E-MAIL QUESTIONS ANSWERED
DAVID L. ODOM
>Are you a member of the Church of Christ
denomination or association of churches which >believes in baptismal regeneration
and does not use musical instruments in worship? Are >you in any way
associated with the Boston Church of Christ Movement?
Hello _____, good to hear from you.
Yes, I am a member of the church you read about in the New Testament. I do not
believe in denominationalism since I cannot find Scriptural authority for such
government in religion. Man-made religions and man-made doctrines cannot be a
part of our service unto our Creator if we want to be 'true worshipper's' in
His sight (Jn. 4:23,24).
I do not believe in any 'association of churches' because it is beyond what is
authorized in the New Testament. Yes, I believe the inspired apostles taught
that we must be immersed into Christ (in water) in order to obtain remission of
sins.
I do not believe that God is pleased when we 'add' to His authority, and using
mechanical instruments of music in worship unto Him is without Scriptural
authority under the New Covenant.
No, I am in no way associated with the 'Boston Church of Christ Movement' I
believe that many of their doctrines are from man, not God's Word.
If you have any questions concerning these Bible subjects, please let me know.
I will do my best to try and answer them with Scriptures. May we be willing to
'search the Scripture's' to examine ourselves to see whether we are 'in the
faith' (Acts 17:10; II Cor. 13:5)
May God receive all glory, honor, and praise.
Yours in Christ,
David
Hello _______, good to hear from you again.
>Thank you for responding to my email. I appreciate the fact
that the Church of Christ is >Trinitarian. The "Trinity" is a
man-made term not found in the Bible, but I assume >nevertheless you believe
in the Trinity and use the term against heretics like the JWs. I >believe in
the Trinity and use the term without a problem. My point is that there are
>some "man-made" things we use as part of our faith. Language
terms that help us define >doctrine is one such example.
Yes _____, most of those on this planet that use the assembly name of 'church
of Christ' believe in the Bible doctrine of three Beings in the Eternal Deity
we find in the inspired Word. No, I don't use the term against heretics like
the jw's! I don't care for the term since the Creator didn't use it! I highly
suspect anything in religion (terms included) that
are not used in the Koine Greek.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it is wrong to use the term. I use some
terms to talk about certain actions in the Bible, such as the 'Gospel plan of
salvation' which describes a number of steps we must take in order to be saved
from our past sins, and become christian's in the sight of the Creator. But for
a specific doctrine in the Bible, I will use what God used, and in the case of
Jehovah, He used 'Godhead', 'Divinity', and 'Deity', not 'Trinity'. Please bear
in mind I Peter 4:11; "If and man speak, let him speak as the oracles of
God..." That's what I am trying to do. And it is also easier to convert
those who are in false doctrine's when you use Bible terms, and can show them
those terms in the Bible! I think 'man-made' designations cause more problems
than they help! Why can't we just practice I Pet. 4:ll?
Something else comes into play as we discuss this, and that is, when God
specifies in a certain class, that excludes all others in that class, unless He
authorizes something else in that class! Noah is one example; 'Gopher wood',
thus, Noah was restricted from using any other kind of wood to build the ark
out of. Nadab & Abihu used 'strange fire' which God had not commanded them:
(Lev. 10:1,2 with 6:8-13;16:12,13).
Another example; God has given us the authority to call ourselves 'christians'
religiously (Acts 11:26; ["were called" here is 'divinely directed' -
'chrematizo']; 26:28; I Pet. 4:16. He also authorized other terms; 'disciples',
'saints', 'brethren', but where do we find authority to use 'human' names
religiously? If we so do, we step outside of God's authority (II John 9), and
face God's wrath. A good example of one who knew the Bible teaching on this was
Martin Luther. He begged those who followed his teachings NOT to wear his name
religiously! He told them that he was not crucified for them! He well knew I
Corinthians 1:10-13. Yet they paid no attention to him on this subject, and
thus we have the 'Lutheran church' today! Is that from God or from man? Where
in the Holy Scriptures can we justify those things being done in religion where
Scriptural authority is not found?
