Out of our obedience to Christ, in our hope to be loyal to the whole family of God, and in firm commitment to his leadership, the pastors and elders of our church have resolved to publish “The Reaffirmation of Our Stance on the House Church” and the following 95 theses based on our confessional faith in the truths of the Bible and our never-ending endeavor to seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We welcome any believers who have openly confessed their faith in Jesus Christ as their personal and as humanity’s Savior to offer their written critical opinions. Using this official publication as a foundation, our church is also willing, independently or jointly with other churches in our Lord Christ Jesus who accept our public theses, to have open and peaceful dialogue with any level of the Chinese government and its agencies, at any time, place, and method that they deem appropriate.

OUTLINE

Theses 1–17: God’s Sovereignty and Biblical Authority
Theses 18–31: God’s Law and Christ’s Redemption
Theses 32–39: Against the “Sinicization of Christianity”
Theses 40–44: The Church as the Body of Christ and His Kingdom
Theses 45–72: The Relationship Between the Two Kingdoms and the Separation of Church and State
Theses 73–95: Against the “Three-Self Movement” and Affirmation of the Great Commission

GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY AND BIBLICAL AUTHORITY

1. The Bible says, “Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist” (1 Corinthians 8:6). This means even for the Chinese, this God is the only God. The domain of, history of, culture of, and everything in China are all created, granted, administered, and superintended by this one true God of the universe.
2. The Bible again says, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). In other words, the only Son of God, begotten from all eternity past, born into this world, taking on the body of a fallen man in the form of Jesus Christ, is the only Savior and Lord of all Chinese people.
3. When the Bible says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27), this means every Chinese individual is created in the image of God. All the people groups of China are descendants of Adam, who is our first ancestor, along with all people groups of the world.
4. In the depths of our souls is the image of God. Thus all Chinese people, like all the peoples of the world, are all equal in the divine values of personhood, dignity, justice, and love.
5. Therefore, in essence, all humans are personally governed by God. Individuals cannot enslave and humiliate each other. Also, without God’s authorization and approval, an individual cannot be governed by another person.
6. When the Bible says, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God” (Romans 13:1), this means that all authority in Chinese society ultimately originates from God, regardless of whether it is within a family, social institution, or the state. All government officials, including the ones on the lowest levels, are all in essence God’s “appointees.”
7. Therefore, the only legitimate reason why any person should respect and obey the law, or why any low-level official, member of an institution, or family should respect and obey a higher authority is because God has established these institutions according to his order and delight.
8. Therefore, in ultimate meaning and personal conscience, every individual, especially if he or she holds any kind of authority, must be held responsible for his or her actions toward the “the Living God” (Hebrews 10:31), and in the end submit to his righteous judgment.
9. Only God (and his Word) is Lord over a person’s conscience. Any manmade and worldly law, mandate, or opinion cannot negate the moral responsibilities of a person’s conscience before the “God Most High” (Genesis 14:19).
10. Because of this, every individual enjoys the freedoms and responsibilities of his conscience. Based on God and his words, every person should use his conscience to examine and judge all authorities, ideas, and mandates from the state, social institutions, or families.
11. When a person’s conscience is aligned with God and his words, “doing the will of God from the heart” (Ephesians 6:6), only then can this person’s obedience of others and respect for the law be viewed as equivalent to obedience of and respect for God, and not a capitulation to human authorities, because they are “rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man” (Ephesians 6:7).
12. When the Bible says, “All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16), this means that only the Bible is God’s inerrant Word. It is the only standard for teaching through which all Chinese people may come to know God’s will and mandate.
13. This means that once we stray from the Bible, ultimately, we cannot judge anything to be right or wrong, good or evil. Outside of the Bible, we cannot make a rightful, conscious judgment on any worldly authorities and standards. Also, we will not be able to determine whether our obedience to those in worldly authority is done in obedience to God and thus receives his delight or whether we have given up our personhood and dignity by being enslaved by men.
14. Once we stray from the Bible and act according to the extrabiblical standards and authorities, then it is as God’s servant, Martin Luther, once said: our conscience will neither be moral nor secured.
15. All Chinese people, regardless of whether they believe in God, have an ultimate standard of morality and values in their hearts, even though these values may be blurred, erroneous, and fickle. We are always using these highest standards to evaluate whether things are right or wrong, good or evil, and to teach and evaluate the actions of ourselves and others.
16. If any Chinese individuals or any worldly Chinese authorities and powers should force extrabiblical standards, ideals, or mandates on others, or forbid anybody’s conscience from using the Bible as the highest standard to judge other worldly standards, ideals, and mandates, or force people to unreservedly and blindly believe and obey them, then these lead to the destruction of a person’s reason and conscience and constitute an attack on God’s sovereignty over a person’s conscience.
17. Anybody who willingly believes and submits to antibiblical standards, ideals, or mandates has in reality betrayed the true freedom of his conscience and is living a life of slavery and hostility toward God. He may not recognize this, or even if he may have some suspicion of this reality, he has become accustomed to using all kinds of methods to suppress his own soul’s distress.

