I. The church of Christ has not written a creed of its own, nor are there any official spokesman for those who claim membership to the church of Christ. II. In fact, members of the church of Christ affirm that the New Testament is the only source of authority and is therefore the only doctrine and creed of the Church.
I. CHURCH HISTORY
A. Before the church was actually established the Lord promised that he would build His church (Matt. 16:18).
1. At the time of this promise it is obvious that His church did not exist.
2. In fact no church existed.
a. There were disciples of Christ (followers), but the kingdom or church had not at this time been set up.
b. Jesus made the statement to his disciples, "Verily I say unto you, that there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power" (Mark 9:1).
1) Jesus told those who he had selected to be his apostles to tarry in Jerusalem until they be endued with power from on high (Luke 24:49).
2) The scriptures give us the record of the occasion of which Christ spoke (Acts 1-2), and the apostles did receive this power (the Holy Spirit).
a) These men then spoke the words, which resulted in 3000 members being added to the church.
b) Apparently this was the beginning of Christ's Church. c) The occasion was Pentecost, and the year was 33 A.D. d) In Acts 2:47 it is said that the Lord's people were:
"Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added
to the church daily such as should be saved".
i) Since the Lord adds the saved to the church, we can
safely conclude that the church is the saved.
ii) To thinking people this says a great deal about the
importance of the church.
e) There was unity among followers of Christ in the first century.
f) People were not faced with the question, "Which
church is right?", or even, "Which is best?", for there was only ONE church.
i) However, confusion brought on by division was soon to follow.
ii) Paul wrote of divisions in the church at Corinth (I Cor. 1:10-13).
iii) Various factions took on different party names, thus dividing the church.
iv) The apostle Paul condemned the action, therefore, it
was wrong then and it is wrong today.
B. A careful study of the New Testament will reveal that Christ
built only one church (Matt. 16:18; Acts 2:47; I Cor. 12:13; Eph. 4:4).
1. The scriptures do not make mention of any other named
existing body of professed believers.
a. However, in 2 Thes. 2:1-9, the apostle Paul gave warning
of a falling away.
b. This chapter, along with I Tim. 4:1-5, describes some of
the doctrines and beliefs of those of whom he spoke.
1) The description fits that of the Roman Catholic Church.
2) The laws of this organization were manmade.
3) In fact, as history reveals, it was corrupt almost beyond imagination.
2. After centuries of what has been termed as "the dark ages", a
man by the name of Martin Luther began a movement to "reform"
the church at Rome.
a. His efforts resulted in what is known as Protestant denominationalism
(See chart # 1).
b. A lot was accomplished by the movement.
1) It helped a lot of people to see the false teaching of Catholicism.
2) However, those associated with the reformation movement
were not exactly on the right track.
i. Rather than try to reform a church that was corrupt
and which had never been the true church of Christ,
efforts would have been more scriptural and
spiritually rewarding had they been directed toward
"restoring" the New Testament church.
II. THE "RESTORATION" MOVEMENT
A. The pages of the New Testament contain information
that is necessary to become a Christian.
1. The New Testament also teaches how the church is
to be organized, how it is to worship, and the
things that the church is to practice.
2. Anyone at any time can read and learn these truths.
a. They can obey the teachings and become a Christian
and establish a church of Christ.
b. This is true because seed produces after its kind (Gen. 1:12).
c. While teaching by parable, Jesus taught that the
word is the seed of the kingdom (Luke 8:11).
1) Therefore, even if no true Christian lived upon
the face of the earth, the church could be restored.
2) It could be done by the word (the seed of the
kingdom) being planted in the heart of man and thus
producing a member of the body of Christ.
3) It is important to note that just as a peach seed
will produce only a peach tree, the seed of the
kingdom will produce only Christians.
i. Thus, members of the church of Christ claim to be
Christians only, nothing more and nothing less.
B. To illustrate what we mean by the word "restore", consider an illustration:
1. Suppose that in the 20th century the game of football sort
of lost out to other sports.
a. Then, in the 40th century, at a place where the game
was never heard of, someone finds a rule book for football.
b. People could read the rules and learn them, teach the game
to others, and begin playing the game.
c. By carefully following the rule book the game could
be played identically as it was played when it was written,
and the game could become popular once again.
d. Thus, the game could be restored.
2. The same is true with the church.
a. There was a "falling away" of the church of God, and as
far as history is concerned it lost its identity for
several hundred years.
b. However, in the 18th century, in various places throughout
the world, several influential men became dissatisfied
with all the confusion in the religious world.
