Many people believe that every religious group, society, or institution is a
denomination. Such is not the case and we intend to allow the facts to serve as proof
of our thesis.
The word denomination is defined as, "a religious group, usually including local
churches, often larger than a sect." (Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged
Dictionary of the English Language, page 386, Copyright 1989.) Stated
another way, a denomination is " a religious organization uniting in a single legal and
administrative body a number of local congregations." (Webster's Ninth Collegiate
Dictionary, page 339, Copyright 1989)
Based on the preceding definitions, a denomination is a religious organization,
consisting of local congregations, with said organization being the legal and/or
administrative body of those local congregations. By extension, a denomination
also has a distinct name, organization, doctrine, practice, and worship that are not
authorized by the New Testament.
No denomination is found in, authorized by, or given any credence in the New
Testament. The congregation of Christ is found in, authorized by, and given credence
in the New Testament, but it is not a denomination. The word that is generally used
in the New Testament to identify the people of God is ekklesia (which means
assembly, congregation, or group), though it is translated "church" in most English
versions of the scriptures.
Ekklesia in its singular and/or plural forms is used to identify:
(1) The universal body of Christ consisting of those who have obeyed the gospel
whether living or dead. It has no organized structure through which each person
functions, nor is it comprised of local congregations. The universal body or
congregation of Christ consists of people who have been saved from sin, whose
head is Christ, and whose law is the gospel. It is a "brotherhood" not a
"church-hood." (Mat. 16:18-19; Eph. 1:22-23; Col. 1:18; 1 Pet. 2:17)
(2) The local congregation which consists of those who have obeyed
the gospel and live and meet in a specific geographical area in order to carry out
its mission under common oversight. For example, there were congregations of Christ
in Jerusalem, Ephesus and Philippi. They were "organized" with overseers. (Acts 15;
Acts 20:17,28; Phil. 1:1) There was no "religious organization uniting them in a
legal and administrative body." They were independent and autonomous groups.They
had their own organization, work, worship, and mission.
(3) A congregation of the Lord's people who live and work in a region. Acts 9:31
tells us, "So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace,
being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit,
it continued to increase." (NASB-77) They did not constitute a "region wide" organization,
nor was any such organization "over" them dictating their course of action, work, worship,
etc. The concept of denominationalism that is so prevalent in today's religious world
is foreign to the New Testament! The following admission is found on page 22 of The
Standard Manual For Baptist Churches, editor, Edward T. Hiscox, D.D., "It is most
likely that in the Apostolic age when there was but 'one Lord, one faith, and one baptism,'
and no differing denominations existed, the baptism of a convert by that very act
constituted him a member of the church..." It is indeed true that in the apostolic age, no
differing denominations existed!
R. Daly
Copyright 2011
denomination. Such is not the case and we intend to allow the facts to serve as proof
of our thesis.
The word denomination is defined as, "a religious group, usually including local
churches, often larger than a sect." (Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged
Dictionary of the English Language, page 386, Copyright 1989.) Stated
another way, a denomination is " a religious organization uniting in a single legal and
administrative body a number of local congregations." (Webster's Ninth Collegiate
Dictionary, page 339, Copyright 1989)
Based on the preceding definitions, a denomination is a religious organization,
consisting of local congregations, with said organization being the legal and/or
administrative body of those local congregations. By extension, a denomination
also has a distinct name, organization, doctrine, practice, and worship that are not
authorized by the New Testament.
No denomination is found in, authorized by, or given any credence in the New
Testament. The congregation of Christ is found in, authorized by, and given credence
in the New Testament, but it is not a denomination. The word that is generally used
in the New Testament to identify the people of God is ekklesia (which means
assembly, congregation, or group), though it is translated "church" in most English
versions of the scriptures.
Ekklesia in its singular and/or plural forms is used to identify:
(1) The universal body of Christ consisting of those who have obeyed the gospel
whether living or dead. It has no organized structure through which each person
functions, nor is it comprised of local congregations. The universal body or
congregation of Christ consists of people who have been saved from sin, whose
head is Christ, and whose law is the gospel. It is a "brotherhood" not a
"church-hood." (Mat. 16:18-19; Eph. 1:22-23; Col. 1:18; 1 Pet. 2:17)
(2) The local congregation which consists of those who have obeyed
the gospel and live and meet in a specific geographical area in order to carry out
its mission under common oversight. For example, there were congregations of Christ
in Jerusalem, Ephesus and Philippi. They were "organized" with overseers. (Acts 15;
Acts 20:17,28; Phil. 1:1) There was no "religious organization uniting them in a
legal and administrative body." They were independent and autonomous groups.They
had their own organization, work, worship, and mission.
(3) A congregation of the Lord's people who live and work in a region. Acts 9:31
tells us, "So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace,
being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit,
it continued to increase." (NASB-77) They did not constitute a "region wide" organization,
nor was any such organization "over" them dictating their course of action, work, worship,
etc. The concept of denominationalism that is so prevalent in today's religious world
is foreign to the New Testament! The following admission is found on page 22 of The
Standard Manual For Baptist Churches, editor, Edward T. Hiscox, D.D., "It is most
likely that in the Apostolic age when there was but 'one Lord, one faith, and one baptism,'
and no differing denominations existed, the baptism of a convert by that very act
constituted him a member of the church..." It is indeed true that in the apostolic age, no
differing denominations existed!
R. Daly
Copyright 2011
Hello my dear brother! I read this article a few days ago and was pondering these thoughts today. I have never thought of it until today. Would our individual duties be the way we work for the universal body? Thank you for all the time you take to write these articles cousin!
ReplyDeleteHello Daniel. I pray that Yahweh is richly blessing your work in truth. Yes, when we
ReplyDeletelabor in the Lord we do so as members of
the "universal" body of Christ. We are
laborers in his vineyard. (Mat. 20:1-16)
We work under the oversight of King Jesus
as he directs us through the teaching of
his word. (1 Pet. 1:22-25) We do so without
any universal "organization" such as synods,
a worldwide board of bishops, etc. We also
do the Lord's work within a local body of
believers. This group does have an
"organization" or "structure." Overseers
and deacons are appointed where qualified.
(Phil. 1:1)
Love to you in the Lord Jesus my cousin.
I appreciate your thoughts Brother Ron! It's one of those things that i knew the correct answer but it didn't click until that day haha. That's why I always have the mindset of a student because I will never have it all. Thank you again my fellow bondservant in Christ :)
ReplyDelete