Churches of Christ and the Bible

2016-10-29

These churches were born out of a nineteenth century movement referred to as the Restoration Movement. The original intent of the movement was to (1) restore the church to the patterns of the New Testament, and (2) move away from sectarianism and toward unity. Understand that these are very noble goals. I do not think there are any Christians out there that would argue with these goals. However, succeeding generations moved completely away from those goals. In fact, when it comes to unity, they are the most divisive lot ever, arguing over whether communion should have one or multiple cups. We will examine the most superficial issues with these churches first, and then we will discuss the root cause of their problems.

Works Salvation

The churches of Christ are a very flesh-oriented, works-oriented group. To truly be saved, one must not only hear the Gospel and believe, but also repent of sins, be baptized, and continue to live a good life. Salvation is much contingent on what a person does rather than what Christ has done. Baptism seems to be the most essential aspect of salvation in this group. I discuss baptism and repentance from sin elsewhere, and will not discuss them here again. The bottom line is that an unregenerate person cannot turn from sin in any possible way.

The churches of Christ teach that divorce and remarriage is adultery, and they do well by teaching this. However, when you teach that a divorced and remarried couple must get divorced first to be saved, then you have works salvation. Some also teach that one can divorce the second spouse and return to the first, which is called an abomination in the Bible (Deuteronomy 24:4). I discuss the whole issue of divorce and remarriage elsewhere.

Un-Denominational

The churches of Christ are very anti-denominational. I personally believe that churches should be independent and not under another denomination or organization, for “Christ is the head of the church” (Ephesians 5:23). However, the churches of Christ declare anyone in a denomination damned. There is no salvation outside of their churches. Their churches have replaced Christ as the Savior.

This also is another tenet in their works salvation. If you do not belong to one of these churches bearing the right name, then you cannot be saved. Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ is the only requirement for salvation (Acts 16:31). The only way a church saves people is by preaching the gospel. A church does not save people; the Lord Jesus Christ saves people.

Consider this example:

And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us. But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is on our part. For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward. (Mark 9:38-41)

Here we see a man who was serving Christ, but he was not one of the chosen disciples. Jesus commands His disciples to leave Him alone because he is ultimately on their side. Even if we were to assume that the churches of Christ were the “real” body of Christ, they should recognize that others who preach Christ that come from other backgrounds can be saved and serve God.

Instrumental Music

Music in any church is a part of the church’s teaching, as we see in Colossians 3:16. We would never want something that would take away from that teaching. Musical instruments can potentially do this if they are a distraction. Lots of noise that takes away from the words of the hymns is not beneficial.

Many churches of Christ do not allow any kind of musical instruments in worship. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having no musical instruments in church. It does become wrong, however, when you reject others and make a cappella singing a requirement to be a true church or for people to be saved.

If we are commanded to sing psalms like it does in Colossians 3:16, many of the Psalms of the Bible were to be sung with musical instruments. At a minimum, the following psalm titles indicated musical instruments were used: Psalms 4:1; 5:1; 6:1; 8:1; 12:1; 45:1; 54:1; 55:1; 61:1; 67:1; 69:1; 76:1; 81:1; 84:1.

Regarding the twenty-four elders in God’s throne room, we read this: “And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints” (Revelation 5:8). These men are praising God in His very presence in His throne room. If praising God with harps in His throne room is okay, then surely we can do the same in a local congregation here on earth. In Revelation 14:1-3, we read the same thing where there are “harpers harping with their harps” (Revelation 14:2). In Revelation 14:3, they are singing a “new song” which refers to praising God (cf. Psalm 40:3). We see it again in Revelation 15:2 where believers have harps.

One of the claims of the churches of Christ is “to speak where the Bible speaks and to remain silent where the Bible is silent in all matters that pertain to religion.” Because they do not see musical instruments in an actual local church in the New Testament, they rigidly apply this rule here, even though we see heavenly congregations playing harps praising God.

No Adamic Sin

The first of two major root problems with the churches of Christ is the rejection of Adamic sin. The Bible reads, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). Romans 5 thoroughly goes through in detail how Adam’s rebellion in the garden spread to the entire human race. We are not only sinners because we sin; we are sinners because we are the descendants of Adam (Romans 5:19). When sin is reduced to mere moral pollution, we have a shallow view of sin, and we begin to think that we can save ourselves with a series of good works.

We were “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1), and we needed to be delivered “from the power of darkness,” (Colossians 1:13), “having no hope” (Ephesians 2:12). We were sinners when we were conceived (Psalm 51:5). We were alienated from God, and He had to unilaterally deliver us from an eternity in hell. Read more about this here.

A Limited Holy Spirit

The second root problem is the limited nature of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has a central role in our salvation. Without the Holy Spirit, any “salvation” we could have is insecure and powerless at best.

Romans 8:9: “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” Every believer has the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 1:13: “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.” We are sealed by the Holy Spirit. We see this again in Ephesians 4:30, that we are sealed “unto the day of redemption.”

Acts 1:8: “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” By the power of the Holy Spirit we are to be witnesses for Christ and share the Gospel. Good works are the fruit of the Holy Spirit, and not from ourselves.

Conclusion

It is no wonder that the churches of Christ depend on good works to save them, given these last two points. If our sin is only a little moral decay, then it is not so bad. If we do not have the power of the Holy Spirit in salvation and service, then we are will always be suspicious if we have done enough works to be saved or keep our salvation.

But if our sin is something we inherently have from our conception forward, alienating us from God, then we need God to do 100 percent of our salvation, and the Holy Spirit needs to keep us from falling. Christ died on the cross for us 2,000 years ago, and rose again, so we can know we are saved and serve Him. He did everything for us. All we need to do is trust in what He already has done for us on our behalf.