The Church of Christ
Central to God’s plan for the life of every Christian is the church. The church was not an “after thought.” The church was always in God’s plan just as it was always in God’s plan to send Jesus to die for the sins of the world.
In the New Testament, the church is the congregation; it is the people who belong to God. The New Testament church owned no property or buildings. They met in homes, the temple courts, in at least one place, a school. There were no elaborate structures “dedicated” to God. There are no instructions to build such places. There are only instructions concerning the people who meet together for worship and fellowship.
The church is referred to in several ways in
the Bible. It is the
The New Testament refers to those people who
are a part of Christ’s church in different ways.
They are members (1 Cor
Of critical importance is how one becomes a
member of Christ’s church. When
one considers the first church as it existed in Acts 2
and following, it is evident that
God determined who would be accepted and who would not.
Twice in chapter two there are references to people being added to the
body of believers (in verse 41 and 47). In
verse 47 it specifically says that the “Lord was adding to their number day by
day those who were being saved.” Therefore
it is right to conclude that the
As other congregations were established in other cities, the church continued to include all who were saved. In the first century, membership in the church and salvation were not two separate things. To be saved was to be added to the church and conversely, none were added to the church except the saved. The same procedure by which one was saved was the procedure by which one became a member of the church.
Acts 2
contains clear instructions on how
one becomes a saved person and is added to the church.
First of all there was the preaching of the gospel.
None were included in the church that did not have a clear understanding
of who Jesus was. The conclusion to
Peter’s sermon is found in Acts
The response to Peter’s sermon was a
question (in Acts
In response, Peter commanded them to do two
things. (Acts
The second thing that Peter demanded was that they be baptized “in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” Jesus had commissioned his disciples to preach to all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to observe all the commandments of Jesus. Peter understood his commission and thus understood that repentance and baptism were necessary.
Believers were not accepted into the fellowship of the saints until they were properly baptized. They were not considered followers of Jesus until they were baptized. They were not confirmed as forgiven until they were baptized.
Paul makes a comment to the church at
One cannot be a part of the church for which Jesus shed his blood apart from faith in Jesus as Lord, repentance from sin and baptism into Christ. As baptism brings one into fellowship with Jesus it also brings one into fellowship with all others who have shared that same experience. God includes such in His church. No one has a right to exclude those whom God has accepted just as no one has a right to include those whom God has not accepted.
The church exists to serve several purposes. The relationship between the members of the church is one important reason for its existence. The following passages in the New Testament letters written to Christians demonstrate the importance of the group. All of these verses include the phrase “one another.” They give the responsibilities that we have to other Christians. The one is self. The other is a fellow Christian.
Romans 12:10
“devoted to one
another”
Romans 12:10
“give preference to one another”
Romans 12:16
“be of the same mind
toward one another”
Romans 13:8
“love one
another”
Romans 14:12
“do not judge one
another”
Romans 14:19
“building up one
another”
Romans 15:7
“accept one
another”
Romans 15:14
“admonish one another”
Romans 16:16
“greet one another”
1 Corinthians 11:33
“wait for one another”
1 Corinthians 12:25
“have the same care for one another”
Galatians 5:13
“through love serve one
another”
Ephesians 4:2
“showing forbearance to
one another”
Ephesians 4:25
“we are members of one another”
Ephesians 4:32
“be kind to one another”
Ephesians 5:19
“speaking to one another in psalms,
hymns and spiritual songs”
Ephesians 5:21
“be subject to one another”
Philippians 2:2
“regard one another as more
important”
Colossians 3:13
“bearing with one another”
Colossians 3:16
“admonishing one another”
1 Thessalonians 3:12
“abound
in love for one another”
1 Thessalonians 4:8
“taught
by God to love one another”
1 Thessalonians 4:18
“comfort
one another”
1 Thessalonians 5:11
“encourage
one another”
1 Thessalonians 5:11
“build
up one another”
1 Thessalonians 5:13
“live
in peace with one another”
1 Thessalonians 5:15
“seek
after that which is good for one another”
Hebrews 3:12
“encourage one another”
Hebrews 10:24
“consider how to stimulate one
another to love and good works”
James 4:11
“do
not speak against one another”
James 5:9
“do not complain against one another”
James 5:16
“confess
your sins to one another”
James 5:16
“pray for one another”
1 Peter 1:21
“fervently
love one another from the heart”
1 Peter 4:8
“keep fervent in your love for one another”
1 Peter 4:9
“be hospitable to one another”
1 Peter 4:10
“serving
one another”
1 Peter 5:4
“clothe yourselves with humility toward one another”
1 John 1:7
“fellowship with one another”
1 John 3:11
“love
one another”
1 John 3:23
“love
one another”
1 John 4:7
“love one another”
1 John 4:11
“love
one another”
1 John 4:12
“love
one another”
2 John 5
“love one another”
The great number of texts above illustrate the difficulty of people living in harmony in a close relationship. Failure to practice these things causes problems in churches. It also causes problems in families and in the work place.