GOD’S LAW AND CHRIST’S REDEMPTION

18. To spare us from these distresses, God personally intervened in the history of ancient Israel, saving the Israelites from slavery under the Egyptians, and through his chosen leader Moses, made a covenant with his people, giving them his law, which is now known as the Ten Commandments, so that the Israelites may know God’s justice and holy will and recognize the sins that disturb their conscience.
19. The First Commandment says, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). Just like a bride can only have one husband, the soul can only have one king, and the church can only have one head.
20. Therefore, whoever wishes to be king of our lives replaces God’s will with their own will or asks for unconditional obedience, worship, and praise—regardless of whether it is our spouse, parents, children, or a nation’s government or political party, regardless of whether it is done with tears or swords. These kinds of impositions and demands are in essence all religious. They are really seeking to be the “god” of a family, an institution, or a nation. They are seeking the highest allegiance and obedience of a people’s conscience.
21. These kinds of demands and impositions on the will are morally evil. It is antagonistic to God and to humanity. Those who are in submission to them are also committing evil and acts of idolatry.
22. The rest of the Ten Commandments are all based on the principle of the First Commandment. Just as Jesus once said, “And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets’” (Matthew 22:37-40).
23. Just as another passage of the Bible says, “The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (1 Timothy 1:5). However, nobody, including the Chinese, can rely on themselves to have “a pure heart and a good conscience,” and cannot birth within themselves “a sincere faith.” Nobody can rely on himself to be in full compliance to God’s command for love, regardless of the kind of painstaking and godly religious life he may live. It is not possible.
24. Ever since humanity’s first ancestor, Adam (and Eve), disobeyed the covenant (Hosea 6:7), “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). This means that from ancient China until today’s China we have not one righteous person, because no one has not been totally depraved in his nature; therefore no one can save himself.
25. The hope for the Chinese is the same as for people of all nations— it is in God alone. Not only through the covenant of law, “since through the law comes knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20), but God personally prepared the covenant of redemption for his chosen people, through the suffering of the Messiah (Isaiah 53), forgiving the sins of all people that believe in him (John 3:15). Also, God will pour out his grace, so those who have been chosen to be born again in the Spirit (John 3:3) may believe in the Messiah and his work of salvation.
26. Around two thousand years ago in the land of Judah and the city of Bethlehem, Jesus, born of the virgin Mary, was the Christ (Messiah). The Bible declares that this Jesus “and the Father are one” (John 10:30), that he is with God, and that he is God (John 1:1).
27. The Bible has prophesied that all the nations have been waiting for this savior to come, “that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations” (Psalm 67:2). It has also prophesied that Christ will be the king that rules the nations (Psalm 47:8), for “he rules over the nations” (Psalm 22:28). Since it says “the nations,” it clearly includes both ancient and modern China.
28. The prophets of the Old Testament prophesied that this Christ will use a shocking way, which means a way that is completely contrary to the ways of the authorities of this world, to save sinners from the powers of the world, flesh, and death. “He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).
29. The series of prophecies regarding the Messiah are all fulfilled in Jesus Christ. He is the holy and sinless God, and also the mediator of God’s chosen people and a representative of sinners. He was judged by the worldly authorities, suffered, and nailed to a cross under the Roman Empire, was buried, and descended to hell. On the third day, by the power of God, he resurrected from the dead.
30. This core message of the Christian faith is called the gospel. The gospel is not just about repairing an individual’s relationship with God through Christ’s sacrifice. It is also about the coming of God’s kingdom, so all the kings of the land, all the nations and their peoples have been ordered to submit to this gospel, and this includes China.
31. Just as the apostle Paul said, “In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways” (Acts 14:16), and also said, “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31). The terms “nations” and “peoples” include China and the Chinese.

