The church of Christ is the body of baptized believers that have been called out of the darkness of the world by the Gospel of Jesus Christ (2 Thess. 2:14). The Gospel is the good news. It contains the account of the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:1-4). Because of the selfless sacrifice of Jesus, one has the hope of eternal life. God commands all men to obey the Gospel (2 Thess. 1:6-9). Upon obedience to this Gospel (Acts 2:38), his soul is added to the divine institution, the church of Christ. Luke wrote, “Praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved” (Acts 2:47).
The church of Christ is not a denomination. The word denomination, in and of itself, promotes division. Division goes against the very teaching of God’s Word. Jesus instructed His disciples to be “one.” Like He and the Father are one (John 17:21-22). The apostle Paul taught this same doctrine to the Christians at Corinth, “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Corinthians 1:10). How can so many denominations be “one” if they are “divided by the doctrine they claim as truth? Each denomination has a different origin, different teachings, different entrance requirements, and different expectations of self and God.
The church of Christ is not multi-denominational. That is, she does not accept the teachings of the many different denominations as truth in order to promote unity. How can there be unity in accepting all the different standards that have been created by man for the purpose of his own self-will? This movement has become popular in the religious world over the years as the denominations have seen a decrease in numbers, both physically and monetarily. These religious organizations have begun to believe if there is not a denominational name attached to “their church,” they will attract more members of the denominational world who have grown tired of “the traditional denominational churches.” Therefore, they accept whatever one believes as long as there is no condemnation of what others believe. One could say this constitutes an “anything goes” religious organization.
With so many denominational churches existing today, is it possible to find the church that our Lord built? Can one identify the church he reads about in the New Testament? What is the church of Christ?
(Lord willing, continued next week).