dominant mode of argument depends upon extraordinary apostolic coercion—claims of authority that override or foreclose ordinary communal discernment—rather than persuasion, witness, and shared recognition within covenantal life. This limitation is not a rejection of Scripture, but an act of fidelity. By refusing to bind where no authority exists, the church preserves both the integrity of the texts it receives and the freedom of the people who read them.

=== The Witness Received ===

Having named the limits of authority and the bounds of canon, the Church of Humans now names the writings it receives as its shared public witness.

These writings are received for recognition, memory, and faithful practice. They are not treated as law, nor are they used to extend authority beyond what was given. They are sufficient for Gentile Christianity among the nations, and no more is claimed of them than this.

The canon received here is presented in three parts.

==== Gospel ====

The Gospel writings bear witness to the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Christ. They are received as the primary public testimony by which Christ is known.

* John
* Mark
* Luke

The narrative Gospels proclaim the good news of Christ in story and testimony. The ''[[Witness of Thomas]]'' is received alongside them as a collection of sayings that train recognition rather than command conduct. Together, these writings shape encounter with Christ prior to doctrine, discipline, or institution.

==== History ====

* Acts

Acts is received as historical witness to the earliest communities following Christ, with particular attention to the entry of Gentiles and the apostles’ refusal to impose the Law upon them. It is read as memory and narrative, not as law or institutional template.

==== Letters ====

The letters are received as situational counsel addressed to identifiable communities. They speak to life in common, suffering, freedom, conscience, and love, without constituting a legal code or universal system.

* James
* 1 John
* 2 John
* 3 John

These writings are read for guidance in faithful practice and restraint of authority. The letters received here address encouragement, suffering, conscience, and hope within Christian communities.

In receiving these texts, the Church of Humans does not claim completeness, universality, or finality. It claims only sufficiency for faithful life among the nations within the authority that was given.

=== On Omitted Writings and Scope ===

Writings not received within this [[canon]] are not thereby dismissed, denied, or disparaged.

The Law, the Prophets, and other Jewish and Christian texts remain indispensable for historical understanding, comparative study, and faithful interpretation of the world in which Christ lived and taught. They are read as witnesses to covenantal life, moral struggle, and the formation of communities before and alongside the emergence of Gentile assemblies.

Such writings are not received here as binding authority, not because they lack depth or truth, but because their instruction presumes covenants and obligations not given to the nations. Respect for those covenants requires restraint, not appropriation.

The Church of Humans therefore studies these texts freely and seriously, while refusing to treat them as law where no authority was granted.

== On Authority and Limits ==

Authority within the Church of Humans is bounded, derivative, and restrained. It is received, not assumed; exercised, not possessed; and limited to what has been given.

Authority does not arise from office, consensus, tradition, or volume of text. It does not accumulate through repetition or institutional inheritance. Where authority is claimed beyond what was given, obedience becomes coercion.

Within this church, authority is exercised as testimony rather than enforcement. It takes the form of witness to [[Christ]], recognition of faithful life, and mutual accountability freely undertaken within [[Covenant]]. It does not take the form of command imposed upon conscience or control asserted over persons.

[[Discernment]] is not [[judgment]]. Discernment names actions, patterns, and consequences within shared life; judgment claims standing before God. The former belongs to communities; the latter belongs to God alone. To confuse them is to trespass beyond authority.

Leadership is therefore not dominion. Those who teach, serve, or guide do so without claim to final verdict, coercive power, or exclusionary mandate. Influence may be offered; submission may be given; neither may be compelled.

Scripture functions within these limits. It forms, warns, encourages, and corrects as witness. It does not authorize the governance of persons beyond covenant, nor does it license harm in the name of obedience.

Exclusion, discipline, and enforcement require authority. Where such authority has not been given, they may not be exercised. The Church of Humans therefore refuses practices that rely on fear, threat, or social control to produce conformity.

These limits are not a weakening of the church, but its integrity. By refusing authority it does not possess, the church preserves both the freedom of its members and the credibility of its witness.

== On Membership ==

Those who seek membership do so by freely consenting to the limits described in ''[[A Rule for Humans]]''.

The Church of Humans

2026-02-24T14:38:27Z

Origin: /* The Witness Received */ canon v2

'''The Church of Humans''' receives the Gospel as witness to [[Christ]], and ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]'' as sayings of [[recognition]].

It receives the [[Commandment#Commandment and Christ|Two Great Commandments]] given by Christ: to love [[God]], and to [[love]] one’s [[neighbor]] as oneself.

It inherits a [[Historical and Theological Orientation|pre-Nicene Christian tradition]] that understands God through [[covenant]]al action and Christ through lived [[faith]],
and admits as [[sin]]s both [[judgment]] of others before God and [[harm]] or hatred toward one’s [[neighbor]].

== On Jurisdiction ==

=== On Covenant and Jurisdiction ===

The Church of Humans speaks within limits. Those limits are not imposed by preference or modern sensibility, but arise from [[Covenant]] itself.

The [[Old Covenant|Law]] given to Israel names its own jurisdiction. It binds those to whom it was given and does not claim authority beyond that covenantal scope. This understanding has never been disputed within Judaism, where faithfulness has always been defined by obedience within covenant rather than by universal imposition.

[[Jurisdiction]] precedes obligation. Where no covenant exists, no law may rightly bind. To claim authority without covenant is not obedience, but [[trespass]].

[[Christ]] did not erase these distinctions. He taught within Israel, honored the Law’s scope, and refused to universalize it. His teaching consistently returned authority to God and called human [[judgment]] into question.

Accordingly, any church that exists among the nations must first account for the limits of what it has been given to say and to bind.

=== Gentiles and Apostolic Restraint ===

The earliest followers of Christ confronted the question of Gentile inclusion directly: whether those from the nations must enter Israel’s covenant in order to follow Christ.

Their answer was restraint.

Gentiles were received as Gentiles, without conversion, circumcision, or submission to the Law. This decision preserved the integrity of Israel’s covenant while opening fellowship to the nations. Authority was not expanded; it was deliberately withheld.

This restraint was not a concession to weakness, but an act of faithfulness. The apostles refused to bind where no authority had been given, choosing unity in [[Christ]] over legal extension.

As a result, Gentile assemblies were formed without Torah obligation and without mandate to govern themselves or others by law. Life together was shaped instead by witness, conscience, patience, and love.

The Church of Humans stands within this apostolic restraint. It does not speak for Israel, judge Israel, or reinterpret Jewish covenantal life. It speaks only as a Gentile church among the nations, bound by what was given and by nothing more.

== On Canon ==

=== What Canon Is ===

Canon does not name a collection of inspired writings, nor does it designate a closed library of sacred texts. Canon names the scope of authority a text is granted within a particular community.

A text may be revered, studied, remembered, and treasured without being granted binding authority. Authority is not a property inherent in writing itself; it is a relationship between a community, a [[covenant]], and the limits of what has been given to command.

For this reason, canon is always bounded. It arises where authority is recognized and ends where authority is not granted. Inclusion of a text does not enlarge obligation, and reverence does not imply [[jurisdiction]].

Within the Church of Humans, Scripture is received as witness rather than statute. Texts testify to God’s action, to Christ’s life, and to the faith of earlier communities. They do not legislate conduct beyond the [[New Covenant|covenant]] freely undertaken within this church.

Canon therefore functions not to expand control, but to restrain it. It marks where obedience is possible and where coercion must cease. Where no authority has been given, no command may rightly be drawn.

This understanding precedes any listing of texts. Before asking which writings are received, the church must first name what it understands authority to be, and where that authority ends.

=== Why the Canon Is Bounded ===

Canon is bounded because authority is bounded. Authority does not expand by accumulation, repetition, or historical layering. It is given, not inferred.

The growth of sacred literature across time reflects the life, struggle, and reflection of communities, but such growth does not imply the growth of [[jurisdiction]]. A larger collection of writings does not confer a larger mandate to command. Expansion of memory is not expansion of authority.

For Gentile Christians in particular, this distinction is essential. The apostles did not grant the nations the authority of Israel’s Law, nor did they authorize the creation of new systems of binding command. Gentile life in Christ was shaped by witness, conscience, and mutual responsibility, not by legal extension.

When canon is treated as unbounded, texts written for particular moments are pressed into service as universal law. Counsel becomes command, warning becomes weapon, and testimony becomes coercion. What was given to guide faith is repurposed to govern persons.

The Church of Humans therefore refuses the expansion of canon as a means of expanding control. Its canon is bounded to what is necessary to bear public witness to Christ, to remember the formation of Gentile assemblies, and to guide faithful life without exceeding the authority that was given.

No text is received as canon if its dominant mode of argument depends upon extraordinary apostolic coercion—claims of authority that override or foreclose ordinary communal discernment—rather than persuasion, witness, and shared recognition within covenantal life. This limitation is not a rejection of Scripture, but an act of fidelity. By refusing to bind where no authority exists, the church preserves both the integrity of the texts it receives and the freedom of the people who read them.

=== The Witness Received ===

Having named the limits of authority and the bounds of canon, the Church of Humans now names the writings it receives as its shared public witness.

These writings are received for recognition, memory, and faithful practice. They are not treated as law, nor are they used to extend authority beyond what was given. They are sufficient for Gentile Christianity among the nations, and no more is claimed of them than this.

The canon received here is presented in three parts.

==== Gospel ====

The Gospel writings bear witness to the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Christ. They are received as the primary public testimony by which Christ is known.

* John
* Mark
* Luke

The narrative Gospels proclaim the good news of Christ in story and testimony. The ''[[Witness of Thomas]]'' is received alongside them as a collection of sayings that train recognition rather than command conduct. Together, these writings shape encounter with Christ prior to doctrine, discipline, or institution.

==== History ====

* Acts

Acts is received as historical witness to the earliest communities following Christ, with particular attention to the entry of Gentiles and the apostles’ refusal to impose the Law upon them. It is read as memory and narrative, not as law or institutional template.

==== Letters ====

The letters are received as situational counsel addressed to identifiable communities. They speak to life in common, suffering, freedom, conscience, and love, without constituting a legal code or universal system.

* James
* 1 John
* 2 John
* 3 John

These writings are read for guidance in faithful practice and restraint of authority. The letters received here address encouragement, suffering, conscience, and hope within Christian communities, without extending into mediation of social relations or household discipline.

In receiving these texts, the Church of Humans does not claim completeness, universality, or finality. It claims only sufficiency for faithful life among the nations within the authority that was given.

=== On Omitted Writings and Scope ===

Writings not received within this [[canon]] are not thereby dismissed, denied, or disparaged.

The Law, the Prophets, and other Jewish and Christian texts remain indispensable for historical understanding, comparative study, and faithful interpretation of the world in which Christ lived and taught. They are read as witnesses to covenantal life, moral struggle, and the formation of communities before and alongside the emergence of Gentile assemblies.

Such writings are not received here as binding authority, not because they lack depth or truth, but because their instruction presumes covenants and obligations not given to the nations. Respect for those covenants requires restraint, not appropriation.

The Church of Humans therefore studies these texts freely and seriously, while refusing to treat them as law where no authority was granted.

== On Authority and Limits ==

Authority within the Church of Humans is bounded, derivative, and restrained. It is received, not assumed; exercised, not possessed; and limited to what has been given.

Authority does not arise from office, consensus, tradition, or volume of text. It does not accumulate through repetition or institutional inheritance. Where authority is claimed beyond what was given, obedience becomes coercion.

Within this church, authority is exercised as testimony rather than enforcement. It takes the form of witness to [[Christ]], recognition of faithful life, and mutual accountability freely undertaken within [[Covenant]]. It does not take the form of command imposed upon conscience or control asserted over persons.

[[Discernment]] is not [[judgment]]. Discernment names actions, patterns, and consequences within shared life; judgment claims standing before God. The former belongs to communities; the latter belongs to God alone. To confuse them is to trespass beyond authority.

Leadership is therefore not dominion. Those who teach, serve, or guide do so without claim to final verdict, coercive power, or exclusionary mandate. Influence may be offered; submission may be given; neither may be compelled.

Scripture functions within these limits. It forms, warns, encourages, and corrects as witness. It does not authorize the governance of persons beyond covenant, nor does it license harm in the name of obedience.

Exclusion, discipline, and enforcement require authority. Where such authority has not been given, they may not be exercised. The Church of Humans therefore refuses practices that rely on fear, threat, or social control to produce conformity.

These limits are not a weakening of the church, but its integrity. By refusing authority it does not possess, the church preserves both the freedom of its members and the credibility of its witness.

== On Membership ==

Those who seek membership do so by freely consenting to the limits described in ''[[A Rule for Humans]]''.

The Church of Humans

2026-02-24T14:37:29Z

Origin: /* Letters */ canon v2

'''The Church of Humans''' receives the Gospel as witness to [[Christ]], and ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]'' as sayings of [[recognition]].

It receives the [[Commandment#Commandment and Christ|Two Great Commandments]] given by Christ: to love [[God]], and to [[love]] one’s [[neighbor]] as oneself.

It inherits a [[Historical and Theological Orientation|pre-Nicene Christian tradition]] that understands God through [[covenant]]al action and Christ through lived [[faith]],
and admits as [[sin]]s both [[judgment]] of others before God and [[harm]] or hatred toward one’s [[neighbor]].

== On Jurisdiction ==

=== On Covenant and Jurisdiction ===

The Church of Humans speaks within limits. Those limits are not imposed by preference or modern sensibility, but arise from [[Covenant]] itself.

The [[Old Covenant|Law]] given to Israel names its own jurisdiction. It binds those to whom it was given and does not claim authority beyond that covenantal scope. This understanding has never been disputed within Judaism, where faithfulness has always been defined by obedience within covenant rather than by universal imposition.

[[Jurisdiction]] precedes obligation. Where no covenant exists, no law may rightly bind. To claim authority without covenant is not obedience, but [[trespass]].

[[Christ]] did not erase these distinctions. He taught within Israel, honored the Law’s scope, and refused to universalize it. His teaching consistently returned authority to God and called human [[judgment]] into question.

Accordingly, any church that exists among the nations must first account for the limits of what it has been given to say and to bind.

=== Gentiles and Apostolic Restraint ===

The earliest followers of Christ confronted the question of Gentile inclusion directly: whether those from the nations must enter Israel’s covenant in order to follow Christ.

Their answer was restraint.

Gentiles were received as Gentiles, without conversion, circumcision, or submission to the Law. This decision preserved the integrity of Israel’s covenant while opening fellowship to the nations. Authority was not expanded; it was deliberately withheld.

This restraint was not a concession to weakness, but an act of faithfulness. The apostles refused to bind where no authority had been given, choosing unity in [[Christ]] over legal extension.

As a result, Gentile assemblies were formed without Torah obligation and without mandate to govern themselves or others by law. Life together was shaped instead by witness, conscience, patience, and love.

The Church of Humans stands within this apostolic restraint. It does not speak for Israel, judge Israel, or reinterpret Jewish covenantal life. It speaks only as a Gentile church among the nations, bound by what was given and by nothing more.

== On Canon ==

=== What Canon Is ===

Canon does not name a collection of inspired writings, nor does it designate a closed library of sacred texts. Canon names the scope of authority a text is granted within a particular community.

A text may be revered, studied, remembered, and treasured without being granted binding authority. Authority is not a property inherent in writing itself; it is a relationship between a community, a [[covenant]], and the limits of what has been given to command.

For this reason, canon is always bounded. It arises where authority is recognized and ends where authority is not granted. Inclusion of a text does not enlarge obligation, and reverence does not imply [[jurisdiction]].

Within the Church of Humans, Scripture is received as witness rather than statute. Texts testify to God’s action, to Christ’s life, and to the faith of earlier communities. They do not legislate conduct beyond the [[New Covenant|covenant]] freely undertaken within this church.

Canon therefore functions not to expand control, but to restrain it. It marks where obedience is possible and where coercion must cease. Where no authority has been given, no command may rightly be drawn.

This understanding precedes any listing of texts. Before asking which writings are received, the church must first name what it understands authority to be, and where that authority ends.

=== Why the Canon Is Bounded ===

Canon is bounded because authority is bounded. Authority does not expand by accumulation, repetition, or historical layering. It is given, not inferred.

The growth of sacred literature across time reflects the life, struggle, and reflection of communities, but such growth does not imply the growth of [[jurisdiction]]. A larger collection of writings does not confer a larger mandate to command. Expansion of memory is not expansion of authority.

For Gentile Christians in particular, this distinction is essential. The apostles did not grant the nations the authority of Israel’s Law, nor did they authorize the creation of new systems of binding command. Gentile life in Christ was shaped by witness, conscience, and mutual responsibility, not by legal extension.

When canon is treated as unbounded, texts written for particular moments are pressed into service as universal law. Counsel becomes command, warning becomes weapon, and testimony becomes coercion. What was given to guide faith is repurposed to govern persons.

The Church of Humans therefore refuses the expansion of canon as a means of expanding control. Its canon is bounded to what is necessary to bear public witness to Christ, to remember the formation of Gentile assemblies, and to guide faithful life without exceeding the authority that was given.

No text is received as canon if its dominant mode of argument depends upon extraordinary apostolic coercion—claims of authority that override or foreclose ordinary communal discernment—rather than persuasion, witness, and shared recognition within covenantal life. This limitation is not a rejection of Scripture, but an act of fidelity. By refusing to bind where no authority exists, the church preserves both the integrity of the texts it receives and the freedom of the people who read them.

=== The Witness Received ===

Having named the limits of authority and the bounds of canon, the Church of Humans now names the writings it receives as its shared public witness.

These writings are received for recognition, memory, and faithful practice. They are not treated as law, nor are they used to extend authority beyond what was given. They are sufficient for Gentile Christianity among the nations, and no more is claimed of them than this.

The canon received here is presented in three parts.

==== Gospel ====

The Gospel writings bear witness to the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Christ. They are received as the primary public testimony by which Christ is known.

* Mark
* Luke
* John
* ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]''

The narrative Gospels proclaim the good news of Christ in story and testimony. The Witness of Thomas is received alongside them as a collection of sayings that train recognition rather than command conduct. Together, these writings shape encounter with Christ prior to doctrine, discipline, or institution.

==== History ====

* Acts

Acts is received as historical witness to the earliest communities following Christ, with particular attention to the entry of Gentiles and the apostles’ refusal to impose the Law upon them. It is read as memory and narrative, not as law or institutional template.

==== Letters ====

The letters are received as situational counsel addressed to identifiable communities. They speak to life in common, suffering, freedom, conscience, and love, without constituting a legal code or universal system.

* James
* 1 John
* 2 John
* 3 John

These writings are read for guidance in faithful practice and restraint of authority. The letters received here address encouragement, suffering, conscience, and hope within Christian communities, without extending into mediation of social relations or household discipline.

In receiving these texts, the Church of Humans does not claim completeness, universality, or finality. It claims only sufficiency for faithful life among the nations within the authority that was given.

=== On Omitted Writings and Scope ===

Writings not received within this [[canon]] are not thereby dismissed, denied, or disparaged.

The Law, the Prophets, and other Jewish and Christian texts remain indispensable for historical understanding, comparative study, and faithful interpretation of the world in which Christ lived and taught. They are read as witnesses to covenantal life, moral struggle, and the formation of communities before and alongside the emergence of Gentile assemblies.

Such writings are not received here as binding authority, not because they lack depth or truth, but because their instruction presumes covenants and obligations not given to the nations. Respect for those covenants requires restraint, not appropriation.

The Church of Humans therefore studies these texts freely and seriously, while refusing to treat them as law where no authority was granted.

== On Authority and Limits ==

Authority within the Church of Humans is bounded, derivative, and restrained. It is received, not assumed; exercised, not possessed; and limited to what has been given.

Authority does not arise from office, consensus, tradition, or volume of text. It does not accumulate through repetition or institutional inheritance. Where authority is claimed beyond what was given, obedience becomes coercion.

Within this church, authority is exercised as testimony rather than enforcement. It takes the form of witness to [[Christ]], recognition of faithful life, and mutual accountability freely undertaken within [[Covenant]]. It does not take the form of command imposed upon conscience or control asserted over persons.

[[Discernment]] is not [[judgment]]. Discernment names actions, patterns, and consequences within shared life; judgment claims standing before God. The former belongs to communities; the latter belongs to God alone. To confuse them is to trespass beyond authority.

Leadership is therefore not dominion. Those who teach, serve, or guide do so without claim to final verdict, coercive power, or exclusionary mandate. Influence may be offered; submission may be given; neither may be compelled.

Scripture functions within these limits. It forms, warns, encourages, and corrects as witness. It does not authorize the governance of persons beyond covenant, nor does it license harm in the name of obedience.

Exclusion, discipline, and enforcement require authority. Where such authority has not been given, they may not be exercised. The Church of Humans therefore refuses practices that rely on fear, threat, or social control to produce conformity.

These limits are not a weakening of the church, but its integrity. By refusing authority it does not possess, the church preserves both the freedom of its members and the credibility of its witness.

== On Membership ==

Those who seek membership do so by freely consenting to the limits described in ''[[A Rule for Humans]]''.

Canon

2026-02-24T14:35:58Z

Origin: canon v2

'''Canon''' names the scope of authority a text is granted within a community.

== The Witness Received ==

The [[Church of Humans]] receives a bounded set of writings as its shared public witness. These writings are read for recognition, memory, and faithful practice. They are not treated as law, nor are they used to claim authority beyond the [[New Covenant|Covenant]] freely undertaken in this church.

The collection is presented in three parts:

=== Gospel ===

Gospel bears witness to the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of [[Christ]]. These are received as the primary public testimony by which Christ is known.

* [https://openenglishbible.org/oeb/2025.6/read/b043.html John]
* [https://openenglishbible.org/oeb/2025.6/read/b041.html Mark]
* [https://openenglishbible.org/oeb/2025.6/read/b042.html Luke]

The Gospels proclaim the good news of Christ in narrative form. ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]'' is received alongside them as a collection of sayings that train [[recognition]] rather than command conduct. Together, these writings shape encounter with Christ and the call to faithful life.

=== History ===

* [https://openenglishbible.org/oeb/2025.6/read/b044.html Acts]

Acts is received as the historical witness to the early community following Christ, especially the entry of Gentiles and the life of the church after the resurrection. It is read as memory and narrative, not as law or institutional template.

=== Letters ===

The letters are received as situational counsel addressed to identifiable communities. They speak to life in common, conscience, suffering, freedom, and love, without constituting a legal code or universal system.

* James
* 1 John
* 2 John
* 3 John

These writings are read for guidance in faithful practice, restraint of authority, and life shaped by love. The letters received here address encouragement, suffering, conscience, and hope within Christian communities, without extending into mediation of social relations or household discipline.

----
<center>ἀποκάλυψις · ἀφαίρεσις</center>
----

== See also==
* [[Glossary]]
* [[Historical and Theological Orientation]]

The Church of Humans

2026-02-04T17:02:31Z

Origin: /* Why the Canon Is Bounded */ clarify

'''The Church of Humans''' receives the Gospel as witness to [[Christ]], and ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]'' as sayings of [[recognition]].

It receives the [[Commandment#Commandment and Christ|Two Great Commandments]] given by Christ: to love [[God]], and to [[love]] one’s [[neighbor]] as oneself.

It inherits a [[Historical and Theological Orientation|pre-Nicene Christian tradition]] that understands God through [[covenant]]al action and Christ through lived [[faith]],
and admits as [[sin]]s both [[judgment]] of others before God and [[harm]] or hatred toward one’s [[neighbor]].

== On Jurisdiction ==

=== On Covenant and Jurisdiction ===

The Church of Humans speaks within limits. Those limits are not imposed by preference or modern sensibility, but arise from [[Covenant]] itself.

The [[Old Covenant|Law]] given to Israel names its own jurisdiction. It binds those to whom it was given and does not claim authority beyond that covenantal scope. This understanding has never been disputed within Judaism, where faithfulness has always been defined by obedience within covenant rather than by universal imposition.

[[Jurisdiction]] precedes obligation. Where no covenant exists, no law may rightly bind. To claim authority without covenant is not obedience, but [[trespass]].

[[Christ]] did not erase these distinctions. He taught within Israel, honored the Law’s scope, and refused to universalize it. His teaching consistently returned authority to God and called human [[judgment]] into question.

Accordingly, any church that exists among the nations must first account for the limits of what it has been given to say and to bind.

=== Gentiles and Apostolic Restraint ===

The earliest followers of Christ confronted the question of Gentile inclusion directly: whether those from the nations must enter Israel’s covenant in order to follow Christ.

Their answer was restraint.

Gentiles were received as Gentiles, without conversion, circumcision, or submission to the Law. This decision preserved the integrity of Israel’s covenant while opening fellowship to the nations. Authority was not expanded; it was deliberately withheld.

This restraint was not a concession to weakness, but an act of faithfulness. The apostles refused to bind where no authority had been given, choosing unity in [[Christ]] over legal extension.

As a result, Gentile assemblies were formed without Torah obligation and without mandate to govern themselves or others by law. Life together was shaped instead by witness, conscience, patience, and love.

The Church of Humans stands within this apostolic restraint. It does not speak for Israel, judge Israel, or reinterpret Jewish covenantal life. It speaks only as a Gentile church among the nations, bound by what was given and by nothing more.

== On Canon ==

=== What Canon Is ===

Canon does not name a collection of inspired writings, nor does it designate a closed library of sacred texts. Canon names the scope of authority a text is granted within a particular community.

A text may be revered, studied, remembered, and treasured without being granted binding authority. Authority is not a property inherent in writing itself; it is a relationship between a community, a [[covenant]], and the limits of what has been given to command.

For this reason, canon is always bounded. It arises where authority is recognized and ends where authority is not granted. Inclusion of a text does not enlarge obligation, and reverence does not imply [[jurisdiction]].

Within the Church of Humans, Scripture is received as witness rather than statute. Texts testify to God’s action, to Christ’s life, and to the faith of earlier communities. They do not legislate conduct beyond the [[New Covenant|covenant]] freely undertaken within this church.

Canon therefore functions not to expand control, but to restrain it. It marks where obedience is possible and where coercion must cease. Where no authority has been given, no command may rightly be drawn.

This understanding precedes any listing of texts. Before asking which writings are received, the church must first name what it understands authority to be, and where that authority ends.

=== Why the Canon Is Bounded ===

Canon is bounded because authority is bounded. Authority does not expand by accumulation, repetition, or historical layering. It is given, not inferred.

The growth of sacred literature across time reflects the life, struggle, and reflection of communities, but such growth does not imply the growth of [[jurisdiction]]. A larger collection of writings does not confer a larger mandate to command. Expansion of memory is not expansion of authority.

For Gentile Christians in particular, this distinction is essential. The apostles did not grant the nations the authority of Israel’s Law, nor did they authorize the creation of new systems of binding command. Gentile life in Christ was shaped by witness, conscience, and mutual responsibility, not by legal extension.

When canon is treated as unbounded, texts written for particular moments are pressed into service as universal law. Counsel becomes command, warning becomes weapon, and testimony becomes coercion. What was given to guide faith is repurposed to govern persons.

The Church of Humans therefore refuses the expansion of canon as a means of expanding control. Its canon is bounded to what is necessary to bear public witness to Christ, to remember the formation of Gentile assemblies, and to guide faithful life without exceeding the authority that was given.

No text is received as canon if its dominant mode of argument depends upon extraordinary apostolic coercion—claims of authority that override or foreclose ordinary communal discernment—rather than persuasion, witness, and shared recognition within covenantal life. This limitation is not a rejection of Scripture, but an act of fidelity. By refusing to bind where no authority exists, the church preserves both the integrity of the texts it receives and the freedom of the people who read them.

=== The Witness Received ===

Having named the limits of authority and the bounds of canon, the Church of Humans now names the writings it receives as its shared public witness.

These writings are received for recognition, memory, and faithful practice. They are not treated as law, nor are they used to extend authority beyond what was given. They are sufficient for Gentile Christianity among the nations, and no more is claimed of them than this.

The canon received here is presented in three parts.

==== Gospel ====

The Gospel writings bear witness to the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Christ. They are received as the primary public testimony by which Christ is known.

* Mark
* Luke
* John
* ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]''

The narrative Gospels proclaim the good news of Christ in story and testimony. The Witness of Thomas is received alongside them as a collection of sayings that train recognition rather than command conduct. Together, these writings shape encounter with Christ prior to doctrine, discipline, or institution.

==== History ====

* Acts

Acts is received as historical witness to the earliest communities following Christ, with particular attention to the entry of Gentiles and the apostles’ refusal to impose the Law upon them. It is read as memory and narrative, not as law or institutional template.

==== Letters ====

The letters are received as situational counsel addressed to identifiable communities. They speak to life in common, suffering, freedom, conscience, and love, without constituting a legal code or universal system.

* Romans
* 1 Corinthians
* 2 Corinthians
* Philippians
* 1 Thessalonians

These writings are read for guidance in faithful practice and restraint of authority. The letters received here address encouragement, suffering, conscience, and hope within Gentile communities, without extending into mediation of social relations or household discipline.

In receiving these texts, the Church of Humans does not claim completeness, universality, or finality. It claims only sufficiency for faithful life among the nations within the authority that was given.

=== On Omitted Writings and Scope ===

Writings not received within this [[canon]] are not thereby dismissed, denied, or disparaged.

