Author : Keith Sharp
A dear lady who is a member of the congregation where I preached two decades ago called and asked me to write on “Why I Am a Member of the Church of the Lord.” I told her I would be delighted to do so. There’s a long answer and a short answer.
Short Answer
First, the short answer. I’m a member of the church of the Lord because the Lord added me to it at the same time He saved me (Acts 2:47). Everyone else who has been saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-10), by hearing the preaching of the gospel (Romans 1:16; 10:13), repenting of all sins (Acts 2:38), confessing faith in Christ (Romans 10:9-10), and being baptized for the remissions of sins (Acts 2:38) has been added by the Lord to His church, which is the body of people saved through Christ (2 Timothy 2:10; Ephesians 1:3, 22-23; 5:23). There is only one such body (Ephesians 4:4; 1 Corinthians 12:20).
Long Answer
But now, the longer answer. The word “church,” when applied to the people of Christ as a group, is used in only three senses in the New Testament: the universal body of the saved (Matthew 16:18), the local congregation (1 Corinthians 1:2), and the public assembly of the local church (1 Corinthians 11:18). The term “church” is never used in Scripture to designate what we call a denomination.
Is It a Denomination?
Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary defines “denomination” as “a religious organization uniting in a single legal and administrative body a number of local congregations.” The unabridged dictionary partially defines the term “church” as “a body of Christian believers holding the same creed” (404). It recognizes a religious denomination as “a class or society of individuals called by the same name,” i.e., denominated (602). Thus, the various denominations have three characteristics in common: ecclesiastical organization tying local churches together, sectarian creeds, and party names. Does the church of the Lord have these traits?
Christ is the only Head of His church (Colossians 1:18). Since He is in heaven, His church has neither head nor headquarters on this earth. The only earthly organization revealed for the church is the local congregation (1 Corinthians 1:2). Each local church is to be governed from within by its own shepherds (1 Peter 5:1-4); thus, each congregation is independent, separate from all other congregations, and is not a part of any ecclesiastical machinery such as a diocese, synod, conference, convention, association, society, or “sponsoring church,” i.e., “overseeing eldership” organization (in which a number of local congregations do a common work through the oversight of the eldership of one sponsoring congregation). The church the Lord built lacks the first characteristic of a denomination, ecclesiastical organization tying local churches together.
Does the church of God have a human creed to bind on its members? Our word “creed” is derived from a Latin word, “credo,” which means “I believe.” A “creed” is “a brief authoritative doctrinal formula … intended to define what is held by a Christian congregation, synod, or church to be true and essential and exclude what is held to be false belief” (Webster’s unabridged. 533). If you just followed the Bible alone, would you join the Baptist church? Where do we read of the Baptist church in the Bible? One must follow a Baptist manual to become a Baptist. Furthermore, the Bible alone never made one a Catholic; it takes the catechism. It takes the Methodist Discipline to make a Methodist. The same principle is true of membership in every denomination. The Bible only and only the Bible produces Christians only and only Christians. One will simply harvest Christians (Acts 11:26) if he sows only the “incorruptible” seed, the word of God (1 Peter 1:23). The seed of the kingdom will no more produce the various denominations than seed corn will produce soy beans. Both in the natural and spiritual realms, each seed produces after its own kind (Genesis 1:11-12; 1 Peter 1:22-23; 4:16). We must neither add to nor subtract from the Bible as the authoritative guide for God’s people (Revelation 22:1819). The only creed we may accept is the Bible. The church of Christ has no human creed.
