Books

Focus On The Fundamentals Of The Faith

By W. Douglass Harris

God’s Way for the Church

God has a pattern for the church, the opinions of some to the contrary notwithstanding. Some disparage this by calling it “pattern theology”, but call it what you will, the pattern is still there! “Pattern” is the very word used by the writer of Hebrews (8:5) in quoting the instructions given to Moses concerning the building of the Old Testament tabernacle. Then he added in verse 9:9, “which were a figure for the time then present.” As there was a pattern for the Jewish tabernacle, so the writer of Hebrews clearly implies that there is also one for the “true tabernacle” (Hebrews 8:2), which is the church. Since the Holy Place in the tabernacle was a type of the church, how can we escape the conclusion that God wants His church built according to a certain pattern, as He did the Old Testament tabernacle?

The church was in God’s eternal purpose. That the church was not an afterthought or contingency substitute is clearly affirmed by Paul (Ephesians 3:8-11). It was, therefore, in the mind of God from the beginning. It’s establishment was foretold by the Old Testament prophets (Isaiah 2:2-4; Daniel 2:44). Isaiah said, “In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains.” What is the Lord’s house that was to be established? Paul identifies it as the church (1 Timothy 3:15). This cannot be successfully disputed without denying the plain statements of God’s word.

Since the church and the kingdom are the same (Matthew 16:18,19; Hebrews 12:23,28), all the Old Testament prophecies referring to the establishment of the kingdom would also apply to the church.

All of the foregoing shows conclusively that the postponement theory (that Jesus because of the opposition of the Jews could not establish His kingdom when He came the first time and was forced to postpone it until His second coming) of future-kingdom advocates is false. Christ is now reigning over His kingdom, which is the church (1 Corinthians 15:24,25), and this is the only kingdom over which He will ever reign.

Structure of the church: There are many earmarks of the New Testament church, but we shall limit our present study to the scriptural structure specified in the pattern found on the pages of the New Testament. According to this pattern, Christ is the only head of the church (Ephesians 1:19-23; Colossians 1:18). There is no pope, man, or group of men over the Lord’s church. This means that He, and He alone, legislates and makes all the laws for His church. His laws and specifications for His church are embodied in the pages of the New Testament, and they are all-sufficient (2 Peter 1:4; 2 Timothy 3:16,17). According to this pattern, the church in the universal sense (including all of the saved everywhere), has no kind of machinery or organization tying the respective congregations together. Therefore, any church with an ecclesiastical structure tying local congregations into a conference, diocese, synod, or association is not Christ’s church. Any ecclesiastical organization larger than a local congregation and smaller than all the saved in the universal sense could not be the New Testament church.

Scriptural local organization: The New Testament pattern requires each congregation to be an independent, self-governing unit with a plurality of elders (pastors, shepherds, or bishops) and deacons in each congregation. There were no outside officials over these local churches in the first century, when the church was set in order under the direct guidance of Christ’s apostles. As Paul returned from his first evangelistic tour and re-visited those churches he had established previously, he appointed elders in every church (Acts 14:23). When he was returning from his third missionary journey on his way to Jerusalem, he stopped at Miletus and sent for the elders of the church at Ephesus (Acts 20:17). In the same chapter, verse 28, they are called “bishops”, showing that they were the same and that no distinction is to be made in pastors, shepherds, elders, and overseers. They all refer to the same office. Paul left Titus in Crete “that he should set in order the things that were lacking and ordain (appoint) elders in every city” (Titus 1:5). He also addressed a letter “to all the saints at Philippi (the church there), with the bishops and deacons” (Philippians 1:1). Each congregation with its members, elders, and deacons is the highest organization recognized in the New Testament, and any organization larger than this could not be God’s way for the church.

The authority of the elders (bishops) in the New Testament is limited to the congregation which selected and appointed them as elders. Organizations larger than local churches are sects, parties, or denominations, are divisions which are sinful and condemned in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 1:10; 12:25) and are contrary to our Lord’s intercessory prayer (John 17:20,21).

In the simplicity of the government of the church authorized in the New Testament, we can see the wisdom of God. And this is really Paul’s meaning in Ephesians 3:10, which says, “To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be made known by the church the manifold wisdom of God.” By each congregation’s being an independent, self-governing unit, if one congregation goes into apostasy, all the other congregations do not have to follow it. As an example, a window may have several panes and one of the panes might be broken, but the whole window would not be broken. What a great testimony to the wisdom of God!

Conclusion: We have been dedicated for a long time to the principle, “Let us speak where the Bible speaks and keep silent where the Bible is silent.” This principle applies in the area of church organization. Let us simply accept the wise structure of Christ’s church as outlined in the New Testament. In its simplest terms it is as follows: (1) Christ is the head of the church, (2) He rules through His inspired word, the Bible, (3) the elders, or bishops, or presbyters, or overseers, or pastors are Christ’s administrators, operating under the Bible and under the headship of Christ, and (4) beneath the elders are the deacons, evangelists and teachers. This is the total structure of the New Testament church.

“If this organization had been respected through the centuries, much of the religious division of our day would have been avoided. Also, most of the false doctrines that have splintered the religious world would not have been brought into the church. It is safe to conclude that if God’s original plan for the organization of the church had been respected, millions more would have been saved” (Batsell Barrett Baxter).