The Law, the Prophets, and other Jewish and Christian texts remain indispensable for historical understanding, comparative study, and faithful interpretation of the world in which Christ lived and taught. They are read as witnesses to covenantal life, moral struggle, and the formation of communities before and alongside the emergence of Gentile assemblies.

Such writings are not received here as binding authority, not because they lack depth or truth, but because their instruction presumes covenants and obligations not given to the nations. Respect for those covenants requires restraint, not appropriation.

The Church of Humans therefore studies these texts freely and seriously, while refusing to treat them as law where no authority was granted.

== On Authority and Limits ==

Authority within the Church of Humans is bounded, derivative, and restrained. It is received, not assumed; exercised, not possessed; and limited to what has been given.

Authority does not arise from office, consensus, tradition, or volume of text. It does not accumulate through repetition or institutional inheritance. Where authority is claimed beyond what was given, obedience becomes coercion.

Within this church, authority is exercised as testimony rather than enforcement. It takes the form of witness to [[Christ]], recognition of faithful life, and mutual accountability freely undertaken within [[Covenant]]. It does not take the form of command imposed upon conscience or control asserted over persons.

[[Discernment]] is not [[judgment]]. Discernment names actions, patterns, and consequences within shared life; judgment claims standing before God. The former belongs to communities; the latter belongs to God alone. To confuse them is to trespass beyond authority.

Leadership is therefore not dominion. Those who teach, serve, or guide do so without claim to final verdict, coercive power, or exclusionary mandate. Influence may be offered; submission may be given; neither may be compelled.

Scripture functions within these limits. It forms, warns, encourages, and corrects as witness. It does not authorize the governance of persons beyond covenant, nor does it license harm in the name of obedience.

Exclusion, discipline, and enforcement require authority. Where such authority has not been given, they may not be exercised. The Church of Humans therefore refuses practices that rely on fear, threat, or social control to produce conformity.

These limits are not a weakening of the church, but its integrity. By refusing authority it does not possess, the church preserves both the freedom of its members and the credibility of its witness.

== On Membership ==

Those who seek membership do so by freely consenting to the limits described in ''[[A Rule for Humans]]''.

The Church of Humans

2026-02-04T16:35:53Z

Origin: /* Letters */ update to match Canon

'''The Church of Humans''' receives the Gospel as witness to [[Christ]], and ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]'' as sayings of [[recognition]].

It receives the [[Commandment#Commandment and Christ|Two Great Commandments]] given by Christ: to love [[God]], and to [[love]] one’s [[neighbor]] as oneself.

It inherits a [[Historical and Theological Orientation|pre-Nicene Christian tradition]] that understands God through [[covenant]]al action and Christ through lived [[faith]],
and admits as [[sin]]s both [[judgment]] of others before God and [[harm]] or hatred toward one’s [[neighbor]].

== On Jurisdiction ==

=== On Covenant and Jurisdiction ===

The Church of Humans speaks within limits. Those limits are not imposed by preference or modern sensibility, but arise from [[Covenant]] itself.

The [[Old Covenant|Law]] given to Israel names its own jurisdiction. It binds those to whom it was given and does not claim authority beyond that covenantal scope. This understanding has never been disputed within Judaism, where faithfulness has always been defined by obedience within covenant rather than by universal imposition.

[[Jurisdiction]] precedes obligation. Where no covenant exists, no law may rightly bind. To claim authority without covenant is not obedience, but [[trespass]].

[[Christ]] did not erase these distinctions. He taught within Israel, honored the Law’s scope, and refused to universalize it. His teaching consistently returned authority to God and called human [[judgment]] into question.

Accordingly, any church that exists among the nations must first account for the limits of what it has been given to say and to bind.

=== Gentiles and Apostolic Restraint ===

The earliest followers of Christ confronted the question of Gentile inclusion directly: whether those from the nations must enter Israel’s covenant in order to follow Christ.

Their answer was restraint.

Gentiles were received as Gentiles, without conversion, circumcision, or submission to the Law. This decision preserved the integrity of Israel’s covenant while opening fellowship to the nations. Authority was not expanded; it was deliberately withheld.

This restraint was not a concession to weakness, but an act of faithfulness. The apostles refused to bind where no authority had been given, choosing unity in [[Christ]] over legal extension.

As a result, Gentile assemblies were formed without Torah obligation and without mandate to govern themselves or others by law. Life together was shaped instead by witness, conscience, patience, and love.

The Church of Humans stands within this apostolic restraint. It does not speak for Israel, judge Israel, or reinterpret Jewish covenantal life. It speaks only as a Gentile church among the nations, bound by what was given and by nothing more.

== On Canon ==

=== What Canon Is ===

Canon does not name a collection of inspired writings, nor does it designate a closed library of sacred texts. Canon names the scope of authority a text is granted within a particular community.

A text may be revered, studied, remembered, and treasured without being granted binding authority. Authority is not a property inherent in writing itself; it is a relationship between a community, a [[covenant]], and the limits of what has been given to command.

For this reason, canon is always bounded. It arises where authority is recognized and ends where authority is not granted. Inclusion of a text does not enlarge obligation, and reverence does not imply [[jurisdiction]].

Within the Church of Humans, Scripture is received as witness rather than statute. Texts testify to God’s action, to Christ’s life, and to the faith of earlier communities. They do not legislate conduct beyond the [[New Covenant|covenant]] freely undertaken within this church.

Canon therefore functions not to expand control, but to restrain it. It marks where obedience is possible and where coercion must cease. Where no authority has been given, no command may rightly be drawn.

This understanding precedes any listing of texts. Before asking which writings are received, the church must first name what it understands authority to be, and where that authority ends.

=== Why the Canon Is Bounded ===

Canon is bounded because authority is bounded. Authority does not expand by accumulation, repetition, or historical layering. It is given, not inferred.

The growth of sacred literature across time reflects the life, struggle, and reflection of communities, but such growth does not imply the growth of [[jurisdiction]]. A larger collection of writings does not confer a larger mandate to command. Expansion of memory is not expansion of authority.

For Gentile Christians in particular, this distinction is essential. The apostles did not grant the nations the authority of Israel’s Law, nor did they authorize the creation of new systems of binding command. Gentile life in Christ was shaped by witness, conscience, and mutual responsibility, not by legal extension.

When canon is treated as unbounded, texts written for particular moments are pressed into service as universal law. Counsel becomes command, warning becomes weapon, and testimony becomes coercion. What was given to guide faith is repurposed to govern persons.

The Church of Humans therefore refuses the expansion of canon as a means of expanding control. Its canon is bounded to what is necessary to bear public witness to Christ, to remember the formation of Gentile assemblies, and to guide faithful life without exceeding the authority that was given.

This limitation is not a rejection of Scripture, but an act of fidelity. By refusing to bind where no authority exists, the church preserves both the integrity of the texts it receives and the freedom of the people who read them.

=== The Witness Received ===

Having named the limits of authority and the bounds of canon, the Church of Humans now names the writings it receives as its shared public witness.

These writings are received for recognition, memory, and faithful practice. They are not treated as law, nor are they used to extend authority beyond what was given. They are sufficient for Gentile Christianity among the nations, and no more is claimed of them than this.

The canon received here is presented in three parts.

==== Gospel ====

The Gospel writings bear witness to the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Christ. They are received as the primary public testimony by which Christ is known.

* Mark
* Luke
* John
* ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]''

The narrative Gospels proclaim the good news of Christ in story and testimony. The Witness of Thomas is received alongside them as a collection of sayings that train recognition rather than command conduct. Together, these writings shape encounter with Christ prior to doctrine, discipline, or institution.

==== History ====

* Acts

Acts is received as historical witness to the earliest communities following Christ, with particular attention to the entry of Gentiles and the apostles’ refusal to impose the Law upon them. It is read as memory and narrative, not as law or institutional template.

==== Letters ====

The letters are received as situational counsel addressed to identifiable communities. They speak to life in common, suffering, freedom, conscience, and love, without constituting a legal code or universal system.

* Romans
* 1 Corinthians
* 2 Corinthians
* Philippians
* 1 Thessalonians

These writings are read for guidance in faithful practice and restraint of authority. The letters received here address encouragement, suffering, conscience, and hope within Gentile communities, without extending into mediation of social relations or household discipline.

In receiving these texts, the Church of Humans does not claim completeness, universality, or finality. It claims only sufficiency for faithful life among the nations within the authority that was given.

=== On Omitted Writings and Scope ===

Writings not received within this [[canon]] are not thereby dismissed, denied, or disparaged.

The Law, the Prophets, and other Jewish and Christian texts remain indispensable for historical understanding, comparative study, and faithful interpretation of the world in which Christ lived and taught. They are read as witnesses to covenantal life, moral struggle, and the formation of communities before and alongside the emergence of Gentile assemblies.

Such writings are not received here as binding authority, not because they lack depth or truth, but because their instruction presumes covenants and obligations not given to the nations. Respect for those covenants requires restraint, not appropriation.

The Church of Humans therefore studies these texts freely and seriously, while refusing to treat them as law where no authority was granted.

== On Authority and Limits ==

Authority within the Church of Humans is bounded, derivative, and restrained. It is received, not assumed; exercised, not possessed; and limited to what has been given.

Authority does not arise from office, consensus, tradition, or volume of text. It does not accumulate through repetition or institutional inheritance. Where authority is claimed beyond what was given, obedience becomes coercion.

Within this church, authority is exercised as testimony rather than enforcement. It takes the form of witness to [[Christ]], recognition of faithful life, and mutual accountability freely undertaken within [[Covenant]]. It does not take the form of command imposed upon conscience or control asserted over persons.

[[Discernment]] is not [[judgment]]. Discernment names actions, patterns, and consequences within shared life; judgment claims standing before God. The former belongs to communities; the latter belongs to God alone. To confuse them is to trespass beyond authority.

Leadership is therefore not dominion. Those who teach, serve, or guide do so without claim to final verdict, coercive power, or exclusionary mandate. Influence may be offered; submission may be given; neither may be compelled.

Scripture functions within these limits. It forms, warns, encourages, and corrects as witness. It does not authorize the governance of persons beyond covenant, nor does it license harm in the name of obedience.

Exclusion, discipline, and enforcement require authority. Where such authority has not been given, they may not be exercised. The Church of Humans therefore refuses practices that rely on fear, threat, or social control to produce conformity.

These limits are not a weakening of the church, but its integrity. By refusing authority it does not possess, the church preserves both the freedom of its members and the credibility of its witness.

== On Membership ==

Those who seek membership do so by freely consenting to the limits described in ''[[A Rule for Humans]]''.

Canon

2026-02-04T16:27:32Z

Origin: /* Letters */ links to oeb

'''Canon''' names the scope of authority a text is granted within a community.

== The Witness Received ==

The [[Church of Humans]] receives a bounded set of writings as its shared public witness. These writings are read for recognition, memory, and faithful practice. They are not treated as law, nor are they used to claim authority beyond the [[New Covenant|Covenant]] freely undertaken in this church.

The collection is presented in three parts:

=== Gospel ===

Gospel bears witness to the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of [[Christ]]. These are received as the primary public testimony by which Christ is known.

* [https://openenglishbible.org/oeb/2025.6/read/b041.html Mark]
* [https://openenglishbible.org/oeb/2025.6/read/b042.html Luke]
* [https://openenglishbible.org/oeb/2025.6/read/b043.html John]
* ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]''

The Gospels proclaim the good news of Christ in narrative form. ''The Witness of Thomas'' is received alongside them as a collection of sayings that train [[recognition]] rather than command conduct. Together, these writings shape encounter with Christ and the call to faithful life.

=== History ===

* [https://openenglishbible.org/oeb/2025.6/read/b044.html Acts]

Acts is received as the historical witness to the early community following Christ, especially the entry of Gentiles and the life of the church after the resurrection. It is read as memory and narrative, not as law or institutional template.

=== Letters ===

The letters are received as situational counsel addressed to identifiable communities. They speak to life in common, conscience, suffering, freedom, and love, without constituting a legal code or universal system.

* [https://openenglishbible.org/oeb/2025.6/read/b045.html Romans]
* [https://openenglishbible.org/oeb/2025.6/read/b046.html 1 Corinthians]
* [https://openenglishbible.org/oeb/2025.6/read/b047.html 2 Corinthians]
* [https://openenglishbible.org/oeb/2025.6/read/b050.html Philippians]
* [https://openenglishbible.org/oeb/2025.6/read/b052.html 1 Thessalonians]

These writings are read for guidance in faithful practice, restraint of authority, and life shaped by love. The letters received here address encouragement, suffering, conscience, and hope within Gentile communities, without extending into mediation of social relations or household discipline.

----
<center>ἀποκάλυψις · ἀφαίρεσις</center>
----

== See also==
* [[Glossary]]
* [[Historical and Theological Orientation]]

Canon

2026-02-04T16:24:56Z

Origin: /* Letters */ trim Philemon proto-command language

'''Canon''' names the scope of authority a text is granted within a community.

== The Witness Received ==

The [[Church of Humans]] receives a bounded set of writings as its shared public witness. These writings are read for recognition, memory, and faithful practice. They are not treated as law, nor are they used to claim authority beyond the [[New Covenant|Covenant]] freely undertaken in this church.

The collection is presented in three parts:

=== Gospel ===

Gospel bears witness to the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of [[Christ]]. These are received as the primary public testimony by which Christ is known.

* [https://openenglishbible.org/oeb/2025.6/read/b041.html Mark]
* [https://openenglishbible.org/oeb/2025.6/read/b042.html Luke]
* [https://openenglishbible.org/oeb/2025.6/read/b043.html John]
* ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]''

The Gospels proclaim the good news of Christ in narrative form. ''The Witness of Thomas'' is received alongside them as a collection of sayings that train [[recognition]] rather than command conduct. Together, these writings shape encounter with Christ and the call to faithful life.

=== History ===

* [https://openenglishbible.org/oeb/2025.6/read/b044.html Acts]

Acts is received as the historical witness to the early community following Christ, especially the entry of Gentiles and the life of the church after the resurrection. It is read as memory and narrative, not as law or institutional template.

=== Letters ===

The letters are received as situational counsel addressed to identifiable communities. They speak to life in common, conscience, suffering, freedom, and love, without constituting a legal code or universal system.

* Romans
* 1 Corinthians
* 2 Corinthians
* Philippians
* 1 Thessalonians

These writings are read for guidance in faithful practice, restraint of authority, and life shaped by love. The letters received here address encouragement, suffering, conscience, and hope within Gentile communities, without extending into mediation of social relations or household discipline.

----
<center>ἀποκάλυψις · ἀφαίρεσις</center>
----

== See also==
* [[Glossary]]
* [[Historical and Theological Orientation]]

Canon

2026-02-04T15:53:14Z

Origin: /* History */ add link to oeb

'''Canon''' names the scope of authority a text is granted within a community.

== The Witness Received ==

The [[Church of Humans]] receives a bounded set of writings as its shared public witness. These writings are read for recognition, memory, and faithful practice. They are not treated as law, nor are they used to claim authority beyond the [[New Covenant|Covenant]] freely undertaken in this church.

The collection is presented in three parts:

=== Gospel ===

Gospel bears witness to the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of [[Christ]]. These are received as the primary public testimony by which Christ is known.

* [https://openenglishbible.org/oeb/2025.6/read/b041.html Mark]
* [https://openenglishbible.org/oeb/2025.6/read/b042.html Luke]
* [https://openenglishbible.org/oeb/2025.6/read/b043.html John]
* ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]''

The Gospels proclaim the good news of Christ in narrative form. ''The Witness of Thomas'' is received alongside them as a collection of sayings that train [[recognition]] rather than command conduct. Together, these writings shape encounter with Christ and the call to faithful life.

=== History ===

* [https://openenglishbible.org/oeb/2025.6/read/b044.html Acts]

Acts is received as the historical witness to the early community following Christ, especially the entry of Gentiles and the life of the church after the resurrection. It is read as memory and narrative, not as law or institutional template.

=== Letters ===

The letters are received as situational counsel addressed to identifiable communities. They speak to life in common, conscience, suffering, freedom, and love, without constituting a legal code or universal system.

* Romans
* 1 Corinthians
* 2 Corinthians
* 1 Thessalonians
* Philippians
* Philemon

These writings are read for guidance in faithful practice, restraint of authority, and life shaped by love. The collection concludes with Philemon, which leaves the community entrusted with responsibility rather than resolved by command.

----
<center>ἀποκάλυψις · ἀφαίρεσις</center>
----

== See also==
* [[Glossary]]
* [[Historical and Theological Orientation]]

Canon

2026-02-04T15:52:35Z

Origin: /* Gospel */ link to oeb

'''Canon''' names the scope of authority a text is granted within a community.

== The Witness Received ==

The [[Church of Humans]] receives a bounded set of writings as its shared public witness. These writings are read for recognition, memory, and faithful practice. They are not treated as law, nor are they used to claim authority beyond the [[New Covenant|Covenant]] freely undertaken in this church.

The collection is presented in three parts:

=== Gospel ===

Gospel bears witness to the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of [[Christ]]. These are received as the primary public testimony by which Christ is known.

* [https://openenglishbible.org/oeb/2025.6/read/b041.html Mark]
* [https://openenglishbible.org/oeb/2025.6/read/b042.html Luke]
* [https://openenglishbible.org/oeb/2025.6/read/b043.html John]
* ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]''

The Gospels proclaim the good news of Christ in narrative form. ''The Witness of Thomas'' is received alongside them as a collection of sayings that train [[recognition]] rather than command conduct. Together, these writings shape encounter with Christ and the call to faithful life.

=== History ===

* Acts

Acts is received as the historical witness to the early community following Christ, especially the entry of Gentiles and the life of the church after the resurrection. It is read as memory and narrative, not as law or institutional template.

=== Letters ===

The letters are received as situational counsel addressed to identifiable communities. They speak to life in common, conscience, suffering, freedom, and love, without constituting a legal code or universal system.

* Romans
* 1 Corinthians
* 2 Corinthians
* 1 Thessalonians
* Philippians
* Philemon

These writings are read for guidance in faithful practice, restraint of authority, and life shaped by love. The collection concludes with Philemon, which leaves the community entrusted with responsibility rather than resolved by command.

----
<center>ἀποκάλυψις · ἀφαίρεσις</center>
----

== See also==
* [[Glossary]]
* [[Historical and Theological Orientation]]

The Church of Humans

2026-02-02T18:40:07Z

Origin: /* Why the Canon Is Bounded */ add link

'''The Church of Humans''' receives the Gospel as witness to [[Christ]], and ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]'' as sayings of [[recognition]].

It receives the [[Commandment#Commandment and Christ|Two Great Commandments]] given by Christ: to love [[God]], and to [[love]] one’s [[neighbor]] as oneself.

It inherits a [[Historical and Theological Orientation|pre-Nicene Christian tradition]] that understands God through [[covenant]]al action and Christ through lived [[faith]],
and admits as [[sin]]s both [[judgment]] of others before God and [[harm]] or hatred toward one’s [[neighbor]].

== On Jurisdiction ==

=== On Covenant and Jurisdiction ===

The Church of Humans speaks within limits. Those limits are not imposed by preference or modern sensibility, but arise from [[Covenant]] itself.

The [[Old Covenant|Law]] given to Israel names its own jurisdiction. It binds those to whom it was given and does not claim authority beyond that covenantal scope. This understanding has never been disputed within Judaism, where faithfulness has always been defined by obedience within covenant rather than by universal imposition.

[[Jurisdiction]] precedes obligation. Where no covenant exists, no law may rightly bind. To claim authority without covenant is not obedience, but [[trespass]].

[[Christ]] did not erase these distinctions. He taught within Israel, honored the Law’s scope, and refused to universalize it. His teaching consistently returned authority to God and called human [[judgment]] into question.

Accordingly, any church that exists among the nations must first account for the limits of what it has been given to say and to bind.

=== Gentiles and Apostolic Restraint ===

The earliest followers of Christ confronted the question of Gentile inclusion directly: whether those from the nations must enter Israel’s covenant in order to follow Christ.

Their answer was restraint.

Gentiles were received as Gentiles, without conversion, circumcision, or submission to the Law. This decision preserved the integrity of Israel’s covenant while opening fellowship to the nations. Authority was not expanded; it was deliberately withheld.

This restraint was not a concession to weakness, but an act of faithfulness. The apostles refused to bind where no authority had been given, choosing unity in [[Christ]] over legal extension.

As a result, Gentile assemblies were formed without Torah obligation and without mandate to govern themselves or others by law. Life together was shaped instead by witness, conscience, patience, and love.

The Church of Humans stands within this apostolic restraint. It does not speak for Israel, judge Israel, or reinterpret Jewish covenantal life. It speaks only as a Gentile church among the nations, bound by what was given and by nothing more.

== On Canon ==

=== What Canon Is ===

Canon does not name a collection of inspired writings, nor does it designate a closed library of sacred texts. Canon names the scope of authority a text is granted within a particular community.

A text may be revered, studied, remembered, and treasured without being granted binding authority. Authority is not a property inherent in writing itself; it is a relationship between a community, a [[covenant]], and the limits of what has been given to command.

For this reason, canon is always bounded. It arises where authority is recognized and ends where authority is not granted. Inclusion of a text does not enlarge obligation, and reverence does not imply [[jurisdiction]].

Within the Church of Humans, Scripture is received as witness rather than statute. Texts testify to God’s action, to Christ’s life, and to the faith of earlier communities. They do not legislate conduct beyond the [[New Covenant|covenant]] freely undertaken within this church.

Canon therefore functions not to expand control, but to restrain it. It marks where obedience is possible and where coercion must cease. Where no authority has been given, no command may rightly be drawn.

This understanding precedes any listing of texts. Before asking which writings are received, the church must first name what it understands authority to be, and where that authority ends.

=== Why the Canon Is Bounded ===

Canon is bounded because authority is bounded. Authority does not expand by accumulation, repetition, or historical layering. It is given, not inferred.

The growth of sacred literature across time reflects the life, struggle, and reflection of communities, but such growth does not imply the growth of [[jurisdiction]]. A larger collection of writings does not confer a larger mandate to command. Expansion of memory is not expansion of authority.

For Gentile Christians in particular, this distinction is essential. The apostles did not grant the nations the authority of Israel’s Law, nor did they authorize the creation of new systems of binding command. Gentile life in Christ was shaped by witness, conscience, and mutual responsibility, not by legal extension.

When canon is treated as unbounded, texts written for particular moments are pressed into service as universal law. Counsel becomes command, warning becomes weapon, and testimony becomes coercion. What was given to guide faith is repurposed to govern persons.

The Church of Humans therefore refuses the expansion of canon as a means of expanding control. Its canon is bounded to what is necessary to bear public witness to Christ, to remember the formation of Gentile assemblies, and to guide faithful life without exceeding the authority that was given.

This limitation is not a rejection of Scripture, but an act of fidelity. By refusing to bind where no authority exists, the church preserves both the integrity of the texts it receives and the freedom of the people who read them.

=== The Witness Received ===

Having named the limits of authority and the bounds of canon, the Church of Humans now names the writings it receives as its shared public witness.

These writings are received for recognition, memory, and faithful practice. They are not treated as law, nor are they used to extend authority beyond what was given. They are sufficient for Gentile Christianity among the nations, and no more is claimed of them than this.

The canon received here is presented in three parts.

==== Gospel ====

The Gospel writings bear witness to the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Christ. They are received as the primary public testimony by which Christ is known.

* Mark
* Luke
* John
* ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]''

The narrative Gospels proclaim the good news of Christ in story and testimony. The Witness of Thomas is received alongside them as a collection of sayings that train recognition rather than command conduct. Together, these writings shape encounter with Christ prior to doctrine, discipline, or institution.

==== History ====

* Acts

Acts is received as historical witness to the earliest communities following Christ, with particular attention to the entry of Gentiles and the apostles’ refusal to impose the Law upon them. It is read as memory and narrative, not as law or institutional template.

==== Letters ====

The letters are received as situational counsel addressed to identifiable communities. They speak to life in common, suffering, freedom, conscience, and love, without constituting a legal code or universal system.

* Romans
* 1 Corinthians
* 2 Corinthians
* 1 Thessalonians
* Philippians
* Philemon

These writings are read for guidance in faithful practice and restraint of authority. The collection concludes with Philemon, which leaves the community entrusted with responsibility rather than resolved by command.

In receiving these texts, the Church of Humans does not claim completeness, universality, or finality. It claims only sufficiency for faithful life among the nations within the authority that was given.

=== On Omitted Writings and Scope ===

Writings not received within this [[canon]] are not thereby dismissed, denied, or disparaged.

The Law, the Prophets, and other Jewish and Christian texts remain indispensable for historical understanding, comparative study, and faithful interpretation of the world in which Christ lived and taught. They are read as witnesses to covenantal life, moral struggle, and the formation of communities before and alongside the emergence of Gentile assemblies.

Such writings are not received here as binding authority, not because they lack depth or truth, but because their instruction presumes covenants and obligations not given to the nations. Respect for those covenants requires restraint, not appropriation.

The Church of Humans therefore studies these texts freely and seriously, while refusing to treat them as law where no authority was granted.

== On Authority and Limits ==

Authority within the Church of Humans is bounded, derivative, and restrained. It is received, not assumed; exercised, not possessed; and limited to what has been given.

Authority does not arise from office, consensus, tradition, or volume of text. It does not accumulate through repetition or institutional inheritance. Where authority is claimed beyond what was given, obedience becomes coercion.

Within this church, authority is exercised as testimony rather than enforcement. It takes the form of witness to [[Christ]], recognition of faithful life, and mutual accountability freely undertaken within [[Covenant]]. It does not take the form of command imposed upon conscience or control asserted over persons.

[[Discernment]] is not [[judgment]]. Discernment names actions, patterns, and consequences within shared life; judgment claims standing before God. The former belongs to communities; the latter belongs to God alone. To confuse them is to trespass beyond authority.

Leadership is therefore not dominion. Those who teach, serve, or guide do so without claim to final verdict, coercive power, or exclusionary mandate. Influence may be offered; submission may be given; neither may be compelled.

Scripture functions within these limits. It forms, warns, encourages, and corrects as witness. It does not authorize the governance of persons beyond covenant, nor does it license harm in the name of obedience.

Exclusion, discipline, and enforcement require authority. Where such authority has not been given, they may not be exercised. The Church of Humans therefore refuses practices that rely on fear, threat, or social control to produce conformity.

These limits are not a weakening of the church, but its integrity. By refusing authority it does not possess, the church preserves both the freedom of its members and the credibility of its witness.

== On Membership ==

Those who seek membership do so by freely consenting to the limits described in ''[[A Rule for Humans]]''.

The Church of Humans

2026-02-02T18:38:10Z

Origin: /* What Canon Is */ links

'''The Church of Humans''' receives the Gospel as witness to [[Christ]], and ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]'' as sayings of [[recognition]].

It receives the [[Commandment#Commandment and Christ|Two Great Commandments]] given by Christ: to love [[God]], and to [[love]] one’s [[neighbor]] as oneself.

It inherits a [[Historical and Theological Orientation|pre-Nicene Christian tradition]] that understands God through [[covenant]]al action and Christ through lived [[faith]],
and admits as [[sin]]s both [[judgment]] of others before God and [[harm]] or hatred toward one’s [[neighbor]].

== On Jurisdiction ==

=== On Covenant and Jurisdiction ===

The Church of Humans speaks within limits. Those limits are not imposed by preference or modern sensibility, but arise from [[Covenant]] itself.

The [[Old Covenant|Law]] given to Israel names its own jurisdiction. It binds those to whom it was given and does not claim authority beyond that covenantal scope. This understanding has never been disputed within Judaism, where faithfulness has always been defined by obedience within covenant rather than by universal imposition.

[[Jurisdiction]] precedes obligation. Where no covenant exists, no law may rightly bind. To claim authority without covenant is not obedience, but [[trespass]].

[[Christ]] did not erase these distinctions. He taught within Israel, honored the Law’s scope, and refused to universalize it. His teaching consistently returned authority to God and called human [[judgment]] into question.

Accordingly, any church that exists among the nations must first account for the limits of what it has been given to say and to bind.

=== Gentiles and Apostolic Restraint ===

The earliest followers of Christ confronted the question of Gentile inclusion directly: whether those from the nations must enter Israel’s covenant in order to follow Christ.

Their answer was restraint.

Gentiles were received as Gentiles, without conversion, circumcision, or submission to the Law. This decision preserved the integrity of Israel’s covenant while opening fellowship to the nations. Authority was not expanded; it was deliberately withheld.

This restraint was not a concession to weakness, but an act of faithfulness. The apostles refused to bind where no authority had been given, choosing unity in [[Christ]] over legal extension.

As a result, Gentile assemblies were formed without Torah obligation and without mandate to govern themselves or others by law. Life together was shaped instead by witness, conscience, patience, and love.

The Church of Humans stands within this apostolic restraint. It does not speak for Israel, judge Israel, or reinterpret Jewish covenantal life. It speaks only as a Gentile church among the nations, bound by what was given and by nothing more.

== On Canon ==

=== What Canon Is ===

Canon does not name a collection of inspired writings, nor does it designate a closed library of sacred texts. Canon names the scope of authority a text is granted within a particular community.

