Church of Christ Doctrine
(Taken from the pamphlet "The Churches of Christ...Who Are These People?"
by Joe R. Barnett)
Worldwide there are some 20,000 congregations of churches of Christ with a
total of 2-1/2 to 3 million individual members. The greatest concentration of
numerical strength in churches of Christ is in the southern United States, yet
there are churches of Christ in every state of the United States and in 109
other countries.
People Of Restoration Spirit
Members of the churches of Christ are a people of restoration spirit -
wanting to restore in our time the original New Testament church. To do this the
churches of Christ endeavor to go back to the scriptures to see what the church
was in its beginning, and then to recover in the twenty-first century the
essence of the original church.
In the latter part of the 18th century, men of different denominations, studying
independently of each other, in various parts of the world, began to ask:
- Why not go back beyond denominationalism to the simplicity and purity of
the first-century church?
- Why not take the Bible alone and once again continue "steadfastly in the
apostles' teaching..." (Acts
2:42)?
- Why not plant the same seed (the Word of God,
Luke 8:11), that first century Christians planted, and be Christians
only, as they were?
These men were pleading with everyone to throw off denominationalism, to
throw away human creeds, and to follow only the Bible. They taught that nothing
should be required of people as acts of faith except that which is evident in
the scriptures. They emphasized that going back to their Bible does not mean the
establishment of another denomination, but rather a return to the original
church.
Members of the churches of Christ are enthusiastic about this approach. With the
Bible as our only guide we seek to find what the original church was like and
restore it exactly. We do not see this as arrogance, but the very opposite. We
are saying that we do not have the right to ask for men's allegiance to a human
organization Ñ but only the right to call upon men to follows God's blueprint.
Each Congregation Is Self-Governed
Churches of Christ have none of the trappings of modern-day organizational
bureaucracy. There are no governing boards - neither district, regional,
national nor international Ñ no earthly headquarters and no man-designed
organization.
Each congregation is autonomous (self-ruled) and is independent of every other
congregation. The only tie which binds the many congregations together is a
common allegiance to Christ and the Bible. Each congregation is governed locally
by a plurality of elders selected from among the members. These are men who meet
the specific qualifications for this office given in
1
Timothy 3 and
Titus
1. There are also deacons in each congregation and these must meet the
qualifications of
1
Timothy 3.
Items Of Worship
Worship in churches of Christ centers in five items, the same as in the
first-century church. We believe the pattern is important. Jesus said: "God is
spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth" (John
4:24). From this statement we learn three things:
- Our worship must be directed to the right object...God;
- It must be prompted by the right spirit;
- It must be according to truth.
To worship God according to truth is to worship Him according to His Word,
because His Word is truth (John
17:17). Therefore we must not exclude any item found in His Word, and we
must not include any item not found in His Word. In matters of religion we are
to walk by faith (2
Corinthians 5:7). Since faith comes from hearing the Word of God (Romans
10:17), anything not authorized by the Bible cannot be done by faith...and
whatever is not of faith is sin (Romans
14:23).
The five items of worship observed by the first-century church were singing,
praying, preaching, giving and eating the Lord's Supper. If you are acquainted
with churches of Christ you are probably aware that in two of these items our
practice is different from that of most religious groups. Let us focus on these
two items and state our reasons for what we do.
A Capella Singing
In the churches of Christ we sing without the use of mechanical instruments
of music. A cappella singing, meaning without instrumental accompaniment, is the
only music used in our service. Here, too, we are attempting to worship
according to the instructions given in the New Testament. The New Testament
leaves out instrumental music, therefore, we believe it is right to leave it
out.
There are only 8 verses in the New Testament on the subject of music in worship,
and they are as follows:
- "And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives" (Matthew
26:30).
- "...about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to
God..." (Acts
16:25)
- "Therefore I will praise thee among the Gentiles, and sing to thy name"
(Romans
15:9).
- "... I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also" (1
Corinthians 14:15).