1) Some of them got together and determined that they would
not have any part with any humanly written church creeds,
and that they would endeavor to speak where the Bible
speaks and to be silent where it is silent.
2) They sought to restore the New Testament church to its original purity.
i. This they had confidence they could do because they
had the same rule book that people had back when the
church was pure (see chart # 2).
c. Some churches place a great degree of importance upon their
ability to trace their history.
1) If they are the oldest among the denominations then it
somehow makes them the best.
2) However, when you think about it, if such proves anything it proves
that the Catholic Church is the best because they can trace their history
back farther than any denomination.
i. The point is, a church does not have to trace its existence back to the
first century to prove that it is Christ's church.
III. HOW TO IDENTIFY THE TRUE CHURCH
A. To make a positive identification of a person or organization,
it is often necessary to look at a number of characteristics.
1. For example, if you were looking for a certain John Smith,
whom you had a great deal of information about, but whom
you had never met, you would find that there were several
men with this name.
a. Nevertheless, you would know this man's birth place, the
date of his birth, his height, etc.
b. These characteristics would help you to make a positive
identification of this particular man.
c. In your search for this man, if you came across a
John Smith that did not meet all the characteristics
of which you had been provided, you would know that
this wasn't the man and you would look elsewhere.
2. By looking at the characteristics that have been provided to
us in the New Testament we can make a positive identification
of the church of Christ, if it exists in our area.
a. The church of Christ:
1) wears a scriptural name;
2) it was born in Jerusalem;
3) its birthday was on Pentecost, 33 AD;
4) its members have obeyed (to become a Christian) the
same things that were taught to the first members (Acts chapter 2);
5) its members are called Christians;
6) its head is Christ;
7) its items of worship are taught in the New Testament;
8) its organization is no larger or smaller than the local church; and
9) its creed is the New Testament.
b. In searching for the true church, just as in searching
for a certain John Smith, we could not accept those...that
did not have all of the identifying marks.
IV. THE SCRIPTURES TEACH AGAINST DIVISION AND PLEAD FOR UNITY
A. The church of which we....claim membership is the church
you can read about in the Bible.
B. To claim membership to any other or to condone denominationalism, would
be to condone division.
1. This is true because that is what the word means, and
"divide" is what it does to those who profess to follow Christ.
2. This division is a contributing cause of the unbelief in the world today.
a. Jesus prayed that his disciples might all be one so
that the world might believe (Jn. 17:20:21).
b. This oneness can only be achieved by those who want it
and who seek it properly.
V. To arrive at a proper understanding of New Testament teachings there
are some basic rules that must be followed. I want to mention only a couple
that I feel to be most important.
A. First, get all that is said on a subject and study the
passages diligently before drawing a conclusion as to
what you believe the Bible teaches on any particular subject.
1. Since the Bible was written by inspiration and does
not contradict itself, you can be assured that the
passages on any subject will harmonize beautifully.
2. If we read the Bible only to prove our preconceived
ideas, we will find a passage that will appear to support our belief.
3. However, truth is what we should want and we should
search the scriptures with an open mind and with a
willingness to give up what we have previously
believed, regardless of the cost.
B. The second matter of importance, relative to Bible study,
has to do with establishing authority.
1. The head of the body, the church, is Christ (Eph. 5:23).
a. Imagine a body with two heads!
b. There would be conflicts in what the body is told to
do and it just wouldn't work.
c. The church must look to its head for all authority
(Matt. 28:18; Heb. 1:1,2).
1) Man must not seek to legislate, or to avoid obeying
what is legislated by Christ (Col. 3:17; Rev. 22:18-19).
2) We could agree that Christ is head of the church
and that the New Testament is the only creed, and
be honest and sincere in our effort to be united
on a thus sayeth the Lord, and still be far apart
in our major belief about what the New Testament
teaches relative to the practices of the church.
2. First, there are two kinds of authority: General and Specific.
a. A general command, such as, "go... preach the gospel",
leaves a choice as to how we may "go" or carry out the command.
b. It is left to our discretion as to whether we would walk, ride, or fly, etc.
1) On the other hand, a specific command leaves no
choice as to how to carry out the command.
2) For example, God told Noah to build an ark of "gopher wood".
i. Since God specified a certain kind of wood Noah
would have been disobedient if he used any
other kind of wood in his effort to carry out the
command to build the ark.
3. How To Establish Authority:
a. Authority is established in three different ways:
1) Direct Command;
2) Approved Apostolic Example; and
3) Necessary Inference.
b. Before the church of Christ can act in a collective
way the thing must be authorized in one of the above ways.
c. A "direct command" is simply a command that is given by
the Lord or his apostles.