A text may be revered, studied, remembered, and treasured without being granted binding authority. Authority is not a property inherent in writing itself; it is a relationship between a community, a [[covenant]], and the limits of what has been given to command.

For this reason, canon is always bounded. It arises where authority is recognized and ends where authority is not granted. Inclusion of a text does not enlarge obligation, and reverence does not imply [[jurisdiction]].

Within the Church of Humans, Scripture is received as witness rather than statute. Texts testify to God’s action, to Christ’s life, and to the faith of earlier communities. They do not legislate conduct beyond the [[New Covenant|covenant]] freely undertaken within this church.

Canon therefore functions not to expand control, but to restrain it. It marks where obedience is possible and where coercion must cease. Where no authority has been given, no command may rightly be drawn.

This understanding precedes any listing of texts. Before asking which writings are received, the church must first name what it understands authority to be, and where that authority ends.

=== Why the Canon Is Bounded ===

Canon is bounded because authority is bounded. Authority does not expand by accumulation, repetition, or historical layering. It is given, not inferred.

The growth of sacred literature across time reflects the life, struggle, and reflection of communities, but such growth does not imply the growth of jurisdiction. A larger collection of writings does not confer a larger mandate to command. Expansion of memory is not expansion of authority.

For Gentile Christians in particular, this distinction is essential. The apostles did not grant the nations the authority of Israel’s Law, nor did they authorize the creation of new systems of binding command. Gentile life in Christ was shaped by witness, conscience, and mutual responsibility, not by legal extension.

When canon is treated as unbounded, texts written for particular moments are pressed into service as universal law. Counsel becomes command, warning becomes weapon, and testimony becomes coercion. What was given to guide faith is repurposed to govern persons.

The Church of Humans therefore refuses the expansion of canon as a means of expanding control. Its canon is bounded to what is necessary to bear public witness to Christ, to remember the formation of Gentile assemblies, and to guide faithful life without exceeding the authority that was given.

This limitation is not a rejection of Scripture, but an act of fidelity. By refusing to bind where no authority exists, the church preserves both the integrity of the texts it receives and the freedom of the people who read them.

=== The Witness Received ===

Having named the limits of authority and the bounds of canon, the Church of Humans now names the writings it receives as its shared public witness.

These writings are received for recognition, memory, and faithful practice. They are not treated as law, nor are they used to extend authority beyond what was given. They are sufficient for Gentile Christianity among the nations, and no more is claimed of them than this.

The canon received here is presented in three parts.

==== Gospel ====

The Gospel writings bear witness to the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Christ. They are received as the primary public testimony by which Christ is known.

* Mark
* Luke
* John
* ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]''

The narrative Gospels proclaim the good news of Christ in story and testimony. The Witness of Thomas is received alongside them as a collection of sayings that train recognition rather than command conduct. Together, these writings shape encounter with Christ prior to doctrine, discipline, or institution.

==== History ====

* Acts

Acts is received as historical witness to the earliest communities following Christ, with particular attention to the entry of Gentiles and the apostles’ refusal to impose the Law upon them. It is read as memory and narrative, not as law or institutional template.

==== Letters ====

The letters are received as situational counsel addressed to identifiable communities. They speak to life in common, suffering, freedom, conscience, and love, without constituting a legal code or universal system.

* Romans
* 1 Corinthians
* 2 Corinthians
* 1 Thessalonians
* Philippians
* Philemon

These writings are read for guidance in faithful practice and restraint of authority. The collection concludes with Philemon, which leaves the community entrusted with responsibility rather than resolved by command.

In receiving these texts, the Church of Humans does not claim completeness, universality, or finality. It claims only sufficiency for faithful life among the nations within the authority that was given.

=== On Omitted Writings and Scope ===

Writings not received within this [[canon]] are not thereby dismissed, denied, or disparaged.

The Law, the Prophets, and other Jewish and Christian texts remain indispensable for historical understanding, comparative study, and faithful interpretation of the world in which Christ lived and taught. They are read as witnesses to covenantal life, moral struggle, and the formation of communities before and alongside the emergence of Gentile assemblies.

Such writings are not received here as binding authority, not because they lack depth or truth, but because their instruction presumes covenants and obligations not given to the nations. Respect for those covenants requires restraint, not appropriation.

The Church of Humans therefore studies these texts freely and seriously, while refusing to treat them as law where no authority was granted.

== On Authority and Limits ==

Authority within the Church of Humans is bounded, derivative, and restrained. It is received, not assumed; exercised, not possessed; and limited to what has been given.

Authority does not arise from office, consensus, tradition, or volume of text. It does not accumulate through repetition or institutional inheritance. Where authority is claimed beyond what was given, obedience becomes coercion.

Within this church, authority is exercised as testimony rather than enforcement. It takes the form of witness to [[Christ]], recognition of faithful life, and mutual accountability freely undertaken within [[Covenant]]. It does not take the form of command imposed upon conscience or control asserted over persons.

[[Discernment]] is not [[judgment]]. Discernment names actions, patterns, and consequences within shared life; judgment claims standing before God. The former belongs to communities; the latter belongs to God alone. To confuse them is to trespass beyond authority.

Leadership is therefore not dominion. Those who teach, serve, or guide do so without claim to final verdict, coercive power, or exclusionary mandate. Influence may be offered; submission may be given; neither may be compelled.

Scripture functions within these limits. It forms, warns, encourages, and corrects as witness. It does not authorize the governance of persons beyond covenant, nor does it license harm in the name of obedience.

Exclusion, discipline, and enforcement require authority. Where such authority has not been given, they may not be exercised. The Church of Humans therefore refuses practices that rely on fear, threat, or social control to produce conformity.

These limits are not a weakening of the church, but its integrity. By refusing authority it does not possess, the church preserves both the freedom of its members and the credibility of its witness.

== On Membership ==

Those who seek membership do so by freely consenting to the limits described in ''[[A Rule for Humans]]''.

The Church of Humans

2026-02-02T18:36:35Z

Origin: /* Gentiles and Apostolic Restraint */ add link

'''The Church of Humans''' receives the Gospel as witness to [[Christ]], and ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]'' as sayings of [[recognition]].

It receives the [[Commandment#Commandment and Christ|Two Great Commandments]] given by Christ: to love [[God]], and to [[love]] one’s [[neighbor]] as oneself.

It inherits a [[Historical and Theological Orientation|pre-Nicene Christian tradition]] that understands God through [[covenant]]al action and Christ through lived [[faith]],
and admits as [[sin]]s both [[judgment]] of others before God and [[harm]] or hatred toward one’s [[neighbor]].

== On Jurisdiction ==

=== On Covenant and Jurisdiction ===

The Church of Humans speaks within limits. Those limits are not imposed by preference or modern sensibility, but arise from [[Covenant]] itself.

The [[Old Covenant|Law]] given to Israel names its own jurisdiction. It binds those to whom it was given and does not claim authority beyond that covenantal scope. This understanding has never been disputed within Judaism, where faithfulness has always been defined by obedience within covenant rather than by universal imposition.

[[Jurisdiction]] precedes obligation. Where no covenant exists, no law may rightly bind. To claim authority without covenant is not obedience, but [[trespass]].

[[Christ]] did not erase these distinctions. He taught within Israel, honored the Law’s scope, and refused to universalize it. His teaching consistently returned authority to God and called human [[judgment]] into question.

Accordingly, any church that exists among the nations must first account for the limits of what it has been given to say and to bind.

=== Gentiles and Apostolic Restraint ===

The earliest followers of Christ confronted the question of Gentile inclusion directly: whether those from the nations must enter Israel’s covenant in order to follow Christ.

Their answer was restraint.

Gentiles were received as Gentiles, without conversion, circumcision, or submission to the Law. This decision preserved the integrity of Israel’s covenant while opening fellowship to the nations. Authority was not expanded; it was deliberately withheld.

This restraint was not a concession to weakness, but an act of faithfulness. The apostles refused to bind where no authority had been given, choosing unity in [[Christ]] over legal extension.

As a result, Gentile assemblies were formed without Torah obligation and without mandate to govern themselves or others by law. Life together was shaped instead by witness, conscience, patience, and love.

The Church of Humans stands within this apostolic restraint. It does not speak for Israel, judge Israel, or reinterpret Jewish covenantal life. It speaks only as a Gentile church among the nations, bound by what was given and by nothing more.

== On Canon ==

=== What Canon Is ===

Canon does not name a collection of inspired writings, nor does it designate a closed library of sacred texts. Canon names the scope of authority a text is granted within a particular community.

A text may be revered, studied, remembered, and treasured without being granted binding authority. Authority is not a property inherent in writing itself; it is a relationship between a community, a covenant, and the limits of what has been given to command.

For this reason, canon is always bounded. It arises where authority is recognized and ends where authority is not granted. Inclusion of a text does not enlarge obligation, and reverence does not imply jurisdiction.

Within the Church of Humans, Scripture is received as witness rather than statute. Texts testify to God’s action, to Christ’s life, and to the faith of earlier communities. They do not legislate conduct beyond the [[New Covenant|covenant]] freely undertaken within this church.

Canon therefore functions not to expand control, but to restrain it. It marks where obedience is possible and where coercion must cease. Where no authority has been given, no command may rightly be drawn.

This understanding precedes any listing of texts. Before asking which writings are received, the church must first name what it understands authority to be, and where that authority ends.

=== Why the Canon Is Bounded ===

Canon is bounded because authority is bounded. Authority does not expand by accumulation, repetition, or historical layering. It is given, not inferred.

The growth of sacred literature across time reflects the life, struggle, and reflection of communities, but such growth does not imply the growth of jurisdiction. A larger collection of writings does not confer a larger mandate to command. Expansion of memory is not expansion of authority.

For Gentile Christians in particular, this distinction is essential. The apostles did not grant the nations the authority of Israel’s Law, nor did they authorize the creation of new systems of binding command. Gentile life in Christ was shaped by witness, conscience, and mutual responsibility, not by legal extension.

When canon is treated as unbounded, texts written for particular moments are pressed into service as universal law. Counsel becomes command, warning becomes weapon, and testimony becomes coercion. What was given to guide faith is repurposed to govern persons.

The Church of Humans therefore refuses the expansion of canon as a means of expanding control. Its canon is bounded to what is necessary to bear public witness to Christ, to remember the formation of Gentile assemblies, and to guide faithful life without exceeding the authority that was given.

This limitation is not a rejection of Scripture, but an act of fidelity. By refusing to bind where no authority exists, the church preserves both the integrity of the texts it receives and the freedom of the people who read them.

=== The Witness Received ===

Having named the limits of authority and the bounds of canon, the Church of Humans now names the writings it receives as its shared public witness.

These writings are received for recognition, memory, and faithful practice. They are not treated as law, nor are they used to extend authority beyond what was given. They are sufficient for Gentile Christianity among the nations, and no more is claimed of them than this.

The canon received here is presented in three parts.

==== Gospel ====

The Gospel writings bear witness to the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Christ. They are received as the primary public testimony by which Christ is known.

* Mark
* Luke
* John
* ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]''

The narrative Gospels proclaim the good news of Christ in story and testimony. The Witness of Thomas is received alongside them as a collection of sayings that train recognition rather than command conduct. Together, these writings shape encounter with Christ prior to doctrine, discipline, or institution.

==== History ====

* Acts

Acts is received as historical witness to the earliest communities following Christ, with particular attention to the entry of Gentiles and the apostles’ refusal to impose the Law upon them. It is read as memory and narrative, not as law or institutional template.

==== Letters ====

The letters are received as situational counsel addressed to identifiable communities. They speak to life in common, suffering, freedom, conscience, and love, without constituting a legal code or universal system.

* Romans
* 1 Corinthians
* 2 Corinthians
* 1 Thessalonians
* Philippians
* Philemon

These writings are read for guidance in faithful practice and restraint of authority. The collection concludes with Philemon, which leaves the community entrusted with responsibility rather than resolved by command.

In receiving these texts, the Church of Humans does not claim completeness, universality, or finality. It claims only sufficiency for faithful life among the nations within the authority that was given.

=== On Omitted Writings and Scope ===

Writings not received within this [[canon]] are not thereby dismissed, denied, or disparaged.

The Law, the Prophets, and other Jewish and Christian texts remain indispensable for historical understanding, comparative study, and faithful interpretation of the world in which Christ lived and taught. They are read as witnesses to covenantal life, moral struggle, and the formation of communities before and alongside the emergence of Gentile assemblies.

Such writings are not received here as binding authority, not because they lack depth or truth, but because their instruction presumes covenants and obligations not given to the nations. Respect for those covenants requires restraint, not appropriation.

The Church of Humans therefore studies these texts freely and seriously, while refusing to treat them as law where no authority was granted.

== On Authority and Limits ==

Authority within the Church of Humans is bounded, derivative, and restrained. It is received, not assumed; exercised, not possessed; and limited to what has been given.

Authority does not arise from office, consensus, tradition, or volume of text. It does not accumulate through repetition or institutional inheritance. Where authority is claimed beyond what was given, obedience becomes coercion.

Within this church, authority is exercised as testimony rather than enforcement. It takes the form of witness to [[Christ]], recognition of faithful life, and mutual accountability freely undertaken within [[Covenant]]. It does not take the form of command imposed upon conscience or control asserted over persons.

[[Discernment]] is not [[judgment]]. Discernment names actions, patterns, and consequences within shared life; judgment claims standing before God. The former belongs to communities; the latter belongs to God alone. To confuse them is to trespass beyond authority.

Leadership is therefore not dominion. Those who teach, serve, or guide do so without claim to final verdict, coercive power, or exclusionary mandate. Influence may be offered; submission may be given; neither may be compelled.

Scripture functions within these limits. It forms, warns, encourages, and corrects as witness. It does not authorize the governance of persons beyond covenant, nor does it license harm in the name of obedience.

Exclusion, discipline, and enforcement require authority. Where such authority has not been given, they may not be exercised. The Church of Humans therefore refuses practices that rely on fear, threat, or social control to produce conformity.

These limits are not a weakening of the church, but its integrity. By refusing authority it does not possess, the church preserves both the freedom of its members and the credibility of its witness.

== On Membership ==

Those who seek membership do so by freely consenting to the limits described in ''[[A Rule for Humans]]''.

The Church of Humans

2026-02-02T18:35:08Z

Origin: /* On Covenant and Jurisdiction */ add link

'''The Church of Humans''' receives the Gospel as witness to [[Christ]], and ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]'' as sayings of [[recognition]].

It receives the [[Commandment#Commandment and Christ|Two Great Commandments]] given by Christ: to love [[God]], and to [[love]] one’s [[neighbor]] as oneself.

It inherits a [[Historical and Theological Orientation|pre-Nicene Christian tradition]] that understands God through [[covenant]]al action and Christ through lived [[faith]],
and admits as [[sin]]s both [[judgment]] of others before God and [[harm]] or hatred toward one’s [[neighbor]].

== On Jurisdiction ==

=== On Covenant and Jurisdiction ===

The Church of Humans speaks within limits. Those limits are not imposed by preference or modern sensibility, but arise from [[Covenant]] itself.

The [[Old Covenant|Law]] given to Israel names its own jurisdiction. It binds those to whom it was given and does not claim authority beyond that covenantal scope. This understanding has never been disputed within Judaism, where faithfulness has always been defined by obedience within covenant rather than by universal imposition.

[[Jurisdiction]] precedes obligation. Where no covenant exists, no law may rightly bind. To claim authority without covenant is not obedience, but [[trespass]].

[[Christ]] did not erase these distinctions. He taught within Israel, honored the Law’s scope, and refused to universalize it. His teaching consistently returned authority to God and called human [[judgment]] into question.

Accordingly, any church that exists among the nations must first account for the limits of what it has been given to say and to bind.

=== Gentiles and Apostolic Restraint ===

The earliest followers of Christ confronted the question of Gentile inclusion directly: whether those from the nations must enter Israel’s covenant in order to follow Christ.

Their answer was restraint.

Gentiles were received as Gentiles, without conversion, circumcision, or submission to the Law. This decision preserved the integrity of Israel’s covenant while opening fellowship to the nations. Authority was not expanded; it was deliberately withheld.

This restraint was not a concession to weakness, but an act of faithfulness. The apostles refused to bind where no authority had been given, choosing unity in Christ over legal extension.

As a result, Gentile assemblies were formed without Torah obligation and without mandate to govern themselves or others by law. Life together was shaped instead by witness, conscience, patience, and love.

The Church of Humans stands within this apostolic restraint. It does not speak for Israel, judge Israel, or reinterpret Jewish covenantal life. It speaks only as a Gentile church among the nations, bound by what was given and by nothing more.

== On Canon ==

=== What Canon Is ===

Canon does not name a collection of inspired writings, nor does it designate a closed library of sacred texts. Canon names the scope of authority a text is granted within a particular community.

A text may be revered, studied, remembered, and treasured without being granted binding authority. Authority is not a property inherent in writing itself; it is a relationship between a community, a covenant, and the limits of what has been given to command.

For this reason, canon is always bounded. It arises where authority is recognized and ends where authority is not granted. Inclusion of a text does not enlarge obligation, and reverence does not imply jurisdiction.

Within the Church of Humans, Scripture is received as witness rather than statute. Texts testify to God’s action, to Christ’s life, and to the faith of earlier communities. They do not legislate conduct beyond the [[New Covenant|covenant]] freely undertaken within this church.

Canon therefore functions not to expand control, but to restrain it. It marks where obedience is possible and where coercion must cease. Where no authority has been given, no command may rightly be drawn.

This understanding precedes any listing of texts. Before asking which writings are received, the church must first name what it understands authority to be, and where that authority ends.

=== Why the Canon Is Bounded ===

Canon is bounded because authority is bounded. Authority does not expand by accumulation, repetition, or historical layering. It is given, not inferred.

The growth of sacred literature across time reflects the life, struggle, and reflection of communities, but such growth does not imply the growth of jurisdiction. A larger collection of writings does not confer a larger mandate to command. Expansion of memory is not expansion of authority.

For Gentile Christians in particular, this distinction is essential. The apostles did not grant the nations the authority of Israel’s Law, nor did they authorize the creation of new systems of binding command. Gentile life in Christ was shaped by witness, conscience, and mutual responsibility, not by legal extension.

When canon is treated as unbounded, texts written for particular moments are pressed into service as universal law. Counsel becomes command, warning becomes weapon, and testimony becomes coercion. What was given to guide faith is repurposed to govern persons.

The Church of Humans therefore refuses the expansion of canon as a means of expanding control. Its canon is bounded to what is necessary to bear public witness to Christ, to remember the formation of Gentile assemblies, and to guide faithful life without exceeding the authority that was given.

This limitation is not a rejection of Scripture, but an act of fidelity. By refusing to bind where no authority exists, the church preserves both the integrity of the texts it receives and the freedom of the people who read them.

=== The Witness Received ===

Having named the limits of authority and the bounds of canon, the Church of Humans now names the writings it receives as its shared public witness.

These writings are received for recognition, memory, and faithful practice. They are not treated as law, nor are they used to extend authority beyond what was given. They are sufficient for Gentile Christianity among the nations, and no more is claimed of them than this.

The canon received here is presented in three parts.

==== Gospel ====

The Gospel writings bear witness to the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Christ. They are received as the primary public testimony by which Christ is known.

* Mark
* Luke
* John
* ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]''

The narrative Gospels proclaim the good news of Christ in story and testimony. The Witness of Thomas is received alongside them as a collection of sayings that train recognition rather than command conduct. Together, these writings shape encounter with Christ prior to doctrine, discipline, or institution.

==== History ====

* Acts

Acts is received as historical witness to the earliest communities following Christ, with particular attention to the entry of Gentiles and the apostles’ refusal to impose the Law upon them. It is read as memory and narrative, not as law or institutional template.

==== Letters ====

The letters are received as situational counsel addressed to identifiable communities. They speak to life in common, suffering, freedom, conscience, and love, without constituting a legal code or universal system.

* Romans
* 1 Corinthians
* 2 Corinthians
* 1 Thessalonians
* Philippians
* Philemon

These writings are read for guidance in faithful practice and restraint of authority. The collection concludes with Philemon, which leaves the community entrusted with responsibility rather than resolved by command.

In receiving these texts, the Church of Humans does not claim completeness, universality, or finality. It claims only sufficiency for faithful life among the nations within the authority that was given.

=== On Omitted Writings and Scope ===

Writings not received within this [[canon]] are not thereby dismissed, denied, or disparaged.

The Law, the Prophets, and other Jewish and Christian texts remain indispensable for historical understanding, comparative study, and faithful interpretation of the world in which Christ lived and taught. They are read as witnesses to covenantal life, moral struggle, and the formation of communities before and alongside the emergence of Gentile assemblies.

Such writings are not received here as binding authority, not because they lack depth or truth, but because their instruction presumes covenants and obligations not given to the nations. Respect for those covenants requires restraint, not appropriation.

The Church of Humans therefore studies these texts freely and seriously, while refusing to treat them as law where no authority was granted.

== On Authority and Limits ==

Authority within the Church of Humans is bounded, derivative, and restrained. It is received, not assumed; exercised, not possessed; and limited to what has been given.

Authority does not arise from office, consensus, tradition, or volume of text. It does not accumulate through repetition or institutional inheritance. Where authority is claimed beyond what was given, obedience becomes coercion.

Within this church, authority is exercised as testimony rather than enforcement. It takes the form of witness to [[Christ]], recognition of faithful life, and mutual accountability freely undertaken within [[Covenant]]. It does not take the form of command imposed upon conscience or control asserted over persons.

[[Discernment]] is not [[judgment]]. Discernment names actions, patterns, and consequences within shared life; judgment claims standing before God. The former belongs to communities; the latter belongs to God alone. To confuse them is to trespass beyond authority.

Leadership is therefore not dominion. Those who teach, serve, or guide do so without claim to final verdict, coercive power, or exclusionary mandate. Influence may be offered; submission may be given; neither may be compelled.

Scripture functions within these limits. It forms, warns, encourages, and corrects as witness. It does not authorize the governance of persons beyond covenant, nor does it license harm in the name of obedience.

Exclusion, discipline, and enforcement require authority. Where such authority has not been given, they may not be exercised. The Church of Humans therefore refuses practices that rely on fear, threat, or social control to produce conformity.

These limits are not a weakening of the church, but its integrity. By refusing authority it does not possess, the church preserves both the freedom of its members and the credibility of its witness.

== On Membership ==

Those who seek membership do so by freely consenting to the limits described in ''[[A Rule for Humans]]''.

The Church of Humans

2026-02-02T18:28:15Z

Origin: /* On Omitted Writings and Scope */ link last occ

'''The Church of Humans''' receives the Gospel as witness to [[Christ]], and ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]'' as sayings of [[recognition]].

It receives the [[Commandment#Commandment and Christ|Two Great Commandments]] given by Christ: to love [[God]], and to [[love]] one’s [[neighbor]] as oneself.

It inherits a [[Historical and Theological Orientation|pre-Nicene Christian tradition]] that understands God through [[covenant]]al action and Christ through lived [[faith]],
and admits as [[sin]]s both [[judgment]] of others before God and [[harm]] or hatred toward one’s [[neighbor]].

== On Jurisdiction ==

=== On Covenant and Jurisdiction ===

The Church of Humans speaks within limits. Those limits are not imposed by preference or modern sensibility, but arise from [[Covenant]] itself.

The [[Old Covenant|Law]] given to Israel names its own jurisdiction. It binds those to whom it was given and does not claim authority beyond that covenantal scope. This understanding has never been disputed within Judaism, where faithfulness has always been defined by obedience within covenant rather than by universal imposition.

[[Jurisdiction]] precedes obligation. Where no covenant exists, no law may rightly bind. To claim authority without covenant is not obedience, but [[trespass]].

[[Christ]] did not erase these distinctions. He taught within Israel, honored the Law’s scope, and refused to universalize it. His teaching consistently returned authority to God and called human judgment into question.

Accordingly, any church that exists among the nations must first account for the limits of what it has been given to say and to bind.

=== Gentiles and Apostolic Restraint ===

The earliest followers of Christ confronted the question of Gentile inclusion directly: whether those from the nations must enter Israel’s covenant in order to follow Christ.

Their answer was restraint.

Gentiles were received as Gentiles, without conversion, circumcision, or submission to the Law. This decision preserved the integrity of Israel’s covenant while opening fellowship to the nations. Authority was not expanded; it was deliberately withheld.

This restraint was not a concession to weakness, but an act of faithfulness. The apostles refused to bind where no authority had been given, choosing unity in Christ over legal extension.

As a result, Gentile assemblies were formed without Torah obligation and without mandate to govern themselves or others by law. Life together was shaped instead by witness, conscience, patience, and love.

The Church of Humans stands within this apostolic restraint. It does not speak for Israel, judge Israel, or reinterpret Jewish covenantal life. It speaks only as a Gentile church among the nations, bound by what was given and by nothing more.

== On Canon ==

=== What Canon Is ===

Canon does not name a collection of inspired writings, nor does it designate a closed library of sacred texts. Canon names the scope of authority a text is granted within a particular community.

A text may be revered, studied, remembered, and treasured without being granted binding authority. Authority is not a property inherent in writing itself; it is a relationship between a community, a covenant, and the limits of what has been given to command.

For this reason, canon is always bounded. It arises where authority is recognized and ends where authority is not granted. Inclusion of a text does not enlarge obligation, and reverence does not imply jurisdiction.

Within the Church of Humans, Scripture is received as witness rather than statute. Texts testify to God’s action, to Christ’s life, and to the faith of earlier communities. They do not legislate conduct beyond the [[New Covenant|covenant]] freely undertaken within this church.

Canon therefore functions not to expand control, but to restrain it. It marks where obedience is possible and where coercion must cease. Where no authority has been given, no command may rightly be drawn.

This understanding precedes any listing of texts. Before asking which writings are received, the church must first name what it understands authority to be, and where that authority ends.

=== Why the Canon Is Bounded ===

Canon is bounded because authority is bounded. Authority does not expand by accumulation, repetition, or historical layering. It is given, not inferred.

The growth of sacred literature across time reflects the life, struggle, and reflection of communities, but such growth does not imply the growth of jurisdiction. A larger collection of writings does not confer a larger mandate to command. Expansion of memory is not expansion of authority.

For Gentile Christians in particular, this distinction is essential. The apostles did not grant the nations the authority of Israel’s Law, nor did they authorize the creation of new systems of binding command. Gentile life in Christ was shaped by witness, conscience, and mutual responsibility, not by legal extension.

When canon is treated as unbounded, texts written for particular moments are pressed into service as universal law. Counsel becomes command, warning becomes weapon, and testimony becomes coercion. What was given to guide faith is repurposed to govern persons.

The Church of Humans therefore refuses the expansion of canon as a means of expanding control. Its canon is bounded to what is necessary to bear public witness to Christ, to remember the formation of Gentile assemblies, and to guide faithful life without exceeding the authority that was given.

This limitation is not a rejection of Scripture, but an act of fidelity. By refusing to bind where no authority exists, the church preserves both the integrity of the texts it receives and the freedom of the people who read them.

=== The Witness Received ===

Having named the limits of authority and the bounds of canon, the Church of Humans now names the writings it receives as its shared public witness.

These writings are received for recognition, memory, and faithful practice. They are not treated as law, nor are they used to extend authority beyond what was given. They are sufficient for Gentile Christianity among the nations, and no more is claimed of them than this.

The canon received here is presented in three parts.

==== Gospel ====

The Gospel writings bear witness to the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Christ. They are received as the primary public testimony by which Christ is known.

* Mark
* Luke
* John
* ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]''

The narrative Gospels proclaim the good news of Christ in story and testimony. The Witness of Thomas is received alongside them as a collection of sayings that train recognition rather than command conduct. Together, these writings shape encounter with Christ prior to doctrine, discipline, or institution.

==== History ====

* Acts

Acts is received as historical witness to the earliest communities following Christ, with particular attention to the entry of Gentiles and the apostles’ refusal to impose the Law upon them. It is read as memory and narrative, not as law or institutional template.

==== Letters ====

The letters are received as situational counsel addressed to identifiable communities. They speak to life in common, suffering, freedom, conscience, and love, without constituting a legal code or universal system.

* Romans
* 1 Corinthians
* 2 Corinthians
* 1 Thessalonians
* Philippians
* Philemon

These writings are read for guidance in faithful practice and restraint of authority. The collection concludes with Philemon, which leaves the community entrusted with responsibility rather than resolved by command.

In receiving these texts, the Church of Humans does not claim completeness, universality, or finality. It claims only sufficiency for faithful life among the nations within the authority that was given.

=== On Omitted Writings and Scope ===

Writings not received within this [[canon]] are not thereby dismissed, denied, or disparaged.

The Law, the Prophets, and other Jewish and Christian texts remain indispensable for historical understanding, comparative study, and faithful interpretation of the world in which Christ lived and taught. They are read as witnesses to covenantal life, moral struggle, and the formation of communities before and alongside the emergence of Gentile assemblies.

Such writings are not received here as binding authority, not because they lack depth or truth, but because their instruction presumes covenants and obligations not given to the nations. Respect for those covenants requires restraint, not appropriation.

The Church of Humans therefore studies these texts freely and seriously, while refusing to treat them as law where no authority was granted.

