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Introduction:
In Matthew 16:18,
Jesus claimed He had come into the earth to establish His church,
His only church. In John
17:20-21, He prayed that all those who believed on Him
throughout time would be united as one. We know this and we stand
for this plea. As we reach out to the religions of the world, we
claim we want all the religious to unite in one body, hearkening
to the one Spirit, having one hope of one calling, obeying one
Lord, believing one faith, submitting to one baptism and
worshiping one God and Father of all (Ephesians
4:4-6). At times, however, that plea seems to ring hollow. It
does not take much for others to discover that among congregations
that claim to make this same fundamental plea for unity, there is
division. There are such practical differences among differing
churches that, in some cases, apart from grudgingly agreeing we
are brethren, we will have nothing to do with each other.
As we do each Second Sunday night of the month, we are
entertaining questions. This month, one has asked regarding the
differences among churches of Christ. What are the differences?
Over the years, we have developed labels to describe the
different kinds of churches that agree we should practice
undenominational, noncreedalized, Bible following Christianity. We
refer to liberal churches, conservative churches, sound churches,
“anti” churches, no Bible class churches, one cup churches,
institutional churches, non-institutional churches, instrumental
churches and on the list goes.
To try in one lesson to define all the practical
differences would be impossible. However, going into that would
not define the real differences anyway. There are about five
fundamental differences among churches that produce nearly all of
the practical differences.
Before we examine these, I have to explain that I am uneasy
answering this question as it is worded. Most people, even
Christians, upon hearing this question will read it with a
denominational mindset. Regrettably, too many have the concept
that every church over which they see the sign saying “Church of
Christ” is somehow connected with every other one and with us.
That is simply not the case. Further, many assume that if a church
does not bear the name “Church of Christ” on their sign or
letterhead, it must not be in the least associated with us. That
is not true either. We are not in any way denominationally or
organizationally affiliated with any other congregation no matter
what their sign says. At the same time, if a congregation stands
for the principles of uncreedalized, antidenominational, biblical
Christianity, baptizing people for the remission of sins into
Christ’s body then the members in those churches are our
brethren no matter what name appears above the door. When I ask
the question regarding differences among churches of Christ, I am
not asking what differences there are between each congregation
that wears that name. I am asking what are the differences that
divide brethren who claim to have the same plea to get back to the
Bible and baptize people into Christ. Discussion: I.
Different understandings on how to establish Bible
authority. A.
This is the first and greatest dividing line. Nearly every
difference whether among churches similar to the Franklin Church
of Christ or between us and denominational churches come down to
handling the Bible and its authority differently. B.
First, some congregations differ on the need to establish
Bible authority. II Timothy
3:16-17 says that the Bible equips us for good works. To me
and the Franklin church, that statement demonstrates that we must
find Bible authority to know a work is good. Other Christians and
congregations, however, despite the clear teaching of this believe
that every work is authorized unless it is specifically condemned.
Because of this difference, we will not get involved in the social
work of orphan’s homes or private secular education. Further, we
will not send part of our treasury to be overseen by another
eldership to do the work of evangelism, but oversee all of our own
work. Those who do not look for authority but for condemnation
will do each of these things that are not authorized in scripture.
How we apply II Timothy
3:16-17 is a great dividing line that fans Christians out on
the spectrum which we label as conservative and liberal. Those who
deal conservatively ask, “Does the Bible authorize it? Then it
is a good work.” Those who deal more liberally ask, “Is it a
good work? Then the Bible must authorize it.” C.
Second, some Christians differ on how the Bible authorizes.
Most recognize that the Bible authorizes through Direct
Statement (cf. Luke
6:46) and Approved
Example (cf. I
Corinthians 11:1). Clearly if the Bible says we are allowed to
do something or demonstrates early Christians doing something with
God’s approval, we can as well. Some, however, struggle to
understand the concept of the Bible authorizing through Necessary Inference. That is, some actions and works are
specifically authorized because they must be performed to
accomplish the works that are directly stated or exemplified for
us. An example of authorizing or even commanding by Necessary
Inference can be found in Romans
10:13-15. D.
Third, some misunderstand the concept of action and work
being authorized specifically and being authorized generically.
When God specifies an action, everything else in that class is
refused. When God told Noah to build an ark out of gopher wood (Genesis
6:14), all other kinds of wood were thereby condemned.
However, at the same time God did not specify the lengths of wood
or how that wood was to be put together. Thus, by generic
authority God allowed Noah to decide how long or wide the pieces
of wood could be and how to get them to stick together. Those who
do not recognize the authoritative power of necessary inference
and who struggle with understanding the difference between
specific and generic authority will not allow for Bible classes
and sometimes will not allow for the church to own property and
build a building to house their assemblies. Further, missing the
point that specific authority excludes all other actions in the
class cause some to bring the instruments of music into their
worship. E.