AGAINST THE “SINICIZATION OF CHRISTIANITY”

32. God has used the Chinese culture and the wisdom of ancient Chinese people in the past to reveal his existence to us, because through creation we can see his eternal power and divine nature (Romans 1:20). As the Bible says, because of God’s merciful love and for our benefit, “he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness” (Acts 14:17). Through the Chinese culture’s quest for charity, justice, truth, and morality, God has also revealed to us what was written in, or whatever is left of, the use of the law in our conscience (Romans 2:15).
33. However, God does not discriminate (Romans 2:14). He did not offer a path of salvation outside of Christ within Chinese history and culture. For all Chinese are like the lawless Gentiles, “for although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Romans 1:21).
34. Not only so, but for a very long time, rather than living a life of worship for the one true God, the Chinese people have been living in an evil culture of idolatry, which worships autocracy and prostrates before the emperor. The philosophical teaching of “no ultimate truths, only virtues” resulted in moral self-righteousness. 2 These cultural norms have been binding the hearts of the Chinese people and our institutions until today.
35. Therefore, like all peoples of the world, we are mercilessly indicted by the Bible: “And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them” (Rom 1:28-32).
36. Therefore, if anyone advocates or requires any type of “Sinicization of Christianity” with regards to the fundamentals of our faith, biblical theology, and the doctrines of the church, they reject Jesus Christ and are antagonistic toward Christianity. It is an act of anti-Christianity and will fall under the righteous curse and judgment of God.
    37.These campaigns or requirements for the “Sinicization of Christianity” include: believing that traditional Chinese culture or religion contain ways to worship the unique, one true God revealed in the Bible, or ways of redemption similar or even equivalent to that of the redemption of Jesus Christ; proclaiming that traditional Chinese culture and religions include unique revelation about redemption outside of God and the Bible; proclaiming that the fundamental teachings of the catholic church must and need to be assimilated with traditional Chinese culture or modern Chinese society and political structures; teaching a type of “universal doctrine of Christ” that denies the historical Jesus and affirms that the Chinese traditions have implicit teachings about the redemptive saving ways of Christ; and teaching a “justification by love” or any such teaching that seeks assimilation with traditional Chinese moralistic teachings, and thereby weakens or even denies the necessity of Christ’s atonement on the cross.
37. The church needs to oppose the “Sinicization of Christianity.” That means opposing the use of culture to alter the gospel, the use of politics to bind the faith, the use of Chinese tradition that is antagonistic toward God to destroy the faithful traditions of God’s Catholic Church.
38. This does not include actions taken by the church to respect the Chinese culture and traditions or to willingly accept the limitations of existing culture for the sake of proclaiming the gospel in accordance to the truths of God. As the apostle Paul says, all these for the sake of the gospel, “I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22).