- "... be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and
hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all
your heart" (Ephesians
5:18-19).
- "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as you teach and admonish
one another in all wisdom, and as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God" (Colossians
3:16)
- "I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church
will I sing praise unto thee" (Hebrews
2:12).
- "Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him
sing praise" (James
5:13).
The mention of musical instruments is conspicuously absent in these passages.
Historically, the first appearance of instrumental music in church worship was
not until the sixth century A.D., and there was no general practicing of it
until after the eighth century.
Instrumental music was strongly opposed by such religious leaders as John
Calvin, John Wesley and Charles Spurgeon because of its absence in the New
Testament.
Weekly Observance Of The Lord's Supper
Churches of Christ are different from many in that we observe the Lord's
Supper on the first day of every week. Again, our reason centers in our
determination to follow the teaching of the New Testament. It says, describing
the practice of the first-century church, "And upon the first day of the
week...the disciples came together to break bread..." (Acts
20:7).
Some have objected that the text does not specify the first day of every week.
This is true Ñ just as the command to observe the Sabbath did not specify every
Sabbath. The command was simply to "remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy"
(Exodus 20:8). The Jews understood this to mean every Sabbath. It seems to us
that by the same reasoning "the first day of the week" means the first day of
every week.
Again, we know that Christians in those early centuries took the Lord's Supper
every Sunday.
Terms Of Membership
There is no separate set of rules or ceremonies which one must follow to be
inducted into the church. When a person becomes a Christian they, at the same
time, become a member of the church. No further steps are required to qualify
for church membership.
On the first day of the churches existence those who repented and were baptized
were saved (Acts
2:38). And from that day forward all those who were saved were added to the
church (Acts
2:47). According to this verse it was God who did the adding. Therefore, in
seeking to follow this pattern, we neither vote people into the church nor force
them through a required series of studies. We have no right to demand anything
beyond their obedient submission to the Savior.
The conditions of pardon which are taught in the New Testament are:
- One must hear the gospel, for "faith comes from hearing the word of God
(Romans
10:17).
- One must believe, for "without faith it is impossible to please God" (Hebrews
11:6).
- One must repent of past sins, for God "commands all men, everywhere to
repent" (Acts
17:30).
- One must confess Jesus as Lord, for He said, "He that confesses me
before men, him will I also confess before my father who is in heaven" (Matthew
10:32).
- And one must be baptized for the remission of sins, for Peter said,
"Repent, and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the
remission of your sins..." (Acts
2:38).
Emphasis On Baptism
Churches of Christ have a reputation for placing much stress on the need for
Baptism. However, we do not emphasize baptism as a "church ordinance," but as a
command of Christ. The New Testament teaches baptism as an act which is
essential to salvation (Mark
16:16,
Acts 2:38,
Acts 22:16).
We do not practice infant baptism because New Testament baptism is only for
sinners who turn to the Lord in belief and penitence. An infant has no sin to
repent of, and cannot qualify as a believer.
The only form of baptism we practice in churches of Christ is immersion. The
Greek word from which the word baptize comes means "to dip, to immerse, to
submerge, to plunge." And the scriptures always point to baptism as a burial (Acts
8:35-39,
Romans 6:3-4,
Colossians 2:12).
Baptism is extremely important because the New Testament sets forth the
following purposes for it:
It is to get into the church (1
Corinthians 12:13,
Ephesians 1:23).
Since Christ died for the sins of the whole world and the invitation to share in
His saving grace is open to everyone (Acts
10:34-35,
Revelation 22:17)., we do not believe that anyone is predestined for
salvation or condemnation. Some will choose to come to Christ in faith and
obedience and will be saved. Others will reject His plea and be condemned (Mark
16:16). These will not be lost because they were marked for condemnation,
but because that is the path they chose.
Wherever you are at this moment, we hope you will decide to accept the salvation
offered by Christ and that you will offer yourself in obedient faith and become
a member of this church.
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