== On Authority and Limits ==

Authority within the Church of Humans is bounded, derivative, and restrained. It is received, not assumed; exercised, not possessed; and limited to what has been given.

Authority does not arise from office, consensus, tradition, or volume of text. It does not accumulate through repetition or institutional inheritance. Where authority is claimed beyond what was given, obedience becomes coercion.

Within this church, authority is exercised as testimony rather than enforcement. It takes the form of witness to [[Christ]], recognition of faithful life, and mutual accountability freely undertaken within [[Covenant]]. It does not take the form of command imposed upon conscience or control asserted over persons.

[[Discernment]] is not [[judgment]]. Discernment names actions, patterns, and consequences within shared life; judgment claims standing before God. The former belongs to communities; the latter belongs to God alone. To confuse them is to trespass beyond authority.

Leadership is therefore not dominion. Those who teach, serve, or guide do so without claim to final verdict, coercive power, or exclusionary mandate. Influence may be offered; submission may be given; neither may be compelled.

Scripture functions within these limits. It forms, warns, encourages, and corrects as witness. It does not authorize the governance of persons beyond covenant, nor does it license harm in the name of obedience.

Exclusion, discipline, and enforcement require authority. Where such authority has not been given, they may not be exercised. The Church of Humans therefore refuses practices that rely on fear, threat, or social control to produce conformity.

These limits are not a weakening of the church, but its integrity. By refusing authority it does not possess, the church preserves both the freedom of its members and the credibility of its witness.

== On Membership ==

Those who seek membership do so by freely consenting to the limits described in ''[[A Rule for Humans]]''.

The Church of Humans

2026-02-02T14:53:29Z

Origin: this comes later

'''The Church of Humans''' receives the Gospel as witness to [[Christ]], and ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]'' as sayings of [[recognition]].

It receives the [[Commandment#Commandment and Christ|Two Great Commandments]] given by Christ: to love [[God]], and to [[love]] one’s [[neighbor]] as oneself.

It inherits a [[Historical and Theological Orientation|pre-Nicene Christian tradition]] that understands God through [[covenant]]al action and Christ through lived [[faith]],
and admits as [[sin]]s both [[judgment]] of others before God and [[harm]] or hatred toward one’s [[neighbor]].

== On Jurisdiction ==

=== On Covenant and Jurisdiction ===

The Church of Humans speaks within limits. Those limits are not imposed by preference or modern sensibility, but arise from [[Covenant]] itself.

The [[Old Covenant|Law]] given to Israel names its own jurisdiction. It binds those to whom it was given and does not claim authority beyond that covenantal scope. This understanding has never been disputed within Judaism, where faithfulness has always been defined by obedience within covenant rather than by universal imposition.

[[Jurisdiction]] precedes obligation. Where no covenant exists, no law may rightly bind. To claim authority without covenant is not obedience, but [[trespass]].

[[Christ]] did not erase these distinctions. He taught within Israel, honored the Law’s scope, and refused to universalize it. His teaching consistently returned authority to God and called human judgment into question.

Accordingly, any church that exists among the nations must first account for the limits of what it has been given to say and to bind.

=== Gentiles and Apostolic Restraint ===

The earliest followers of Christ confronted the question of Gentile inclusion directly: whether those from the nations must enter Israel’s covenant in order to follow Christ.

Their answer was restraint.

Gentiles were received as Gentiles, without conversion, circumcision, or submission to the Law. This decision preserved the integrity of Israel’s covenant while opening fellowship to the nations. Authority was not expanded; it was deliberately withheld.

This restraint was not a concession to weakness, but an act of faithfulness. The apostles refused to bind where no authority had been given, choosing unity in Christ over legal extension.

As a result, Gentile assemblies were formed without Torah obligation and without mandate to govern themselves or others by law. Life together was shaped instead by witness, conscience, patience, and love.

The Church of Humans stands within this apostolic restraint. It does not speak for Israel, judge Israel, or reinterpret Jewish covenantal life. It speaks only as a Gentile church among the nations, bound by what was given and by nothing more.

== On Canon ==

=== What Canon Is ===

Canon does not name a collection of inspired writings, nor does it designate a closed library of sacred texts. Canon names the scope of authority a text is granted within a particular community.

A text may be revered, studied, remembered, and treasured without being granted binding authority. Authority is not a property inherent in writing itself; it is a relationship between a community, a covenant, and the limits of what has been given to command.

For this reason, canon is always bounded. It arises where authority is recognized and ends where authority is not granted. Inclusion of a text does not enlarge obligation, and reverence does not imply jurisdiction.

Within the Church of Humans, Scripture is received as witness rather than statute. Texts testify to God’s action, to Christ’s life, and to the faith of earlier communities. They do not legislate conduct beyond the [[New Covenant|covenant]] freely undertaken within this church.

Canon therefore functions not to expand control, but to restrain it. It marks where obedience is possible and where coercion must cease. Where no authority has been given, no command may rightly be drawn.

This understanding precedes any listing of texts. Before asking which writings are received, the church must first name what it understands authority to be, and where that authority ends.

=== Why the Canon Is Bounded ===

Canon is bounded because authority is bounded. Authority does not expand by accumulation, repetition, or historical layering. It is given, not inferred.

The growth of sacred literature across time reflects the life, struggle, and reflection of communities, but such growth does not imply the growth of jurisdiction. A larger collection of writings does not confer a larger mandate to command. Expansion of memory is not expansion of authority.

For Gentile Christians in particular, this distinction is essential. The apostles did not grant the nations the authority of Israel’s Law, nor did they authorize the creation of new systems of binding command. Gentile life in Christ was shaped by witness, conscience, and mutual responsibility, not by legal extension.

When canon is treated as unbounded, texts written for particular moments are pressed into service as universal law. Counsel becomes command, warning becomes weapon, and testimony becomes coercion. What was given to guide faith is repurposed to govern persons.

The Church of Humans therefore refuses the expansion of canon as a means of expanding control. Its canon is bounded to what is necessary to bear public witness to Christ, to remember the formation of Gentile assemblies, and to guide faithful life without exceeding the authority that was given.

This limitation is not a rejection of Scripture, but an act of fidelity. By refusing to bind where no authority exists, the church preserves both the integrity of the texts it receives and the freedom of the people who read them.

=== The Witness Received ===

Having named the limits of authority and the bounds of canon, the Church of Humans now names the writings it receives as its shared public witness.

These writings are received for recognition, memory, and faithful practice. They are not treated as law, nor are they used to extend authority beyond what was given. They are sufficient for Gentile Christianity among the nations, and no more is claimed of them than this.

The canon received here is presented in three parts.

==== Gospel ====

The Gospel writings bear witness to the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Christ. They are received as the primary public testimony by which Christ is known.

* Mark
* Luke
* John
* ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]''

The narrative Gospels proclaim the good news of Christ in story and testimony. The Witness of Thomas is received alongside them as a collection of sayings that train recognition rather than command conduct. Together, these writings shape encounter with Christ prior to doctrine, discipline, or institution.

==== History ====

* Acts

Acts is received as historical witness to the earliest communities following Christ, with particular attention to the entry of Gentiles and the apostles’ refusal to impose the Law upon them. It is read as memory and narrative, not as law or institutional template.

==== Letters ====

The letters are received as situational counsel addressed to identifiable communities. They speak to life in common, suffering, freedom, conscience, and love, without constituting a legal code or universal system.

* Romans
* 1 Corinthians
* 2 Corinthians
* 1 Thessalonians
* Philippians
* Philemon

These writings are read for guidance in faithful practice and restraint of authority. The collection concludes with Philemon, which leaves the community entrusted with responsibility rather than resolved by command.

In receiving these texts, the Church of Humans does not claim completeness, universality, or finality. It claims only sufficiency for faithful life among the nations within the authority that was given.

=== On Omitted Writings and Scope ===

Writings not received within this canon are not thereby dismissed, denied, or disparaged.

The Law, the Prophets, and other Jewish and Christian texts remain indispensable for historical understanding, comparative study, and faithful interpretation of the world in which Christ lived and taught. They are read as witnesses to covenantal life, moral struggle, and the formation of communities before and alongside the emergence of Gentile assemblies.

Such writings are not received here as binding authority, not because they lack depth or truth, but because their instruction presumes covenants and obligations not given to the nations. Respect for those covenants requires restraint, not appropriation.

The Church of Humans therefore studies these texts freely and seriously, while refusing to treat them as law where no authority was granted.

== On Authority and Limits ==

Authority within the Church of Humans is bounded, derivative, and restrained. It is received, not assumed; exercised, not possessed; and limited to what has been given.

Authority does not arise from office, consensus, tradition, or volume of text. It does not accumulate through repetition or institutional inheritance. Where authority is claimed beyond what was given, obedience becomes coercion.

Within this church, authority is exercised as testimony rather than enforcement. It takes the form of witness to [[Christ]], recognition of faithful life, and mutual accountability freely undertaken within [[Covenant]]. It does not take the form of command imposed upon conscience or control asserted over persons.

[[Discernment]] is not [[judgment]]. Discernment names actions, patterns, and consequences within shared life; judgment claims standing before God. The former belongs to communities; the latter belongs to God alone. To confuse them is to trespass beyond authority.

Leadership is therefore not dominion. Those who teach, serve, or guide do so without claim to final verdict, coercive power, or exclusionary mandate. Influence may be offered; submission may be given; neither may be compelled.

Scripture functions within these limits. It forms, warns, encourages, and corrects as witness. It does not authorize the governance of persons beyond covenant, nor does it license harm in the name of obedience.

Exclusion, discipline, and enforcement require authority. Where such authority has not been given, they may not be exercised. The Church of Humans therefore refuses practices that rely on fear, threat, or social control to produce conformity.

These limits are not a weakening of the church, but its integrity. By refusing authority it does not possess, the church preserves both the freedom of its members and the credibility of its witness.

== On Membership ==

Those who seek membership do so by freely consenting to the limits described in ''[[A Rule for Humans]]''.

The Church of Humans

2026-02-02T14:27:26Z

Origin: /* On Covenant and Jurisdiction */ link

'''The Church of Humans''' receives the [[Gospel]] as witness to [[Christ]], and ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]'' as sayings of [[recognition]].

It receives the [[Commandment#Commandment and Christ|Two Great Commandments]] given by Christ: to love [[God]], and to [[love]] one’s [[neighbor]] as oneself.

It inherits a [[Historical and Theological Orientation|pre-Nicene Christian tradition]] that understands God through [[covenant]]al action and Christ through lived [[faith]],
and admits as [[sin]]s both [[judgment]] of others before God and [[harm]] or hatred toward one’s [[neighbor]].

== On Jurisdiction ==

=== On Covenant and Jurisdiction ===

The Church of Humans speaks within limits. Those limits are not imposed by preference or modern sensibility, but arise from [[Covenant]] itself.

The [[Old Covenant|Law]] given to Israel names its own jurisdiction. It binds those to whom it was given and does not claim authority beyond that covenantal scope. This understanding has never been disputed within Judaism, where faithfulness has always been defined by obedience within covenant rather than by universal imposition.

[[Jurisdiction]] precedes obligation. Where no covenant exists, no law may rightly bind. To claim authority without covenant is not obedience, but [[trespass]].

[[Christ]] did not erase these distinctions. He taught within Israel, honored the Law’s scope, and refused to universalize it. His teaching consistently returned authority to God and called human judgment into question.

Accordingly, any church that exists among the nations must first account for the limits of what it has been given to say and to bind.

=== Gentiles and Apostolic Restraint ===

The earliest followers of Christ confronted the question of Gentile inclusion directly: whether those from the nations must enter Israel’s covenant in order to follow Christ.

Their answer was restraint.

Gentiles were received as Gentiles, without conversion, circumcision, or submission to the Law. This decision preserved the integrity of Israel’s covenant while opening fellowship to the nations. Authority was not expanded; it was deliberately withheld.

This restraint was not a concession to weakness, but an act of faithfulness. The apostles refused to bind where no authority had been given, choosing unity in Christ over legal extension.

As a result, Gentile assemblies were formed without Torah obligation and without mandate to govern themselves or others by law. Life together was shaped instead by witness, conscience, patience, and love.

The Church of Humans stands within this apostolic restraint. It does not speak for Israel, judge Israel, or reinterpret Jewish covenantal life. It speaks only as a Gentile church among the nations, bound by what was given and by nothing more.

== On Canon ==

=== What Canon Is ===

Canon does not name a collection of inspired writings, nor does it designate a closed library of sacred texts. Canon names the scope of authority a text is granted within a particular community.

A text may be revered, studied, remembered, and treasured without being granted binding authority. Authority is not a property inherent in writing itself; it is a relationship between a community, a covenant, and the limits of what has been given to command.

For this reason, canon is always bounded. It arises where authority is recognized and ends where authority is not granted. Inclusion of a text does not enlarge obligation, and reverence does not imply jurisdiction.

Within the Church of Humans, Scripture is received as witness rather than statute. Texts testify to God’s action, to Christ’s life, and to the faith of earlier communities. They do not legislate conduct beyond the [[New Covenant|covenant]] freely undertaken within this church.

Canon therefore functions not to expand control, but to restrain it. It marks where obedience is possible and where coercion must cease. Where no authority has been given, no command may rightly be drawn.

This understanding precedes any listing of texts. Before asking which writings are received, the church must first name what it understands authority to be, and where that authority ends.

=== Why the Canon Is Bounded ===

Canon is bounded because authority is bounded. Authority does not expand by accumulation, repetition, or historical layering. It is given, not inferred.

The growth of sacred literature across time reflects the life, struggle, and reflection of communities, but such growth does not imply the growth of jurisdiction. A larger collection of writings does not confer a larger mandate to command. Expansion of memory is not expansion of authority.

For Gentile Christians in particular, this distinction is essential. The apostles did not grant the nations the authority of Israel’s Law, nor did they authorize the creation of new systems of binding command. Gentile life in Christ was shaped by witness, conscience, and mutual responsibility, not by legal extension.

When canon is treated as unbounded, texts written for particular moments are pressed into service as universal law. Counsel becomes command, warning becomes weapon, and testimony becomes coercion. What was given to guide faith is repurposed to govern persons.

The Church of Humans therefore refuses the expansion of canon as a means of expanding control. Its canon is bounded to what is necessary to bear public witness to Christ, to remember the formation of Gentile assemblies, and to guide faithful life without exceeding the authority that was given.

This limitation is not a rejection of Scripture, but an act of fidelity. By refusing to bind where no authority exists, the church preserves both the integrity of the texts it receives and the freedom of the people who read them.

=== The Witness Received ===

Having named the limits of authority and the bounds of canon, the Church of Humans now names the writings it receives as its shared public witness.

These writings are received for recognition, memory, and faithful practice. They are not treated as law, nor are they used to extend authority beyond what was given. They are sufficient for Gentile Christianity among the nations, and no more is claimed of them than this.

The canon received here is presented in three parts.

==== Gospel ====

The Gospel writings bear witness to the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Christ. They are received as the primary public testimony by which Christ is known.

* Mark
* Luke
* John
* ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]''

The narrative Gospels proclaim the good news of Christ in story and testimony. The Witness of Thomas is received alongside them as a collection of sayings that train recognition rather than command conduct. Together, these writings shape encounter with Christ prior to doctrine, discipline, or institution.

==== History ====

* Acts

Acts is received as historical witness to the earliest communities following Christ, with particular attention to the entry of Gentiles and the apostles’ refusal to impose the Law upon them. It is read as memory and narrative, not as law or institutional template.

==== Letters ====

The letters are received as situational counsel addressed to identifiable communities. They speak to life in common, suffering, freedom, conscience, and love, without constituting a legal code or universal system.

* Romans
* 1 Corinthians
* 2 Corinthians
* 1 Thessalonians
* Philippians
* Philemon

These writings are read for guidance in faithful practice and restraint of authority. The collection concludes with Philemon, which leaves the community entrusted with responsibility rather than resolved by command.

In receiving these texts, the Church of Humans does not claim completeness, universality, or finality. It claims only sufficiency for faithful life among the nations within the authority that was given.

=== On Omitted Writings and Scope ===

Writings not received within this canon are not thereby dismissed, denied, or disparaged.

The Law, the Prophets, and other Jewish and Christian texts remain indispensable for historical understanding, comparative study, and faithful interpretation of the world in which Christ lived and taught. They are read as witnesses to covenantal life, moral struggle, and the formation of communities before and alongside the emergence of Gentile assemblies.

Such writings are not received here as binding authority, not because they lack depth or truth, but because their instruction presumes covenants and obligations not given to the nations. Respect for those covenants requires restraint, not appropriation.

The Church of Humans therefore studies these texts freely and seriously, while refusing to treat them as law where no authority was granted.

== On Authority and Limits ==

Authority within the Church of Humans is bounded, derivative, and restrained. It is received, not assumed; exercised, not possessed; and limited to what has been given.

Authority does not arise from office, consensus, tradition, or volume of text. It does not accumulate through repetition or institutional inheritance. Where authority is claimed beyond what was given, obedience becomes coercion.

Within this church, authority is exercised as testimony rather than enforcement. It takes the form of witness to [[Christ]], recognition of faithful life, and mutual accountability freely undertaken within [[Covenant]]. It does not take the form of command imposed upon conscience or control asserted over persons.

[[Discernment]] is not [[judgment]]. Discernment names actions, patterns, and consequences within shared life; judgment claims standing before God. The former belongs to communities; the latter belongs to God alone. To confuse them is to trespass beyond authority.

Leadership is therefore not dominion. Those who teach, serve, or guide do so without claim to final verdict, coercive power, or exclusionary mandate. Influence may be offered; submission may be given; neither may be compelled.

Scripture functions within these limits. It forms, warns, encourages, and corrects as witness. It does not authorize the governance of persons beyond covenant, nor does it license harm in the name of obedience.

Exclusion, discipline, and enforcement require authority. Where such authority has not been given, they may not be exercised. The Church of Humans therefore refuses practices that rely on fear, threat, or social control to produce conformity.

These limits are not a weakening of the church, but its integrity. By refusing authority it does not possess, the church preserves both the freedom of its members and the credibility of its witness.

== On Membership ==

Those who seek membership do so by freely consenting to the limits described in ''[[A Rule for Humans]]''.

The Church of Humans

2026-02-02T14:26:42Z

Origin: /* On Covenant and Jurisdiction */ cap

'''The Church of Humans''' receives the [[Gospel]] as witness to [[Christ]], and ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]'' as sayings of [[recognition]].

It receives the [[Commandment#Commandment and Christ|Two Great Commandments]] given by Christ: to love [[God]], and to [[love]] one’s [[neighbor]] as oneself.

It inherits a [[Historical and Theological Orientation|pre-Nicene Christian tradition]] that understands God through [[covenant]]al action and Christ through lived [[faith]],
and admits as [[sin]]s both [[judgment]] of others before God and [[harm]] or hatred toward one’s [[neighbor]].

== On Jurisdiction ==

=== On Covenant and Jurisdiction ===

The Church of Humans speaks within limits. Those limits are not imposed by preference or modern sensibility, but arise from [[Covenant]] itself.

The [[Old Covenant|Law]] given to Israel names its own jurisdiction. It binds those to whom it was given and does not claim authority beyond that covenantal scope. This understanding has never been disputed within Judaism, where faithfulness has always been defined by obedience within covenant rather than by universal imposition.

[[Jurisdiction]] precedes obligation. Where no covenant exists, no law may rightly bind. To claim authority without covenant is not obedience, but [[trespass]].

Christ did not erase these distinctions. He taught within Israel, honored the Law’s scope, and refused to universalize it. His teaching consistently returned authority to God and called human judgment into question.

Accordingly, any church that exists among the nations must first account for the limits of what it has been given to say and to bind.

=== Gentiles and Apostolic Restraint ===

The earliest followers of Christ confronted the question of Gentile inclusion directly: whether those from the nations must enter Israel’s covenant in order to follow Christ.

Their answer was restraint.

Gentiles were received as Gentiles, without conversion, circumcision, or submission to the Law. This decision preserved the integrity of Israel’s covenant while opening fellowship to the nations. Authority was not expanded; it was deliberately withheld.

This restraint was not a concession to weakness, but an act of faithfulness. The apostles refused to bind where no authority had been given, choosing unity in Christ over legal extension.

As a result, Gentile assemblies were formed without Torah obligation and without mandate to govern themselves or others by law. Life together was shaped instead by witness, conscience, patience, and love.

The Church of Humans stands within this apostolic restraint. It does not speak for Israel, judge Israel, or reinterpret Jewish covenantal life. It speaks only as a Gentile church among the nations, bound by what was given and by nothing more.

== On Canon ==

=== What Canon Is ===

Canon does not name a collection of inspired writings, nor does it designate a closed library of sacred texts. Canon names the scope of authority a text is granted within a particular community.

A text may be revered, studied, remembered, and treasured without being granted binding authority. Authority is not a property inherent in writing itself; it is a relationship between a community, a covenant, and the limits of what has been given to command.

For this reason, canon is always bounded. It arises where authority is recognized and ends where authority is not granted. Inclusion of a text does not enlarge obligation, and reverence does not imply jurisdiction.

Within the Church of Humans, Scripture is received as witness rather than statute. Texts testify to God’s action, to Christ’s life, and to the faith of earlier communities. They do not legislate conduct beyond the [[New Covenant|covenant]] freely undertaken within this church.

Canon therefore functions not to expand control, but to restrain it. It marks where obedience is possible and where coercion must cease. Where no authority has been given, no command may rightly be drawn.

This understanding precedes any listing of texts. Before asking which writings are received, the church must first name what it understands authority to be, and where that authority ends.

=== Why the Canon Is Bounded ===

Canon is bounded because authority is bounded. Authority does not expand by accumulation, repetition, or historical layering. It is given, not inferred.

The growth of sacred literature across time reflects the life, struggle, and reflection of communities, but such growth does not imply the growth of jurisdiction. A larger collection of writings does not confer a larger mandate to command. Expansion of memory is not expansion of authority.

For Gentile Christians in particular, this distinction is essential. The apostles did not grant the nations the authority of Israel’s Law, nor did they authorize the creation of new systems of binding command. Gentile life in Christ was shaped by witness, conscience, and mutual responsibility, not by legal extension.

When canon is treated as unbounded, texts written for particular moments are pressed into service as universal law. Counsel becomes command, warning becomes weapon, and testimony becomes coercion. What was given to guide faith is repurposed to govern persons.

The Church of Humans therefore refuses the expansion of canon as a means of expanding control. Its canon is bounded to what is necessary to bear public witness to Christ, to remember the formation of Gentile assemblies, and to guide faithful life without exceeding the authority that was given.

This limitation is not a rejection of Scripture, but an act of fidelity. By refusing to bind where no authority exists, the church preserves both the integrity of the texts it receives and the freedom of the people who read them.

=== The Witness Received ===

Having named the limits of authority and the bounds of canon, the Church of Humans now names the writings it receives as its shared public witness.

These writings are received for recognition, memory, and faithful practice. They are not treated as law, nor are they used to extend authority beyond what was given. They are sufficient for Gentile Christianity among the nations, and no more is claimed of them than this.

The canon received here is presented in three parts.

==== Gospel ====

The Gospel writings bear witness to the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Christ. They are received as the primary public testimony by which Christ is known.

* Mark
* Luke
* John
* ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]''

The narrative Gospels proclaim the good news of Christ in story and testimony. The Witness of Thomas is received alongside them as a collection of sayings that train recognition rather than command conduct. Together, these writings shape encounter with Christ prior to doctrine, discipline, or institution.

==== History ====

* Acts

Acts is received as historical witness to the earliest communities following Christ, with particular attention to the entry of Gentiles and the apostles’ refusal to impose the Law upon them. It is read as memory and narrative, not as law or institutional template.

==== Letters ====

The letters are received as situational counsel addressed to identifiable communities. They speak to life in common, suffering, freedom, conscience, and love, without constituting a legal code or universal system.

* Romans
* 1 Corinthians
* 2 Corinthians
* 1 Thessalonians
* Philippians
* Philemon

These writings are read for guidance in faithful practice and restraint of authority. The collection concludes with Philemon, which leaves the community entrusted with responsibility rather than resolved by command.

In receiving these texts, the Church of Humans does not claim completeness, universality, or finality. It claims only sufficiency for faithful life among the nations within the authority that was given.

=== On Omitted Writings and Scope ===

Writings not received within this canon are not thereby dismissed, denied, or disparaged.

The Law, the Prophets, and other Jewish and Christian texts remain indispensable for historical understanding, comparative study, and faithful interpretation of the world in which Christ lived and taught. They are read as witnesses to covenantal life, moral struggle, and the formation of communities before and alongside the emergence of Gentile assemblies.

Such writings are not received here as binding authority, not because they lack depth or truth, but because their instruction presumes covenants and obligations not given to the nations. Respect for those covenants requires restraint, not appropriation.

The Church of Humans therefore studies these texts freely and seriously, while refusing to treat them as law where no authority was granted.

== On Authority and Limits ==

Authority within the Church of Humans is bounded, derivative, and restrained. It is received, not assumed; exercised, not possessed; and limited to what has been given.

Authority does not arise from office, consensus, tradition, or volume of text. It does not accumulate through repetition or institutional inheritance. Where authority is claimed beyond what was given, obedience becomes coercion.

Within this church, authority is exercised as testimony rather than enforcement. It takes the form of witness to [[Christ]], recognition of faithful life, and mutual accountability freely undertaken within [[Covenant]]. It does not take the form of command imposed upon conscience or control asserted over persons.

[[Discernment]] is not [[judgment]]. Discernment names actions, patterns, and consequences within shared life; judgment claims standing before God. The former belongs to communities; the latter belongs to God alone. To confuse them is to trespass beyond authority.

Leadership is therefore not dominion. Those who teach, serve, or guide do so without claim to final verdict, coercive power, or exclusionary mandate. Influence may be offered; submission may be given; neither may be compelled.

Scripture functions within these limits. It forms, warns, encourages, and corrects as witness. It does not authorize the governance of persons beyond covenant, nor does it license harm in the name of obedience.

Exclusion, discipline, and enforcement require authority. Where such authority has not been given, they may not be exercised. The Church of Humans therefore refuses practices that rely on fear, threat, or social control to produce conformity.

These limits are not a weakening of the church, but its integrity. By refusing authority it does not possess, the church preserves both the freedom of its members and the credibility of its witness.

== On Membership ==

Those who seek membership do so by freely consenting to the limits described in ''[[A Rule for Humans]]''.

The Church of Humans

2026-02-02T14:25:02Z

Origin: fix toc

'''The Church of Humans''' receives the [[Gospel]] as witness to [[Christ]], and ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]'' as sayings of [[recognition]].

It receives the [[Commandment#Commandment and Christ|Two Great Commandments]] given by Christ: to love [[God]], and to [[love]] one’s [[neighbor]] as oneself.

It inherits a [[Historical and Theological Orientation|pre-Nicene Christian tradition]] that understands God through [[covenant]]al action and Christ through lived [[faith]],
and admits as [[sin]]s both [[judgment]] of others before God and [[harm]] or hatred toward one’s [[neighbor]].

== On Jurisdiction ==

=== On Covenant and Jurisdiction ===

The Church of Humans speaks within limits. Those limits are not imposed by preference or modern sensibility, but arise from [[covenant]] itself.

The [[Old Covenant|Law]] given to Israel names its own jurisdiction. It binds those to whom it was given and does not claim authority beyond that covenantal scope. This understanding has never been disputed within Judaism, where faithfulness has always been defined by obedience within covenant rather than by universal imposition.

[[Jurisdiction]] precedes obligation. Where no covenant exists, no law may rightly bind. To claim authority without covenant is not obedience, but [[trespass]].

Christ did not erase these distinctions. He taught within Israel, honored the Law’s scope, and refused to universalize it. His teaching consistently returned authority to God and called human judgment into question.

Accordingly, any church that exists among the nations must first account for the limits of what it has been given to say and to bind.

=== Gentiles and Apostolic Restraint ===

The earliest followers of Christ confronted the question of Gentile inclusion directly: whether those from the nations must enter Israel’s covenant in order to follow Christ.

Their answer was restraint.

Gentiles were received as Gentiles, without conversion, circumcision, or submission to the Law. This decision preserved the integrity of Israel’s covenant while opening fellowship to the nations. Authority was not expanded; it was deliberately withheld.

This restraint was not a concession to weakness, but an act of faithfulness. The apostles refused to bind where no authority had been given, choosing unity in Christ over legal extension.

As a result, Gentile assemblies were formed without Torah obligation and without mandate to govern themselves or others by law. Life together was shaped instead by witness, conscience, patience, and love.

The Church of Humans stands within this apostolic restraint. It does not speak for Israel, judge Israel, or reinterpret Jewish covenantal life. It speaks only as a Gentile church among the nations, bound by what was given and by nothing more.

== On Canon ==

=== What Canon Is ===

Canon does not name a collection of inspired writings, nor does it designate a closed library of sacred texts. Canon names the scope of authority a text is granted within a particular community.

A text may be revered, studied, remembered, and treasured without being granted binding authority. Authority is not a property inherent in writing itself; it is a relationship between a community, a covenant, and the limits of what has been given to command.

For this reason, canon is always bounded. It arises where authority is recognized and ends where authority is not granted. Inclusion of a text does not enlarge obligation, and reverence does not imply jurisdiction.