CHURCH AS THE BODY OF CHRIST AND HIS KINGDOM

40. The Christ who was resurrected from the cross personally chose the apostles, poured out the Holy Spirit with God the Father (John 14:26), and established the church (Matthew 16:18). Christ, using his own precious blood, established a new covenant with the church. This church is not limited to the biological race of Israelites but consists of all peoples who have publicly confessed their faith and are baptized, including Chinese believers. As the Bible says, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9).
41. The Bible proclaims that the resurrected Christ has been given all authority in God’s created world and the entire universe, “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church” (Ephesians 1:21-22). The Lord says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18).
42. Since it says, “all things are under his feet,” therefore China is also under Christ’s feet. Since it says, “all rule and authority and power and dominion,” therefore the authority given to the Lord Jesus includes the authorities of the Chinese government and its society.
43. This means, regardless of how many Christians are in China, regardless of what kind of political platform China adopts, regardless of the attitudes of the Chinese government (or any other government) toward the gospel, Chinese society is under the sovereignty of Christ. Spiritual reality is that the resurrected Christ, not any rulers, political parties, cultures, or wealth, is the one ruling and administering this nation’s history and the hearts of its citizens.
44. Also, the Bible calls the church “his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” (Ephesians 1:23). Therefore, although the church of Christ is spread out among the nations, it does not belong to any nation. The church is a kingdom that eyes cannot see, whose citizens are loyal to the sovereignty of Christ. Even though the nations see the church as a religious institution, the relationship between the church and state is in essence a two-kingdom relationship.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TWO KINGDOMS AND THE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

