The Lord's Church

What is “The Lord’s church” and how do you recognize it. What sets it apart from other churches? Who are its members?

In church of Christ circles the descriptive phrase, “The Lord’s church”, is common and is most often used to describe the several churches of Christ world wide. And, perhaps sometimes is used to describe the catholic (universal) body of Christ.

It is a descriptive phrase, but it is also sometimes a pejorative term. At times, when a person speaks of “the Lord’s church” it is said with the understanding that all others are decidedly not “The Lord’s church”. There are several criteria used to reach such a conclusion.

There is an interesting hermeneutic at play here which causes well meaning people to reach inaccurate conclusions. The hermeneutic that is employed is extra-biblical rather than biblical. The doctrine of the church has evolved primarily based on the distinctives of churches of Christ rather than from the word of God.

The first of those distinctives is baptism for the remission of sins. It is not my purpose here to argue the merits of water baptism. However, baptism in water for the remission of sins is the primary doctrine that “marks out” churches with Restoration Movement roots. So, the thread of hermeneutic idea begins here and becomes the foundation stone of “The Lord’s church” in the minds of many. Each appraisal of every other church must pass through the prism of water baptism for the remission of sins, and by that standard an opinion is formed as to the validity of that group.

Our more “conservative” brothers (I use this term because it is commonly used, not because it is accurate) use water baptism for the remission of sins as a litmus test and justify sectarianism on that basis. If you hold that only those who have been baptized in water for the remission of sins are Christians, the only logical end of that line of reasoning is that everyone else in the world is lost. There can be no other conclusion.

The second of those distinctives is the name “church of Christ”. Brothers will argue long and loud that “church of Christ” is the only Bible name for the true church. It is amusing to me that 2nd Street, or Airplane Rd., or Crooked Fork, or any other words to describe geography is perfectly acceptable on the sign at the “building". It would be unacceptable to have on the sign names like KJV Only church of Christ, or The New Testament church of Christ, or Grace Church of Christ.

Never mind that “church of God”, “church of the firstborn”, “the way”, “bride of Christ” and “Christian” are every bit as biblical as “church of Christ”. Someone long ago decided that church of Christ was a better name than all the others used in the Bible to describe Christ’s body of believers, and it stuck, and is not up for discussion. It is as much a fact in many folk’s minds as John 3:16.

The third distinctive is singing a cappella. There are some of the Lord’s churches that use the dreaded “instrument”, but they are “liberal”. In the mind of some they are saved but “liberal”, and in the judgment of others they are lost. Again, never mind that the New Testament makes no such demand about the inclusion or exception of musical instruments when the folks are together for worship. This is the way it has been and that is the way it is. You can get brothers more heated in defense of a cappella singing than any other topic, even baptism. Because the Bible does not directly address this issue, almost all of the loudest voices supporting a cappella only rely on history to make their arguments. And often that history is questionable.

Then, depending somewhat on geography, history, and religious education, there are even more distinctives which are not common to all of “The Lord’s churches”. The number of communion cups, the type of fluid in the cups, should it be a cup, or cups, when the cups or cup is passed to others, and who can legally pass the cup or cups from pew to pew? Women can pass it from right to left but not from pew to pew. Sunday school, or no Sunday school, five or six song leaders (praise team) or one, raised hands or hands down, KJV or NIV, clapping of hands or no clapping, paying the preacher or telling him to trust the Lord, joining other congregations to help orphans or not cooperating, steeple on the church building or not?; and the list is overwhelmingly endless and is dependent on the whims of those who make the rules.

Astonishingly, almost all of these issues are so important that one is supposedly authorized to withhold Christian fellowship from anyone who does not comply with them, although they are not in the Bible or even hinted at on its pages.

The next hermeneutical blunder is more subtle. Many of our friends believe that each local church of Christ is exactly the same as the universal body of Christ. If only one person, who is a member of a local church of Christ, at any time in history, was or is unsaved, the theory is blown apart. The fact is that in almost ALL churches on earth there are imposters, actors, hypocrites, and wolves in sheep’s clothing, who are not Christian’s. Not all professors are possessors! (Matthew 7)

The erroneous idea that the churches of Christ on earth are the same as the mystical body of Christ grows out of the belief that baptism in water is synomonous with salvation. Of course it might not be. Once one of our elders asked those who had been baptized more than once to raise their hands and I was shocked to see dozens of people lift their hands. He then admitted that he had been baptized more than once, I believe it was three times, himself. I wonder how many people in our congregation have not made it to the final baptism yet?

The point of this discussion is to point out a simple truth. The body of Christ, composed of all those who have been born again from above by the Spirit of God, does not have one person in it who is unsaved. The same can not be said for certain about any local congregation, no matter what the name on the sign. When a person is baptized in a church of Christ it does not hold true 100% of the time that they have also entered the family of God, the body of Christ. All one must do is to observe the lives of some of those who have been immersed, and if you believe the Bible, their lives scream that they are not saved.

We almost never refer to the time in our life when we came to Christ in any other terms than “I was baptized” or “she was baptized”, etc. We seem to avoid “saved”, “born again”, “trusted Christ”, “received Christ” and even “became a Christian” in favor of a reference to water baptism. It is unfortunate that without doubt many people are depending on that event for their salvation rather than the person of Christ. Salvation is not mechanical. Dipping a person in water does not automatically trip a lever in heaven that compels God to grant forgiveness of sins and eternal life to the one who just got wet. Faith in Christ must accompany water baptism or the baptism is vain and of no effect. I doubt that anyone would argue against that truth, but baptism is continually elevated to a place where it is in competition with Jesus for our trust. This is simply true and very unfortunate.

“The Lord’s church” by definition is not the churches of Christ on earth, but rather those who have been born from above, not by the will of the flesh, or by the will of man, but by the will of God. That number includes those genuine Christians of every stripe and creed, including the churches of Christ, who were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, Ones who are found in Him not having their own righteousness, but that which is from heaven, which is by faith. They have been purchased by the precious blood of Christ, they have been made partakers of the divine nature, are priests before God, they have an eternal inheritance, are sealed by the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption, are waiting for the Lord from heaven, are members of each other, dependent on each other, and love one another. They are those who love God, their fellow believers, and even their enemies. They have access to the throne of God in prayer, the have the right to address the Creator God as “Daddy, Daddy”, they stand in grace, they have been made alive, they have been translated out of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of His love, they have new hearts, they are God’s workmanship, they are created to do good works. And one day they will be put on display to show the glory of God to the universe when their redemption will finally be complete. They will put off the tent and enter a building not made with hands. They will be like Christ for they shall see Him as he is. And they will finally be at home where there is no sin, no sickness, no sorrow, in a place where the Lord is the light. And they will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

This is “the Lord’s church”, those whom He has called to be his own family. The gates of hell will not prevail against this church. No created thing can ever separate them from God’s love. He spared no expense to save them and make them into the image of Jesus. God the Father loves them as much as He loves Jesus. They are His own possession and He will not loose even one of them ever.

“For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.” (Romans 8:29-30) All of those he forknew he purposed to make like Jesus. All of those He predestined to be like Jesus He called. All of those He called He justified. All of those He justified He glorified. How many? All!

The church is His, He calls, He justifies, He glorifies, and all of those are "the Lord's church".

Your comments are welcome.

Your criticism will be accepted.

Your correction will be considered.

And your condemnation will be tolerated.

Grace and Peace,
Royce Ogle