RELIGIOUS CONFUSION

By Charles N. Spence, Jr.

If you look around you in your communities, you could not keep from noticing the many different churches that exist there. Though it its not my intention to come down on any of these churches, I would like to point out what the apostle Paul said in Ephesians 4:4. "There is one body." The question then is, if there is "one body" that the Lord recognizes as His, which body is it, and why are so many in existence today? The first part of the question is easy to answer while the last part presents a little difficulty.

Ephesians 5:23 says that Christ is the head of the church and savior of the body. Colossians 1:18 reads, “[Jesus] is the head of the body, the church." Therefore, people need to be a part of the body or church that has Jesus as its head. This would exclude all persons or from exercising authority over the body, since the Bible, in Matthew 28:18 states that Jesus has all authority. Since Jesus has all authority and is the head of the body, the church, people need to listen to Him. Hebrews 1:1‑2 says, "God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in times post unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His son." The son speaks to the body through the inspired word and nothing else (2 Tim. 3:16). So this excludes dogmas and disciplines, church covenants, Confessions and church doctrines, since the head never inspired them nor speaks through them. People also need to be a part of the body to which God adds. Acts 2:41, 47, states that God added the saved to the church. People in the first century did not join nor did the church vote on them to become a part of the body of Christ.

Matthew 16:18 says that Christ would build His church and Acts 20:28 states that Christ purchased the church with His own blood. People need to be a part of the church that Jesus built and purchased with His blood. In Acts 8, one can see that the church was in existence and endured persecution. That means no one should be a part of any body or church that is not as old as the, New Testament.

In Acts 20:7 one can see that the disciples came together on the first day of the week to partake of the Lords supper (See also 1 Cor. 11:17-34). This was done every first day of the week and not a month or once a year. Also, on the first day of the week, as recorded in 1 Corinthians 16:2, and 2 Corinthians 9:6-7, the disciples gave of their means as God had prospered them. No one could bind on them how much to give, but each one gave as he purposed in his heart. While the saints were assembled, they sang spiritual songs, making melody in their hearts (Eph. 5:19 and Col. 3:16). Notice it says SING not play.

Basically, if you see people who are doing some things that the saints did in the first century, who are not called by any name other than that which it, found in the Bible, and are not a part of anything or governed by anything that is not as old as, the New Testament, then you have found a group of simply Christians.

The confusion arises when people drift from what Christ has built and purchased and are not satisfied with New Testament Christianity. They no longer have Jesus as their head and have replaced Him with popes, synods, conventions, conferences and councils. They refuse to be governed by God's word, but by creeds, disciplines, dogmas, etc. They have established their own way of salvation and entrance into the church, other than that which God has established.

If people want to avoid all the confusion, they need to measure their religious group or religious desires by the word of God. It is the only pure and perfect guide to truth. People should measure themselves with the actions of those in the first century. What was Paul a part of or Peter or Timothy? To what was the 3000 in Acts 2 added? To which body did the Ethiopian eunuch or the Philippian jailer or Cornelius, belong? You need to be a part of the body to which these men were added.