What is the "true and first" church? Is it Baptist, Pentecostal, Roman Catholic, Jehova's Witness, Mormonism (LDS), Greek-Orthodox, Protestant, or etc. ? I am not going to name any practices of churches or doctrine because I do not want this blog site to be host to a theological debate. If you have questions about the traditions and doctrine of you're church I would be more than happy to discuss what the Bible says about them through e-mail.
Now let's begin with this verse. We are to study God's word ourselves as well.
1 John 2:27
I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.
Hopefully, with this article you will be able to determine this for yourself and I pray that you will. I'll really try to keep this one short as I am going to borrow some excerpts from some studies and articles that I have found to hold true to true Biblical scripture. You will be able to tell where because I do not have a large vocabulary, lol.
One of the problems with the view of the church by individuals and groups is that it is solely a building.
The church is the community of God's redeemed people-all who have truly trusted Christ alone for their salvation. It is created by the Holy Spirit to exalt Jesus Christ as Lord of all. Christ is the Head, Savior, Lord, and King of the church. There is ultimately only one church, the global community of believers on earth plus those already in glory. However, the one church takes the form of countless local churches, each of which must be viewed a s a microcosm, outcropping, and sample of the larger whole. Jesus Christ's headship of the church that is His body is a relationship that applies both to the universal church and to each local church. Denominational identities are secondary to these primary and fundamental realities.
The “first church” is the church that is recorded in the New Testament, especially in the Book of Acts and the Epistles of Paul. The New Testament church is the “original church” and the “one true church.” We can know this because it is described, in great detail, in Scripture. The church, as recorded in the New Testament, is God’s pattern and foundation for His church.
Scripture never mentions using "which church came first" as the basis for determining which is the "true" church. What it does teach is that one is to use Scripture as the determining factor as to which church is preaching the truth and thus is true to the first church. It is especially important to compare Scripture with a church's teaching on such core issues as the full deity and humanity of Christ, the atonement for sin through His blood on Calvary, salvation from sin by grace through faith, and the infallibility of the Scriptures. The “first church” and “one true church” is recorded in the New Testament. That is the church that all churches are to follow, emulate, and model themselves after.
With that being said we have to test the traditions of our church to see if they truly are Biblical. Unfortunately, we have Christian cults. The definition of Christian cult is a group that denies one or more of the fundamental truths of Christianity, while still claiming to be Christian.
The two most common teachings of cults are that Jesus was not God and that salvation is not by faith alone. A denial of the deity of Christ results in Jesus’ death not being a sufficient payment for our sins. A denial of salvation by faith alone results in salvation being achieved by our own works, something the Bible vehemently and consistently denies.
Christ is the head of the church, which is His body.
Ephesians 1:22
And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
Ephesians 4:15
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.
Ephesians 5:23
For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.
Here is a danger that we must be aware of. If you are part of a church that is based off the teachings or interpretations of a "prophet", person, or group of persons that adds anything to the Bible please be aware of these verses and look into it yourself. People think Satan can't do anything to something that has to do with church, but Satan is the father of lies and does the most damage through subtlety as we can see in the Bible.
1 John 4:1
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Matthew 24:24
For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect—if that were possible.
2 Peter 2:21
But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.
Matthew 24:11
and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.
Matthew 7:15 Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.
I want to close with this verse.
2 Timothy 4:3-4
“For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”
This has happened and it is still happening today. We have cults/religions saying that the Bible is not the ultimate authority of God or if they say they believe it is, some will twist scripture to "itch" their ears to what they want to hear. One of the biggest problems I have encountered is people have to have answers to unexplainable questions. Because of this, one will twist scriptures in attempt to explain the unexplainable questions we just honestly don't know. (We don't know, is indeed an answer) We are not God so we are not going to know everything.
The message of the Bible is not the quest for all knowledge. It is about redemption. Our problem, we are sinners who deserve hell - the solution - Jesus Christ saves those who trust in Him and repent. We're sinners, we need Christ, period.
I've seen these things. I've dealt with them. It's Biblical. It's real. Please be aware and test the spirits as the Bible says. I'm not supporting or bashing any specific denomination or anything like that as I have nothing to gain writing this except possible criticism. I write this because of my love for the Lord and your walk with Him.
Again, if you have any questions regarding the doctrine or traditions of your church feel free to shoot me an e-mail. I will be more than happy to help you find a Biblical answer to your question!
In Christ,
Joey
No comments:
Post a Comment