Within the Church of Humans, Scripture is received as witness rather than statute. Texts testify to God’s action, to Christ’s life, and to the faith of earlier communities. They do not legislate conduct beyond the [[New Covenant|covenant]] freely undertaken within this church.

Canon therefore functions not to expand control, but to restrain it. It marks where obedience is possible and where coercion must cease. Where no authority has been given, no command may rightly be drawn.

This understanding precedes any listing of texts. Before asking which writings are received, the church must first name what it understands authority to be, and where that authority ends.

=== Why the Canon Is Bounded ===

Canon is bounded because authority is bounded. Authority does not expand by accumulation, repetition, or historical layering. It is given, not inferred.

The growth of sacred literature across time reflects the life, struggle, and reflection of communities, but such growth does not imply the growth of jurisdiction. A larger collection of writings does not confer a larger mandate to command. Expansion of memory is not expansion of authority.

For Gentile Christians in particular, this distinction is essential. The apostles did not grant the nations the authority of Israel’s Law, nor did they authorize the creation of new systems of binding command. Gentile life in Christ was shaped by witness, conscience, and mutual responsibility, not by legal extension.

When canon is treated as unbounded, texts written for particular moments are pressed into service as universal law. Counsel becomes command, warning becomes weapon, and testimony becomes coercion. What was given to guide faith is repurposed to govern persons.

The Church of Humans therefore refuses the expansion of canon as a means of expanding control. Its canon is bounded to what is necessary to bear public witness to Christ, to remember the formation of Gentile assemblies, and to guide faithful life without exceeding the authority that was given.

This limitation is not a rejection of Scripture, but an act of fidelity. By refusing to bind where no authority exists, the church preserves both the integrity of the texts it receives and the freedom of the people who read them.

=== The Witness Received ===

Having named the limits of authority and the bounds of canon, the Church of Humans now names the writings it receives as its shared public witness.

These writings are received for recognition, memory, and faithful practice. They are not treated as law, nor are they used to extend authority beyond what was given. They are sufficient for Gentile Christianity among the nations, and no more is claimed of them than this.

The canon received here is presented in three parts.

==== Gospel ====

The Gospel writings bear witness to the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Christ. They are received as the primary public testimony by which Christ is known.

* Mark
* Luke
* John
* ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]''

The narrative Gospels proclaim the good news of Christ in story and testimony. The Witness of Thomas is received alongside them as a collection of sayings that train recognition rather than command conduct. Together, these writings shape encounter with Christ prior to doctrine, discipline, or institution.

==== History ====

* Acts

Acts is received as historical witness to the earliest communities following Christ, with particular attention to the entry of Gentiles and the apostles’ refusal to impose the Law upon them. It is read as memory and narrative, not as law or institutional template.

==== Letters ====

The letters are received as situational counsel addressed to identifiable communities. They speak to life in common, suffering, freedom, conscience, and love, without constituting a legal code or universal system.

* Romans
* 1 Corinthians
* 2 Corinthians
* 1 Thessalonians
* Philippians
* Philemon

These writings are read for guidance in faithful practice and restraint of authority. The collection concludes with Philemon, which leaves the community entrusted with responsibility rather than resolved by command.

In receiving these texts, the Church of Humans does not claim completeness, universality, or finality. It claims only sufficiency for faithful life among the nations within the authority that was given.

=== On Omitted Writings and Scope ===

Writings not received within this canon are not thereby dismissed, denied, or disparaged.

The Law, the Prophets, and other Jewish and Christian texts remain indispensable for historical understanding, comparative study, and faithful interpretation of the world in which Christ lived and taught. They are read as witnesses to covenantal life, moral struggle, and the formation of communities before and alongside the emergence of Gentile assemblies.

Such writings are not received here as binding authority, not because they lack depth or truth, but because their instruction presumes covenants and obligations not given to the nations. Respect for those covenants requires restraint, not appropriation.

The Church of Humans therefore studies these texts freely and seriously, while refusing to treat them as law where no authority was granted.

== On Authority and Limits ==

Authority within the Church of Humans is bounded, derivative, and restrained. It is received, not assumed; exercised, not possessed; and limited to what has been given.

Authority does not arise from office, consensus, tradition, or volume of text. It does not accumulate through repetition or institutional inheritance. Where authority is claimed beyond what was given, obedience becomes coercion.

Within this church, authority is exercised as testimony rather than enforcement. It takes the form of witness to [[Christ]], recognition of faithful life, and mutual accountability freely undertaken within [[Covenant]]. It does not take the form of command imposed upon conscience or control asserted over persons.

[[Discernment]] is not [[judgment]]. Discernment names actions, patterns, and consequences within shared life; judgment claims standing before God. The former belongs to communities; the latter belongs to God alone. To confuse them is to trespass beyond authority.

Leadership is therefore not dominion. Those who teach, serve, or guide do so without claim to final verdict, coercive power, or exclusionary mandate. Influence may be offered; submission may be given; neither may be compelled.

Scripture functions within these limits. It forms, warns, encourages, and corrects as witness. It does not authorize the governance of persons beyond covenant, nor does it license harm in the name of obedience.

Exclusion, discipline, and enforcement require authority. Where such authority has not been given, they may not be exercised. The Church of Humans therefore refuses practices that rely on fear, threat, or social control to produce conformity.

These limits are not a weakening of the church, but its integrity. By refusing authority it does not possess, the church preserves both the freedom of its members and the credibility of its witness.

== On Membership ==

Those who seek membership do so by freely consenting to the limits described in ''[[A Rule for Humans]]''.

The Church of Humans

2026-02-02T14:21:48Z

Origin: /* On Authority */ expand

__NOTOC__
'''The Church of Humans''' receives the [[Gospel]] as witness to [[Christ]], and ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]'' as sayings of [[recognition]].

It receives the [[Commandment#Commandment and Christ|Two Great Commandments]] given by Christ: to love [[God]], and to [[love]] one’s [[neighbor]] as oneself.

It inherits a [[Historical and Theological Orientation|pre-Nicene Christian tradition]] that understands God through [[covenant]]al action and Christ through lived [[faith]],
and admits as [[sin]]s both [[judgment]] of others before God and [[harm]] or hatred toward one’s [[neighbor]].

== On Jurisdiction ==

=== On Covenant and Jurisdiction ===

The Church of Humans speaks within limits. Those limits are not imposed by preference or modern sensibility, but arise from [[covenant]] itself.

The [[Old Covenant|Law]] given to Israel names its own jurisdiction. It binds those to whom it was given and does not claim authority beyond that covenantal scope. This understanding has never been disputed within Judaism, where faithfulness has always been defined by obedience within covenant rather than by universal imposition.

[[Jurisdiction]] precedes obligation. Where no covenant exists, no law may rightly bind. To claim authority without covenant is not obedience, but [[trespass]].

Christ did not erase these distinctions. He taught within Israel, honored the Law’s scope, and refused to universalize it. His teaching consistently returned authority to God and called human judgment into question.

Accordingly, any church that exists among the nations must first account for the limits of what it has been given to say and to bind.

=== Gentiles and Apostolic Restraint ===

The earliest followers of Christ confronted the question of Gentile inclusion directly: whether those from the nations must enter Israel’s covenant in order to follow Christ.

Their answer was restraint.

Gentiles were received as Gentiles, without conversion, circumcision, or submission to the Law. This decision preserved the integrity of Israel’s covenant while opening fellowship to the nations. Authority was not expanded; it was deliberately withheld.

This restraint was not a concession to weakness, but an act of faithfulness. The apostles refused to bind where no authority had been given, choosing unity in Christ over legal extension.

As a result, Gentile assemblies were formed without Torah obligation and without mandate to govern themselves or others by law. Life together was shaped instead by witness, conscience, patience, and love.

The Church of Humans stands within this apostolic restraint. It does not speak for Israel, judge Israel, or reinterpret Jewish covenantal life. It speaks only as a Gentile church among the nations, bound by what was given and by nothing more.

== On Canon ==

=== What Canon Is ===

Canon does not name a collection of inspired writings, nor does it designate a closed library of sacred texts. Canon names the scope of authority a text is granted within a particular community.

A text may be revered, studied, remembered, and treasured without being granted binding authority. Authority is not a property inherent in writing itself; it is a relationship between a community, a covenant, and the limits of what has been given to command.

For this reason, canon is always bounded. It arises where authority is recognized and ends where authority is not granted. Inclusion of a text does not enlarge obligation, and reverence does not imply jurisdiction.

Within the Church of Humans, Scripture is received as witness rather than statute. Texts testify to God’s action, to Christ’s life, and to the faith of earlier communities. They do not legislate conduct beyond the [[New Covenant|covenant]] freely undertaken within this church.

Canon therefore functions not to expand control, but to restrain it. It marks where obedience is possible and where coercion must cease. Where no authority has been given, no command may rightly be drawn.

This understanding precedes any listing of texts. Before asking which writings are received, the church must first name what it understands authority to be, and where that authority ends.

=== Why the Canon Is Bounded ===

Canon is bounded because authority is bounded. Authority does not expand by accumulation, repetition, or historical layering. It is given, not inferred.

The growth of sacred literature across time reflects the life, struggle, and reflection of communities, but such growth does not imply the growth of jurisdiction. A larger collection of writings does not confer a larger mandate to command. Expansion of memory is not expansion of authority.

For Gentile Christians in particular, this distinction is essential. The apostles did not grant the nations the authority of Israel’s Law, nor did they authorize the creation of new systems of binding command. Gentile life in Christ was shaped by witness, conscience, and mutual responsibility, not by legal extension.

When canon is treated as unbounded, texts written for particular moments are pressed into service as universal law. Counsel becomes command, warning becomes weapon, and testimony becomes coercion. What was given to guide faith is repurposed to govern persons.

The Church of Humans therefore refuses the expansion of canon as a means of expanding control. Its canon is bounded to what is necessary to bear public witness to Christ, to remember the formation of Gentile assemblies, and to guide faithful life without exceeding the authority that was given.

This limitation is not a rejection of Scripture, but an act of fidelity. By refusing to bind where no authority exists, the church preserves both the integrity of the texts it receives and the freedom of the people who read them.

=== The Witness Received ===

Having named the limits of authority and the bounds of canon, the Church of Humans now names the writings it receives as its shared public witness.

These writings are received for recognition, memory, and faithful practice. They are not treated as law, nor are they used to extend authority beyond what was given. They are sufficient for Gentile Christianity among the nations, and no more is claimed of them than this.

The canon received here is presented in three parts.

==== Gospel ====

The Gospel writings bear witness to the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Christ. They are received as the primary public testimony by which Christ is known.

* Mark
* Luke
* John
* ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]''

The narrative Gospels proclaim the good news of Christ in story and testimony. The Witness of Thomas is received alongside them as a collection of sayings that train recognition rather than command conduct. Together, these writings shape encounter with Christ prior to doctrine, discipline, or institution.

==== History ====

* Acts

Acts is received as historical witness to the earliest communities following Christ, with particular attention to the entry of Gentiles and the apostles’ refusal to impose the Law upon them. It is read as memory and narrative, not as law or institutional template.

==== Letters ====

The letters are received as situational counsel addressed to identifiable communities. They speak to life in common, suffering, freedom, conscience, and love, without constituting a legal code or universal system.

* Romans
* 1 Corinthians
* 2 Corinthians
* 1 Thessalonians
* Philippians
* Philemon

These writings are read for guidance in faithful practice and restraint of authority. The collection concludes with Philemon, which leaves the community entrusted with responsibility rather than resolved by command.

In receiving these texts, the Church of Humans does not claim completeness, universality, or finality. It claims only sufficiency for faithful life among the nations within the authority that was given.

===== On Omitted Writings and Scope =====

Writings not received within this canon are not thereby dismissed, denied, or disparaged.

The Law, the Prophets, and other Jewish and Christian texts remain indispensable for historical understanding, comparative study, and faithful interpretation of the world in which Christ lived and taught. They are read as witnesses to covenantal life, moral struggle, and the formation of communities before and alongside the emergence of Gentile assemblies.

Such writings are not received here as binding authority, not because they lack depth or truth, but because their instruction presumes covenants and obligations not given to the nations. Respect for those covenants requires restraint, not appropriation.

The Church of Humans therefore studies these texts freely and seriously, while refusing to treat them as law where no authority was granted.

== Limits of Authority ==

Authority within the Church of Humans is bounded, derivative, and restrained. It is received, not assumed; exercised, not possessed; and limited to what has been given.

Authority does not arise from office, consensus, tradition, or volume of text. It does not accumulate through repetition or institutional inheritance. Where authority is claimed beyond what was given, obedience becomes coercion.

Within this church, authority is exercised as testimony rather than enforcement. It takes the form of witness to [[Christ]], recognition of faithful life, and mutual accountability freely undertaken within [[Covenant]]. It does not take the form of command imposed upon conscience or control asserted over persons.

[[Discernment]] is not [[judgment]]. Discernment names actions, patterns, and consequences within shared life; judgment claims standing before God. The former belongs to communities; the latter belongs to God alone. To confuse them is to trespass beyond authority.

Leadership is therefore not dominion. Those who teach, serve, or guide do so without claim to final verdict, coercive power, or exclusionary mandate. Influence may be offered; submission may be given; neither may be compelled.

Scripture functions within these limits. It forms, warns, encourages, and corrects as witness. It does not authorize the governance of persons beyond covenant, nor does it license harm in the name of obedience.

Exclusion, discipline, and enforcement require authority. Where such authority has not been given, they may not be exercised. The Church of Humans therefore refuses practices that rely on fear, threat, or social control to produce conformity.

These limits are not a weakening of the church, but its integrity. By refusing authority it does not possess, the church preserves both the freedom of its members and the credibility of its witness.

== On Membership ==

Those who seek membership do so by freely consenting to the limits described in ''[[A Rule for Humans]]''.

The Church of Humans

2026-02-02T14:17:28Z

Origin: /* On Canon */ section 3 and sub

__NOTOC__
'''The Church of Humans''' receives the [[Gospel]] as witness to [[Christ]], and ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]'' as sayings of [[recognition]].

It receives the [[Commandment#Commandment and Christ|Two Great Commandments]] given by Christ: to love [[God]], and to [[love]] one’s [[neighbor]] as oneself.

It inherits a [[Historical and Theological Orientation|pre-Nicene Christian tradition]] that understands God through [[covenant]]al action and Christ through lived [[faith]],
and admits as [[sin]]s both [[judgment]] of others before God and [[harm]] or hatred toward one’s [[neighbor]].

== On Jurisdiction ==

=== On Covenant and Jurisdiction ===

The Church of Humans speaks within limits. Those limits are not imposed by preference or modern sensibility, but arise from [[covenant]] itself.

The [[Old Covenant|Law]] given to Israel names its own jurisdiction. It binds those to whom it was given and does not claim authority beyond that covenantal scope. This understanding has never been disputed within Judaism, where faithfulness has always been defined by obedience within covenant rather than by universal imposition.

[[Jurisdiction]] precedes obligation. Where no covenant exists, no law may rightly bind. To claim authority without covenant is not obedience, but [[trespass]].

Christ did not erase these distinctions. He taught within Israel, honored the Law’s scope, and refused to universalize it. His teaching consistently returned authority to God and called human judgment into question.

Accordingly, any church that exists among the nations must first account for the limits of what it has been given to say and to bind.

=== Gentiles and Apostolic Restraint ===

The earliest followers of Christ confronted the question of Gentile inclusion directly: whether those from the nations must enter Israel’s covenant in order to follow Christ.

Their answer was restraint.

Gentiles were received as Gentiles, without conversion, circumcision, or submission to the Law. This decision preserved the integrity of Israel’s covenant while opening fellowship to the nations. Authority was not expanded; it was deliberately withheld.

This restraint was not a concession to weakness, but an act of faithfulness. The apostles refused to bind where no authority had been given, choosing unity in Christ over legal extension.

As a result, Gentile assemblies were formed without Torah obligation and without mandate to govern themselves or others by law. Life together was shaped instead by witness, conscience, patience, and love.

The Church of Humans stands within this apostolic restraint. It does not speak for Israel, judge Israel, or reinterpret Jewish covenantal life. It speaks only as a Gentile church among the nations, bound by what was given and by nothing more.

== On Canon ==

=== What Canon Is ===

Canon does not name a collection of inspired writings, nor does it designate a closed library of sacred texts. Canon names the scope of authority a text is granted within a particular community.

A text may be revered, studied, remembered, and treasured without being granted binding authority. Authority is not a property inherent in writing itself; it is a relationship between a community, a covenant, and the limits of what has been given to command.

For this reason, canon is always bounded. It arises where authority is recognized and ends where authority is not granted. Inclusion of a text does not enlarge obligation, and reverence does not imply jurisdiction.

Within the Church of Humans, Scripture is received as witness rather than statute. Texts testify to God’s action, to Christ’s life, and to the faith of earlier communities. They do not legislate conduct beyond the [[New Covenant|covenant]] freely undertaken within this church.

Canon therefore functions not to expand control, but to restrain it. It marks where obedience is possible and where coercion must cease. Where no authority has been given, no command may rightly be drawn.

This understanding precedes any listing of texts. Before asking which writings are received, the church must first name what it understands authority to be, and where that authority ends.

=== Why the Canon Is Bounded ===

Canon is bounded because authority is bounded. Authority does not expand by accumulation, repetition, or historical layering. It is given, not inferred.

The growth of sacred literature across time reflects the life, struggle, and reflection of communities, but such growth does not imply the growth of jurisdiction. A larger collection of writings does not confer a larger mandate to command. Expansion of memory is not expansion of authority.

For Gentile Christians in particular, this distinction is essential. The apostles did not grant the nations the authority of Israel’s Law, nor did they authorize the creation of new systems of binding command. Gentile life in Christ was shaped by witness, conscience, and mutual responsibility, not by legal extension.

When canon is treated as unbounded, texts written for particular moments are pressed into service as universal law. Counsel becomes command, warning becomes weapon, and testimony becomes coercion. What was given to guide faith is repurposed to govern persons.

The Church of Humans therefore refuses the expansion of canon as a means of expanding control. Its canon is bounded to what is necessary to bear public witness to Christ, to remember the formation of Gentile assemblies, and to guide faithful life without exceeding the authority that was given.

This limitation is not a rejection of Scripture, but an act of fidelity. By refusing to bind where no authority exists, the church preserves both the integrity of the texts it receives and the freedom of the people who read them.

=== The Witness Received ===

Having named the limits of authority and the bounds of canon, the Church of Humans now names the writings it receives as its shared public witness.

These writings are received for recognition, memory, and faithful practice. They are not treated as law, nor are they used to extend authority beyond what was given. They are sufficient for Gentile Christianity among the nations, and no more is claimed of them than this.

The canon received here is presented in three parts.

==== Gospel ====

The Gospel writings bear witness to the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Christ. They are received as the primary public testimony by which Christ is known.

* Mark
* Luke
* John
* ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]''

The narrative Gospels proclaim the good news of Christ in story and testimony. The Witness of Thomas is received alongside them as a collection of sayings that train recognition rather than command conduct. Together, these writings shape encounter with Christ prior to doctrine, discipline, or institution.

==== History ====

* Acts

Acts is received as historical witness to the earliest communities following Christ, with particular attention to the entry of Gentiles and the apostles’ refusal to impose the Law upon them. It is read as memory and narrative, not as law or institutional template.

==== Letters ====

The letters are received as situational counsel addressed to identifiable communities. They speak to life in common, suffering, freedom, conscience, and love, without constituting a legal code or universal system.

* Romans
* 1 Corinthians
* 2 Corinthians
* 1 Thessalonians
* Philippians
* Philemon

These writings are read for guidance in faithful practice and restraint of authority. The collection concludes with Philemon, which leaves the community entrusted with responsibility rather than resolved by command.

In receiving these texts, the Church of Humans does not claim completeness, universality, or finality. It claims only sufficiency for faithful life among the nations within the authority that was given.

===== On Omitted Writings and Scope =====

Writings not received within this canon are not thereby dismissed, denied, or disparaged.

The Law, the Prophets, and other Jewish and Christian texts remain indispensable for historical understanding, comparative study, and faithful interpretation of the world in which Christ lived and taught. They are read as witnesses to covenantal life, moral struggle, and the formation of communities before and alongside the emergence of Gentile assemblies.

Such writings are not received here as binding authority, not because they lack depth or truth, but because their instruction presumes covenants and obligations not given to the nations. Respect for those covenants requires restraint, not appropriation.

The Church of Humans therefore studies these texts freely and seriously, while refusing to treat them as law where no authority was granted.

== On Authority ==

This church claims no authority beyond what it has received, nor does it bind where Christ did not bind. Authority is exercised only as testimony, recognition, and mutual accountability freely undertaken within the covenant of this church.

== On Membership ==

Those who seek membership do so by freely consenting to the limits described in ''[[A Rule for Humans]]''.

The Church of Humans

2026-02-02T14:09:42Z

Origin: /* What Canon Is */ section 2

The Church of Humans

2026-02-02T14:06:44Z

Origin: /* On Canon */ first section

The Church of Humans

2026-02-02T13:58:28Z

Origin: /* On Jurisdiction */ expand

The Church of Humans

2026-02-02T13:52:44Z

Origin: improve structure

The Church of Humans

2026-02-02T13:45:23Z

Origin: tweak

The Church of Humans

2026-02-02T13:43:48Z

Origin: tweaks

The Church of Humans

2026-02-02T13:41:29Z

Origin: expand page

The Church of Humans

2026-02-02T13:24:28Z

Origin: tweak for movement of the Rule

A Rule for Humans

2026-02-02T13:22:23Z

Origin: add necessary statement

__NOTOC__
What follows is not [[Law]], but a [[Rule]]. It is undertaken freely and binds no one who does not choose it. Acceptance of the rule bestows membership in the [[Church of Humans]].

<poem>Those who accept it — now
place themselves within a church
without boundary or authority,
distributed among persons,
held together only by prayer,
love, memory, and practice.</poem>

==ⲡⲓⲛⲟⲙⲟⲥ ⲛ̄̄ⲛⲉⲧⲉⲩϣⲱⲡⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲉϥⲣⲱⲙⲉ==

===I. ⲡⲧⲟⲡⲟⲥ / Field ===

;[[Rule 1]].
<poem>ⲡⲕⲁϩ ⲧⲏⲣϥ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲛⲉⲣⲏⲙⲟⲥ·
ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ⲟⲩⲱϣⲧ ⲉ ⲛⲉⲕⲡⲟⲗⲓⲥ ⲉϩⲟⲩⲟ,
ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲕⲁⲧⲁ ⲡⲉⲧϥϫⲓ ⲛⲁϥ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲁϣⲉ.</poem>

<poem>The whole earth is our [[desert]];
but look especially to your cities,
each according to their own joy.</poem>

;Rule 2.
<poem>ⲡⲙⲉⲓ ⲛⲁⲥⲱⲙⲁ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲣⲟⲥⲉⲩⲭⲏ.</poem>

<poem>Embodied love is prayer.</poem>

;Rule 3.
<poem>ⲡⲅⲁⲙⲟⲥ ⲡⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲱⲙⲉ·
ⲁϥϩⲓⲡⲡⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉⲧⲉ ⲡⲟⲩⲟⲩⲱⲧ ⲛ̄̄ⲁⲅⲁⲡⲏ.</poem>

<poem>Marriage is between humans,
constrained only by the vow to love one another.</poem>

;Rule 4.
<poem>ⲛ̄̄ⲥⲟⲟⲩ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲱⲙⲉ ⲉⲩⲡⲣⲟⲥⲉⲩⲭⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲟⲩⲁ ⲡⲉ ⲇⲉⲕⲁ·
ⲧⲣⲉⲓⲥ ⲡⲉ ⲉⲕⲁⲧⲟⲛ.</poem>

<poem>Two who pray as one are as ten;
three are as a hundred.</poem>

;Rule 5.
<poem>ⲥⲱⲕ ⲛ̄̄ⲛⲉⲧⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟⲛ ⲉⲣⲉ ⲥⲉⲁⲛⲧⲓⲧⲁⲥⲥⲉ ⲉⲣⲟⲕ·
ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ⲕⲁⲁⲥ ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲉ ⲧⲉϥⲥⲧⲁⲥⲓⲥ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲁⲩⲁⲧϥ.</poem>

<poem>Gather around you those who do not oppose you;
but leave each one to their own position.</poem>

;Rule 6.
<poem>ⲉⲧⲁⲛ ⲉⲩⲥⲱⲕ ⲛ̄̄ⲥⲟⲟⲩ ⲟⲩ ⲛ̄̄ϩⲁⲣⲉϩ ⲛ̄̄ⲟⲩϣⲁⲓ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉϥⲣⲁⲛ,
ⲉⲩⲙⲉⲧⲉⲭⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉϥⲥⲱⲙⲁ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉϥⲥⲛⲟϥ.</poem>

<poem>When two or more share a meal in His name,
they partake of His body and blood.</poem>

;Rule 7.
<poem>ⲡⲓⲥⲧⲓⲥⲥⲟⲩⲱⲧⲛ̄̄ⲉⲣⲟⲕⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉⲙ̄̄ⲙⲛ̄̄ⲣ̄ϩ̄ ⲏⲧⲉⲡⲉⲥⲏⲟⲩ·
ⲡⲙⲛ̄̄ⲧⲣ̄ⲣ̄ⲣⲟ ⲡⲉ ⲟⲩϩⲟⲩⲟ ⲉϥⲣⲱϣⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟϥ ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉⲕϩⲱⲃ.</poem>

<poem>[[Faith]] carries you without worry about tomorrow;
the [[Kingdom]] is a treasure that grows of itself.</poem>

===II. ⲡⲙⲉⲧⲣⲉ / Measure ===

;Rule 8.
<poem>ⲡⲙⲟⲛⲟⲛ ⲛ̄̄ϩⲩⲡⲁⲕⲟⲏ
ⲉⲧⲉ ⲡⲛⲟⲩⲧⲉ ϣⲱⲡⲉ ⲉⲣⲟϥ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲛⲟⲩⲟⲩ
ⲡⲉ ⲡⲙⲉⲣⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟϥ.</poem>

<poem>The only [[Commandment|obedience]] God [[New Covenant|now]] requires
is to love him.</poem>

;Rule 9.
<poem>ⲡⲉⲓⲙⲉⲣⲉ ⲇⲉ
ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉϥϫⲱⲕ ⲉϩⲟⲩⲛ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲁⲩⲁⲧϥ·
ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ϥⲧⲁϩⲟ ⲉ ⲡⲉⲕⲥⲟⲛ.</poem>

<poem>But this same love does not end with him alone;
it is directed toward your [[neighbor]].</poem>

;Rule 10.
<poem>ⲡⲁⲅⲁⲡⲏ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲛⲟⲙⲟⲥ ⲧⲏⲣϥ·
ⲁⲣⲉⲧⲁϩⲟ ⲛ̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲉⲕⲟⲩⲱϣ ⲉ ⲡⲙⲉⲣⲉ ⲛ̄ⲁⲅⲁⲡⲏ.</poem>

<poem>[[Love]] is the whole law; guide desire into love.</poem>

;Rule 11.
<poem>ⲡⲙⲉⲣⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲉⲕⲁⲩⲧⲟⲥ
ⲡⲉ ⲡϣⲱⲧ ⲉⲧⲉⲕⲙⲉⲧⲣⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟϥ
ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲙⲉⲣⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲉⲕⲥⲟⲛ·
ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉⲕϣⲟⲣⲡ.</poem>

<poem>Love of self is the rod by which
to measure your [[Charitability|love of neighbor]];
do not come up short.</poem>

;Rule 12.
<poem>ⲙⲉⲧⲙⲉⲑⲣⲉ ϩⲁ ⲟⲩⲥⲱϣⲉ ⲛⲓⲙ
ⲧⲁϩⲟ ⲛ̄̄ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲉⲧϩⲏⲧⲥ·
ⲡⲁⲣⲁⲃⲁⲥⲓⲥ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲧⲁϩⲟ ⲉ ⲟⲩⲁⲗⲗⲟ.</poem>

<poem>False witness against a group
[[harm]]s each person within it;
harming another is [[trespass]].</poem>

;Rule 13.
<poem>ⲡⲇⲓⲕⲁⲓⲟⲥ ⲡⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲧⲉⲝⲟⲩⲥⲓⲁ ⲛ̄̄ⲕⲟⲥⲙⲟⲥ·
ⲡⲕⲣⲓⲙⲁ ⲇⲉ ⲡⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲛⲟⲩⲧⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲁⲩⲁⲧϥ·
ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉⲕϫⲓ ⲙⲉⲉⲩⲉ ⲉⲣⲉ ⲛⲓⲡⲁⲣⲁⲃⲁⲥⲓⲥ ⲛ̄̄ⲛⲉⲕⲉⲧⲛⲟⲟⲩ.</poem>

<poem>[[Justice]] belongs to civil authority;
[[Judgment]] to [[God]] alone;
do not occupy yourself with
the trespasses of others.</poem>

