Expert: Ernie Laurence, Jr. - 4/9/2010

Question
Hi Ernie,

May i please know if Church of Christ is truely the first church in the world.
If the first, how do you prove that Biblicaly and historicaly?

Hope to get your response soonest.

Cornelia

Answer
Hey Cornelia,

This is certainly a question that members of the church of Christ get a lot and in my opinion its an easy one to answer.  Hopefully my answer will be thorough and straightforward enough that I answer the question according to what you were asking.

First, the word "church" is translated from ekklesia in the Greek and it refers to those who have been called out, specifically those called out of the world by God for His purposes.  If we look at how the word is used, then technically no supposedly Christian organization is the first church.  The first people ever called out of the world like this were the Israelites in Exodus.  The purpose for which they were called out of the world and made a nation, called God's children, was to bring about the fulfillment of that promises to Abraham.

If I understand, based on the reasons this question is usually asked, you are asking if the church of Christ is the church Jesus founded, the first (and only) New Testament church.  You asked me to support this Biblically and historically.  I'll do each separately.  Furthermore, since each congregation is autonomous, it is likely that there are a number of congregations who have strayed from the truth, just like you find in the Bible (Gal. 1:6-9; Rev. 2-3) so I will only really be referring to the congregation that I am a member of and any congregations that are just like her.

Biblically the question is easy to answer.  All you have to do is discover all the properties the Bible says the church should have today and see if the church of Christ has those properties.

This answer would become extraordinarily long if I were to go over every property, but I'll give you some general areas to make the point and you can ask about any specifics in follow up questions.

The church of Christ teaches and practices exactly what the New Testament teaches with regard to salvation.  The church teaches that God's grace, which is Christ and the gospel, saves man through man's obedient faith (Eph. 2:8): hearing the gospel (Rom. 10:17; James 1:21; Rom. 1:16), believing the gospel (John 3:16; Mark 16:15-16), repenting of sins (2 Cor. 7:10; Acts 2:38; Luke 13:3), confession of faith in Christ (Matt. 10:32; Romans 10:9-10), and immersion in water into Christ to receive remission of sins (Romans 6:1-18; Acts 2:38; Eph. 5:26; 1 Pet. 3:21; etc.).

The church of Christ teaches and practices exactly what the New Testament teaches with regard to organization.  Each congregation is under the direct authority of Christ as king, our only form of central government, with a plurality of married men serving as elders/bishops/shepherds over each individual congregation (2 Tim. 3:1-7; Titus 1:7f; Acts 20:17-28f).

The church of Christ teaches and practices exactly what the New Testament teaches with regard to worship.  We pray (1 Thess. 5:17), we partake of the Lord's Supper every first day of the week (1 Cor. 11:17f; 1 Cor. 16:1-2; Acts 20:7), give every first day of the week (1 Cor. 16:1-2; 2 Cor. 9:7), we study God's word (2 Tim. 3:16-17), sing to praise God and teach and admonish one another (Col. 3:16; Eph. 5:19) rather than entertain ourselves or with mechanical instruments (which cannot be found within the worship of the NT).

I could talk about doctrines of free-will vs. Calvinism, sinlessness of infants and the very young vs. original sin, amillennialism vs. millennialism in all its forms, and so on.  But as I said, you are welcome to ask about any specific doctrine and I'll show you how what we teach and practice is Biblical.

Historically the question becomes only slightly more difficult.  If one grants that the church of Christ today has the same properties as the New Testament church, then the implication is that through God's Providence that church never failed (Dan. 2:44).  While I do not believe it is necessary to do so, seeing as we follow the Biblical pattern and that is all God requires, sometimes folks like you want to know about the historical line of the church.  Men have researched this question and have traced the church back through men like Campbell and Stone, to the Haldanes over in Europe, through France and on into the dark ages under Catholicism.  Ironically, it is the Catholics that provide the best history concerning the churches of Christ because they kept records of every person they convicted of heresy or every group they came in contact with that did not teach Roman Catholic doctrines.  Those who teach free will, immersion of believers only, autonomy, and all the things that would make a congregation distinctively the church of Christ are recorded.  All you have to do is go look.

Even in the departure of the 2nd century AD from the truth and what eventually culminated in the 300's as Catholicism, we see men writing against congregations and defenders of the gospel.  Through their writings it is implied that the church, in its Biblical form, still existed.

Again, if you want to discuss any details, feel free to follow up with a specific question.

In Truth and Love,

Ernie

Cornelia,

I remembered a website that you might find interesting in response to your question.

http://traces-of-the-kingdom.org/

Hope you find it useful.