1) Of course one must consider to whom the command is given.
2) It may not be applicable...
d. An "approved apostolic example" is simply the practice of the New
Testament church under the guidance of the apostles.
1) For example, the New Testament church gathered upon
the first day of the week to break bread (Acts 20:7).
2) This example was approved by the apostles, therefore,
we must conclude that we should do likewise.
3) This passage gives us an example and specifies the
day that we are to gather to take the Lord's supper.
e. "Necessary inference" is simply something that must be
inferred from a passage.
1) For example, we are given the example of when to
assemble and when to give (I Cor. 16:2) and when to
take bread (Acts 20:7).
2) The day is, "the first day of the week", or Sunday.
3) It is implied that the assembling, giving, and
partaking of the Lord's supper is to be done every a
first day of the week.
a) To illustrate this, the Israelites were commanded
to observe the Sabbath (Ex. 20:8-10; 31:16,17).
b) The Sabbath was Saturday and they observed it every Saturday.
i. Such is inferred in the command.
VI. The LORD'S CHURCH IS NOT A SECT:
A. The church of Christ should not be sectarianized.
1. As a member of the church of Christ I could do this
by answering, when asked what I am religiously,
"I'm Church of Christ".
a. Actually, the true and proper answer to such a question would
be, "I'm a Christian" (Acts 11:26).
b. However, since there are hundreds of names describing
various bodies of professed Christians, such an answer would not tell
the querist what he really wants to know.
c. If I were to answer, "I'm a member of the church of Christ", his thinking
would likely be, "He is a member of the Church of Christ church.
d. An answer which would not sectarianize the church, and which would not
leave doubt as to what was meant, could be given as follows: "I'm a Christian
and a member of the church which you can read about in the N. T.
B. Someone might feel that we must concede that we are a denomination because
the name "Church of Christ" is often on our signs.
1. I am a member of the church of Christ.
a. Note the little c in the word "church".
b. Nevertheless, I do not think it grammatically or scripturally incorrect for the
first letter of each word to be capitalized when it is used on a sign or heading.
2. The church is described by many figures: 1) as the body (Eph. 4:4); 2) as a
family (Eph. 3:14-15); 3) as the church; 4) as the church of God (Acts 20:28);
5) churches of Christ (Rom. 16:16); and by several other descriptive names.
a. However, if Christians use one figure more than another, when referring to
the saved, it is because we feel that it is most fitting.
b. Since Christ purchased the church with his blood it
belongs to Him and to no other.
c. The name that we repeatedly or habitually use when referring to the church
should be a name that is found in the Bible.
1) It should also be a name which shows ownership and which gives glory to
Christ who purchased it with his blood.
2) If a man should be inclined to argue that there is "nothing in a name", just
let his "faithful" wife take on the name of another man and he will sing a
different tune.
VII. Members of the church of Christ are known to teach peculiar doctrines.
For example, we teach that the Lord's Supper should be
taken every Sunday, that a child of God can turn away
from God (fall from grace) and be lost eternally, and that baptism is immersion and for the
remission of sins.
We shall briefly discuss these three doctrines.
1. The Lord's Supper Each Sunday:
A. One distinct difference in the church of Christ and denominations
is the fact that churches of Christ always take the Lord's
supper every Sunday, while others take it at times appointed by
the church.
B. This we practice because we are so taught by example.
1. The writer of Acts (20:6,7) mentioned the fact that the brethren at Troas
met upon the first day of the week to break bread.
a. This is an approved apostolic example which we must follow.
b. As previously observed, it is necessarily implied that we
should take the Lord's supper every Sunday.
c. This memorial supper, which the brethren engaged in at
Troas, was not a common meal.
1) This we know because the brethren at Corinth engaged in
such a practice and were rebuked for it (1 Cor. 11:20-34).
2) The Lord's supper is to be done in remembrance of Him (1 Cor. 11:24,25).
i. Every Sunday our hearts are brought closer to God as
we remember and think about the sacrifice that He made for us.
2. Can a Christian Fall from Grace?
A. It is by grace that we may be saved through faith, and it
is not something that we can merit, it is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8).
1. No man can be so good that he can receive the grace of God
without meeting the conditions that He has given.
2. The Scriptures reveal to us that which God requires of us
to be added to His church.
a. Once we are in the family of God we must be aware that
there is the possibility of being disinherited.
b. The general condition for remaining in God's grace is
found in 1 John 1:7.
