As you know, we have the opposite of this biblical requirement. All who profess to follow Jesus are not united. In the United States alone there are more than two hundred denominations. One group teaches one thing; another something different. One denomination says, “Lo, here is Christ.” Another says, “No, He is with us.” Consequently, people are confused and know not which way to turn. Some are driven into infidelity. Many decide that the whole thing is incomprehensible and just decide to follow the line of least resistance.
What is the source of all this division and consequent confusion? Is it the Bible? Is it possible that God failed to reveal clearly his will to man? Is it so ambiguous that we can not all “see it alike?” If so, the Bible is a failure. If the Bible is not an adequate ground of unity, there is no such ground. If the Bible is not a sufficient basis for unity then it is inconsistent; for certainly its ideal is unity. So I wish to go on record in declaring that the Bible is not the source of the trouble!
III
A Partial Answer
In our search for the origin of denominational divisions, with all their attendant evils, we must look in some other direction. Let me appeal to you as an individual. How did you come to be what you are religiously? Where did you get your conception of Christianity? From reading the Bible, or from some other source? Did you form your church connection because of conviction resulting from prayerful, diligent, and faithful Bible study? Or did you merely follow the example of your parents, the social set to which you belong, your personal taste, the law of convenience, or some other fallible standard?
If you will examine your own hearts, it will throw a lot of light, not only on where so many denominations came from, but especially on why they are able to continue, which is equally, if not more, important. Even in a congregation like this, most likely there are some whose religious course has been determined by convenience rather than conviction. Such persons are not steadfast. When it becomes more convenient to do something else, or to be something else, they will turn aside. Unless you develop some convictions, you can easily become a liability rather than an asset.
In religion, as in politics, many blindly follow the example of their parents. Even if this policy leads you into the church we read about in the Bible, it is not sufficient. If you are a member of the Lord’s church, you ought to have a better reason than the fact that your parents happened to be members of it. You ought to have some convictions on the subject. You ought to be what you are because you believe you would go to hell if you were otherwise! If that is the way you feel, then you will be worth something to the group to which you belong. Then you will put the church first.
But how come our parents to be divided into more than two hundred different sects? The same false standards which cause our generation to be divided, including the example of their parents. And so we may trace the history of denominations and erroneous doctrines back up the stream of time from generation to generation, can’t we?
This, however, does not completely explain their origin. They had to begin somewhere between here and Pentecost. How far back can they be traced? When and where did they originate?
IV
Early Apostasy and Roman Catholicism
In order to answer these questions let us begin at the other end of the line, at Pentecost, and come down toward the present to see what we can find. Since Jesus built only one church, at least one hundred and ninety-nine of the approximately two hundred now in existence had to get started somewhere else, at some other time, and in some other way.