45. In church history, the relationship between these two kingdoms is the relationship between the “city of God” and the “city of man,” or sometimes referred to as the relationship between the spiritual kingdom and earthly kingdom, or the relationship between an eschatological kingdom of the “already-but-not-yet” of the coming age and the kingdom of this age known as “today’s world that will ultimately be destroyed.”
46. Before our Lord Jesus was crucified on the cross, he proclaimed to the Roman governor who was judging him, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world” (John 18:36). This shows that the kingdom of Christ is higher than any nations on earth. It also shows that before the judgment day arrives, the kingdom of Christ will refrain from the use of coercion or forceful action to enforce its rule on this world. Rather, through great love and mercy, it allows the political powers of this world to exercise the power of the sword.
47. Christ, as the sovereign king of all the earth, demonstrates the reality and power of his rule through the spreading of the gospel by the church and the actions of believers in accordance to their renewed faith and conscience. When the Roman governor asked Jesus, “Are you the king?” our Lord Jesus in his answer once again talked about the authority of his spiritual kingdom: “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice” (John 18:37).
48. Because of this, when the Chinese political authorities ask the church: Is Christ your king? Is your faith antagonistic to the government? Do you seek to influence the political landscape? We give three answers.
49. First, we answer: God’s kingdom is already here in China, it cannot be denied by the power of the sword because his kingdom is brought forth by the only begotten Son of God, our Savior Lord Jesus Christ, who brought forth this kingdom on the cross through his own death under the power of the sword. Genocides and persecutions can only cause this kingdom to gain more ground in China because the cross is the mystery of the church and the gospel. Since the church is the body of Christ, every time the true church is persecuted, it will bring forth the power of resurrection.
50. Second, we will answer: the church in China does not belong to the Republic of China of the past, nor does it belong to the People’s Republic of China of the present, and it will not belong to any other political power in the future. The church in its nature will be obedient to any authority of the sword granted to the state. We do not seek to rebel against any existing government, nor do we seek special executive privileges or any other governmental coercion to help us influence society. For God has given this authority of the “sword” to the state (Romans 13:4), and not to the church. “Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed” (Romans 13:2).
51. But this does not mean that individual believers, when confronted with violence or illegal infringements from the government or other individuals, are stripped of what God and the laws have granted them, including the rights of regular citizens to use any and all legal means to lodge their protest, opposition, and to exercise proper self- defense. The church does not require its members, under any circumstances, to give up their right to protest or self-defense against any illegal infringements.
52. Although by faith one may give up physical resistance and protest, which delights God and is consistent with what the Lord has done, this kind of choice can only be said to have the virtue of godliness when it comes out of an individual’s own faith and conscience.
53. Third, we will answer: just as the government has been granted the authority of the “sword” to help humanity maintain order in society, the church has also been granted the Great Commission, especially to be a witness for the truth, calling out those who belong to the truth to leave their idols, listen to the teaching of the Lord Jesus, and worship only the one true God.
54. As we have said earlier, if the church resists the authority of the “sword” from the government and usurps the authority and power of enforcement, it is disobeying God. In the same way, if the government or any social institution or individual use political power to deny the church’s spiritual authority to spread the gospel in accordance to the Great Commission and to worship God, they are also disobeying God. The church has a duty to either privately or publicly rebuke, criticize, and speak up against the fearful consequences of these sins, and also to use the passionate love of Christ to call them to repentance.
55. The Bible teaches that Christ gave the church this spiritual authority called, “the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” Christ said to his church, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:19).
56. Not only so, but Christ also commands his church to go and proclaim his gospel, saying, “You will be my witnesses . . . to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). After Jesus rose from the dead, but before his ascension to heaven, he came to the apostles and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).
57. This indicates that, on this earth, there is no nation who has the proper authority to stop the church from legitimately using biblical methods to spread the gospel or stop the church from sending evangelists into different regions to conduct worship or missional gatherings. Other than for the benefit of social order or administration of public good, or the equal treatment of all citizens, the church should not be discriminated against, monitored, or limited solely for religious reasons. For the church’s religious freedom to proclaim the gospel and worship our God is given to us by Christ himself. Any infringement or stripping of such freedom is the evil act of the antichrist and will not be spared from the fury of hell fire and God’s righteous anger.
58. This indicates that the church also does not have any power, nor can she use submission to extrabiblical and worldly laws, ideas, or orders, as an excuse to give up or weaken the Great Commission, or to hand over this ministry that concerns the souls of humanity and the glory of eternal consummation to the control or management of the government, institutions, or individuals.