Does the church we read of in the New Testament wear party names? The apostle Paul severely rebuked the Christians in Corinth for calling themselves by various names as a means of sectarian identification (1 Corinthians 1:10-13). The church of the New Testament may be called by such names as “church of Christ” (Romans 16:16), “church of God” (1 Corinthians 1:2 ), “temple of God” (1 Corinthians 3:16), “body of Christ” (Ephesians 1:22-23), “family of God” (Ephesians 3:14-15), “bride of Christ” (Ephesians 5:22-32), “house of God” (1 Timothy 3:14-15), “church of the firstborn” (Hebrews 12:23), and “kingdom” (Hebrews 12:28) or simply be called “the church” (Acts 8:3), or even “the Way” (Acts 24:14,22). These names describe the church from various aspects. But none of these names is used exclusively as a party designation. Rather, they describe the allegiance of all God’s people. Individually we may be described as “members” (1 Corinthians 12:27), “disciples” (Acts 8:4; 9:1), or “saints” (Acts 9:13), and we should wear the proper name “Christian” (Acts 11:26; 1 Peter 4:16). But we should never identify ourselves religiously by sectarian or party names, such as Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, Lutheran, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Catholic, or even Conservative, for these names indicate party loyalty rather than undivided loyalty to Christ. The church of the Lord has no sectarian name.
If a congregation calling itself a “church of Christ” has any of these three characteristics, it is on the road to becoming part of a denomination or sect. Calling ourselves by scriptural names is important, but that alone does not make us right. I could wear a sign around my neck saying “Mack Truck,” but that wouldn’t make me a Mack truck. Having a good name alone is not enough (Revelation 3:1).
The church we read about in the New Testament has no ecclesiastical organization binding congregations to one another, no human creed, and no sectarian name. The church Jesus built is not a denomination.
Is It Composed of Denominations?
The great religious historian Philip Schaff voiced the opinion of many when he penned, in his monumental eight volume History of the Christian Church, “Every denomination and sect has to furnish some stones for the building of the temple of God.” Billy Graham demonstrated thesame attitude when he counseled those who respond to the “altar call” in his crusades, “Join the church of your choice.” Is the church of the New Testament composed of the various denominations which profess faith in Christ?
If any truth is clearly taught in the New Testament, it is that God wants believers in His Son to be one. Jesus prayed for the unity of those who believe in Him (John 17:20-21). Paul revealed to us a practical plan whereby we may “keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1-6). In spite of these plain passages, denominational preachers tell us that the existence of some three thousand or so separate religious denominations in America, most of them claiming to be part of the body of Christ, is according to God’s will. They continue to thank God for their sinful divisions and to exhort trusting, misguided souls to help foster sectarianism.
Among the “works of the flesh,” of which the apostle Paul warns, “those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God,” are “dissensions” and “heresies” (Galatians 5:19-21). “Dissensions” are “a standing apart … indicating division” (W.E. Vine, An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. 1:329), whereas “heresies” denotes:
an opinion, especially a self-willed opinion, which is substituted for submission to the power of truth, and leads to division and the formation of sects… (Ibid. 2:217).
Sectarianism is a sin which will cost one his soul. How then can denominationalism, the fruit of sectarianism, be considered acceptable to God?
The church Jesus built is not composed of denominations, nor is it sectarian in any way. We must turn away from all religious denominations, sects, and parties and have an undivided loyalty to Christ. Don’t let loyalty to a denomination or sect stand between you and salvation in Christ.
One Church as Good as Another?
Most people contend, “One church is just as good as another.” But when they do so, they are misusing the Bible word “church.” They are using it to mean “denomination.” So far as salvation, it is true that one denomination begun simply by men is as good as any other denomination begun by mere men. But is membership in any human denomination as spiritually profitable as being added by the Lord to His church? The Master warned, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted” (Matthew 15:13).
Conclusion
I am a member of the church of the Lord because the Lord added me to it when He saved me. Why would anyone join a denomination begun by men when we can all be members of the church the Lord built? No only are there are no spiritual benefits to belonging to any denomination, it is sinful to join one. But all spiritual blessings are in Christ, in His body, the church. Why not simply believe in the Lord Jesus, repent of your sins, confess your faith in Christ, and be baptized into the one body, the church?