Suppose a person were to be subject to arrest for violating any of these commands. What would happen if every person who failed in these responsibilities were sent to jail? In practice that would probably not work very well as it might mean that the whole church is in jail, but it emphasizes the importance of these matters.
The Bible uses the word “sin” to describe one’s failure to live up to the standard that God sets. Failure is often seen in these matters and one should exercise care lest the failure becomes a habit and the habit leads to separation from God for eternity.
Some seek to avoid the responsibilities to “one another.” There are several ways to try. One may simply decide not to be a part of any church. That is a decision to be a “Christian-at-large.” Congregations are visited but the person never “places membership.” That person is then (or so it is thought) responsible to no one and bears no responsibility to another.
There are several difficulties (Biblically
speaking) with that approach to the Christian life.
In the Bible, when people were saved, they were added to the church.
They became a part of a particular congregation.
The Ethiopian, described in Acts 8
, would seem to be an exception to that. He
was baptized on the road from
A
The church began in
There are prophecies in Micah 4:1-3
and Isaiah 2:1-4
that predict the establishment of
the church. It would begin in
The church did not produce the New Testament, the apostles did. The books included in the New Testament were included because of a conviction that they came from apostles, either directly as in the case of Matthew, John, Paul’s letters, Peter’s letters, John’s letters and Revelation, and indirectly as in the case of Mark, Luke and Acts. There is some controversy surrounding the authorship of Hebrews, James and Jude. They were first accepted because it was believed that they were written by the apostles Paul, James and Jude. It is now generally believed that these were not the authors, but that someone closely associated with Paul wrote Hebrews and the brothers of Jesus, James and Jude wrote the two letters that bear their names.
None of this affects the fact that the church did not produce the New Testament. The church is subject to the New Testament. It is divine authorship under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit through the apostles and others whom God chose that produced the New Testament. Church tradition cannot compete with the New Testament for authority because church tradition is not from the apostles, but rather is from the “church fathers.” These are uninspired men from the second century and on. They were not personally chosen by Jesus. They did not possess the gifts of the apostles. They could not determine for the church what had already been determined by Jesus and the men whom he chose in the beginning. It is unfortunate that tradition came to occupy the position in the church that it does at this time. That is particularly true when one considers the remarks of Jesus concerning Jewish tradition in Matthew 15 (also found in Mark 7 ).
If non-apostolic tradition is the standard
then there will either be an endless multiplication of differing churches or
there will be some absolute authority (other than Jesus) who will decide what
traditions are allowed and which are not. Jesus
decided the matter when he stated that he had all authority in heaven and on
earth (Matt 28:18
). He then designated the apostles
as his witnesses who would be empowered by the Holy Spirit to remember
everything he had taught them (John
Church councils soon took over the role of deciding church doctrine. Church leaders gathered and voted on doctrinal matters. Based on these decisions people were accepted or rejected. Decisions about who was in and who was out were decided by majority decisions. If you did not get the decision you wanted you could always hope for a later council to reverse the decision.
In the fifteenth chapter of Acts
there is a record of a first century
church meeting. People from the
They met in
James answered and gave his recommendation.
The apostles and elders put their decision in writing and delivered it to
Paul and Barnabas. Judas and Silas
were also chosen from the
First century churches were led by elders.
They were not chosen to decide new doctrines, but to uphold the doctrines
of the New Testament. In Acts
As time passed, one man came to be elevated over the others and the title of bishop was reserved to this one man. It was not long until the bishops of city churches had the oversight of other nearby congregations in outlying areas. Gradually a pyramid form of church government evolved. This represented a dramatic change from first century policy where each congregation existed independently, but cooperatively with other congregations.
