Is there one name for the church? No, but there are different scriptural names for the church. Does that make a difference? I think it should. Can you find the Baptist Church in the Bible. No you can't. Or, can you find the Methodist Church, or the Lutheran Church, or the King of Glory Church in the Bible. No you can not. How about all of the other many different names that are used today? Is it scriptural to do this, or should you use a scriptural name for the church?
Many different scriptural names were used by Paul such as the church of God, the household of Faith, the church of Christ and so on. Now understand that the word church is not...Capitalized...not Church...but...church, or lower case. The body is not equal to the Head. The Head is always capitalized as you will see in the following examples.
Matthew 16:18 says upon this rock I will build my church....not my Church. Romans 16:16 says salute one another with an holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you....Not the Churches of Christ salute you. So one church would be called the .... church of Christ...Not Church of Christ. 1Corinthians 1:2 says to the church of God which is in Corinth. 1 Corinthians 6:15 says you know that your bodies are parts of the body of Christ.
You know there is nothing wrong with churches meeting in homes either. They don't have to seat thousands of people. Jesus said where two or three are gathered together there I am in the mist of them. Listen to this verse....1 Corinthians 16:19 talks about greetings from the churches in Asia being sent to the church that meets in the house of Aquilla and Priscilla.
Other places of scriptural names....2 Corinthians 1:1 says from Paul to the church of God in Corinth. Another name is just....church....look at 2 Corinthians 8:1 says we want to know, brothers, what God's grace has done in the churches of Macedonia.
Is there really one church even though there are different names for the church? ....Yes....I think we can say yes. Why? Ephesians 4:4 says there is one body(church?), and one Spirit. There is one Lord, one faith (church?), one baptism. There is one church with one doctrine and therefore we should use a scriptural name for it.
Other examples of churches meeting in houses in the First Century when Christianity started...Colossians 4:15 says give our best wishes to the brothers in Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church that meets in her house. Also, in Philemon 1:1,2 says to our friend and fellow worker Philemon, and the church that meets in your house.
Let us all use scriptural names for the church if we are going to name it.
Let us all search for the early church.
In His Name,
Brother Paul
Monday, March 10, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Cherish the Home: What I Believe
Cherish the Home: What I Believe
I agree with alot of what you said, but I have a different take on salvation. I believe that baptism is essential to salvation. Salvation is often called a work, but it is really an act of obidience. You know that faith is also called a work too. Let's look at Mark 16:16 which says he who believes and is baptized shall be saved; he who believes not shall be condemned. Let's substitue some words so we can draw a parallel here. Let's read it this way; he who eats and digests shall live; he who eats not shall die. Are you really going to tell me that you can eat and not digest and still live? That's what you are saying when you say that faith alone saves you.
The reason baptism was not mentioned in the second part of that sentence was because it was unneccessary to do so. If you are not going to eat then you don't have to add that you are not going to digest. You have to eat and digest to live, and you have to believe and be baptized to be saved.
Acts 2:38 says that baptism is for the remission of sins. If repentence and faith took your sins away then why would they say that baptism was for the removal of sins there? You would be having your sins being removed twice in the same sentence.
Galations 3:27 says those who have been baptised into Christ have put on Christ. How else do you put on Christ...chapter and verse please!
Everyone in the New Testament was baptized shortly after repentance and confession within the same hour or shortly thereafter. The same thing that didn't stop them from baptizing right away should not stop us today. Why do many churches wait days and sometimes weeks before they baptize you? It's not what happened in the Bible. Could it be that baptism was really apart of the salvation process.
You can't take man out of the salvation process. Remember Romans 10 says how shall they hear without a preacher. And, after many Protestant baptisms they even tell you to call a man and tell him about your confessing Christ and letting him into your heart. So, even you are not taking man out of salvation. Yes we are saved by grace through faith, but there are steps leading to scriptural salvation.