1) It reads, "But if we walk in the light, as he is in
the light, we have fellowship one with another, and
the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin".
2) Walking in the light includes such things as what is
commonly referred to as "The Christian Graces", which
are found in 2 Pet. 1:5-10.
a) The apostle ended this passage by saying,
"Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence
to make your calling and election sure: for if ye
do these things ye shall never fall".
b) The apostle was talking to people who were saved
by the grace of God, and he told them what they
could do to keep from falling.
c) His use of the word, "if" clearly teaches that
there are conditions to which we must comply
before we can be assured that we will not fall.
d) Continuing in a saved condition is dependent
upon our diligence to add the "Christian Graces".
i. Therefore, to fail in this area would mean that
we did not continue to meet the conditions,
and that such willful sin would result in there
being "no more sacrifice for sins" (Heb. 10:26).
B. It is true that we are saved by faith, however, one may:
1. Deny the faith and become worse than an infidel (1 Tim. 5:8); or,
2. Make shipwreck concerning the faith (1 Tim. 1:19,20); or,
3. Depart from the faith (1 Tim. 4:1).
3. Of all the subjects that have been a matter of controversy
between members of the church of Christ and other churches,
the subject of baptism has probably been debated and
discussed the most. A. Two main questions are involved: 1. Is baptism sprinkling, pouring, or immersion; and 2. Is it commanded to be done to show that remission of sins has been received, or is it to be done in order to receive the remission of sins? B. The word "baptism" literally means "immerse", and the word immerse is defined by Webster: 1) to plunge into something that surrounds or covers; esp: to plunge into a fluid; 2) to baptize by immersion. 1. John, the forerunner for Jesus, was given the name "John the Baptist" because he baptized, or immersed, people for the remission of sins (Luke 3:3). 2. John baptized Jesus at His request. a. At first John was reluctant to do so because he was aware that Jesus had no sins and he felt that Jesus should baptize him (Matt. 3:13-17). b. The passage tells us that when He was baptized He, "went up straightway out of the water". 1) This necessarily implies that he went down into the water. 2) Thus the mode of baptism was immersion and we have no authorization for sprinkling or pouring. C. When the purpose of baptism is discussed, passages regarding faith are often brought into the study. 1. The scriptures sometimes speak of a believer, or one who has faith, as having salvation (Jn. 3:16; I Jn. 5:13). 2. On the other hand, when Peter completed his sermon on the day of Pentecost, at which time people were pricked in their hearts because of their sins, people asked the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" (Acts 2:37). a. These people already had faith so they were not told to believe. 1) They were told to, "repent and be baptized...for the remission of sins" (Acts 2:38). 2) Also, Peter portrayed the likeness of the saving of the eight souls in the ark through water, with what baptism does for us now. a) He said that it, "doeth also now save us" (I Pet. 3:21). b) Do the scriptures contradict, some teaching salvation at the point of faith and others teaching that baptism is essential to become a Christian? i. Certainly not! The believer the Bible speaks of as having eternal life is an obedient believer. b. The latter one half of the second chapter of James is devoted specifically to the matter of salvation at the point of faith. D. Why is baptism rejected as being for the remission of sins? 1. I believe that it is rejected because it is foolish - it is foolish to many people. a. They know there is no power in water to forgive sins so why be immersed in it for that reason. b. We should never forget that, "the foolishness of God is wiser than men" (1 Cor. 1:25) and that, "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise" (1 Cor. 1:27). 2. In 2 Kings chapter 5 we find a story about a man by the name of Naaman. a. He had leprosy and desired to be cured of it. b. A prophet of God told him to go dip seven times in the river Jordan. 1) This wasn't what he expected the prophet to do and he became angry. 2) He was about to forget the whole thing when his servant said to him, "My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing wouldest thou not have done it? How much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?". a) This brought him to realize that his first impression of what God had commanded him to do to be cleansed was a mistake. b) He then went down to the river Jordan and dipped seven times and was cleansed. 3. The idea of baptism for the remission of sins may seem foolish to some, but God said to do it and that is the only reason one needs for doing anything in religion. D. Baptism is an act of faith, which God rewards with spiritual blessings. 1. If done by faith, the subject rises to "walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:3,4; Col. 2:12); and he has a "good conscience" knowing he has done that which God says will allow him to have such (I Pet. 3:21); and he knows that he has been forgiven of "all trespasses" (Col. 2:13). 2. Failure to act upon God's instructions regarding baptism is a demonstration of a lack of faith.
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