With the change in church government a system had been put in place that would allow changes in doctrine. The simple plan of salvation taught by the apostles was set aside in place of a catechism. No longer was it sufficient to hear the gospel and obey in baptism. Weeks of instruction were now required.
New Testament worship was changed. Everything was reduced to a set ritual. Only the clergy could preside over the worship. Christianity was divided into the elite (called the clergy) and the lowly (called the laity). Only the clergy could officiate at communion and lead the congregation in worship.
With all the changes that were occurring, it was necessary to develop a system for producing uniformity among the churches. Since the New Testament was no longer the sole standard for the faith, church councils became the method for deciding all the issues being raised by theologians who were troubling the churches.
The first council met at Nice in 325 AD to decide on the definition of the relationship between the Father and the Son. Arius and Athanasius were the two principle combatants. A vote was taken and the losers were excommunicated. Thus began the practice of imposing upon others what could not be determined by scripture alone. Decisions were made by a plurality of the religious leaders who met in council.
The second council
met at
Later councils met to condemn the doctrines of some. Others met to establish new doctrines that were not defined by the apostles in the New Testament. Some condemned whole groups, such as the council of Lateran in 1179 AD that condemned the errors and impieties of the Waldenses and Albigenses. One must only wonder if perhaps the condemned were not more right in their doctrines and more pious than those who condemned them.
The council that met at Lyon in 1245 AD gave sanction to the crusades. Considering what Isaiah had said about beating swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks one has to wonder at the justification of marching “Christians” off to war against the infidels. Certainly the words of Jesus about loving one’s enemies were falling on deaf ears. When the “Christians” lost to the Muslims that ought to have been a striking reminder that God had not gone with the Crusaders to the war.
The council of Trent that met from 1545-1563 AD considered a wide range of matters. Mostly the council was concerned with adopting views that would make the heresy of Martin Luther evident. It was this council that added writings to the Jewish canon of scripture. Books were now considered inspired that had never been accepted by the Jewish people as part of their Bible. These were books from which Jesus never quoted. Although they had always been considered as important writings they had never been equated with scripture. The decisions of this council contributed to the animosity between the Reformers and the Roman Catholic Church. From this point on scripture had a declining role in determining doctrine in the Roman Church and the decisions of councils became of even greater importance.
Meanwhile many voices were being raised to
reform the church. In
In
Difficulties still arise in religion because
people do not want to be bound by scripture alone.
All sorts of ideas have been introduced into the worship and practice of
the church because “the Bible does not forbid it.”
In Hebrews 7:11-14
the writer argues that Jesus could
not be a priest under the Law of Moses because he “was descended from Judah, a
tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests.”
There was no law forbidding a priest from the tribe of
In
They believed that the Bible only was the only book needed by the church. Based on using just the Bible, this movement led to the establishing of independent congregations. They were bound together by a common faith in the word of God and a determination to practice only that for which divine authority could be established. There was no church hierarchy. There was no controlling authority of men. All were responsible to Jesus whose claim was: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” (Matt 28:18) .
Congregations had elders as overseers. Service was provided by deacons. There were preachers who served as evangelists. Troubles developed when a separate body was formed for the purpose of sending out missionaries to foreign countries. The body formed soon turned to adopting policy statements for the church during the Civil War. This policy of going beyond the word of God in matters of faith led to division. In this matter, the descendants of those who had set out to establish the church on the Bible alone mirrored the departures that had occurred in the early years of the church. One departure from the Bible inevitably leads to others. Changes are heaped upon changes until the church becomes unrecognizable when compared with the Bible.
The Bible alone will produce Christians alone. It requires something else to have a different kind of church. Church authorities establish their own rules and thus denominations are born. They follow the Bible in some matters, but in others they follow the dictates of human authorities that differ from Jesus and his apostles.
Today there are congregations in nearly
every nation following the Bible alone as their guide.
Missionaries have gone out supported by individual congregations who
serve as overseers for their work. Sometimes
congregations have cooperated to jointly sponsor missionaries.
Only some small island groups and some staunchly Islamic nations that do
not allow the preaching of the gospel remain unevangelized.
Great progress is being made in such places as
