To Infidelity and Back

by Henry F. Lutz

Church-members.

The members of the church or churches of Christ are called "Christians" (Acts 11:26; I Pet. 4:14, 16), "disciples" (Acts 9:1), "saints" (Rom. 1:7), "brethren" (I Cor. 15:6), "members" (Rom. 12:5), etc., all of which names are right when used to express the proper idea or relationship.

The Greek word for church is ekkleesia and comes from ekkaleoo, which means to call out or summon forth; and members of the church are the ones who have been called of God (2 Tim. 1:9) through the gospel (2 Thess. 2:14) from a life of sin to a life of holy service (Acts 26:16-18). Church-members or Christians are said to be "saved," "elected," "washed," "sanctified," "redeemed," "recreated," "regenerated," "translated," "espoused," "converted," "reconciled," "adopted," "quickened," "resurrected," etc. This gives us an idea of the radical change that must take place before a person can become a true church-member. It will be noticed that the change expressed by these terms is twofold. The one is subjective, and the other objective. The one is a change of heart or character, and the other is a change of state or relationship to God. The heart is changed by the Holy Spirit (John 3:5), through the preached gospel (1 Pet. 1:23), which leads to faith (Rom. 10:17; Acts 15:9) and repentance (Acts 2:38); while the attitude toward God is changed by confession (Rom. 10:9), obedience in baptism (Acts 2:38) and by God's pardon to the sinner (Acts 2:38). The necessity of this twofold change is manifest from Christ's teaching when he says, "Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them" (Matt. 28:19), "Preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark 16:16), and "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:5). Also by the teaching of the Apostles when they say, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2:38), "And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord" (Acts 22:16), "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost" (Tit. 3: 5), "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Gal. 3:26, 27), "For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body…and have been all made to drink into one Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:13), "The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), by the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 3:21), "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:3, 4).

If it were God's purpose to simply save individuals, privately and without human agency, the subjective change of heart is all that would be necessary. But a home must be provided for the nurture of the new-born spiritual babes and a church organized to herald the gospel to every creature; therefore, a definite act of open committal or enlistment is required in baptism. When this becomes thoroughly understood, the emphasis the New Testament puts on baptism will be appreciated, and people will no longer avoid the passages that refer to it, or try to explain them away. Neither faith, repentance nor baptism have any saving virtue in themselves. They are important only because of their relation to Christ and the sinner. As Christ has made them conditions of salvation to those who have heard the gospel, they must either obey or be rejected because of a rebellious heart (Luke 7:29, 30).

We learn that to be qualified for membership in Christ's church a person must know the Lord (Heb. 8:11), must believe in him (Acts 8:37), must repent of his sins (Acts 2:38), must confess him as Christ (Rom. 10:9), and must obey him from the heart in baptism (Rom. 6:17). All these are conscious, personal acts that must be performed by the person becoming a member. No one can become a member by purchase, fleshly birth, or the obedience of parents or other persons. It will also be noticed that according to the teaching of the New Testament the conditions of salvation and church membership are the same. The New Testament never speaks of persons as saved or Christians who are not members of the church of Christ where they live.

Church Officers.

On the divine side the church of Christ is a kingdom with a constitution and an absolute ruler. But the administration of this kingdom, as it comes in contact with the varying conditions that confront it in the world, is left to the local church with its officers. Officers are elected to increase the efficiency of the church in service (Acts 6:1-7). In Eph. 4:11, 12, we learn what the officers of the church of Christ are and why they are appointed. "And he gave some apostles; and some prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." Deacons were also appointed to serve tables and assist in other ways (Acts 6:1-7; Phil, 1:1). The Apostles were personally commissioned by Christ (John 20:21-23; Acts 26: 16), miraculously inspired to teach (1 Cor. 2:12, 13; 1 Pet. 1:12) and endowed to perform miracles (2 Cor. 12: 12) and to confer miracle-working power on others (Acts 8:17, 18). After the church was thoroughly established and the New Testament written the apostolic office with its miraculous accompaniments ceased (Heb. 2:3, 4; 1 Cor. 13:8). Prophets were appointed by miraculous endowment and ended with the same. Evangelists, elders and deacons are the permanent officers of the church of Christ. The special work of evangelists or preachers is to make disciples and to organize and strengthen churches. Elders, or bishops, or pastors are local church officers, a plurality of which was appointed in each church (Acts 14:23). Their function is concerned with the spiritual welfare of the church. The work of deacons has already been indicated. The qualifications of evangelists, elders or bishops and deacons are given in the epistles to Timothy and Titus. The church officers are selected by the members (Acts 6: 1-7), and important matters of discipline are decided by a majority vote of the church (2 Cor. 2:6, see Greek). The local church government then is administered by a majority vote of its members and by the officers authorized by such a majority. Outside of Christ and the Apostles the New Testament does not recognize any authority higher than that vested in the local churches. General ecclesiastical organizations and church dignitaries with high-sounding titles are human inventions that were added later. Where there is no organized church to act, individual Christians have authority to administer the affairs of the church or kingdom (Acts 8: 4; 9: 10-18; ii: 19-21). The only apostolic succession endorsed in the Bible is that which results from following the example of the Apostles in teaching and practice.

A Christian's work in the local church is obligatory under Christ. In addition to the local church work, early Christians co-operated in work covering a large territory and scope; and formed a simple organization for this purpose (1 Cor. 16:3; 2 Cor. 8:18, 19, 23). This example shows that voluntary organization of individual Christians for general co-operative work is proper and Scriptural. Of this nature are missionary societies and benevolent associations which are formed to carry on general work, but have no ecclesiastical authority.

The Mission of the Church.

The mission of the church is to perpetuate and perfect itself and to add to its membership, through evangelization, the entire world as far and as fast as possible. The fundamental means adopted to carry out this mission is the church service. Our word church is not derived from the New Testament word used in speaking of the body of believers, and it has a tendency to hide the real idea of the New Testament. It primarily refers to a church building, then to the body of believers worshiping in the building, and finally to believers in general. The inspired writers use the word ekkleesia, which means a gathering of people called from their homes into some public place. A correct translation would be "assembly" or "congregation," as it has reference primarily to a local body of Christians assembled for work and worship. If this primary idea were restored, it would make mightily for the strengthening of Christ's kingdom. We usually put the emphasis on the church in general, universal and invisible, while the Holy Spirit puts the emphasis on the local, visible and tangible church. Our practical duties are connected almost entirely with the local church to which we belong and through which we chiefly help to build up the general and invisible church. The church is the assembled Christians first of all, and the first duty of Christians is to assemble (Heb. 10:25). For people to say that they belong to the church (assembly), who do not assemble or attend the church services, is an anomaly, strictly speaking.