Books

Focus On The Fundamentals Of The Faith

By W. Douglass Harris

The Cause We Plead

Back of every religious movement there is a cause, or should be. And the cause we plead is no exception to the rule, but there is an exception in the nature of that cause. The cause for which we plead is as old as the human race, which is that of restoration and unity based upon divine revelation. Since sin was introduced by Satan in the Garden of Eden, restoring man to a right relation with God has been needed and will always be needed.

When divine revelation was complete as we have it in the Bible, there was a pattern revealed therein by which the ancient order of things can be restored. If there is no pattern in the New Testament for faith and practice, then the Bible is no guide at all. Centuries of man-made dogmas and practices obscured the pattern of New Testament Christianity. But with the beginning of the nineteenth century there was a concerted effort made by those disillusioned by the division and conflicting doctrines of denominationalism to search for the ancient order in matters of faith and practice and to restore it. This was a grand and eminently scriptural concept. Their battle cry was: “Stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, wherein is the good way; and walk therein” (Jeremiah 6:16). God’s plea through Jeremiah is just as valid and relevant now as it was in his day.

Pioneers of the Restoration Movement in America coined some scriptural slogans to express and focus attention on this plea. One of the slogans said, “We will speak where the Scriptures speak, and we will be silent where the Scriptures are silent.” They based this on 1 Peter 4:11, which says, “If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God.” They recognized that silence does not authorize. They also said, “We will do Bible things in Bible ways (if the way is specified, WDH), and we will call Bible things by Bible names.” What a safe course to pursue! They also articulated this scriptural formula: “In matters of faith (things clearly revealed, WDH) we will be united; in matters of opinion (things not clearly revealed, WDH) we will allow liberty; and in all things we will practice love.” Had these scriptural pronouncements been practiced since their conception, division would have never come over things about which the Scriptures are as silent as the tombs in the cemetery. If unity is ever brought about in the religious world and among alienated brethren, these scriptural principles will have to be followed.

This plea is well stated by another writer:

“1. It is a plea for the unity of all professing Christians on the basis of the New Testament, this unity to be achieved by the restoration of primitive Christianity, its laws, ordinances, and fruits. In other words, the objective is Christian unity; the basis, the New Testament; the method, restoration.

“2. Or, it may be described as a plea for the restoration of New Testament Christianity, to the end that the original unity of the church of Christ may again be realized in the church of Christ of today, with the same name, creed, discipline, ordinances, and policy.

“3. In a nutshell, it is fundamentally a pleas for Christ, comprehending the following particulars:

(a) That the name of Christ should be worn by His disciples to the exclusion of all human names;
(b) That the living, reigning, interceding Christ should be the only creed of His church.
(c) That the word of Christ, or the New Testament, should be the only book of discipline accepted by His church;
(d) That the authority of Christ over His church should be recognized and restored;
(e) That the church of Christ should be exalted above all institutions, and to the disruption of denominational organizations;
(f) That the ideals of Christ should be obeyed by His people;
(g) That the ideals of Christ should be exemplified in the lives of all who wear His name;
(h) That unity in Christ, by faith, repentance, and baptism into Him, should gradually supersede all denominationalism, to the end that there may be one body of which He is both the head and the Foundation.

“The restoration plea is Christo-centric. The Lordship of Jesus is the distinctive message of the New Testament, and hence the Restoration Movement.”