The New Testament church was purchased by God’s blood (Acts 20:28). There are three persons identified in the Bible as God (1 John 5:7). We have God the Father (John 6:27), God the Son (Romans 9:5), and God the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:1-4). So, which of the three died to purchase the church? It was Christ the Son who did so (Ephesians 5:25). We also read of the “church of the firstborn” (Hebrews 12:23). This is in reference to Christ (Romans 8:29). The Bible points to Christ as the owner, head, and identity of His church.
Romans 16:16: “Salute one another with an Holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you.”
The church of Christ is the pillar and ground of the Truth (1 Timothy 3:15). We stand out in multiple ways. We stand out in allowing only the Scriptures to be our standard of authority (Job 32:8; Proverbs 16:25; Luke 4:4; Luke 6:46; 2 Timothy 1:13). We are identifiable as Christ’s church because we rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh (Philippians 3:3). We remember Christ’s atonement through His death (Acts 20:7; Matthew 26:26). We are not about social activities (plays, concerts, dinners, games, sporting events, etc.). Christ’s church realizes these things are not the works of His Spirit (Romans 14:17).
So What’s Wrong With Denominations?
To denominate means “to give a name to” (Merriam-Webster). Denominations are wrong because we are commanded by God to speak the same thing that there be no divisions among His people (1 Corinthians 1:10) and that we are not to be called by others names (1 Corinthians 1:12-13).
Christ is the head and savior of His body, which is the church (Ephesians 5:23; Colossians 1:18). The church of Christ is built upon Christ, the apostles, and the holy prophets:
Ephesians 2:19-22: “Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone, in whom all the building fitly framed together grows to an holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are built together for a habitation of God through the Spirit.”
The church of Christ did not begin in the 600’s (Roman Catholicism), 1500’s (Lutheran church, Presbyterian church, Congregational church, etc.), 1600’s (Baptist church, etc.), 1700’s (Methodist church, etc.), 1800’s (Mormonism, Seventh Day Adventist, Christian Scientist, Jehovah’s Witnesses, etc.) or 1900’s (Christian Church, Community Churches, Non-Denominational multi-faith churches, etc.). All denominational churches of Catholicism and Protestantism were created by men and are ruled by men. These churches are therefore extraordinarily susceptible to leaven and hypocrisy. Many of these groups profess to know God but in their works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work (Titus 1:16).
1 John 1:5-7: “This is the message which we have heard of Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the Truth: But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
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