>What I don’t understand is how the Church of Christ is not
a denomination or even an >association of churches. How are all of the
churches linked or united on earth, more >specifically on an ecclesiastical
level? Do the churches get together and hold conventions >or meetings
jointly like a synod? Are the churches all completely united doctrinally?
Look in your New Testament, what do you see? What was the organizational setup
as put forth by the inspired apostles and prophets of the first century?
Therein will you find the answer to this question. You will find that each
local congregation was autonomous (self-governing); that there was no
organizational structure larger than the local church! (Acts
20:28;14:23;I Pet. 5:2). If you find any government larger than the local
congregation, let me know the Scriptures.
In other words, the 'universal' church (Mt. 16:18) has no ecclesiastical level
on the earth, and never had! Again, this is an 'addition' from men, not God,
and don't forget, there are only 'two' sources of authority in religion: either
from heaven or from men: Mt. 21:25.
Each local church is responsible toward God to be doctrinally correct. If one
of the local congregations goes away from the Creator's doctrine, the doctrine
of Christ in some facet, and start 'adding to', or 'taking away' from God's
authority, all of the other local congregations, not being 'tied' to that cong.
will not be affected, unless false teachers come in among them and persuade
them to go into the error! The denominational concept of the church allows for
the 'bad apple' or 'false teaching & practice' to immediately spread to the
entire 'association'! God well knew what He was doing when He set the Lord's
church up on only the local level on this earth.
>Must one be baptized in your church by one of your
ministers to be saved? In other >words, are those outside of your church
truly saved Christians?
The Scriptures show no authority concerning who is to do the baptizing. The
emphasis is upon what the one who is being baptized believes! The New Testament
baptism is the portal that connects us with the blood of Christ so that we can
have our sins washed away: Acts 2:38, Rom. 6:3,4; I Pet. 3:21; Gal. 3:26,27; II
Cor. 5:17; Acts 22:16; John 3:5; Mk. 16:16; Col. 2:12,13; etc. Of course, we
must first believe the Truth, then repent of our sins,
and confess Christ (Acts 2:37,38; 3:19; 8:35-39; 10:47,48 with 11:14; 16:31-34;
Rom. 10:9,10; Lk. 13:3,5; I Tim. 6:12 to name a few.)
I know, this is not what the denominational world is teaching! The 'faith only'
doctrine is very popular today, and baptism is looked upon as simply an
'outward sign of an inward change' (no Scripture for this thought), and is
taught as something to be administered to a 'christian', not to those in sin.
But that is not what was happening in the New Testament times! Study the above
passages very carefully, and allow God's inspired Word to
influence your heart and to see through the man-made teachings, and clearly see
God's teaching.
The answer to the last part of this last thought about baptism is YES, if they
have been taught properly as the inspired apostles taught concerning baptism,
if they know that their baptism (immersion) was into Christ (His body) for the
remission of sins, then, they were added by God to the Lord's church you read
about in the New Testament, just as those 3,000 were added on the day of
Pentecost in Acts 2:41.
>Many churches claim to be the New Testament Church.
Yes, that is quite correct ____. The way you can tell whether they are truly a
'New Testament church' is to compare them to the 'pattern' found in the N.T.
Yes, we have a pattern for all that the Lord has authorized for us to be
involved in religiously: Heb. 8:5,6; And we must take heed how we build on the
foundation that God has set up: I Cor. 3:9-17.
There is only one church, one body that we must be 'in' if we want to be saved:
Eph. 4:4; 1:22,23; 5:23; I Cor. 12:13. Then we must find a local group that is
patterning themselves after the New Testament pattern in their worship, work,
and word, and if we can't find one, then we need to start one in our own homes!
We must be 'true worshippers', and in order to be that, we must be about our
business of doing God's will, which includes worshipping Him in assembling
ourselves together: Heb. 10:25, and taking the Lord's supper on the first day
of the week: Acts 20:7; I Cor. 11:20-34.
I Hope these passages help you in your seeking Truth.
God bless,
Your servant in Christ, David
The churches of Christ (non-institutional)