Fourth, we recognize that while the Old Testament is for
our learning (Romans 15:4),
there has been a change of God’s law and the New Testament is
our standard of authority (Hebrews
7:12; 8:6-13). Here we find what renders the difference
regarding the use of mechanical instruments to accompany singing.
Those who use the Old Testament as authority will have
instruments. Those who use the Old Testament for learning how God
deals with His covenant people, but use the New Testament as our
covenant and law will not use the instruments. II.
Different understandings regarding the spiritual nature of
a local church’s work and mission. A.
We can summarize the purpose of the church and its work
with a couple of passages. According to I
Timothy 3:15, the church is the “pillar and support of the
truth.” Further, in Ephesians
3:10, we learn that God’s eternal purpose for the church was
that the church would make known the wisdom of God. The local
church’s job is to hold up the truth. B.
Thus, we learn that the church is to proclaim the gospel,
teaching people how to be in fellowship with God and how to grow
in that fellowship. That is our only job. The church’s job is
not… 1.
… to provide
recreation, sponsoring ball teams, building gymnasiums or
“fellowship” halls, planning, providing or paying for
“fellowship” meals or sending the young to Six Flags. 2.
… to promote social
work, sponsoring food pantries or inner city soup kitchens,
building counseling centers or providing counseling services for
everyone with emotional trouble, running orphan’s homes or
paying bills for every person who hits hard times. 3.
… to provide relief
to the world, sending out “medical missionaries” to build
health clinics or provide flu shots, planning mission trips to
build houses in destitute countries or establishing welfare funds
for our country’s poor. 4.
... to provide
secular education, running daycares, sponsoring or supporting
private schools, or running tutoring hotlines. 5.
… to promote
political agendas, hosting campaign rallies, preaching support
of particular candidates or providing headquarters for political
candidates. C.
When we look to the New Testament churches, we do not find
any of those works. We simply find churches planning, providing
and paying for whatever was necessary to worship God and to teach
His will to the lost and the saved. The only exception to this was
allowing churches to benevolently take care of Christians, such as
the widows mentioned in Acts
6. D.
Most churches, even among the denominations, claim the
proper mission. Yet they are involved in all those other things as
well. They justify it by saying that these other works are simply
their means by which they draw people to the real spiritual work
of teaching. But John
6:44-45 demonstrates the only drawing power God uses. He does
not need us to develop secular or material draws to bring people
in so we can teach them. Rather, He expects people to be drawn to
Him by teaching. III.
Different understandings regarding the purpose of worship. A.
We will find a number of differences regarding worship in
churches. These range from having “children’s church” to
keep the kids out of mom and dad’s hair, to having solos, choirs
and performance based worship, to pushing for spontaneous
outbursts, to only meeting in houses so the worship can produce a
greater “horizontal” relationship with other Christians. B.
These differences, and a number of others, are caused by a
different understanding regarding the purpose of worship. John
4:24 provides the great summary regarding worship and its
purpose. “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship
in spirit and truth.” C.
The purpose of worship is not to entertain. It is not to
provide time away from the kids. It is not to spontaneously
express the emotions of our heart. It is not to draw close to
other Christians. It is not for us to get anything out of it at
all. Rather, the purpose of worship is to honor God in spirit and
truth. That is, to revere God the way He wants to be revered with
our whole person and not just by going through motions. No doubt,
when we honor God, we will get something out of it. No doubt, we
will be drawn closer to others who worship God. No doubt, we will,
at times, enjoy it. But even when those things occur it is not the
purpose of worship to accomplish those things. It is simply the
happy by-product of honoring God with our whole heart. D.
When churches get the cart before the horse with worship,
they completely restructure what they do as they assemble to
worship God. IV.
Different understandings of church organization. A.
Some of the differences caused among churches of Christ
come from a different understanding of church organization. From
the Bible we learn that there are basically three levels of
organization. There is the universal church, the local
congregation and the individual Christian. While these three are
related, they are not the same and must not be confused. B.
Regarding the universal church: Jesus promised the
establishment of His church in Matthew
16:18. In Ephesians 1:22-23, we learn Christ is the only head of this one
body. Finally, in Hebrews
12:23, we learn something very important regarding the make-up
of this universal church. The universal church is not the
collection of all the congregations that claim to be a “church
of Christ.” The universal church is the collection of all the
individuals enrolled in heaven. C.
Regarding the local church: We learn from scripture that
groups of Christians in different localities banded together to
assemble regularly to worship God (I
Corinthians 5:4; Hebrews 10:25; James 2:2), having a common
work, under a common oversight (I Timothy 5:17; I Peter 5:1-4), using a common treasury (I
Corinthians 16:1-2). One key we must highlight is that the New
Testament presents these local churches not as a collectivity of
cooperating or associated congregations to accomplish a work.