    59.Saying the Great Commission cannot be weakened means all peoples, places, social groups, genders, classes, and cultures should have the gospel of Christ proclaimed to them to establish the church of Christ and to worship the only true God. The church cannot accept any individual or institutional discrimination or prohibition against the Great Commission to evangelize all people, ages, and political domains.
59. This does not deny that the church, in specific societies or cultures, must accept the reality of environmental limitations such as transportation, safety, or other structural or technological limits on the ministry of missions. When such historical conditions cannot support the church’s expansion on a greater scope or provide avenues to achieve better results for the Great Commission, the church should exercise great restraint but at the same time earnestly pray, wait, and work toward the betterment of these environmental limitations.
    61.Under all circumstances, if the church actively and publicly weakens the Great Commission by cooperating with the local government or social culture, by stripping itself of the divine ministries of gospel evangelism and public worship, or due to the pressures of secular authorities limits or discriminates or self- censures the works of the Great Commission, then the church openly betrays our Lord, betrays what Christ has commissioned the church, and blasphemes its glorious role as “stewards of the mysteries of God” (1 Corinthians 4:1).
60. In roughly two thousand years of church and world history, the relationship between the two kingdoms, in which the church holds the power of “the keys of the kingdom of heaven” and the government holds the “sword,” is commonly called the principle of “separation of church and state,” or the dichotomy of the church and state.
61. The Bible has recorded that while answering the Jew’s question whether to pay taxes to the Roman government or not, our Lord Jesus said, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21). This means that first, even in this fallen world, there are still certain things that Christ claims to be “things that are God’s.” So in China today, there exists “things that are God’s.” This is the hope of humanity, and this is the hope of China.
62. Second, Christ has proclaimed that “the things that are God’s” are not the same as “Caesar’s things.” Also, God’s things are above Caesar’s things. For God’s things do not belong in the sphere of Caesar’s rule and power. This question and answer happened before Christ was crucified on the cross. Christ had not yet resurrected from the dead, had not yet been given glory and powers, but he still commanded giving “things of God” directly and only to God, and not to Caesar.
63. Third, when Christ pointed to a silver coin and made this statement, he also proclaimed that “God’s things” and “Caesar’s things” are overlapping or coexisting. So even a silver coin could simultaneously belong to God and Caesar. Caesar’s things are external, but God’s things are internal. Caesar’s things are about money and personal interests, and God’s things are about souls and worship.
64. At this point, Christ has separated two powers—although both of these powers ultimately are derived from his authority. One is “the power of the sword.” It is what God has granted to states. Its purpose is for people to govern all things related to money and personal interests, to protect and encourage good behavior, and to punish wrongdoings for God’s own glory and the public good. If the state abuses this power, thereby causing the church and believers to suffer many external losses in their rights, the church may fight and make legal appeals for its own interests if they only suffer physical or personal harm. But it does not deny the church and its members the responsibility to obey the government because these matters are not “things of God.”
65. But there is another power of “the keys to the kingdom of heaven,” and it is granted by God only to the church. Thus all that is required of a person’s worship, faith, and the things of the conscience are what Christ calls the “things of God.” The church is the community that preserves God’s things and we are called “servants of Christ” (1 Corinthians 4:1). These things of God are the hope of all societies and peoples, including Chinese society and all individuals within it.
66. No government or social institution has the power to manage or judge a person’s conscience, faith, and religion. Worldly power is limited to managing and protecting a person’s outer body, properties, and the public good and order. By any definition, the Christian faith is not the affair of any national government. No government agency or its associates have the rights to interfere, monitor, or direct the church’s doctrines, officers, or any gospel- related ministry. Also it cannot take away or limit the church’s right to preach and administer the sacraments.
67. Although the things of the world and the things of God are hard to distinguish because they sometimes overlap, based on the freedom of conscience in Christ, the church can accept external losses of its interests. When it is necessary, and for the sake of the gospel, we encourage believers to have faith and courage to even accept the loss of life, because external loss and humiliation is the true meaning of the cross. As Christ once said, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39).
68. The mystery of the gospel is based on Christ’s death and resurrection. It turns this fallen world’s principles, which make external, material, and military might as the highest power, on its head. Humanity’s fallen and sinful state makes us indulge in these bodily and lustful powers; we cannot help ourselves. Only Christ’s atonement can destroy the power of death, forgive the sins of those who believe in him, and give them freedom and life.
69. Therefore, the theology of the gospel is the theology of the cross. The kingdom of the gospel is the kingdom of the cross. In any age, any political realm, the cross has always been the message of the church, and the cross must be the means through which the church preaches this message.
70. Regardless of her circumstances, the church will always rely on the grace of our Lord to remain faithful to the end. We will not give up the power of the “keys to the kingdom of heaven” or offer it to any temporary political or economic power or in complicity with any political power confuse God’s things with Caesar’s things. Otherwise, the church not only offends and betrays our Lord, but she has also sold out the souls of humanity and any hope left in Chinese society.