;Rule 14.
<poem>ⲉⲡⲉⲓⲇⲏ ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲟⲩⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲡⲉ·
ⲥⲟⲩⲱⲛϩ ⲛ̄̄ⲛⲉⲕⲡⲁⲣⲁⲃⲁⲥⲓⲥ
ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲟⲩⲙⲉⲗⲟⲥ ⲛⲓⲙ·
ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉⲕϩⲏⲧ
ⲛ̄̄ϣⲱⲡⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲟⲩⲥⲛⲟϥ, ⲡⲉ ⲡⲛⲟⲃⲉ.</poem>

<poem>Since each person is the church,
confess your trespasses to a member,
so that your heart does not harden—
for that hardening is [[sin]].</poem>

===III. ⲡⲙⲁⲣⲧⲩⲣⲓⲁ / Witness ===

;Rule 15.
<poem>Ⲡⲭⲣⲓⲥⲧⲟⲥ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲛⲛⲟⲩϯ ⲁⲩⲱ ⲡⲉⲛⲙⲁⲁⲩ·
ⲡⲓϣⲟⲣⲡ ⲡⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲓⲙⲉⲩⲉ ⲛⲓⲙ
ⲁⲩⲱ ⲡⲓϫⲱⲙ ⲛⲓⲙ.</poem>

<poem>[[Christ]] is our Lord and our Mother;
the source of all care and all strength.</poem>

;Rule 16.
<poem>ⲛⲉⲛⲉⲣⲏⲙⲓⲧⲏⲥ
ⲟⲩⲣⲱⲙⲉ ⲡⲉ ⲏ ⲟⲩϩⲓⲙⲉ·
ⲕⲁⲧⲁ ⲡⲉⲩⲟⲩⲱϣ.</poem>

<poem>Our hermits may be man or woman,
according to their will.</poem>

;Rule 17.
<poem>ⲧⲁⲕⲟⲩⲱⲧ ⲛ̄̄ⲟⲩⲙⲁ ⲛ̄̄ⲕⲁⲣⲡⲟⲥ ⲛ̄̄ⲥⲁ ⲡⲉⲕⲟⲩⲱⲧ·
ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲡⲉ·
ⲁⲣⲉϥⲉⲓⲣⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲁⲅⲁⲑⲟⲛ ⲛ̄̄ϩⲏⲧϥ.</poem>

<poem>Set aside a second purse apart from your own;
it belongs to the church; do good with it.</poem>

;Rule 18.
<poem>ⲡⲕⲁⲣⲡⲟⲥ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ
ⲡⲉⲧⲟⲩⲱϣⲧ ⲉⲃⲟⲗ ϩⲓⲧⲛ̄̄ ⲛⲉⲥⲙⲉⲗⲟⲥ·
ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲟⲩⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲁⲩⲁⲧϥ ⲡⲉ.</poem>

<poem>The purse of the church
is distributed among its members;
let each person be a church in themselves.</poem>

;Rule 19.
<poem>ⲉϣⲱⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲕⲥⲟⲛ ⲛ̄̄ϩⲏⲧ ⲛ̄̄ⲟⲩⲱⲛϩ·
ⲁⲣⲉⲧⲁⲁⲩ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲕⲁⲣⲡⲟⲥ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ.
ⲁⲣⲉϫⲱ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲁⲓ? ⲁⲛⲟⲕ ⲇⲉ ϫⲱ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲁⲓ·
ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉⲕⲙⲟⲩϣⲧ ⲉⲣⲟϥ.</poem>

<poem>If your brother is in need,
give from the purse of the church.
You say, “How much?” I say:
Do not hold back from him.</poem>

;Rule 20.
<poem>ⲉϣⲱⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲕϩⲱⲛ ⲟⲩⲱⲛϩ·
ⲁⲣⲉϫⲓⲧϥ ⲛ̄̄ϩⲟⲩⲟ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲟⲕ.</poem>

<poem>If your need becomes dire,
draw from it for yourself.</poem>

;Rule 21.
<poem>ⲙⲁⲣⲉⲧⲛ̄̄ⲙⲉⲧⲣⲉ ⲉⲧⲉⲧⲛ̄̄ⲥⲟⲟⲩⲛ
ⲉⲡⲉⲧⲉⲧⲛ̄̄ϣⲱⲡⲉ ϩⲛ̄̄ Ⲡⲭⲣⲓⲥⲧⲟⲥ·
ⲧⲉⲓⲙⲉ ⲡⲉ ⲉⲧⲉⲣⲉⲧⲛ̄̄ⲣ̄ⲣ̄ⲣⲙⲁⲉ.</poem>

<poem>Bear witness to what you know
of what you are becoming in [[Christ]];
this is the truth that sets you free.</poem>

===ⲡⲥⲱⲧⲙ===
<poem>ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟⲛ ⲟⲩⲙⲁ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲁϩⲟ.
ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟⲛ ⲟⲩⲕⲁⲣⲡⲟⲥ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲁⲣⲭⲏ.
ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟⲛ ⲟⲩⲉⲝⲟⲩⲥⲓⲁ.
ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟⲛ ⲟⲩⲁⲛⲁⲅⲕⲏ.

ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ⲙⲟⲛⲟⲛ:
ⲡⲣⲟⲥⲉⲩⲭⲏ · ⲁⲅⲁⲡⲏ · ⲙⲉⲉⲩⲉ · ⲱϣⲧ.

ⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲉϥⲣⲱⲙⲉ ⲁⲥⲥⲱⲧⲙ.</poem>

----
C.D. 2025

A Rule for Humans

2026-02-02T13:20:51Z

Origin: tweak back to original

What follows is not [[Law]], but a [[Rule]]. It is undertaken freely and binds no one who does not choose it.

<poem>Those who accept it — now
place themselves within a church
without boundary or authority,
distributed among persons,
held together only by prayer,
love, memory, and practice.</poem>
__NOTOC__

==ⲡⲓⲛⲟⲙⲟⲥ ⲛ̄̄ⲛⲉⲧⲉⲩϣⲱⲡⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲉϥⲣⲱⲙⲉ==

===I. ⲡⲧⲟⲡⲟⲥ / Field ===

;[[Rule 1]].
<poem>ⲡⲕⲁϩ ⲧⲏⲣϥ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲛⲉⲣⲏⲙⲟⲥ·
ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ⲟⲩⲱϣⲧ ⲉ ⲛⲉⲕⲡⲟⲗⲓⲥ ⲉϩⲟⲩⲟ,
ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲕⲁⲧⲁ ⲡⲉⲧϥϫⲓ ⲛⲁϥ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲁϣⲉ.</poem>

<poem>The whole earth is our [[desert]];
but look especially to your cities,
each according to their own joy.</poem>

;Rule 2.
<poem>ⲡⲙⲉⲓ ⲛⲁⲥⲱⲙⲁ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲣⲟⲥⲉⲩⲭⲏ.</poem>

<poem>Embodied love is prayer.</poem>

;Rule 3.
<poem>ⲡⲅⲁⲙⲟⲥ ⲡⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲱⲙⲉ·
ⲁϥϩⲓⲡⲡⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉⲧⲉ ⲡⲟⲩⲟⲩⲱⲧ ⲛ̄̄ⲁⲅⲁⲡⲏ.</poem>

<poem>Marriage is between humans,
constrained only by the vow to love one another.</poem>

;Rule 4.
<poem>ⲛ̄̄ⲥⲟⲟⲩ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲱⲙⲉ ⲉⲩⲡⲣⲟⲥⲉⲩⲭⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲟⲩⲁ ⲡⲉ ⲇⲉⲕⲁ·
ⲧⲣⲉⲓⲥ ⲡⲉ ⲉⲕⲁⲧⲟⲛ.</poem>

<poem>Two who pray as one are as ten;
three are as a hundred.</poem>

;Rule 5.
<poem>ⲥⲱⲕ ⲛ̄̄ⲛⲉⲧⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟⲛ ⲉⲣⲉ ⲥⲉⲁⲛⲧⲓⲧⲁⲥⲥⲉ ⲉⲣⲟⲕ·
ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ⲕⲁⲁⲥ ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲉ ⲧⲉϥⲥⲧⲁⲥⲓⲥ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲁⲩⲁⲧϥ.</poem>

<poem>Gather around you those who do not oppose you;
but leave each one to their own position.</poem>

;Rule 6.
<poem>ⲉⲧⲁⲛ ⲉⲩⲥⲱⲕ ⲛ̄̄ⲥⲟⲟⲩ ⲟⲩ ⲛ̄̄ϩⲁⲣⲉϩ ⲛ̄̄ⲟⲩϣⲁⲓ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉϥⲣⲁⲛ,
ⲉⲩⲙⲉⲧⲉⲭⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉϥⲥⲱⲙⲁ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉϥⲥⲛⲟϥ.</poem>

<poem>When two or more share a meal in His name,
they partake of His body and blood.</poem>

;Rule 7.
<poem>ⲡⲓⲥⲧⲓⲥⲥⲟⲩⲱⲧⲛ̄̄ⲉⲣⲟⲕⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉⲙ̄̄ⲙⲛ̄̄ⲣ̄ϩ̄ ⲏⲧⲉⲡⲉⲥⲏⲟⲩ·
ⲡⲙⲛ̄̄ⲧⲣ̄ⲣ̄ⲣⲟ ⲡⲉ ⲟⲩϩⲟⲩⲟ ⲉϥⲣⲱϣⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟϥ ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉⲕϩⲱⲃ.</poem>

<poem>[[Faith]] carries you without worry about tomorrow;
the [[Kingdom]] is a treasure that grows of itself.</poem>

===II. ⲡⲙⲉⲧⲣⲉ / Measure ===

;Rule 8.
<poem>ⲡⲙⲟⲛⲟⲛ ⲛ̄̄ϩⲩⲡⲁⲕⲟⲏ
ⲉⲧⲉ ⲡⲛⲟⲩⲧⲉ ϣⲱⲡⲉ ⲉⲣⲟϥ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲛⲟⲩⲟⲩ
ⲡⲉ ⲡⲙⲉⲣⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟϥ.</poem>

<poem>The only [[Commandment|obedience]] God [[New Covenant|now]] requires
is to love him.</poem>

;Rule 9.
<poem>ⲡⲉⲓⲙⲉⲣⲉ ⲇⲉ
ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉϥϫⲱⲕ ⲉϩⲟⲩⲛ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲁⲩⲁⲧϥ·
ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ϥⲧⲁϩⲟ ⲉ ⲡⲉⲕⲥⲟⲛ.</poem>

<poem>But this same love does not end with him alone;
it is directed toward your [[neighbor]].</poem>

;Rule 10.
<poem>ⲡⲁⲅⲁⲡⲏ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲛⲟⲙⲟⲥ ⲧⲏⲣϥ·
ⲁⲣⲉⲧⲁϩⲟ ⲛ̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲉⲕⲟⲩⲱϣ ⲉ ⲡⲙⲉⲣⲉ ⲛ̄ⲁⲅⲁⲡⲏ.</poem>

<poem>[[Love]] is the whole law; guide desire into love.</poem>

;Rule 11.
<poem>ⲡⲙⲉⲣⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲉⲕⲁⲩⲧⲟⲥ
ⲡⲉ ⲡϣⲱⲧ ⲉⲧⲉⲕⲙⲉⲧⲣⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟϥ
ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲙⲉⲣⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲉⲕⲥⲟⲛ·
ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉⲕϣⲟⲣⲡ.</poem>

<poem>Love of self is the rod by which
to measure your [[Charitability|love of neighbor]];
do not come up short.</poem>

;Rule 12.
<poem>ⲙⲉⲧⲙⲉⲑⲣⲉ ϩⲁ ⲟⲩⲥⲱϣⲉ ⲛⲓⲙ
ⲧⲁϩⲟ ⲛ̄̄ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲉⲧϩⲏⲧⲥ·
ⲡⲁⲣⲁⲃⲁⲥⲓⲥ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲧⲁϩⲟ ⲉ ⲟⲩⲁⲗⲗⲟ.</poem>

<poem>False witness against a group
[[harm]]s each person within it;
harming another is [[trespass]].</poem>

;Rule 13.
<poem>ⲡⲇⲓⲕⲁⲓⲟⲥ ⲡⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲧⲉⲝⲟⲩⲥⲓⲁ ⲛ̄̄ⲕⲟⲥⲙⲟⲥ·
ⲡⲕⲣⲓⲙⲁ ⲇⲉ ⲡⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲛⲟⲩⲧⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲁⲩⲁⲧϥ·
ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉⲕϫⲓ ⲙⲉⲉⲩⲉ ⲉⲣⲉ ⲛⲓⲡⲁⲣⲁⲃⲁⲥⲓⲥ ⲛ̄̄ⲛⲉⲕⲉⲧⲛⲟⲟⲩ.</poem>

<poem>[[Justice]] belongs to civil authority;
[[Judgment]] to [[God]] alone;
do not occupy yourself with
the trespasses of others.</poem>

;Rule 14.
<poem>ⲉⲡⲉⲓⲇⲏ ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲟⲩⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲡⲉ·
ⲥⲟⲩⲱⲛϩ ⲛ̄̄ⲛⲉⲕⲡⲁⲣⲁⲃⲁⲥⲓⲥ
ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲟⲩⲙⲉⲗⲟⲥ ⲛⲓⲙ·
ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉⲕϩⲏⲧ
ⲛ̄̄ϣⲱⲡⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲟⲩⲥⲛⲟϥ, ⲡⲉ ⲡⲛⲟⲃⲉ.</poem>

<poem>Since each person is the church,
confess your trespasses to a member,
so that your heart does not harden—
for that hardening is [[sin]].</poem>

===III. ⲡⲙⲁⲣⲧⲩⲣⲓⲁ / Witness ===

;Rule 15.
<poem>Ⲡⲭⲣⲓⲥⲧⲟⲥ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲛⲛⲟⲩϯ ⲁⲩⲱ ⲡⲉⲛⲙⲁⲁⲩ·
ⲡⲓϣⲟⲣⲡ ⲡⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲓⲙⲉⲩⲉ ⲛⲓⲙ
ⲁⲩⲱ ⲡⲓϫⲱⲙ ⲛⲓⲙ.</poem>

<poem>[[Christ]] is our Lord and our Mother;
the source of all care and all strength.</poem>

;Rule 16.
<poem>ⲛⲉⲛⲉⲣⲏⲙⲓⲧⲏⲥ
ⲟⲩⲣⲱⲙⲉ ⲡⲉ ⲏ ⲟⲩϩⲓⲙⲉ·
ⲕⲁⲧⲁ ⲡⲉⲩⲟⲩⲱϣ.</poem>

<poem>Our hermits may be man or woman,
according to their will.</poem>

;Rule 17.
<poem>ⲧⲁⲕⲟⲩⲱⲧ ⲛ̄̄ⲟⲩⲙⲁ ⲛ̄̄ⲕⲁⲣⲡⲟⲥ ⲛ̄̄ⲥⲁ ⲡⲉⲕⲟⲩⲱⲧ·
ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲡⲉ·
ⲁⲣⲉϥⲉⲓⲣⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲁⲅⲁⲑⲟⲛ ⲛ̄̄ϩⲏⲧϥ.</poem>

<poem>Set aside a second purse apart from your own;
it belongs to the church; do good with it.</poem>

;Rule 18.
<poem>ⲡⲕⲁⲣⲡⲟⲥ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ
ⲡⲉⲧⲟⲩⲱϣⲧ ⲉⲃⲟⲗ ϩⲓⲧⲛ̄̄ ⲛⲉⲥⲙⲉⲗⲟⲥ·
ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲟⲩⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲁⲩⲁⲧϥ ⲡⲉ.</poem>

<poem>The purse of the church
is distributed among its members;
let each person be a church in themselves.</poem>

;Rule 19.
<poem>ⲉϣⲱⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲕⲥⲟⲛ ⲛ̄̄ϩⲏⲧ ⲛ̄̄ⲟⲩⲱⲛϩ·
ⲁⲣⲉⲧⲁⲁⲩ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲕⲁⲣⲡⲟⲥ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ.
ⲁⲣⲉϫⲱ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲁⲓ? ⲁⲛⲟⲕ ⲇⲉ ϫⲱ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲁⲓ·
ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉⲕⲙⲟⲩϣⲧ ⲉⲣⲟϥ.</poem>

<poem>If your brother is in need,
give from the purse of the church.
You say, “How much?” I say:
Do not hold back from him.</poem>

;Rule 20.
<poem>ⲉϣⲱⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲕϩⲱⲛ ⲟⲩⲱⲛϩ·
ⲁⲣⲉϫⲓⲧϥ ⲛ̄̄ϩⲟⲩⲟ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲟⲕ.</poem>

<poem>If your need becomes dire,
draw from it for yourself.</poem>

;Rule 21.
<poem>ⲙⲁⲣⲉⲧⲛ̄̄ⲙⲉⲧⲣⲉ ⲉⲧⲉⲧⲛ̄̄ⲥⲟⲟⲩⲛ
ⲉⲡⲉⲧⲉⲧⲛ̄̄ϣⲱⲡⲉ ϩⲛ̄̄ Ⲡⲭⲣⲓⲥⲧⲟⲥ·
ⲧⲉⲓⲙⲉ ⲡⲉ ⲉⲧⲉⲣⲉⲧⲛ̄̄ⲣ̄ⲣ̄ⲣⲙⲁⲉ.</poem>

<poem>Bear witness to what you know
of what you are becoming in [[Christ]];
this is the truth that sets you free.</poem>

===ⲡⲥⲱⲧⲙ===
<poem>ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟⲛ ⲟⲩⲙⲁ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲁϩⲟ.
ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟⲛ ⲟⲩⲕⲁⲣⲡⲟⲥ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲁⲣⲭⲏ.
ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟⲛ ⲟⲩⲉⲝⲟⲩⲥⲓⲁ.
ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟⲛ ⲟⲩⲁⲛⲁⲅⲕⲏ.

ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ⲙⲟⲛⲟⲛ:
ⲡⲣⲟⲥⲉⲩⲭⲏ · ⲁⲅⲁⲡⲏ · ⲙⲉⲉⲩⲉ · ⲱϣⲧ.

ⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲉϥⲣⲱⲙⲉ ⲁⲥⲥⲱⲧⲙ.</poem>

----
C.D. 2025

A Rule for Humans

2026-02-02T13:20:28Z

Origin: this is needed here

What follows is not [[Law]], but a [[Rule]]. It is undertaken freely and binds no one who does not choose it.

<poem>Those who accept it — now
place themselves within a church
without boundary or authority,
distributed among persons,
held together only by prayer,
love, memory, and practice,
and</poem>
__NOTOC__

==ⲡⲓⲛⲟⲙⲟⲥ ⲛ̄̄ⲛⲉⲧⲉⲩϣⲱⲡⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲉϥⲣⲱⲙⲉ==

===I. ⲡⲧⲟⲡⲟⲥ / Field ===

;[[Rule 1]].
<poem>ⲡⲕⲁϩ ⲧⲏⲣϥ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲛⲉⲣⲏⲙⲟⲥ·
ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ⲟⲩⲱϣⲧ ⲉ ⲛⲉⲕⲡⲟⲗⲓⲥ ⲉϩⲟⲩⲟ,
ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲕⲁⲧⲁ ⲡⲉⲧϥϫⲓ ⲛⲁϥ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲁϣⲉ.</poem>

<poem>The whole earth is our [[desert]];
but look especially to your cities,
each according to their own joy.</poem>

;Rule 2.
<poem>ⲡⲙⲉⲓ ⲛⲁⲥⲱⲙⲁ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲣⲟⲥⲉⲩⲭⲏ.</poem>

<poem>Embodied love is prayer.</poem>

;Rule 3.
<poem>ⲡⲅⲁⲙⲟⲥ ⲡⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲱⲙⲉ·
ⲁϥϩⲓⲡⲡⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉⲧⲉ ⲡⲟⲩⲟⲩⲱⲧ ⲛ̄̄ⲁⲅⲁⲡⲏ.</poem>

<poem>Marriage is between humans,
constrained only by the vow to love one another.</poem>

;Rule 4.
<poem>ⲛ̄̄ⲥⲟⲟⲩ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲱⲙⲉ ⲉⲩⲡⲣⲟⲥⲉⲩⲭⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲟⲩⲁ ⲡⲉ ⲇⲉⲕⲁ·
ⲧⲣⲉⲓⲥ ⲡⲉ ⲉⲕⲁⲧⲟⲛ.</poem>

<poem>Two who pray as one are as ten;
three are as a hundred.</poem>

;Rule 5.
<poem>ⲥⲱⲕ ⲛ̄̄ⲛⲉⲧⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟⲛ ⲉⲣⲉ ⲥⲉⲁⲛⲧⲓⲧⲁⲥⲥⲉ ⲉⲣⲟⲕ·
ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ⲕⲁⲁⲥ ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲉ ⲧⲉϥⲥⲧⲁⲥⲓⲥ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲁⲩⲁⲧϥ.</poem>

<poem>Gather around you those who do not oppose you;
but leave each one to their own position.</poem>

;Rule 6.
<poem>ⲉⲧⲁⲛ ⲉⲩⲥⲱⲕ ⲛ̄̄ⲥⲟⲟⲩ ⲟⲩ ⲛ̄̄ϩⲁⲣⲉϩ ⲛ̄̄ⲟⲩϣⲁⲓ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉϥⲣⲁⲛ,
ⲉⲩⲙⲉⲧⲉⲭⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉϥⲥⲱⲙⲁ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉϥⲥⲛⲟϥ.</poem>

<poem>When two or more share a meal in His name,
they partake of His body and blood.</poem>

;Rule 7.
<poem>ⲡⲓⲥⲧⲓⲥⲥⲟⲩⲱⲧⲛ̄̄ⲉⲣⲟⲕⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉⲙ̄̄ⲙⲛ̄̄ⲣ̄ϩ̄ ⲏⲧⲉⲡⲉⲥⲏⲟⲩ·
ⲡⲙⲛ̄̄ⲧⲣ̄ⲣ̄ⲣⲟ ⲡⲉ ⲟⲩϩⲟⲩⲟ ⲉϥⲣⲱϣⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟϥ ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉⲕϩⲱⲃ.</poem>

<poem>[[Faith]] carries you without worry about tomorrow;
the [[Kingdom]] is a treasure that grows of itself.</poem>

===II. ⲡⲙⲉⲧⲣⲉ / Measure ===

;Rule 8.
<poem>ⲡⲙⲟⲛⲟⲛ ⲛ̄̄ϩⲩⲡⲁⲕⲟⲏ
ⲉⲧⲉ ⲡⲛⲟⲩⲧⲉ ϣⲱⲡⲉ ⲉⲣⲟϥ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲛⲟⲩⲟⲩ
ⲡⲉ ⲡⲙⲉⲣⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟϥ.</poem>

<poem>The only [[Commandment|obedience]] God [[New Covenant|now]] requires
is to love him.</poem>

;Rule 9.
<poem>ⲡⲉⲓⲙⲉⲣⲉ ⲇⲉ
ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉϥϫⲱⲕ ⲉϩⲟⲩⲛ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲁⲩⲁⲧϥ·
ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ϥⲧⲁϩⲟ ⲉ ⲡⲉⲕⲥⲟⲛ.</poem>

<poem>But this same love does not end with him alone;
it is directed toward your [[neighbor]].</poem>

;Rule 10.
<poem>ⲡⲁⲅⲁⲡⲏ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲛⲟⲙⲟⲥ ⲧⲏⲣϥ·
ⲁⲣⲉⲧⲁϩⲟ ⲛ̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲉⲕⲟⲩⲱϣ ⲉ ⲡⲙⲉⲣⲉ ⲛ̄ⲁⲅⲁⲡⲏ.</poem>

<poem>[[Love]] is the whole law; guide desire into love.</poem>

;Rule 11.
<poem>ⲡⲙⲉⲣⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲉⲕⲁⲩⲧⲟⲥ
ⲡⲉ ⲡϣⲱⲧ ⲉⲧⲉⲕⲙⲉⲧⲣⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟϥ
ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲙⲉⲣⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲉⲕⲥⲟⲛ·
ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉⲕϣⲟⲣⲡ.</poem>

<poem>Love of self is the rod by which
to measure your [[Charitability|love of neighbor]];
do not come up short.</poem>

;Rule 12.
<poem>ⲙⲉⲧⲙⲉⲑⲣⲉ ϩⲁ ⲟⲩⲥⲱϣⲉ ⲛⲓⲙ
ⲧⲁϩⲟ ⲛ̄̄ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲉⲧϩⲏⲧⲥ·
ⲡⲁⲣⲁⲃⲁⲥⲓⲥ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲧⲁϩⲟ ⲉ ⲟⲩⲁⲗⲗⲟ.</poem>

<poem>False witness against a group
[[harm]]s each person within it;
harming another is [[trespass]].</poem>

;Rule 13.
<poem>ⲡⲇⲓⲕⲁⲓⲟⲥ ⲡⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲧⲉⲝⲟⲩⲥⲓⲁ ⲛ̄̄ⲕⲟⲥⲙⲟⲥ·
ⲡⲕⲣⲓⲙⲁ ⲇⲉ ⲡⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲛⲟⲩⲧⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲁⲩⲁⲧϥ·
ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉⲕϫⲓ ⲙⲉⲉⲩⲉ ⲉⲣⲉ ⲛⲓⲡⲁⲣⲁⲃⲁⲥⲓⲥ ⲛ̄̄ⲛⲉⲕⲉⲧⲛⲟⲟⲩ.</poem>

<poem>[[Justice]] belongs to civil authority;
[[Judgment]] to [[God]] alone;
do not occupy yourself with
the trespasses of others.</poem>

;Rule 14.
<poem>ⲉⲡⲉⲓⲇⲏ ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲟⲩⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲡⲉ·
ⲥⲟⲩⲱⲛϩ ⲛ̄̄ⲛⲉⲕⲡⲁⲣⲁⲃⲁⲥⲓⲥ
ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲟⲩⲙⲉⲗⲟⲥ ⲛⲓⲙ·
ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉⲕϩⲏⲧ
ⲛ̄̄ϣⲱⲡⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲟⲩⲥⲛⲟϥ, ⲡⲉ ⲡⲛⲟⲃⲉ.</poem>

<poem>Since each person is the church,
confess your trespasses to a member,
so that your heart does not harden—
for that hardening is [[sin]].</poem>

===III. ⲡⲙⲁⲣⲧⲩⲣⲓⲁ / Witness ===

;Rule 15.
<poem>Ⲡⲭⲣⲓⲥⲧⲟⲥ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲛⲛⲟⲩϯ ⲁⲩⲱ ⲡⲉⲛⲙⲁⲁⲩ·
ⲡⲓϣⲟⲣⲡ ⲡⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲓⲙⲉⲩⲉ ⲛⲓⲙ
ⲁⲩⲱ ⲡⲓϫⲱⲙ ⲛⲓⲙ.</poem>

<poem>[[Christ]] is our Lord and our Mother;
the source of all care and all strength.</poem>

;Rule 16.
<poem>ⲛⲉⲛⲉⲣⲏⲙⲓⲧⲏⲥ
ⲟⲩⲣⲱⲙⲉ ⲡⲉ ⲏ ⲟⲩϩⲓⲙⲉ·
ⲕⲁⲧⲁ ⲡⲉⲩⲟⲩⲱϣ.</poem>

<poem>Our hermits may be man or woman,
according to their will.</poem>

;Rule 17.
<poem>ⲧⲁⲕⲟⲩⲱⲧ ⲛ̄̄ⲟⲩⲙⲁ ⲛ̄̄ⲕⲁⲣⲡⲟⲥ ⲛ̄̄ⲥⲁ ⲡⲉⲕⲟⲩⲱⲧ·
ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲡⲉ·
ⲁⲣⲉϥⲉⲓⲣⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲁⲅⲁⲑⲟⲛ ⲛ̄̄ϩⲏⲧϥ.</poem>

<poem>Set aside a second purse apart from your own;
it belongs to the church; do good with it.</poem>

;Rule 18.
<poem>ⲡⲕⲁⲣⲡⲟⲥ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ
ⲡⲉⲧⲟⲩⲱϣⲧ ⲉⲃⲟⲗ ϩⲓⲧⲛ̄̄ ⲛⲉⲥⲙⲉⲗⲟⲥ·
ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲟⲩⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲁⲩⲁⲧϥ ⲡⲉ.</poem>

<poem>The purse of the church
is distributed among its members;
let each person be a church in themselves.</poem>

;Rule 19.
<poem>ⲉϣⲱⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲕⲥⲟⲛ ⲛ̄̄ϩⲏⲧ ⲛ̄̄ⲟⲩⲱⲛϩ·
ⲁⲣⲉⲧⲁⲁⲩ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲕⲁⲣⲡⲟⲥ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ.
ⲁⲣⲉϫⲱ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲁⲓ? ⲁⲛⲟⲕ ⲇⲉ ϫⲱ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲁⲓ·
ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉⲕⲙⲟⲩϣⲧ ⲉⲣⲟϥ.</poem>

<poem>If your brother is in need,
give from the purse of the church.
You say, “How much?” I say:
Do not hold back from him.</poem>

;Rule 20.
<poem>ⲉϣⲱⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲕϩⲱⲛ ⲟⲩⲱⲛϩ·
ⲁⲣⲉϫⲓⲧϥ ⲛ̄̄ϩⲟⲩⲟ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲟⲕ.</poem>

<poem>If your need becomes dire,
draw from it for yourself.</poem>

;Rule 21.
<poem>ⲙⲁⲣⲉⲧⲛ̄̄ⲙⲉⲧⲣⲉ ⲉⲧⲉⲧⲛ̄̄ⲥⲟⲟⲩⲛ
ⲉⲡⲉⲧⲉⲧⲛ̄̄ϣⲱⲡⲉ ϩⲛ̄̄ Ⲡⲭⲣⲓⲥⲧⲟⲥ·
ⲧⲉⲓⲙⲉ ⲡⲉ ⲉⲧⲉⲣⲉⲧⲛ̄̄ⲣ̄ⲣ̄ⲣⲙⲁⲉ.</poem>

<poem>Bear witness to what you know
of what you are becoming in [[Christ]];
this is the truth that sets you free.</poem>

===ⲡⲥⲱⲧⲙ===
<poem>ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟⲛ ⲟⲩⲙⲁ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲁϩⲟ.
ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟⲛ ⲟⲩⲕⲁⲣⲡⲟⲥ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲁⲣⲭⲏ.
ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟⲛ ⲟⲩⲉⲝⲟⲩⲥⲓⲁ.
ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟⲛ ⲟⲩⲁⲛⲁⲅⲕⲏ.

ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ⲙⲟⲛⲟⲛ:
ⲡⲣⲟⲥⲉⲩⲭⲏ · ⲁⲅⲁⲡⲏ · ⲙⲉⲉⲩⲉ · ⲱϣⲧ.

ⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲉϥⲣⲱⲙⲉ ⲁⲥⲥⲱⲧⲙ.</poem>

----
C.D. 2025

A Rule for Humans

2026-02-02T13:19:28Z

Origin: the Rule stands alone

__NOTOC__
==ⲡⲓⲛⲟⲙⲟⲥ ⲛ̄̄ⲛⲉⲧⲉⲩϣⲱⲡⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲉϥⲣⲱⲙⲉ==

===I. ⲡⲧⲟⲡⲟⲥ / Field ===

;[[Rule 1]].
<poem>ⲡⲕⲁϩ ⲧⲏⲣϥ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲛⲉⲣⲏⲙⲟⲥ·
ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ⲟⲩⲱϣⲧ ⲉ ⲛⲉⲕⲡⲟⲗⲓⲥ ⲉϩⲟⲩⲟ,
ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲕⲁⲧⲁ ⲡⲉⲧϥϫⲓ ⲛⲁϥ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲁϣⲉ.</poem>

<poem>The whole earth is our [[desert]];
but look especially to your cities,
each according to their own joy.</poem>

;Rule 2.
<poem>ⲡⲙⲉⲓ ⲛⲁⲥⲱⲙⲁ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲣⲟⲥⲉⲩⲭⲏ.</poem>

<poem>Embodied love is prayer.</poem>

;Rule 3.
<poem>ⲡⲅⲁⲙⲟⲥ ⲡⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲱⲙⲉ·
ⲁϥϩⲓⲡⲡⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉⲧⲉ ⲡⲟⲩⲟⲩⲱⲧ ⲛ̄̄ⲁⲅⲁⲡⲏ.</poem>

<poem>Marriage is between humans,
constrained only by the vow to love one another.</poem>

;Rule 4.
<poem>ⲛ̄̄ⲥⲟⲟⲩ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲱⲙⲉ ⲉⲩⲡⲣⲟⲥⲉⲩⲭⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲟⲩⲁ ⲡⲉ ⲇⲉⲕⲁ·
ⲧⲣⲉⲓⲥ ⲡⲉ ⲉⲕⲁⲧⲟⲛ.</poem>

<poem>Two who pray as one are as ten;
three are as a hundred.</poem>

;Rule 5.
<poem>ⲥⲱⲕ ⲛ̄̄ⲛⲉⲧⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟⲛ ⲉⲣⲉ ⲥⲉⲁⲛⲧⲓⲧⲁⲥⲥⲉ ⲉⲣⲟⲕ·
ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ⲕⲁⲁⲥ ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲉ ⲧⲉϥⲥⲧⲁⲥⲓⲥ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲁⲩⲁⲧϥ.</poem>

<poem>Gather around you those who do not oppose you;
but leave each one to their own position.</poem>

;Rule 6.
<poem>ⲉⲧⲁⲛ ⲉⲩⲥⲱⲕ ⲛ̄̄ⲥⲟⲟⲩ ⲟⲩ ⲛ̄̄ϩⲁⲣⲉϩ ⲛ̄̄ⲟⲩϣⲁⲓ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉϥⲣⲁⲛ,
ⲉⲩⲙⲉⲧⲉⲭⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉϥⲥⲱⲙⲁ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉϥⲥⲛⲟϥ.</poem>

<poem>When two or more share a meal in His name,
they partake of His body and blood.</poem>

;Rule 7.
<poem>ⲡⲓⲥⲧⲓⲥⲥⲟⲩⲱⲧⲛ̄̄ⲉⲣⲟⲕⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉⲙ̄̄ⲙⲛ̄̄ⲣ̄ϩ̄ ⲏⲧⲉⲡⲉⲥⲏⲟⲩ·
ⲡⲙⲛ̄̄ⲧⲣ̄ⲣ̄ⲣⲟ ⲡⲉ ⲟⲩϩⲟⲩⲟ ⲉϥⲣⲱϣⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟϥ ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉⲕϩⲱⲃ.</poem>

<poem>[[Faith]] carries you without worry about tomorrow;
the [[Kingdom]] is a treasure that grows of itself.</poem>

===II. ⲡⲙⲉⲧⲣⲉ / Measure ===

;Rule 8.
<poem>ⲡⲙⲟⲛⲟⲛ ⲛ̄̄ϩⲩⲡⲁⲕⲟⲏ
ⲉⲧⲉ ⲡⲛⲟⲩⲧⲉ ϣⲱⲡⲉ ⲉⲣⲟϥ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲛⲟⲩⲟⲩ
ⲡⲉ ⲡⲙⲉⲣⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟϥ.</poem>

<poem>The only [[Commandment|obedience]] God [[New Covenant|now]] requires
is to love him.</poem>

;Rule 9.
<poem>ⲡⲉⲓⲙⲉⲣⲉ ⲇⲉ
ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉϥϫⲱⲕ ⲉϩⲟⲩⲛ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲁⲩⲁⲧϥ·
ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ϥⲧⲁϩⲟ ⲉ ⲡⲉⲕⲥⲟⲛ.</poem>

<poem>But this same love does not end with him alone;
it is directed toward your [[neighbor]].</poem>

;Rule 10.
<poem>ⲡⲁⲅⲁⲡⲏ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲛⲟⲙⲟⲥ ⲧⲏⲣϥ·
ⲁⲣⲉⲧⲁϩⲟ ⲛ̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲉⲕⲟⲩⲱϣ ⲉ ⲡⲙⲉⲣⲉ ⲛ̄ⲁⲅⲁⲡⲏ.</poem>

<poem>[[Love]] is the whole law; guide desire into love.</poem>

;Rule 11.
<poem>ⲡⲙⲉⲣⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲉⲕⲁⲩⲧⲟⲥ
ⲡⲉ ⲡϣⲱⲧ ⲉⲧⲉⲕⲙⲉⲧⲣⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟϥ
ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲙⲉⲣⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲉⲕⲥⲟⲛ·
ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉⲕϣⲟⲣⲡ.</poem>

<poem>Love of self is the rod by which
to measure your [[Charitability|love of neighbor]];
do not come up short.</poem>

;Rule 12.
<poem>ⲙⲉⲧⲙⲉⲑⲣⲉ ϩⲁ ⲟⲩⲥⲱϣⲉ ⲛⲓⲙ
ⲧⲁϩⲟ ⲛ̄̄ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲉⲧϩⲏⲧⲥ·
ⲡⲁⲣⲁⲃⲁⲥⲓⲥ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲧⲁϩⲟ ⲉ ⲟⲩⲁⲗⲗⲟ.</poem>

<poem>False witness against a group
[[harm]]s each person within it;
harming another is [[trespass]].</poem>

;Rule 13.
<poem>ⲡⲇⲓⲕⲁⲓⲟⲥ ⲡⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲧⲉⲝⲟⲩⲥⲓⲁ ⲛ̄̄ⲕⲟⲥⲙⲟⲥ·
ⲡⲕⲣⲓⲙⲁ ⲇⲉ ⲡⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲛⲟⲩⲧⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲁⲩⲁⲧϥ·
ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉⲕϫⲓ ⲙⲉⲉⲩⲉ ⲉⲣⲉ ⲛⲓⲡⲁⲣⲁⲃⲁⲥⲓⲥ ⲛ̄̄ⲛⲉⲕⲉⲧⲛⲟⲟⲩ.</poem>

<poem>[[Justice]] belongs to civil authority;
[[Judgment]] to [[God]] alone;
do not occupy yourself with
the trespasses of others.</poem>

;Rule 14.
<poem>ⲉⲡⲉⲓⲇⲏ ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲟⲩⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲡⲉ·
ⲥⲟⲩⲱⲛϩ ⲛ̄̄ⲛⲉⲕⲡⲁⲣⲁⲃⲁⲥⲓⲥ
ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲟⲩⲙⲉⲗⲟⲥ ⲛⲓⲙ·
ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉⲕϩⲏⲧ
ⲛ̄̄ϣⲱⲡⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲟⲩⲥⲛⲟϥ, ⲡⲉ ⲡⲛⲟⲃⲉ.</poem>

<poem>Since each person is the church,
confess your trespasses to a member,
so that your heart does not harden—
for that hardening is [[sin]].</poem>

===III. ⲡⲙⲁⲣⲧⲩⲣⲓⲁ / Witness ===

;Rule 15.
<poem>Ⲡⲭⲣⲓⲥⲧⲟⲥ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲛⲛⲟⲩϯ ⲁⲩⲱ ⲡⲉⲛⲙⲁⲁⲩ·
ⲡⲓϣⲟⲣⲡ ⲡⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲓⲙⲉⲩⲉ ⲛⲓⲙ
ⲁⲩⲱ ⲡⲓϫⲱⲙ ⲛⲓⲙ.</poem>

<poem>[[Christ]] is our Lord and our Mother;
the source of all care and all strength.</poem>

;Rule 16.
<poem>ⲛⲉⲛⲉⲣⲏⲙⲓⲧⲏⲥ
ⲟⲩⲣⲱⲙⲉ ⲡⲉ ⲏ ⲟⲩϩⲓⲙⲉ·
ⲕⲁⲧⲁ ⲡⲉⲩⲟⲩⲱϣ.</poem>

<poem>Our hermits may be man or woman,
according to their will.</poem>

;Rule 17.
<poem>ⲧⲁⲕⲟⲩⲱⲧ ⲛ̄̄ⲟⲩⲙⲁ ⲛ̄̄ⲕⲁⲣⲡⲟⲥ ⲛ̄̄ⲥⲁ ⲡⲉⲕⲟⲩⲱⲧ·
ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲡⲉ·
ⲁⲣⲉϥⲉⲓⲣⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲁⲅⲁⲑⲟⲛ ⲛ̄̄ϩⲏⲧϥ.</poem>

<poem>Set aside a second purse apart from your own;
it belongs to the church; do good with it.</poem>

;Rule 18.
<poem>ⲡⲕⲁⲣⲡⲟⲥ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ
ⲡⲉⲧⲟⲩⲱϣⲧ ⲉⲃⲟⲗ ϩⲓⲧⲛ̄̄ ⲛⲉⲥⲙⲉⲗⲟⲥ·
ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲟⲩⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲁⲩⲁⲧϥ ⲡⲉ.</poem>

<poem>The purse of the church
is distributed among its members;
let each person be a church in themselves.</poem>

;Rule 19.
<poem>ⲉϣⲱⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲕⲥⲟⲛ ⲛ̄̄ϩⲏⲧ ⲛ̄̄ⲟⲩⲱⲛϩ·
ⲁⲣⲉⲧⲁⲁⲩ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲕⲁⲣⲡⲟⲥ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ.
ⲁⲣⲉϫⲱ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲁⲓ? ⲁⲛⲟⲕ ⲇⲉ ϫⲱ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲁⲓ·
ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉⲕⲙⲟⲩϣⲧ ⲉⲣⲟϥ.</poem>

<poem>If your brother is in need,
give from the purse of the church.
You say, “How much?” I say:
Do not hold back from him.</poem>

;Rule 20.
<poem>ⲉϣⲱⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲕϩⲱⲛ ⲟⲩⲱⲛϩ·
ⲁⲣⲉϫⲓⲧϥ ⲛ̄̄ϩⲟⲩⲟ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲟⲕ.</poem>

<poem>If your need becomes dire,
draw from it for yourself.</poem>

;Rule 21.
<poem>ⲙⲁⲣⲉⲧⲛ̄̄ⲙⲉⲧⲣⲉ ⲉⲧⲉⲧⲛ̄̄ⲥⲟⲟⲩⲛ
ⲉⲡⲉⲧⲉⲧⲛ̄̄ϣⲱⲡⲉ ϩⲛ̄̄ Ⲡⲭⲣⲓⲥⲧⲟⲥ·
ⲧⲉⲓⲙⲉ ⲡⲉ ⲉⲧⲉⲣⲉⲧⲛ̄̄ⲣ̄ⲣ̄ⲣⲙⲁⲉ.</poem>

<poem>Bear witness to what you know
of what you are becoming in [[Christ]];
this is the truth that sets you free.</poem>

===ⲡⲥⲱⲧⲙ===
<poem>ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟⲛ ⲟⲩⲙⲁ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲁϩⲟ.
ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟⲛ ⲟⲩⲕⲁⲣⲡⲟⲥ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲁⲣⲭⲏ.
ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟⲛ ⲟⲩⲉⲝⲟⲩⲥⲓⲁ.
ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟⲛ ⲟⲩⲁⲛⲁⲅⲕⲏ.

ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ⲙⲟⲛⲟⲛ:
ⲡⲣⲟⲥⲉⲩⲭⲏ · ⲁⲅⲁⲡⲏ · ⲙⲉⲉⲩⲉ · ⲱϣⲧ.

ⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲉϥⲣⲱⲙⲉ ⲁⲥⲥⲱⲧⲙ.</poem>

----
C.D. 2025

The Church of Humans

2026-02-02T13:18:04Z

Origin: moving the rule

Covenant

2026-02-02T12:09:23Z

Origin: /* Scriptural Grounding */ use Luke instead of Matthew

'''Covenant''' names a relationship of binding obligation that may be received by inheritance or entered by choice, and that binds only those who hold it in trust and commitment rather than by coercion.

== How This Term Is Used Here ==

A Covenant establishes the scope within which obligations bind and authority operates. Outside its proper scope, its commands have no standing. Covenants are therefore jurisdictional rather than universal: they bind those who are within them and do not impose their obligations on others.

In this context, Covenant is not synonymous with belief, identity, or moral superiority. It names a concrete form of relationship that defines who is bound by which claims, and on what terms. Covenant cannot be imposed, transferred, or universalized without ceasing to be Covenant.

== Kinds of Covenant ==

=== Inherited Covenants ===

Some covenants are received by inheritance. These bind a people as a people and establish comprehensive forms of life, including [[law]], ritual, and communal order. The Mosaic or '''Old Covenant''' is the paradigmatic example. It binds Israel within its proper scope and remains valid for those who are under it. Its obligations are not extended to others.

=== Freely Entered Covenants ===

Other covenants are entered by recognition and trust rather than by birth. These bind conduct rather than peoplehood, and they refuse coercion and enforcement. The New Covenant in [[Christ]] is of this type. It governs faithful conduct through love of [[God]] and [[neighbor]] and does not create a civil, ritual, or territorial order.

== The New Covenant in Christ ==

The '''New Covenant''' does not abolish earlier covenants or extend their obligations to others. It releases those not under the [[Law]] from illegitimate claims of authority and binds those who enter it to faithful conduct through [[Love]], sustained by [[Grace]] and lived in freedom.

In this Covenant, obligation is not enforced by law but carried through [[Faith]], sustained by [[Spirit]], and expressed in [[Charitability]]. Freedom here names release from illegitimate [[Jurisdiction]] rather than exemption from responsibility.

The [[Church of Humans]] is a New Covenant church.

== Relation to Other Terms ==

* ''[[Jurisdiction]]'' is established by Covenant and limits the scope of binding obligation.
* ''[[Commandment]]'' names the obligations that govern conduct within a Covenant.
* ''[[Law]]'' functions within certain covenants and does not bind beyond them.
* ''[[Grace]]'' sustains life within Covenant, including after [[trespass]] or failure.
* ''[[Faith]]'' lives the Covenant without anxious control over outcomes.
* ''[[Kingdom]]'' is recognized where Covenant is lived without coercion.

== Scriptural Grounding ==

This usage follows the scriptural pattern in which law speaks only within its covenantal scope and Covenant determines [[Jurisdiction]]. [[The Coherent Paul|Paul]] states this explicitly:

<blockquote>Whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law. (Romans 3:19)</blockquote>

The New Covenant is announced without negating earlier covenants, while clearly marking a historical and juridical transition. Jesus situates this turning point directly:

<blockquote>The law and the prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is proclaimed. (Luke 16:16)</blockquote>

[[The Coherent Paul|Paul]] consistently affirms both the integrity of inherited covenants and the freedom of those not under them, binding conduct through [[love]] rather than through imposed [[law]].

== Common Misuses ==

* Covenant is not belief, identity, or moral rank.
* Covenant does not authorize coercion or enforcement beyond its scope.
* Covenant does not dissolve other covenants or transfer their obligations.
* Covenant does not grant authority over those who have not entered it.

Faith

2026-02-02T12:05:53Z

Origin: /* Scriptural Grounding */ use Luke instead of Matthew

'''Faith''' names the trust by which one is carried in faithful conduct, within a [[Covenant]], without anxious control over outcomes or reliance on certainty.

== How This Term Is Used Here ==

Faith is not understood as assent to propositions, certainty about unseen outcomes, or confidence grounded in control. In this context, faith names a lived trust that releases anxiety about securing the future and instead remains present to faithful conduct now. Faith does not manage the Kingdom, does not guarantee outcomes, and does not excuse harm or trespass. It is receptive rather than assertive: not what one holds, but what carries.

== Relation to Other Terms==

* ''[[Grace]]'' precedes faith and makes it possible; faith does not earn grace.
* ''[[Spirit]]'' sustains faith over time through remembrance and interpretation.
* ''[[Covenant]]'' situates faith as lived trust within a binding relationship.
* ''[[Charitability]]'' expresses faith outwardly in conduct toward [[neighbor]].
* ''[[Kingdom]]'' emerges where faith releases anxious control and life is lived without coercion.

== Scriptural Grounding ==

This usage follows the New Testament emphasis on *pistis* as faithfulness and lived trust rather than belief or certainty. A central expression appears in Jesus’ teaching on freedom from anxiety:

<blockquote>Which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life?
If then you are not able to do so small a thing, why do you worry about the rest? (Luke 12:25-26)</blockquote>

Faith here is not confidence about what will happen, but release from anxious grasping at what cannot be secured.

== Common Misuses ==

* Faith is not certainty or intellectual assent.
* Faith does not guarantee outcomes or protection from harm.
* Faith does not authorize coercion, enforcement, or disregard for neighbor.
* Faith does not replace faithful conduct or charitability.

Canon

2026-02-02T12:03:14Z

Origin: deprecate Matthew, not intended for Gentiles

'''Canon''' names the scope of authority a text is granted within a community.

== The Witness Received ==

The [[Church of Humans]] receives a bounded set of writings as its shared public witness. These writings are read for recognition, memory, and faithful practice. They are not treated as law, nor are they used to claim authority beyond the [[New Covenant|Covenant]] freely undertaken in this church.

The collection is presented in three parts:

=== Gospel ===

Gospel bears witness to the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of [[Christ]]. These are received as the primary public testimony by which Christ is known.

* Mark
* Luke
* John
* ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]''

The Gospels proclaim the good news of Christ in narrative form. ''The Witness of Thomas'' is received alongside them as a collection of sayings that train [[recognition]] rather than command conduct. Together, these writings shape encounter with Christ and the call to faithful life.

=== History ===

* Acts

Acts is received as the historical witness to the early community following Christ, especially the entry of Gentiles and the life of the church after the resurrection. It is read as memory and narrative, not as law or institutional template.

=== Letters ===

The letters are received as situational counsel addressed to identifiable communities. They speak to life in common, conscience, suffering, freedom, and love, without constituting a legal code or universal system.

* Romans
* 1 Corinthians
* 2 Corinthians
* 1 Thessalonians
* Philippians
* Philemon

These writings are read for guidance in faithful practice, restraint of authority, and life shaped by love. The collection concludes with Philemon, which leaves the community entrusted with responsibility rather than resolved by command.

----
<center>ἀποκάλυψις · ἀφαίρεσις</center>
----

== See also==
* [[Glossary]]
* [[Historical and Theological Orientation]]

Self-giving love

2026-01-30T00:49:55Z

Origin: fix

#REDIRECT [[Charitability]]

Self-giving love

2026-01-30T00:49:38Z

Origin: rdir to Charitability

#REDIRECT [[Charitablility]]

Jurisdiction

2026-01-30T00:47:30Z

Origin: /* Jurisdiction and Christ */ link

'''Jurisdiction''' names the legitimate scope and limits of authority to judge, command, or enforce.

In the [[Church of Humans]], jurisdiction is treated as a real and necessary concept, but one that must always be bounded. Authority exists only where it is properly given, freely received, and limited by [[love]] of [[neighbor]]. No claim to jurisdiction is presumed, inherited, or universalized.

== How This Term Is Used Here ==

Jurisdiction is not power as such, nor is it moral insight, persuasion, or wisdom. It names the narrow condition under which one person or body may rightfully impose obligation on another.

In this church, jurisdiction:

* arises only within a freely held [[Covenant]],
* binds only those who have undertaken that Covenant,
* and never extends beyond its proper scope.

Jurisdiction is therefore always ''limited'', ''situational'', and ''accountable''. Appeals to [[God]], scripture, conscience, or truth do not by themselves create jurisdiction over another person.

== Jurisdiction and Christ ==

[[Christ]] consistently refuses to assume illegitimate jurisdiction. He does not impose Torah on Gentiles, does not claim civil authority, and does not enforce righteousness by power. When asked to adjudicate property, law, or political loyalty, he declines.

His [[Kingdom]] is not established by enforcement. Its authority is exercised through invitation, witness, and [[self-giving love]]. Where Christ commands, he does so within a [[New Covenant|Covenant]] freely entered; where he is rejected, he withdraws rather than compels.

== Jurisdiction and the Apostolic Writings ==

The apostolic letters received in this church consistently restrict jurisdiction rather than expand it.

[[The Coherent Paul|Paul]] repeatedly distinguishes between:

* those inside a [[Covenant]] and those outside it,
* counsel and command,
* appeal and enforcement.

He refuses to judge outsiders, limits judgment within the community to concrete harm, and resists the use of law as a system of righteousness. Where correction is urged, it is framed as persuasion, patience, and restoration, not domination.

== What Jurisdiction Does Not Do ==

Jurisdiction does not:

* authorize surveillance of conscience,
* permit coercion in matters of faith,
* justify [[harm]] in the name of [[Commandment|obedience]],
* extend Covenantal obligations to those who have not accepted them,
* or convert moral disagreement into enforceable [[law]].

Where jurisdiction is claimed without warrant, authority becomes abuse.

== Relation to Other Terms ==

* ''[[Covenant]]'' defines where jurisdiction begins and ends.
* ''[[Canon]]'' shapes jurisdiction only where texts are received as authoritative within covenantal scope.
* ''[[Commandment]]'' binds conduct only within jurisdiction.
* ''[[Law]]'' enforces behavior beyond voluntary commitment and therefore exceeds Christian jurisdiction when imposed on conscience.
* ''[[Charitability]]'' governs how authority is exercised, even where jurisdiction exists.

== Summary ==

Jurisdiction is the discipline that prevents [[theology]] from becoming power. It guards against coercion, limits authority to its proper domain, and preserves the freedom of faith. Where jurisdiction is forgotten or expanded beyond its bounds, appeals to righteousness inevitably become instruments of [[harm]].

For this reason, jurisdiction is not an abstract concept but a moral safeguard essential to faithful practice.

Rule 1

2026-01-30T00:46:54Z

Origin: /* The discipline */ link

;Rule 1.
<poem>ⲡⲕⲁϩ ⲧⲏⲣϥ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲛⲉⲣⲏⲙⲟⲥ·
ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ⲟⲩⲱϣⲧ ⲉ ⲛⲉⲕⲡⲟⲗⲓⲥ ⲉϩⲟⲩⲟ,
ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲕⲁⲧⲁ ⲡⲉⲧϥϫⲓ ⲛⲁϥ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲁϣⲉ.</poem>

<poem>The whole earth is our [[desert]];
but look especially to your cities,
each according to their own joy.</poem>

----
;End of Rule 1.

== Commentary on Rule 1 (on Kingdom and Temptation) ==

<poem>'''ⲡⲕⲁϩ ⲧⲏⲣϥ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲛⲉⲣⲏⲙⲟⲥ·'''
''The whole earth is our desert;''</poem>

The desert is where temptation is clarified.

Christ does not go into the wilderness to escape the world, but to face—without mediation—the question of ''what kind of king he will be''. The desert strips away pretense. No crowds, no institutions, no leverage. Only the question of power remains.

To call the whole earth desert is to insist that this question never goes away. The temptation Christ faced is not confined to forty days; it is the permanent condition of life among powers.

----

<poem>'''ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ⲟⲩⲱϣⲧ ⲉ ⲛⲉⲕⲡⲟⲗⲓⲥ ⲉϩⲟⲩⲟ,'''
''but look especially to your cities,''</poem>

Because this is where the third temptation is always renewed.

In the wilderness, the adversary shows Jesus ''“all the kingdoms of the world and their glory”'' and offers them ''without struggle''—authority without suffering, rule without the [[cross]].

<blockquote>“To you I will give all this authority and their glory… if you will worship me.”
— Gospel of Luke 4:6–7</blockquote>

The offer is not crude evil. It is efficiency. It is results. It is the promise to do good at scale—''if only one accepts the logic of domination''.

Cities are where that offer becomes concrete. Law, order, prosperity, security, righteousness—always just one compromise away.

To “look especially” to cities is to recognize where this temptation dresses itself as responsibility.

----

<poem>'''ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲕⲁⲧⲁ ⲡⲉⲧϥϫⲓ ⲛⲁϥ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲁϣⲉ.'''
''each according to their own joy.''</poem>

This is where the temptation hides best.

Every kingdom promises joy: peace, order, greatness, safety, moral clarity. The adversary does not invent these goods; he offers to ''deliver them by means Christ refuses''.

Rule 1 does not deny that cities pursue joy. It denies the right to ''take responsibility for enforcing it''.

Because the moment joy becomes policy, worship has already shifted.

== Why we must reject the same temptation ==

Christ does not reject the kingdoms of the world because they are unreal.
He rejects them because they demand the wrong kind of authority.

<blockquote>“My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would be fighting.”
— Gospel of John 18:36</blockquote>

The line is often spiritualized. Rule 1 refuses that move.

If the world were our kingdom:

* the desert would become territory,
* the city would become an instrument,
* and joy would become an obligation.

That is exactly the offer Christ rejects.

To accept it—even for noble ends—is to worship at the wrong altar.

== The discipline ==

Rule 1 therefore establishes not a program, but a ''permanent refusal'':

* We do not flee the world. (we look)
* We do not rule the world. (it is not ours)
* We do not correct the world by force. (we lack [[jurisdiction]])

This is not passivity.
It is allegiance.

The temptation to take the kingdoms ''never stops''.
So the refusal must be renewed everywhere—
because the whole earth is desert.

The refusal demanded by Rule 1 is therefore not a retreat from life, but a commitment to live the [[Kingdom]] as it is actually given. The Kingdom does not need to be established, defended, or expanded; it is recognized wherever [[Logos]] is received, [[Spirit]] abides, and love of [[God]] and [[neighbor]] is freely chosen without coercion.

Because the Kingdom names a condition of life rather than a regime, it cannot be built by seizing cities, enforcing joy, or correcting the world by force. The temptation Christ rejected—the offer to secure good ends through dominion—remains the decisive boundary. Rule 1 holds that boundary in place:

<blockquote><poem>We look to the world attentively,
we live the [[Kingdom]] faithfully,
and we refuse to confuse
allegiance with authority.

What Christ would not rule, we may not claim;
what Christ would not take, we may not justify;
and what Christ revealed under the [[Cross]],
we are called to embody without ruling.</poem></blockquote>

Rule 1

2026-01-29T23:12:13Z

Origin: /* The discipline */ tweaks and fixes

;Rule 1.
<poem>ⲡⲕⲁϩ ⲧⲏⲣϥ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲛⲉⲣⲏⲙⲟⲥ·
ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ⲟⲩⲱϣⲧ ⲉ ⲛⲉⲕⲡⲟⲗⲓⲥ ⲉϩⲟⲩⲟ,
ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲕⲁⲧⲁ ⲡⲉⲧϥϫⲓ ⲛⲁϥ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲁϣⲉ.</poem>

<poem>The whole earth is our [[desert]];
but look especially to your cities,
each according to their own joy.</poem>

----
;End of Rule 1.

