The Church of Humans

The Church of Humans is a Christian community grounded in reflection, faith, and human responsibility.

We receive the Gospels of John, Mark, and Luke as witness to the life of Christ, and The Witness of Matthew as to His expectations for Christian conduct, along with Acts & Exhortations, the letters of James and John, and The Witness of Thomas as to the Revelation of the Kingdom.

We receive the Two Great Commandments given by Christ: to love God, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, and the five lesser commandments acknowledged in Luke 18:19: "You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false witness, honor your father and mother."

We align with the earliest Christian communities, understanding God through covenantal action, Christ through lived faith, and confessing as sins 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 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 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 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.

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 five parts.

Gospel

The Gospels of John, Mark, and Luke bear witness to the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Christ. They are received as the primary public testimony by which Christ is known. The narrative Gospels proclaim the good news of Christ in story and testimony.

• Gospel of John
• Gospel of Mark
• Gospel of Luke

Conduct

• The Witness of Matthew

Selected sections of the Gospel of Matthew are received as historical witness to Christ's direct instruction on conduct.

History

• Acts of the Apostles

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 writings addressed to identifiable communities and persons concerning life in common, suffering, conscience, humility, freedom, endurance, and love. They are read as exhortation, wisdom, and counsel within the life of the church.

• Exhortations of Paul
• Wisdom of James
• First Counsel of John
• Second Counsel of John
• Third Counsel of John

These writings guide faithful practice while restraining claims of authority. They address encouragement, suffering, conscience, humility, freedom, endurance, and hope within Christian communities.

Revelation

• The Witness of Thomas

Thomas is received as contemplative witness to the hidden and present Kingdom of God. Its sayings concern perception, inward reconciliation, hidden Light, and the unveiling of what already spreads throughout the world unseen. It is read not as law, prophecy, or secret doctrine, but as revelation through parable, inversion, and reflection.

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

With one exception, 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 the Strange Attractor of Goats

Paul writes:

"But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed."
— Epistle to the Galatians

"For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached..."
— Second Epistle to the Corinthians

"And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light."
— Second Epistle to the Corinthians

Forty years later:

“I, Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you
 about these things for the churches.
I am the root and the offspring of David.
I am the bright and morning star.”—Revelation 22:16

On Membership

"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me."
— Gospel of John

Those who seek membership do so by freely accepting the limits described in A Rule for Humans.

Those with further questions should visit our FAQ and may further engage with us at our LinkedIn page.

See also

• Historical and Theological Orientation