AGAINST THE “THREE-SELF MOVEMENT” AND AFFIRMATION OF THE GREAT COMMISSION

73. Regarding the power of “the keys to the kingdom of heaven,” all the apostles have taught us, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). Because of this, we are opposed to the TSPM churches and their officers and their behaviors in China, which we have listed below, and we have to regard their behavior as shameful apostasy.
74. These behaviors include: accepting the state and atheistic political party’s political censorship of, credential examination for, and monitoring, testing, training, registering, and financially contributing to any church officers; church officers simultaneously working for the church and the state, or a political party, or political agencies; churches ordaining those that are working in the government, in a political party, or political agencies as officers; organizing, joining, and preaching on behalf of the state, the party, or political agencies according to their political propaganda and agendas, even preaching these in the church and carrying out political movements within the church; accepting the state’s, the Party’s, or political agencies’ limitations on age, location, methods, numbers, and content in the ministries of the gospel, public worship, and administration of the sacraments; accepting the state’s, the Party’s, or the political agencies’ requirements or pressure in the primary ministry of preaching of the word, which results in altering, weakening, or self-censorship of the gospel message; denying the authority of the Bible or publicly accepting heretical behavior; working with or even joining in the persecution of members of the true church that upholds the faith of the gospel; working with or joining in the slander, accusation, and persecution of any missionaries in China and world missions; openly holding idolatrous worship gatherings or church ceremonies such as raising the national flag, singing communist revolutionary songs or secular music, public readings of political leaders’ statements, and so on.
75. Those churches and officers who have or continue to betray the church’s power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven confuse Caesar’s things with God’s things, join in the persecution of the true church, and compromise the gospel and its faith, should seek God’s mercy to give them a faithful heart to overcome this world and repent and return to our Lord. Perhaps the Lord will have unfathomable grace, retract his anger, and still give grace to his people. He may still enable them to be covered in the precious blood of Christ, remain faithful to the end, and win the crown of life (Revelation 2:10).
76. We believe that the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, which has lasted for more than half a century in China, is a result of some churches’ active or passive cooperation with the atheistic government. It is a movement of the antichrist because it seeks to split the catholic faith and the catholic church, denies that there is a kingdom of Christ that is higher than the nations of the earth, and attempts to create a “Nationalistic Church” that depends on political power. This is a scheme of Satan for the destruction of Christ’s church in China and turns true faith into a fake religion.
    77.But the Lord’s will is good (Genesis 50:20), and through more than half a century’s political persecution and division in the church in China, it has resulted in the revival, fulfillment, and protection of the Chinese house church, and on three facets listed below, they remain faithful to the gospel and the way of the cross.
77. First, we uphold biblical inerrancy as the highest standard for the whole life of the church and believers, and as the judgment of all things. Second, we firmly uphold “Christ as the church’s only ruler.” We refuse any atheistic government’s leadership or interference in our gospel and truth ministries. Third, based on the principle of the “separation of church and state,” we uphold the dichotomy of the church’s power of the heavenly keys and the government’s power of the sword as coexistent. In the realm of government we submit to the rulers, but in the realm of the Spirit we uphold the freedom of conscience.
78. We believe that such religious agencies as the Three-Self Patriotic Movement and the Protestant Affairs Department are controlled and monopolized by the state. They are political agencies that have given themselves to political power, and they are agents of the antichrist. These two agencies are the “false church”; they belong as part of a group of secular national agencies, and they are not part of the church of Christ our Lord. The nature of a “church” cannot be controlled by any rulers or political religious organizations, but rather it is a community of people chosen by God among nations, peoples, and generations who proclaim and believe in a spiritual and covenantal kingdom of Christ that cannot be seen (John 18:36).
79. At the same time, even within the Three-Self system, there are only individual church buildings (places of worship) but no “local congregations” registered as independent, corporate entities. All of the congregations are controlled by an evil labor union that is loyal to Caesar. Only by being part of such an agency can they obtain legal government sanctions. The scheme of Satan is precisely to destroy the “local churches.” Only by taking away the local churches’ autonomy and independence can they establish a national “false church” and take away the church’s keys to the kingdom of heaven.
    81.We believe that in today’s China, only by completely parting with the Three-Self system, completely ending cooperation with Caesar’s conspiracy, solely relying on the Bible and the Lord Jesus’ Great Commission, proclaiming our faith, ordaining officers, reestablishing church properties, and recounting the remnants, can we restart building true and independent “local churches” one by one.
80. The church must be willing to fight to the death, not for civil rights and legal stature that are visible, but for the keys to the kingdom of heaven and the power of the gospel that are invisible. The church should never give up her most important assets. They are not church properties or financial deposits but what God has given to us—the “mysteries,” which are the holy doctrines given to us by our Lord, the holy offices, and the holy sacraments.
81. Once the church capitulated to the flesh in holy doctrines, holy offices, and the holy sacraments, once it began to depend on earthly powers and submit to politics, then the church gave up her worship to idols. The church has lost her beautiful and glorious nature as Christ’s bride, which is her holiness; and she will become a whore and no longer a church of our Lord.
