The Church of Humans

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

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

It inherits a pre-Nicene Christian tradition that understands God through covenantal action and Christ through lived faith,
and admits as sins 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 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 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.

T.B.D.

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.