CHURCHES OF CHRIST ARE NOT A DENOMINATION

By Bob Myhan

Many seem to think the churches of Christ make up the “Church of Christ” denomination. While there may indeed be a “Church of Christ” denomination, it is a mistake to assume that all churches of Christ are a part of such. A church of Christ is simply a collectivity of Christians. By “collectivity” is meant “a number of persons taken or acting together." This can be illustrated with the words, “link,” “links” and “chain.” A chain is neither a link nor a mere plurality of links; it is a collectivity of links. A plurality of links must be “linked together” in order to constitute a chain.

Likewise, there is a difference between “Christian,” “Christians” and “church.” The word "church" is used in the New Testament in at least two senses: the universal sense--all Christians “taken ... together” (Matt. 16:18; Acts 2:47) and the local sense--Christians “acting together” as a collective unit, ideally under the oversight of qualified men serving as elders (Matt. 18:17; Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-11). The universal church never acts collectively for it has no organizational framework through which to function as a collective unit. Therefore, the action of the universal church is always distributive; that is, the action is distributed among the individual members—Christians everywhere. In other words, the universal church acts only as Christians act individually. A local church, on the other hand, not only acts distributively but also collectively, through its organizational framework.

In Matt. 18:15-17, Jesus makes an obvious distinction between the action of an individual Christian, the action of a plurality of Christians, and the action of a local church.

"Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that 'by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.' And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.”

Further, a church of Christ is a collectivity of Christians having a common treasury. This treasury of a local church is made up, primarily, of shared funds of its individual members (1 Cor. 16:2). Each member also contributes other things, such as goods, services, knowledge and understanding of the gospel and any and all abilities that will expedite the work of the collective unit (Acts 2:44,45; 4:34,35; Rom. 1:16; 1 Cor. 12:12-27; Eph. 4:12-16; Phil. 1:1). The local church acts collectively as these things are utilized.

Still further, a church of Christ is a collectivity of Christians having a common treasury carrying out a collective work. Its collective work is threefold: providing for the edification of its members (Eph. 4:7-16; I Cor. 14:1-5, 26), supporting evangelism (Acts 13:1-5; 2 Cor. 11:8-9; Phil. 4:13-16) and providing for needy saints (Acts 2:44-45; 4:32, 34-35; 6:1-6; Rom. 15:25-26).

Faith, repentance, the confession of one’s faith and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, constitutes one a member of the universal church of Christ. But one becomes a member of a local church by entering into the agreement to work together with the other members as a collective unit. This may be done by a formal, explicit statement, whether vocal or in writing or it may be implied by continuing to worship at the place where one was baptized. There is no pattern to follow in this matter as there is in becoming a Christian. Of course, a congregation needs some assurance that a prospective member is a faithful saint (Eph. 5:11). To illustrate, it was at three years after his conversion that Saul of Tarsus “went up to Jerusalem to see Peter” (Gal. 1:18).

“And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. So he was with them at Jerusalem, coming in and going out.” (Acts 9:26-28)

Saul had been a member of the universal church for at least three years. He had presumably been a member of the local church in Damascus for much of that time (Acts 9:19-22; Gal. 1:15-17). But when he returned to Jerusalem, it is understandable that he had to prove himself because of his former reputation as a persecutor of the saints (Acts 8:1-3; 9:1-2; Gal. 1:22-23). &

DID JESUS REALLY LIVE?

By Bob Myhan

Atheists and agnostics often affirm that the man identi­fied in the New Testament as Jesus of Nazareth was a fic­tional character who never existed but was similar to the American myths, Paul Bun­yan and Pecos Bill.

Is there extra-biblical evidence that Jesus lived or is the Bible our sole source of in­formation concerning His life? Consider the following:

Julius Africanus

Referring to the darkness of Matt. 27:45, Julius Africanus wrote,

“This dark­ness Thallus, in the third book of his His­tory, calls, as it appears to me without rea­son, an eclipse of the sun. For the He­brews celebrate the passover (sic) on the 14th day according to the moon, and the pas­sion of our Savior falls on the day before the passover (sic); but an eclipse of the sun takes place only when the moon comes un­der the sun. And it cannot happen at any other time but in the interval between the first day of the new moon and the last of the old, that is, at their junction: how then should an eclipse occur when the moon is almost diametrically opposite the sun?

“Phlegon records that in the time of Tiberius Caesar, at full moon, there was a full eclipse of the sun from the sixth hour to the ninth — manifestly that one of which we speak." (Written ca. A.D. 221)

Antiquities of the Jews

“Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thou­sand other wonderful things concern­ing him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day” (Josephus, writing ca. A.D. 90-95).

While it is possible, perhaps even likely, that the underlined phrases were added by someone who believed Jesus was the Son of God [Josephus did not], it is not con­tested by anyone that Josephus admit­ted that Jesus was “a wise man,” “a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleas­ure” and that Pilate “condemned him to the cross.”

Lucian of Samosata

“The Christians ... worship a man to this day - the distinguished personage who in­troduced this new cult, and was crucified on that account.... You see, these mis­guided creatures start with the general conviction that they are immortal for all time, which explains their contempt for death and self devotion ... their lawgiver [taught] they are all brothers, from the moment that they are converted, and deny the gods of Greece, and worship the cruci­fied sage, and live after his laws. All this they take on faith....” - The Passing Pere­grinus (Written during the 2nd century)

While Lucian admittedly does not men­tion Jesus by name, there is no evidence that Christians ever worshiped any other “crucified sage.”

[To be continued]