Rather, it presents them as autonomous, self-governed, working
units. According to I Peter
5:1-4, the elders are shepherds within a particular
congregation, feeding the flock among which they are appointed.
They are not granted the authority to oversee other congregations
or the work of other congregations. Nor are they appointed to
organize or oversee some cooperative missions work. Their job is
to shepherd the flock among which God appointed them as overseers
and that is it. Differences arise because some groups establish
their elders as overseers of works larger in scope than a local
church. They are going beyond the scope of what God appointed them
to do. D.
Regarding the individual Christian: While both the
universal and local church are collectivities of individual
Christians, an individual Christian is not the church. Many
practical differences come from obscuring this point. We find this
distinction made clearly in I
Timothy 5:16. In this text, individual Christians are charged
to take care of their own so that the church would not be
burdened. If the individual Christian was the church, then the
church would be burdened when the individual took care of their
own widows. However, a distinction is made between the individual
Christian and the church, whether local or universal. One common
error made among many churches today is to claim that a local
church is authorized to plan, provide or pay for some activity
because individual Christians are authorized to engage in them. A
common example is going to Galatians 6:9-10, a passage charging individuals to do good to
others, especially other Christians, and claiming authority for a
whole host of church sponsored activities that would otherwise
never even cross the Biblical radar such as private schools,
orphans homes, soup kitchens, etc. V.
Different understandings regarding biblical fellowship. A.
Some of the differences that occur among churches of Christ
are the result of a different understanding of “fellowship” in
the Bible. We must understand that this is an issue of using Bible
terms in Bible ways. The English word “fellowship” and its
Greek counterparts simply mean to share or partner in something.
To the extent that we share in anything, we can accurately claim
to have fellowship in that. B.
When we examine the New Testament, we find that fellowship
was a very important part of the early churches. In fact, in Acts
2:42, we find the very first congregation devoted itself to
fellowship. But remember, fellowship is simply sharing or
partnership. In what was this early congregation devoting itself
to share and partner? Today, the popular usage of “fellowship”
indicates sharing or partnering in social experiences. Thus we
hear about churches having fellowship meals and building
fellowship halls. How many times have you heard people pray when
they are at someone’s house for a meal, “God, thank you for
this time of fellowship.”? I even once heard a religious
comedian talk about church code language. He explained that when a
worship service was over Christians were ready to go pig out. But
they would never say, “Hey ya’ll, who wants to meet over at
Pizza Hut and pig out?” Instead they will use code language
saying, “Hey ya’ll, who wants to meet with us over at Pizza
Hut for a little fellowship?” C.
Yes, I understand to the extent we are sharing a meal
together we can use the word “fellowship” to describe that.
However, we must not believe that when we are eating a meal
together, playing a game together or watching a movie together
that we are remotely doing what the Bible commanded as fellowship.
In the KJV, the English word “fellowship” is found 14 times.
The three Greek words that are at times translated
“fellowship” are used in various forms 31 times. Not one
single time are either the English word or the Greek words used to
describe the early Christians spending time together socially. Do
not get me wrong, I know the early Christians did spend time
together socially (Acts 2:46), but Biblically it was never called fellowship. D.
The point to note is that the fellowship to which the
church devoted itself as a work of the church had nothing to do
with social time. Rather it is used to describe the sharing in
faith, worship and work that Christians maintained. Consider just
a few passages. 1.
Romans
15:26—the
Greek word is used and translated “contribution,” referring to
Christians sharing the burden of other Christians needs (This is
what was happening in Acts
2:42). 2.
I
Corinthians 10:16—the
Greek word is translated “sharing” or “communion” and
refers to the only meal in which the church sponsored joint
participation. This sharing and partnering was in Christ and with
one another through the Lord’s Supper. 3.
Philippians
1:5—the
word is used to describe supporting Paul financially as he
preached. 4.
I
John 1:3, 6, 7—the
word is used to describe partnership with Christ and with other
Christians through Christ. E.
Some differences today come from these different
understandings. Those who try to fit the modern popular usage of
the term “fellowship” into the Bible will allow the local
congregation to plan, provide or pay for all manner of social,
secular and recreational activities. Those who recognize the
Bible’s limited use of the term “fellowship” maintain a
distinction between what individual’s will do as they build
relationships with other Christians and what the church does as
part of its work. Making that distinction takes us back up to
points we have already discussed. Conclusion: Certainly, we find brethren in any congregation that baptizes sinners into Christ for the remission of their sins. However, that does not mean we can go along with everything done in every congregation that shares that foundation. Regrettably, there are differences even among the ranks of baptized believers. Most of the differences do not simply come from disagreements over particular passages but different understandings of major issues that affect how Christians view passages. I hope this overview has helped you understand the differences that exist and encouraged you to stand fast on God’s word, binding only what He has bound and loosing only what He has loosed.
Glory
to God in the church by Christ Jesus
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