Historically, the Church of God has taken a very cautious and conservative approach to medical interventions. Central to that approach is our belief in the primacy and authority of the Bible, which is inspired and infallible, the very Word of God itself.1 As such, it informs our approach to our decisions related to health, life, and death. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the embodied Word of God, in the time of His temptation in the wilderness, left us the example of appealing to Scripture in determining our conduct.2
As a body of people, we also appeal to tradition to guide us in interpreting and applying Scripture to the challenges of the present day.3 We also believe that God has placed leaders within the Church to assist believers in the development of their faith.4 It is imperative to the faithful execution of their offices that those entrusted with this calling prayerfully consider and set the Church’s position on issues in light of both Scripture and our tradition as a people. Pronouncements by the leadership are to be heeded and are considered a beneficial part of a believer’s individual spiritual growth.5
We believe that God is the Creator and Giver of all life.6 All natural things in the universe are objects of His particular pleasure and are upheld and preserved by His divine power.7 God is, therefore, sovereign over the natural order.
This fact is no less true when it comes to humankind. Men and women are the climax of God’s creation, made in His own image, and are therefore of especial interest to Him.8 He is concerned with both their spiritual and physical health.9 Scripture speaks of His prerogative as, and desire to be, the divine Healer of the body.10 Indeed, provision in the atonement of Christ is made for our healing.11 The New Testament itself abounds with miraculous interventions by Jesus Christ and the early Church in the healing of sickness, disease, and injury.
At the same time, we understand that God’s power to heal does not always equate to His wise purpose for our lives. Even in times of sickness or physical suffering, He can be glorified. Affliction can serve to teach us and bring us more fully into communion with Him and obedience to His Word.12 God maintains firm control over both the good and the evil things of life.13 He cedes His design and authority to no one. Given this truth, we understand that even things like viruses are subject to His control and purpose.
Accordingly, the apostles of the Church of God make the following statements regarding our opposition to vaccinations:
We oppose the introduction of unnatural substances into the body for the purposes of circumventing or provoking the body’s normal immune system response. We hold that God, as the supreme Giver and Arbiter of life, reserves this power unto Himself. It is against our faith to tamper in any way with the ordered and purposeful design of the immune system.
We are also opposed on moral grounds. Many vaccinations have either been developed with, or have been tested on, aborted fetal cell lines. This violates our strong stance on the sanctity of life, which begins at conception.14 Vaccines also contain chemicals and components that we deem harmful. As the temples of God, we cannot knowingly and conscientiously defile our bodies with such substances.15
Furthermore, vaccinations violate our trust and reliance on God’s sovereignty over our bodies. They are a humanly-devised mechanism that places our health in the hands of pharmaceutical companies rather than in the will of God. Scripture forbids us to place full reliance on human intervention in matters of health.16 In fact, it outlines a different and specific process for the children of God to follow in times of sickness.17 We believe that this process is still valid for the Church today.
We believe that it is both wrong and immoral to encourage people to violate their consciences. Doing so could cause them to sin.18 We therefore stand firmly beside any individual who opposes a health regime that violates the tenets of their sincerely held religious beliefs, even if their understanding on some specifics differs from ours. We exhort the people of God everywhere to stand by their religious convictions.
Our belief in divine healing does not preclude the possibility of death. Rather, it places the locus of our faith in the determinate will of God concerning our lives. We believe that God can be glorified in either life or death, and that Christians ought to make peace with the sovereignty of God over their lives and trust His design and plan for them individually, not seeking to prolong life through artificial means.19
The Apostles of the Church of God