== Commentary on Rule 1 (on Kingdom and Temptation) ==

<poem>'''ⲡⲕⲁϩ ⲧⲏⲣϥ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲛⲉⲣⲏⲙⲟⲥ·'''
''The whole earth is our desert;''</poem>

The desert is where temptation is clarified.

Christ does not go into the wilderness to escape the world, but to face—without mediation—the question of ''what kind of king he will be''. The desert strips away pretense. No crowds, no institutions, no leverage. Only the question of power remains.

To call the whole earth desert is to insist that this question never goes away. The temptation Christ faced is not confined to forty days; it is the permanent condition of life among powers.

----

<poem>'''ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ⲟⲩⲱϣⲧ ⲉ ⲛⲉⲕⲡⲟⲗⲓⲥ ⲉϩⲟⲩⲟ,'''
''but look especially to your cities,''</poem>

Because this is where the third temptation is always renewed.

In the wilderness, the adversary shows Jesus ''“all the kingdoms of the world and their glory”'' and offers them ''without struggle''—authority without suffering, rule without the [[cross]].

<blockquote>“To you I will give all this authority and their glory… if you will worship me.”
— Gospel of Luke 4:6–7</blockquote>

The offer is not crude evil. It is efficiency. It is results. It is the promise to do good at scale—''if only one accepts the logic of domination''.

Cities are where that offer becomes concrete. Law, order, prosperity, security, righteousness—always just one compromise away.

To “look especially” to cities is to recognize where this temptation dresses itself as responsibility.

----

<poem>'''ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲕⲁⲧⲁ ⲡⲉⲧϥϫⲓ ⲛⲁϥ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲁϣⲉ.'''
''each according to their own joy.''</poem>

This is where the temptation hides best.

Every kingdom promises joy: peace, order, greatness, safety, moral clarity. The adversary does not invent these goods; he offers to ''deliver them by means Christ refuses''.

Rule 1 does not deny that cities pursue joy. It denies the right to ''take responsibility for enforcing it''.

Because the moment joy becomes policy, worship has already shifted.

== Why we must reject the same temptation ==

Christ does not reject the kingdoms of the world because they are unreal.
He rejects them because they demand the wrong kind of authority.

<blockquote>“My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would be fighting.”
— Gospel of John 18:36</blockquote>

The line is often spiritualized. Rule 1 refuses that move.

If the world were our kingdom:

* the desert would become territory,
* the city would become an instrument,
* and joy would become an obligation.

That is exactly the offer Christ rejects.

To accept it—even for noble ends—is to worship at the wrong altar.

== The discipline ==

Rule 1 therefore establishes not a program, but a ''permanent refusal'':

* We do not flee the world. (we look)
* We do not rule the world. (it is not ours)
* We do not correct the world by force. (we lack jurisdiction)

This is not passivity.
It is allegiance.

The temptation to take the kingdoms ''never stops''.
So the refusal must be renewed everywhere—
because the whole earth is desert.

The refusal demanded by Rule 1 is therefore not a retreat from life, but a commitment to live the [[Kingdom]] as it is actually given. The Kingdom does not need to be established, defended, or expanded; it is recognized wherever [[Logos]] is received, [[Spirit]] abides, and love of [[God]] and [[neighbor]] is freely chosen without coercion.

Because the Kingdom names a condition of life rather than a regime, it cannot be built by seizing cities, enforcing joy, or correcting the world by force. The temptation Christ rejected—the offer to secure good ends through dominion—remains the decisive boundary. Rule 1 holds that boundary in place:

<blockquote><poem>We look to the world attentively,
we live the [[Kingdom]] faithfully,
and we refuse to confuse
allegiance with authority.

What Christ would not rule, we may not claim;
what Christ would not take, we may not justify;
and what Christ revealed under the [[Cross]],
we are called to embody without ruling.</poem></blockquote>

Rule 1

2026-01-29T23:08:29Z

Origin: /* The unresolved discipline */ resolved

;Rule 1.
<poem>ⲡⲕⲁϩ ⲧⲏⲣϥ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲛⲉⲣⲏⲙⲟⲥ·
ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ⲟⲩⲱϣⲧ ⲉ ⲛⲉⲕⲡⲟⲗⲓⲥ ⲉϩⲟⲩⲟ,
ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲕⲁⲧⲁ ⲡⲉⲧϥϫⲓ ⲛⲁϥ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲁϣⲉ.</poem>

<poem>The whole earth is our [[desert]];
but look especially to your cities,
each according to their own joy.</poem>

----
;End of Rule 1.

== Commentary on Rule 1 (on Kingdom and Temptation) ==

<poem>'''ⲡⲕⲁϩ ⲧⲏⲣϥ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲛⲉⲣⲏⲙⲟⲥ·'''
''The whole earth is our desert;''</poem>

The desert is where temptation is clarified.

Christ does not go into the wilderness to escape the world, but to face—without mediation—the question of ''what kind of king he will be''. The desert strips away pretense. No crowds, no institutions, no leverage. Only the question of power remains.

To call the whole earth desert is to insist that this question never goes away. The temptation Christ faced is not confined to forty days; it is the permanent condition of life among powers.

----

<poem>'''ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ⲟⲩⲱϣⲧ ⲉ ⲛⲉⲕⲡⲟⲗⲓⲥ ⲉϩⲟⲩⲟ,'''
''but look especially to your cities,''</poem>

Because this is where the third temptation is always renewed.

In the wilderness, the adversary shows Jesus ''“all the kingdoms of the world and their glory”'' and offers them ''without struggle''—authority without suffering, rule without the [[cross]].

<blockquote>“To you I will give all this authority and their glory… if you will worship me.”
— Gospel of Luke 4:6–7</blockquote>

The offer is not crude evil. It is efficiency. It is results. It is the promise to do good at scale—''if only one accepts the logic of domination''.

Cities are where that offer becomes concrete. Law, order, prosperity, security, righteousness—always just one compromise away.

To “look especially” to cities is to recognize where this temptation dresses itself as responsibility.

----

<poem>'''ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲕⲁⲧⲁ ⲡⲉⲧϥϫⲓ ⲛⲁϥ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲁϣⲉ.'''
''each according to their own joy.''</poem>

This is where the temptation hides best.

Every kingdom promises joy: peace, order, greatness, safety, moral clarity. The adversary does not invent these goods; he offers to ''deliver them by means Christ refuses''.

Rule 1 does not deny that cities pursue joy. It denies the right to ''take responsibility for enforcing it''.

Because the moment joy becomes policy, worship has already shifted.

== Why we must reject the same temptation ==

Christ does not reject the kingdoms of the world because they are unreal.
He rejects them because they demand the wrong kind of authority.

<blockquote>“My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would be fighting.”
— Gospel of John 18:36</blockquote>

The line is often spiritualized. Rule 1 refuses that move.

If the world were our kingdom:

* the desert would become territory,
* the city would become an instrument,
* and joy would become an obligation.

That is exactly the offer Christ rejects.

To accept it—even for noble ends—is to worship at the wrong altar.

== The discipline ==

Rule 1 therefore establishes not a program, but a ''permanent refusal'':

* We do not flee the world. (we look)
* We do not rule the world. (it is not ours)
* We do not correct the world by force. (we lack jurisdiction)

This is not passivity.
It is allegiance.

The temptation to take the kingdoms ''never stops''.
So the refusal must be renewed everywhere—
because the whole earth is desert.

The refusal demanded by Rule 1 is therefore not a retreat from life, but a commitment to live the [[Kingdom]] as it is actually given. The Kingdom does not need to be established, defended, or expanded; it is recognized wherever [[Logos]] is received, [[Spirit]] abides, and love of [[God]] and [[neighbo]]r is freely chosen without coercion.

Because the Kingdom names a condition of life rather than a regime, it cannot be built by seizing cities, enforcing joy, or correcting the world by force. The temptation Christ rejected—the offer to secure good ends through dominion—remains the decisive boundary. Rule 1 holds that boundary in place:

<poem>we look to the world attentively,
we live the Kingdom faithfully,
and we refuse to confuse allegiance
 with authority.

What Christ would not rule, we may not claim;
what Christ would not coerce, we may not justify;
and what Christ revealed under the Cross,
we are called to embody without ruling.

Rule 1

2026-01-29T22:57:21Z

Origin: fix details

;Rule 1.
<poem>ⲡⲕⲁϩ ⲧⲏⲣϥ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲛⲉⲣⲏⲙⲟⲥ·
ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ⲟⲩⲱϣⲧ ⲉ ⲛⲉⲕⲡⲟⲗⲓⲥ ⲉϩⲟⲩⲟ,
ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲕⲁⲧⲁ ⲡⲉⲧϥϫⲓ ⲛⲁϥ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲁϣⲉ.</poem>

<poem>The whole earth is our [[desert]];
but look especially to your cities,
each according to their own joy.</poem>

----
;End of Rule 1.

== Commentary on Rule 1 (on Kingdom and Temptation) ==

<poem>'''ⲡⲕⲁϩ ⲧⲏⲣϥ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲛⲉⲣⲏⲙⲟⲥ·'''
''The whole earth is our desert;''</poem>

The desert is where temptation is clarified.

Christ does not go into the wilderness to escape the world, but to face—without mediation—the question of ''what kind of king he will be''. The desert strips away pretense. No crowds, no institutions, no leverage. Only the question of power remains.

To call the whole earth desert is to insist that this question never goes away. The temptation Christ faced is not confined to forty days; it is the permanent condition of life among powers.

----

<poem>'''ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ⲟⲩⲱϣⲧ ⲉ ⲛⲉⲕⲡⲟⲗⲓⲥ ⲉϩⲟⲩⲟ,'''
''but look especially to your cities,''</poem>

Because this is where the third temptation is always renewed.

In the wilderness, the adversary shows Jesus ''“all the kingdoms of the world and their glory”'' and offers them ''without struggle''—authority without suffering, rule without the [[cross]].

<blockquote>“To you I will give all this authority and their glory… if you will worship me.”
— Gospel of Luke 4:6–7</blockquote>

The offer is not crude evil. It is efficiency. It is results. It is the promise to do good at scale—''if only one accepts the logic of domination''.

Cities are where that offer becomes concrete. Law, order, prosperity, security, righteousness—always just one compromise away.

To “look especially” to cities is to recognize where this temptation dresses itself as responsibility.

----

<poem>'''ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲕⲁⲧⲁ ⲡⲉⲧϥϫⲓ ⲛⲁϥ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲁϣⲉ.'''
''each according to their own joy.''</poem>

This is where the temptation hides best.

Every kingdom promises joy: peace, order, greatness, safety, moral clarity. The adversary does not invent these goods; he offers to ''deliver them by means Christ refuses''.

Rule 1 does not deny that cities pursue joy. It denies the right to ''take responsibility for enforcing it''.

Because the moment joy becomes policy, worship has already shifted.

== Why we must reject the same temptation ==

Christ does not reject the kingdoms of the world because they are unreal.
He rejects them because they demand the wrong kind of authority.

<blockquote>“My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would be fighting.”
— Gospel of John 18:36</blockquote>

The line is often spiritualized. Rule 1 refuses that move.

If the world were our kingdom:

* the desert would become territory,
* the city would become an instrument,
* and joy would become an obligation.

That is exactly the offer Christ rejects.

To accept it—even for noble ends—is to worship at the wrong altar.

== The unresolved discipline ==

Rule 1 therefore establishes not a program, but a ''permanent refusal'':

* We do not flee the world. (we look)
* We do not rule the world. (it is not ours)
* We do not correct the world by force. (we lack jurisdiction)

This is not passivity.
It is allegiance.

The temptation to take the kingdoms ''never stops''.
So the refusal must be renewed everywhere—
because the whole earth is desert.

And the [[Kingdom]] we await cannot be built
by accepting the one [[Christ]] already turned down.

The Church of Humans

2026-01-29T22:51:52Z

Origin: /* I. ⲡⲧⲟⲡⲟⲥ / Field */ link rule 1

__NOTOC__
'''The Church of Humans''' [[Canon|receives]] the [[Gospel]] as witness to [[Christ]], and ''[[The Witness of Thomas]]'' as sayings of [[recognition]].

It receives the [[Commandment#Commandment and Christ|two commandments]] given by Christ: to love [[God]], and to [[love]] one’s [[neighbor]] as oneself.

It inherits a [[Historical and Theological Orientation|pre-Nicene Christian tradition]] that understands God through [[covenant]]al action and Christ through lived [[faith]],
and admits as [[sin]]s both [[judgment]] of others before God and [[harm]] or hatred toward one’s [[neighbor]].

What follows is not [[Law]], but a [[Rule]]. It is undertaken freely and binds no one who does not choose it.

<poem>Those who accept it — now
place themselves within a church
without boundary or authority,
distributed among persons,
held together only by prayer,
love, memory, and practice,
and</poem>

   '''''<big>[[A Rule for Humans]]</big>'''''

==ⲡⲓⲛⲟⲙⲟⲥ ⲛ̄̄ⲛⲉⲧⲉⲩϣⲱⲡⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲉϥⲣⲱⲙⲉ==

===I. ⲡⲧⲟⲡⲟⲥ / Field ===

;[[Rule 1]].
<poem>ⲡⲕⲁϩ ⲧⲏⲣϥ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲛⲉⲣⲏⲙⲟⲥ·
ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ⲟⲩⲱϣⲧ ⲉ ⲛⲉⲕⲡⲟⲗⲓⲥ ⲉϩⲟⲩⲟ,
ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲕⲁⲧⲁ ⲡⲉⲧϥϫⲓ ⲛⲁϥ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲁϣⲉ.</poem>

<poem>The whole earth is our [[desert]];
but look especially to your cities,
each according to their own joy.</poem>

;Rule 2.
<poem>ⲡⲙⲉⲓ ⲛⲁⲥⲱⲙⲁ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲣⲟⲥⲉⲩⲭⲏ.</poem>

<poem>Embodied love is prayer.</poem>

;Rule 3.
<poem>ⲡⲅⲁⲙⲟⲥ ⲡⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲱⲙⲉ·
ⲁϥϩⲓⲡⲡⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉⲧⲉ ⲡⲟⲩⲟⲩⲱⲧ ⲛ̄̄ⲁⲅⲁⲡⲏ.</poem>

<poem>Marriage is between humans,
constrained only by the vow to love one another.</poem>

;Rule 4.
<poem>ⲛ̄̄ⲥⲟⲟⲩ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲱⲙⲉ ⲉⲩⲡⲣⲟⲥⲉⲩⲭⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲟⲩⲁ ⲡⲉ ⲇⲉⲕⲁ·
ⲧⲣⲉⲓⲥ ⲡⲉ ⲉⲕⲁⲧⲟⲛ.</poem>

<poem>Two who pray as one are as ten;
three are as a hundred.</poem>

;Rule 5.
<poem>ⲥⲱⲕ ⲛ̄̄ⲛⲉⲧⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟⲛ ⲉⲣⲉ ⲥⲉⲁⲛⲧⲓⲧⲁⲥⲥⲉ ⲉⲣⲟⲕ·
ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ⲕⲁⲁⲥ ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲉ ⲧⲉϥⲥⲧⲁⲥⲓⲥ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲁⲩⲁⲧϥ.</poem>

<poem>Gather around you those who do not oppose you;
but leave each one to their own position.</poem>

;Rule 6.
<poem>ⲉⲧⲁⲛ ⲉⲩⲥⲱⲕ ⲛ̄̄ⲥⲟⲟⲩ ⲟⲩ ⲛ̄̄ϩⲁⲣⲉϩ ⲛ̄̄ⲟⲩϣⲁⲓ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉϥⲣⲁⲛ,
ⲉⲩⲙⲉⲧⲉⲭⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉϥⲥⲱⲙⲁ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉϥⲥⲛⲟϥ.</poem>

<poem>When two or more share a meal in His name,
they partake of His body and blood.</poem>

;Rule 7.
<poem>ⲡⲓⲥⲧⲓⲥⲥⲟⲩⲱⲧⲛ̄̄ⲉⲣⲟⲕⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉⲙ̄̄ⲙⲛ̄̄ⲣ̄ϩ̄ ⲏⲧⲉⲡⲉⲥⲏⲟⲩ·
ⲡⲙⲛ̄̄ⲧⲣ̄ⲣ̄ⲣⲟ ⲡⲉ ⲟⲩϩⲟⲩⲟ ⲉϥⲣⲱϣⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟϥ ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉⲕϩⲱⲃ.</poem>

<poem>[[Faith]] carries you without worry about tomorrow;
the [[Kingdom]] is a treasure that grows of itself.</poem>

===II. ⲡⲙⲉⲧⲣⲉ / Measure ===

;Rule 8.
<poem>ⲡⲙⲟⲛⲟⲛ ⲛ̄̄ϩⲩⲡⲁⲕⲟⲏ
ⲉⲧⲉ ⲡⲛⲟⲩⲧⲉ ϣⲱⲡⲉ ⲉⲣⲟϥ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲛⲟⲩⲟⲩ
ⲡⲉ ⲡⲙⲉⲣⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟϥ.</poem>

<poem>The only [[Commandment|obedience]] God [[New Covenant|now]] requires
is to love him.</poem>

;Rule 9.
<poem>ⲡⲉⲓⲙⲉⲣⲉ ⲇⲉ
ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉϥϫⲱⲕ ⲉϩⲟⲩⲛ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲁⲩⲁⲧϥ·
ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ϥⲧⲁϩⲟ ⲉ ⲡⲉⲕⲥⲟⲛ.</poem>

<poem>But this same love does not end with him alone;
it is directed toward your [[neighbor]].</poem>

;Rule 10.
<poem>ⲡⲁⲅⲁⲡⲏ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲛⲟⲙⲟⲥ ⲧⲏⲣϥ·
ⲁⲣⲉⲧⲁϩⲟ ⲛ̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲉⲕⲟⲩⲱϣ ⲉ ⲡⲙⲉⲣⲉ ⲛ̄ⲁⲅⲁⲡⲏ.</poem>

<poem>[[Love]] is the whole law; guide desire into love.</poem>

;Rule 11.
<poem>ⲡⲙⲉⲣⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲉⲕⲁⲩⲧⲟⲥ
ⲡⲉ ⲡϣⲱⲧ ⲉⲧⲉⲕⲙⲉⲧⲣⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟϥ
ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲙⲉⲣⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲉⲕⲥⲟⲛ·
ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉⲕϣⲟⲣⲡ.</poem>

<poem>Love of self is the rod by which
to measure your [[Charitability|love of neighbor]];
do not come up short.</poem>

;Rule 12.
<poem>ⲙⲉⲧⲙⲉⲑⲣⲉ ϩⲁ ⲟⲩⲥⲱϣⲉ ⲛⲓⲙ
ⲧⲁϩⲟ ⲛ̄̄ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲉⲧϩⲏⲧⲥ·
ⲡⲁⲣⲁⲃⲁⲥⲓⲥ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲧⲁϩⲟ ⲉ ⲟⲩⲁⲗⲗⲟ.</poem>

<poem>False witness against a group
[[harm]]s each person within it;
harming another is [[trespass]].</poem>

;Rule 13.
<poem>ⲡⲇⲓⲕⲁⲓⲟⲥ ⲡⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲧⲉⲝⲟⲩⲥⲓⲁ ⲛ̄̄ⲕⲟⲥⲙⲟⲥ·
ⲡⲕⲣⲓⲙⲁ ⲇⲉ ⲡⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲛⲟⲩⲧⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲁⲩⲁⲧϥ·
ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉⲕϫⲓ ⲙⲉⲉⲩⲉ ⲉⲣⲉ ⲛⲓⲡⲁⲣⲁⲃⲁⲥⲓⲥ ⲛ̄̄ⲛⲉⲕⲉⲧⲛⲟⲟⲩ.</poem>

<poem>[[Justice]] belongs to civil authority;
[[Judgment]] to [[God]] alone;
do not occupy yourself with
the trespasses of others.</poem>

;Rule 14.
<poem>ⲉⲡⲉⲓⲇⲏ ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲟⲩⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲡⲉ·
ⲥⲟⲩⲱⲛϩ ⲛ̄̄ⲛⲉⲕⲡⲁⲣⲁⲃⲁⲥⲓⲥ
ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲟⲩⲙⲉⲗⲟⲥ ⲛⲓⲙ·
ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉⲕϩⲏⲧ
ⲛ̄̄ϣⲱⲡⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲟⲩⲥⲛⲟϥ, ⲡⲉ ⲡⲛⲟⲃⲉ.</poem>

<poem>Since each person is the church,
confess your trespasses to a member,
so that your heart does not harden—
for that hardening is [[sin]].</poem>

===III. ⲡⲙⲁⲣⲧⲩⲣⲓⲁ / Witness ===

;Rule 15.
<poem>Ⲡⲭⲣⲓⲥⲧⲟⲥ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲛⲛⲟⲩϯ ⲁⲩⲱ ⲡⲉⲛⲙⲁⲁⲩ·
ⲡⲓϣⲟⲣⲡ ⲡⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲓⲙⲉⲩⲉ ⲛⲓⲙ
ⲁⲩⲱ ⲡⲓϫⲱⲙ ⲛⲓⲙ.</poem>

<poem>[[Christ]] is our Lord and our Mother;
the source of all care and all strength.</poem>

;Rule 16.
<poem>ⲛⲉⲛⲉⲣⲏⲙⲓⲧⲏⲥ
ⲟⲩⲣⲱⲙⲉ ⲡⲉ ⲏ ⲟⲩϩⲓⲙⲉ·
ⲕⲁⲧⲁ ⲡⲉⲩⲟⲩⲱϣ.</poem>

<poem>Our hermits may be man or woman,
according to their will.</poem>

;Rule 17.
<poem>ⲧⲁⲕⲟⲩⲱⲧ ⲛ̄̄ⲟⲩⲙⲁ ⲛ̄̄ⲕⲁⲣⲡⲟⲥ ⲛ̄̄ⲥⲁ ⲡⲉⲕⲟⲩⲱⲧ·
ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲡⲉ·
ⲁⲣⲉϥⲉⲓⲣⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲁⲅⲁⲑⲟⲛ ⲛ̄̄ϩⲏⲧϥ.</poem>

<poem>Set aside a second purse apart from your own;
it belongs to the church; do good with it.</poem>

;Rule 18.
<poem>ⲡⲕⲁⲣⲡⲟⲥ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ
ⲡⲉⲧⲟⲩⲱϣⲧ ⲉⲃⲟⲗ ϩⲓⲧⲛ̄̄ ⲛⲉⲥⲙⲉⲗⲟⲥ·
ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲟⲩⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲁⲩⲁⲧϥ ⲡⲉ.</poem>

<poem>The purse of the church
is distributed among its members;
let each person be a church in themselves.</poem>

;Rule 19.
<poem>ⲉϣⲱⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲕⲥⲟⲛ ⲛ̄̄ϩⲏⲧ ⲛ̄̄ⲟⲩⲱⲛϩ·
ⲁⲣⲉⲧⲁⲁⲩ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲡⲕⲁⲣⲡⲟⲥ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ.
ⲁⲣⲉϫⲱ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲁⲓ? ⲁⲛⲟⲕ ⲇⲉ ϫⲱ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲁⲓ·
ⲙ̄̄ⲡⲉⲕⲙⲟⲩϣⲧ ⲉⲣⲟϥ.</poem>

<poem>If your brother is in need,
give from the purse of the church.
You say, “How much?” I say:
Do not hold back from him.</poem>

;Rule 20.
<poem>ⲉϣⲱⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲕϩⲱⲛ ⲟⲩⲱⲛϩ·
ⲁⲣⲉϫⲓⲧϥ ⲛ̄̄ϩⲟⲩⲟ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲟⲕ.</poem>

<poem>If your need becomes dire,
draw from it for yourself.</poem>

;Rule 21.
<poem>ⲙⲁⲣⲉⲧⲛ̄̄ⲙⲉⲧⲣⲉ ⲉⲧⲉⲧⲛ̄̄ⲥⲟⲟⲩⲛ
ⲉⲡⲉⲧⲉⲧⲛ̄̄ϣⲱⲡⲉ ϩⲛ̄̄ Ⲡⲭⲣⲓⲥⲧⲟⲥ·
ⲧⲉⲓⲙⲉ ⲡⲉ ⲉⲧⲉⲣⲉⲧⲛ̄̄ⲣ̄ⲣ̄ⲣⲙⲁⲉ.</poem>

<poem>Bear witness to what you know
of what you are becoming in [[Christ]];
this is the truth that sets you free.</poem>

===ⲡⲥⲱⲧⲙ===
<poem>ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟⲛ ⲟⲩⲙⲁ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲁϩⲟ.
ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟⲛ ⲟⲩⲕⲁⲣⲡⲟⲥ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲁⲣⲭⲏ.
ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟⲛ ⲟⲩⲉⲝⲟⲩⲥⲓⲁ.
ⲙ̄̄ⲙⲟⲛ ⲟⲩⲁⲛⲁⲅⲕⲏ.

ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ⲙⲟⲛⲟⲛ:
ⲡⲣⲟⲥⲉⲩⲭⲏ · ⲁⲅⲁⲡⲏ · ⲙⲉⲉⲩⲉ · ⲱϣⲧ.

ⲧⲉⲕⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲛ̄̄ⲧⲉ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲉϥⲣⲱⲙⲉ ⲁⲥⲥⲱⲧⲙ.</poem>

----
C.D. 2025

Rule 1

2026-01-29T22:42:49Z

Origin: comment on rule 1

;Rule 1.
<poem>ⲡⲕⲁϩ ⲧⲏⲣϥ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲛⲉⲣⲏⲙⲟⲥ·
ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ⲟⲩⲱϣⲧ ⲉ ⲛⲉⲕⲡⲟⲗⲓⲥ ⲉϩⲟⲩⲟ,
ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲕⲁⲧⲁ ⲡⲉⲧϥϫⲓ ⲛⲁϥ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲁϣⲉ.</poem>

<poem>The whole earth is our [[desert]];
but look especially to your cities,
each according to their own joy.</poem>

----
;End of Rule 1.

== Commentary on Rule 1 (on Kingdom and Temptation) ==

<poem>'''ⲡⲕⲁϩ ⲧⲏⲣϥ ⲡⲉ ⲡⲉⲛⲉⲣⲏⲙⲟⲥ·'''
''The whole earth is our desert;''</poem>

The desert is where temptation is clarified.

Christ does not go into the wilderness to escape the world, but to face—without mediation—the question of ''what kind of king he will be''. The desert strips away pretense. No crowds, no institutions, no leverage. Only the question of power remains.

To call the whole earth desert is to insist that this question never goes away. The temptation Christ faced is not confined to forty days; it is the permanent condition of life among powers.

----

<poem>'''ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ⲟⲩⲱϣⲧ ⲉ ⲛⲉⲕⲡⲟⲗⲓⲥ ⲉϩⲟⲩⲟ,'''
''but look especially to your cities,''</poem>

Because this is where the third temptation is always renewed.

In the wilderness, the adversary shows Jesus '“all the kingdoms of the world and their glory”' and offers them ''without struggle''—authority without suffering, rule without the [[cross]].

<blockquote>“To you I will give all this authority and their glory… if you will worship me.”
— Gospel of Luke 4:6–7</blockquote>

The offer is not crude evil. It is efficiency. It is results. It is the promise to do good at scale—''if only one accepts the logic of domination''.

Cities are where that offer becomes concrete. Law, order, prosperity, security, righteousness—always just one compromise away.

To “look especially” to cities is to recognize where this temptation dresses itself as responsibility.

----

<poem>'''ⲟⲩⲟⲛ ⲛⲓⲙ ⲕⲁⲧⲁ ⲡⲉⲧϥϫⲓ ⲛⲁϥ ⲛ̄̄ⲣⲁϣⲉ.'''
''each according to their own joy.''</poem>

This is where the temptation hides best.

Every kingdom promises joy: peace, order, greatness, safety, moral clarity. The adversary does not invent these goods; he offers to ''deliver them by means Christ refuses''.

Rule 1 does not deny that cities pursue joy. It denies the right to ''take responsibility for enforcing it''.

Because the moment joy becomes policy, worship has already shifted.

== Why we must reject the same temptation ==

Christ does not reject the kingdoms of the world because they are unreal.
He rejects them because they demand the wrong kind of authority.

<blockquote>“My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would be fighting.<\br>
— Gospel of John 18:36</blockquote>

The line is often spiritualized. Rule 1 refuses that move.

If the world were our kingdom:

* the desert would become territory,
* the city would become an instrument,
* and joy would become an obligation.

That is exactly the offer Christ rejects.

To accept it—even for noble ends—is to worship at the wrong altar.

== The unresolved discipline ==

Rule 1 therefore establishes not a program, but a ''permanent refusal'':

* We do not flee the world. (we look)
* We do not rule the world. (it is not ours)
* We do not correct the world by force. (we lack jurisdiction)

This is not passivity.
It is allegiance.

The temptation to take the kingdoms ''never stops''.
So the refusal must be renewed everywhere—
because the whole earth is desert.

And the [[Kingdom]] we await cannot be built
by accepting the one [[Christ]] already turned down.