Robert F. Turner
Could "the church" be wrong? Is it possible that a portion---or
even all of the members of a congregation (including their elders) could
be in error with respect to doctrine and/or practice? Could several congregations
be wrong Could a majority of congregations be wrong?
One of the most basic fallacies of Roman Catholicism is its conception
of the "infallible" church. But some one says, "The church
of the New Testament could not be wrong!" WHICH ONE will you use as
your example? The one at Corinth? Ephesus? Laodicea? But you say "I'm
referring to the 'whole' church, the body of Christ." And I remind
you that this organism, this relation of individuals to Christ, does not
exist as a functional organization. The characteristics of the perfect
church must be gleaned piece by piece from the divine records. By command,
example, and necessary inference we learn what Christ would have us be
and do as a local church. The divine purpose and intent alone is
without fault. In all functional churches---and here the N.T. allows us
to speak only of individual congregations---the human element is present,
and we are forbidden to use such a church as a pattern. (2 Cor. 10:12-)
The new testament, the covenant or law of Christ, is that which was
set up on the first Pentecost after the resurrection (Isa. 2;1-2; Joel
2:; Acts 2:) and the body of people who accepted this law, and by a practice
of its instructions brought into being the Jerusalem congregation, were
the product---not the makers of a divine standard. The same principle continues
to this good day, and both the First and Twentieth Century chruches could
and do err. (See Rev. 2:; 3:)
In every century, in every generation, each church must prove its right
to the name "church of Christ" by showing identity with the divinely
approved church characteristics found in the New Testament. We must pay
more than lip-service to this principle. When we begin to think a thing
is right because a "Church of Christ"---or a majority of the
"Churches of Christ"---or ALL of the "Churches of Christ"
do or teach it, we have bcome sectarian in our conception of the church,
and need to revise our thinking.
God's word is the pattern by which a true church must be cut. Did you
ever cut 2x 4s to frame a wall, or pickets for a fence? If you obtained
a pattern, cut the first by that pattern, then threw the pattern aside
and cut the second by the first---and so on---you learned the fallacy of
identity by succession. Any slight difference in the second was passed
to the third---and the slight difference of the third was added to the
error of the first, and passed on. To cut a true wall, or fence, we must
measure each cut by the original pattern. This is no less true with reference
to the church.
A crying need of our time is a firm resolve to determine right by an
appeal to God's truth, rather than to "a well defined and clear-shown
majority of the Churches of Christ in Texas." Cancellations will be
received with as much grace as we can muster.
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