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Could
"the church" be wrong? Is it possible that a
portion---or even all of the members of a congregation
(including their elders) could be in error with respect to
doctrine and/or practice? Could several congregations be
wrong? Could a majority of congregations be wrong?
One of the most basic fallacies of Roman Catholicism is its
conception of the "infallible" church. But some one
says, "The church of the New Testament could not be
wrong!" WHICH ONE will you use as your example? The one
at Corinth? Ephesus? Laodicea? But you say "I'm referring
to the 'whole' church, the body of Christ." And I remind
you that this organism, this relation of individuals to
Christ, does not exist as a functional organization. The
characteristics of the perfect church must be gleaned piece by
piece from the divine records. By command, example, and
necessary inference we learn what Christ would have us be and
do as a local church. The divine purpose and intent alone is
without fault. In all functional churches---and here the N.T.
allows us to speak only of individual congregations---the
human element is present, and we are forbidden to use such a
church as a pattern (2
Cor.10:12).
The New Testament, the covenant or law of Christ, is that
which was set up on the first Pentecost after the resurrection
(Isa. 2:1-2; Joel 2; Acts 2)
and the body of people who accepted this law, and by a
practice of its instructions brought into being the Jerusalem
congregation, were the product---not the makers of a divine
standard. The same principle continues to this good day, and
both the First and Twentieth Century churches could and do
err. (See Rev. 2-3).
In every century, in every generation, each church must
prove its right to the name "church of Christ" by
showing identity with the divinely approved church
characteristics found in the New Testament. We must pay more
than lip-service to this principle. When we begin to think a
thing is right because a "Church of Christ"---or a
majority of the "Churches of Christ"---or ALL of the
"Churches of Christ" do or teach it, we have become
sectarian in our conception of the church, and need to revise
our thinking.
God's word is the pattern by which a true church must be cut.
Did you ever cut 2x4s to frame a wall, or pickets for a fence?
If you obtained a pattern, cut the first by that pattern, then
threw the pattern aside and cut the second by the first---and
so on---you learned the fallacy of identity by succession. Any
slight difference in the second was passed to the third---and
the slight difference of the third was added to the error of
the first, and passed on. To cut a true wall, or fence, we
must measure each cut by the original pattern. This is no less
true with reference to the church.
A crying need of our time is a firm resolve to determine right
by an appeal to God's truth, rather than to "a well
defined and clear-shown majority of the Churches of Christ in
Texas." Cancellations will be received with as much grace
as we can muster.
Robert F Turner
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