82. In summary, on the one hand, God has given the power of the sword to the government (Romans 13:1-13) to administer worldly affairs, to ensure physical order and peace. On the other hand, God has given the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven to the church (Matthew 16:19): preaching the gospel, administering the sacraments, judging spiritual affairs, becoming “stewards of the mysteries of God” (1 Corinthians 4:1).
83. This means, on the one hand, the state cannot interfere or judge a citizen’s faith and conscience, and it does not have the power to interfere with a church’s doctrines, offices, worship, and preaching of the gospel. On the other hand, the church and her officers have no right to interfere or participate in state operations; it has no rights to take or execute any executive powers.
84. This does not mean that Christian citizens should not be like other citizens who do not believe in religion or believe in other religions. They can exercise their legal rights to vote and be elected and other political privileges. Christians should not be discriminated against or limited in school examinations, school applications, employment, advancements, awards, education, research, public speaking, service as officials, or leadership in any capacity. However, if an officer of the church starts to serve in the government or take on a government position, then the church has the right to ask them to give up or resign from their offices in the church. The church also has the right to ask Christians who work in government or take on any political position to resign and give up their government positions when they are elected to be a church officer.
85. Therefore, the church cannot accept an atheistic party’s propaganda or accept the state religious department’s interference with our religious freedom. We cannot accept that there could be state “administrative departments” above the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot accept that “religious affairs” constitute part of the government’s function. We cannot accept limits on “self- propagation” on the national level and a scheme of “limited area, limited points, and limited people” on the local level. 4 These are nothing more than deception. We cannot accept the so-called political agenda of “religious autonomy.”
86. Real “religious autonomy” is only with Christ as our Lord and the Bible as our foundation. Any “autonomy” outside of Christ is a betrayal to the Lord and comes from the Evil One. The real “self- propagating, self-sustaining” truth is that the faithful and unfaithful cannot be yoked together. “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?” (2 Corinthians 6:14-15).
87. In other words, religious affairs will never belong to China, and it does not belong to any temporary earthly political power. True religion (godliness) belongs to Christ the Lord, belongs to the whole world, and belongs to the conscience of all the faithful.
88. With regards to rulers and obedience to authorities, the church is willing and hoping that China will alter its religious regulations. We earnestly pray for the rulers and leaders of this nation and all its officers to receive the grace and forgiveness of Christ.
89. Once the Chinese government is willing to give up interference and control over the church’s doctrines, offices, and proclamation of the gospel, the church is happy to accept the government’s regulations and administrative limits for the sake of public order and public good, which may include the church being an independent religious organization and registering under a department of civil affairs.
90. When the state administers order and affairs outside of the church, as long as it does not interfere with the essence of our faith, then the church will have the responsibility to respect and obey. The church, being a part of society, is also willing to accept any state limitations on technology and material regulations, as long as these limitations do not contradict the Bible and are equally applied to other social institutions. Then it is the church’s responsibility to respect and obey.
91. As long as the government insists on the “unity of church and state,” continues to consider religious affairs as internal government affairs, violently interferes with the church’s power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and refuses to allow any local church to independently register with any civil affairs departments, the church must hold firm to the above declarations of the house church. We will obey legal administrative regulations and respect the state’s power of the sword, but on the other hand, through nonviolence, we will maintain our conscientious opposition, walk in the way of the cross, hold firm to the church’s sovereignty and freedom of faith, and protect the believer’s freedom of conscience.
92. Also, whether it is in season or out of season, the church will do her best to proclaim the gospel (2 Timothy 4:2). For individuals may be bound, but God’s Word will not be bound (2 Timothy 2:9); servants may be killed, but the gracious Lord has resurrected.
93. In June 1955, a patriarch of the Chinese house church, God’s servant Wang Mingdao, published a paper titled “We—For the Sake of Faith.” It was his public declaration, along with other Chinese churches’, with regards to why he refused to join the Three-Self Movement. On August 8 of the same year, in the early morning, Wang Mingdao, his wife Liu Jinwen, and other coworkers were arrested. Later on, believers and evangelists who followed Mr. Wang Mingdao’s example to hold firm to the ancient gospel and refuse to join the Three-Self were arrested, and the government called them the “Wang Mingdao Anti-revolutionary Organization.” This year is the sixtieth anniversary of Wang Mingdao’s arrest and the establishment of the “Wang Mingdao Anti-revolutionary Organization.” Up until this day, the church of our Lord Jesus Christ in China has been under continuous political persecution for sixty years. Because of this, our church decided to publish these 95 theses, for the purpose of reaffirming the Chinese house church’s positions on our faith, and before the government and society at large, with a fearful but humble heart, defend the church.

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

Pastors: Wang Yi, Wang Huasheng
Elders: Liu Huisheng, Su Bingsen, Xue Jiafu, Yan Xixia, Yu Tao

Chengdu Early Rain Reformed Church
August 18, 2015