Books

Focus On The Fundamentals Of The Faith

By W. Douglass Harris

The Church as Jesus Built It

When Christ, through His apostles, established His Church, it was what He wanted it to be in every respect. If He had desired it to be different, since He was the builder (Matthew 16:18), that was the time for Him to set it up differently. All who accept the New Testament as divinely inspired believe there is a pattern for the church revealed therein. In its divine aspects, it was as Jesus built it, and we have no authority to change it or re-structure it. But looking at the religious world today, how can we identify that church?

Planned Eternally — According to Paul, it was in the mind of God from eternity past (Ephesians 3:10,11; Colossians 1:26). This means that the church as built by Christ was not an afterthought or contingency action of Christ. It was not a substitute for the kingdom, but it is that kingdom foretold by the Old Testament prophets (Daniel 2:44; Matthew 16:18,19). Did John the Baptist, the twelve apostles, the seventy sent out by Christ under the limited commission, and Christ Himself, who proclaimed the kingdom was “at hand”, prove to be false prophets (Matthew 3:1,2; 10:7; Luke 10:1-9)? This is what the “postponement theory” does to eighty-four God-sent preachers — it makes them false prophets.

Time and Place of Origin — Inspired prophetic statements specified the time and place of its origin as the last days in Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:1-3; Luke 24:46,47). “Last days” refers to the last age of time covered by the Bible (Hebrews 1:1,2). This was fulfilled on the Pentecost of Acts 2. All prophecy about the church before that day points to Acts 2; all references to the church after that day point back to its origin on the Pentecost of Acts 2 (see Acts 11:15). Any church started at another place and time could not be the one Jesus built.

Divine Designations — Although the church Jesus built has no proper name, there are certain designations that are used by inspiration to distinguish it. A variety of designations are applied to its members collectively and individually. Collectively, they are called “churches of Christ” (Romans 16:16), “churches of God” (2 Thessalonians 1:4), and “churches of the saints” (1 Corinthians 14:33). Individually, they are called “Christians” (Acts 11:26), “saints” (Philippians 1:1), or “brethren” (Romans 12:1). All of these designations are of divine origin and have special significance. The church, as Jesus built it, accepts these divine designations only. Designations unknown to the New Testament would be a departure from the divine pattern and not as Jesus intended.

Government — As described in the New Testament, each congregation was an autonomous unit with Christ as the only head (Colossians 1:18; Ephesians 1:22,23). “Autonomous” means “self-governing; independent”. There was no organizational structure which tied together a diocese, district, parish, conference, or association. There was no such distinction as “clergy”, who wore high-sounding titles, as distinguished from the “laity”. The highest organization was that of the local congregation with its elders and deacons, when fully organized. Divine wisdom is indicated in this arrangement to prevent all congregations from going into apostasy if one does. Any church under any other head with any form of man-made government could not be the church as Jesus built it.

Plan of Salvation — Jesus built His church to be His exclusive body of the saved, and His inspired ambassadors were authorized to stipulate the conditions by which sinners could be saved and added thereto (Mark 16:15,16; Matthew 28:10,20; Luke 24:46-49). With the authority to bind these conditions (Matthew 16:19; 18:18), the book of Acts records the acts of His apostles in obedience to His commands (Acts 2, 8, 9, 10, 16, etc.) When properly analyzed and collated, we learn that they all obeyed the same commands (believed, repented, confessed, and were baptized for remission of sins), and were added by the Lord to His church (Acts 2:47). Any church that does not teach and bind this divine plan surely is not the one that Jesus built.

System of Worship — Christ authorized the worship of the church He built (John 4:24; Colossians 3:17). It must be directed to the right object (Matthew 4:10; John 4:24; Revelation 19:10), and through the divinely authorized avenues (Acts 2:42; Galatians 5:18,19; Colossians 3:16), for such does the Lord seek to be His worshippers (John 4:23). Curses are pronounced against those who would add, subtract, or substitute humanly authorized acts for these divine acts (Galatians 1:6-8; 1 Corinthians 4:6; 1 Peter 4:11). Any church which does more or less than teach the gospel, observe the Lord’s supper weekly, pray, give of its means, and sing (a cappella) is not the church as Jesus built it.

Conclusion — We dare not lay unholy hands on any of these divine aspects of the divine elements of the church as Jesus built it, to change them by perversion, adulteration, substitution, or deletion. To do so is to defy the authority of heaven and rob Christ of the glory He is to receive through His church throughout all ages as He built it (Ephesians 3:21).