Ever wondered who owns the church, who is the “boss”? Let’s look at a few Biblical passages to help us understand who the church belongs to.
Let’s start with a passage from the book of Acts. Acts 20:28: “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.”
Here we have “the church of God”. Is it the name of a church? No, because then it would have been capitalized in the Greek as Eκκλησίαν, but it is written as ἐκκλησίαν. This means that is not the name of the church, but simply describing that the church belongs to God, since Christ purchased it with His own blood on the cross at Calvary.
Romans 16:16: “Salute one another with an holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you.”
Again, not a name, but simply revealing the truth that the churches belong to Christ
1 Corinthians 15:9: “For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the
church of God.”
Again, the word “Church” is not capitalized in the Koine Greek, so it is not the name of a church. It shows the possessive tense of church, as belonging to God.
(other similar passages: 1 Thessalonians 2:14; 2 Thessalonians 1:41; Timothy 3:5)
Thus, in summary, the early churches were never given an official name. The idea of “naming” churches was introduced by other religions, doctrines, or denominations. If God had wanted churches to be named, He would have told us this in His word.
1 Corinthians 1:11: “For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. 12 Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. 13 Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?”
1 Corinthians 3:22: “Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are your's; 23 And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's.”
As we can see, in the house of Chloe there were some who wanted to say the they belonged to Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas. This is no different in todays world, when you meet someone and they say, “I am a Catholic” or “Charismatic” or “Seven Day Adventist” or any other religion, sect, cult, denomination or organisation. If we belong to Christ, why would you want to put someone else’s name (or any other description) before Christ, by naming your particular church after them? Christ is not divided as stated in 1 Corinthians 1:13.
If we say that we belong to the name of a religion or denomination, instead of simply belonging to Christ, then are we really Christ’s (I am not the judge)? Who do we really belong to; Christ, the world, or another man’s doctrine or name? None of these religious names that different denominations call themselves today were ever in the Bible. In fact, the Bible speaks against saying that we are “of” a particular person, because we are not of them, we are of Christ. These people did not save us, we are Christ’s body and he is our head and therefore we should not name the church after a person, thing or idea, as it is Christ who is our Saviour and Redeemer. Remember, we are meant to be the servants and disciples of Christ, not of this world.
Finally, Micah 4:5 says that: “For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever”. And Paul says in Ephesians 4:4-5, “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in the one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and in all, and in you all.”
As we can see from Ephesians, there is only one body which is the body of believers, the Church. There should not be all these different denominations that we have today, as there is only “. . . one body, and one Spirit . . . one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all . . .”.
And that brings us to the final question. What is Christ’s doctrine? And what is and was His teachings?
The wonderful, priceless four-letter word which Christ perfectly exampled. Love. To love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind and with all our life. This translates into every aspect of our physical and spiritual life. This is and should be the likemindness between Christians, (though sadly it is not in today’s world) – that they love God and obey His Word.
Whilst on earth, Christ showed us how to live with love. He taught us love with His very own life. His teachings weren’t only what He said. His love and truth was His whole life – even just being here was by love. Every little detail of His life displayed love. Indeed, He loved even in death. 1 John 3:16: “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”
How do we know that we love God? 1 John 5:3: “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments:” This doesn’t mean the commandments of the Old Testament in the law, which were fulfilled with grace and love since Christ’s death (Romans 13:10, Romans 10:4, Galations 3:11); but the commandment of the New Testament – love. Love fulfills the Old Testament law, because to act with true love will always be to do what God wants, and is righteous in any situation. The law says “you must do”, love says “I will do because I love”. Hereby we know that to love God is to obey Him in all things, in the Truth of His Word and in all doings in our life. We must obey HIS commandments, as they are written, not what men add to it.
The greatest and most important commandment, which IS our love of God, is:
“And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.” 1 Jn 3:23
Even our very salvation is an obedience to God. For everyone alive since Christ’s death, obedience starts with the eternally relevant first obedience to God in our life, which isn’t something we physically ‘do’ but rather happens in the heart: choosing to believe. Yes, “believe” is an instruction from God – Believe on His Son Jesus Christ (Jn 3:16, Acts 16:31, Rom 10:9). “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) Once we believe and have faith in Christ, we have His love in us. (Ephesians 3:17, Ephesians 5:2, the whole book of 1 John).
When Jesus was asked, ‘“Master, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said unto him, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”’ (Mat 22:36-38). In other words, if you love the Lord with all your heart and love each other, all the other commandments and instructions will fall into place because of your love.
Let us remember this word, love, and all doctrines (teachings) of Christ will come together in our lives by our loving obedience to Christ who died for us. Let us all as Christians show our love for Christ in what we do. Let us be ‘doers of the word’ (James 1:22). Let us all be of one mind, one body, one spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father (Eph 4).
May we all be looking forward to the Lord’s coming, that day when we will be forever with Him. 1 Cor 13:12: “…now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known”. We will understand all spiritual things when we are standing with Christ.
Read 1 Corinthians chapter 13. A believer can have anything in the world, but without love we are nothing.
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