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The Truth about the Church This issue is devoted to one of the most precious doctrines of the Reformation Movement, and at one time that was more evident than it seems to be of late. Granted, there have been times when some of our ministers seem to have exalted the church even above Jesus Christ. As a reaction, some cry, “We need to preach Christ, not the church.” I really think that is a false dichotomy. We do not have to choose between which we will preach, as Dr. C.E. Brown demonstrated so ably in his We Preach Christ, which bore the subtitle of A Handbook of Christian Doctrine. Warner Press has recently re-released it under a new title—A Primer of Christian Doctrine. As the Warner Press catalog description says, “Christian theology makes sense when you start with the doctrine of Jesus Christ.” Jesus Christ is the Head of the church, the door into the church, the Bridegroom of the church, the Founder of the church, the Foundation of the church, the Savior of the church, the One Who sets the members into the church, the One Who baptizes the church with the Holy Spirit—and anything else connected with the church finds its source in Jesus
Christ. Indeed, He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, the Author and finisher of our faith.
Our emphasis on the church being a universal body and not identified with any sect or all sects, however, is not unique or even original with us. For example, the Plymouth Brethren, a group originating in the United Kingdom in the early nineteenth century, claims the same vision.
Their website contains the following statement: “Our beliefs are founded on the Holy Bible, the text common to all Christian churches. This was formally recognized in the 1926 United States ‘Census of Religious Bodies’: ‘“The body classified as Plymouth Brethren disclaim any designation whatever save those that the Scriptures apply to all believers as Christians. To accept any specific title would imply that they are a sect, which they deny, sects or divisions being condemned in 1 Corinthians 1 v. 10-15’.”
The Churches of Christ Restoration Movement not only shares a history similar to ours in several respects, but also some striking similarities in our understanding of the nature of the church and our relationships with other Christians. H. Eugene Johnson reports that at the Centennial Convention of these Christians, S. M. Martin preached a sermon in which he stated, “The two prominent aims of the current Reformation have been, first, the conversion of sinners, and second, the restoration of the lost unity of the church.”
The Churches of God, General Conference (Winebrennarians), holds a view of the church that none of us would fault. We read on their official web page: “We believe that the Christian Church is the entire body of believers in Jesus Christ, who is the founder and only head of the Church. The Church is the union of all believers of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord who desire to see every human being come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 2:3-4).”
Probably most of us would heartily endorse the following words: “The Church of our text [Matt. 16:18] is made up of all true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, of all who are really holy and converted people. It comprehends all who have repented of sin, and fled to Christ by faith, and been made new creatures in Him. It comprises all God’s elect, all who have received God’s grace, all who have been washed in Christ’s blood, all who have been clothed in Christ’s righteousness, all who have been born again and sanctified by Christ’s Spirit. All such, of every name, and rank, and nation, and people, and tongue, compose the Church of our text. This is the body of Christ. This is the flock of Christ. This is the bride. This is the Lamb’s wife. This is ‘the holy catholic and apostolic Church,’ of the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed. This is ‘the blessed company of all faithful people’ spoken of in the communion service of the Church of England. This is ‘THE CHURCH ON THE ROCK.’” I have heard saints shout when they heard these words read in a camp meeting service—and they were totally unaware that the author was a Bishop in the Church of England! (That might have curbed their enthusiasm.)
The purpose of this introduction, and of this issue of Truth Matters is not to show how unique our Movement is, but to show that all the truths we hold are held by devout Christians, many of whom have never heard of us. One of my favorite quotes, attributed to one of the earliest leaders of Church of Christ movement, goes like this: “Remember, we are Christians only, but not the only Christians.” Sometimes those who strive to see the church restored to her primitive unity and purity forget that.
2012-20-13 Resource Catalog, 4. The Christian Church Plea (Cincinnati: Standard, 1975) 8 www.cggc.org, “What we believe about the Church” (July 2013) J.C. Ryle. Examples of Holiness (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1976) 89
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