I agree with alot of what you said, but I have a different take on salvation. I believe that baptism is essential to salvation. Salvation is often called a work, but it is really an act of obidience. You know that faith is also called a work too. Let's look at Mark 16:16 which says he who believes and is baptized shall be saved; he who believes not shall be condemned. Let's substitue some words so we can draw a parallel here. Let's read it this way; he who eats and digests shall live; he who eats not shall die. Are you really going to tell me that you can eat and not digest and still live? That's what you are saying when you say that faith alone saves you.
The reason baptism was not mentioned in the second part of that sentence was because it was unneccessary to do so. If you are not going to eat then you don't have to add that you are not going to digest. You have to eat and digest to live, and you have to believe and be baptized to be saved.
Acts 2:38 says that baptism is for the remission of sins. If repentence and faith took your sins away then why would they say that baptism was for the removal of sins there? You would be having your sins being removed twice in the same sentence.
Galations 3:27 says those who have been baptised into Christ have put on Christ. How else do you put on Christ...chapter and verse please!
Everyone in the New Testament was baptized shortly after repentance and confession within the same hour or shortly thereafter. The same thing that didn't stop them from baptizing right away should not stop us today. Why do many churches wait days and sometimes weeks before they baptize you? It's not what happened in the Bible. Could it be that baptism was really apart of the salvation process.
You can't take man out of the salvation process. Remember Romans 10 says how shall they hear without a preacher. And, after many Protestant baptisms they even tell you to call a man and tell him about your confessing Christ and letting him into your heart. So, even you are not taking man out of salvation. Yes we are saved by grace through faith, but there are steps leading to scriptural salvation.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
The True First Day of the Week is the Lord's Day
The first day of the week would began at 6PM Saturday night and would last until 6PM Sunday night. I stand corrected on my earlier comments. So part of the Lord's Day would include the night of Saturday. This is why in Acts 20:7-and following verses that they were meeting at night. This would be the start of the first day of the week. After taking the Lord's Supper after midnight(which would still be on the first day of the week being early Sunday morning)they took the Lord's Supper. If they had been meeting on Sunday night and had taken the Supper on early Monday morning, then that would have been the second day of the week which would make it unscriptural. Even today, some churches will not serve the Lord's Supper after 6PM Sunday night, because that would also be the second day of the week according to Jewish Reckoning.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
What is Wrong With Denominational Baptism?
The word "baptism" with its various inflections occurs 126 times in the New Testament. Hence, one has to say a good deal about baptism or neglect a large portion of the Bible.
So far as I know, all denominations except the Christian Scientists and the Quakers practice some rite that they call baptism. Most people, therefore, have submitted to some ordinance that was called baptism. When these people learn about the New Testament church, they often want to come into the church on their denominational baptism. But if something is wrong with denominational baptism, and I think there is, these people plainly need to be told about it. This I shall attempt to do in this short piece.
Note these things wrong with denominational baptism:
(1) IT HAS THE WRONG AUTHORITY (Matt.28:18; Col.3:17). Denominational councils and creeds authorize denominational baptism. Jesus never authorized it, nor did he ever command anyone to be baptized into any denomination.
(2) IT USUALLY HAS THE WRONG SUBJECT
(Matt.28:19,20; Mk.16:15,16; Acts 8:37; Acts 2:38) The Bible teaches, and everyone is agreed, that the penitent believer who confesses his faith is a proper subject of scriptural baptism. But denominations often sprinkle infants who cannot meet the above requirements. Denominations also baptize people who think they are saved rather than persons who desire to be saved.
(3) IT HAS THE WRONG CONFESSION (Acts 8:37). Persons in the New Testament confessed their faith in Christ as the only confessed their faith in Christ as the only confessional requisite for baptism. But persons desiring to undergo denominational baptism will be asked to confess agreement with the sectarian creed. One denomination that I know requires a confession consisting of twenty propositions. More common is the unscriptural confession wherein one states that he believes that God for Christ's sake has pardoned his sins. Many who now question their denominational baptism have not the faintest remembrance of what they confessed.
(4) IT USUALLY HAS THE WRONG ACTION (Acts8:37; Rom. 6:3,4; Col. 2:12) Scriptural baptism entails "much water" (John 3:23), and a coming "unto," a "going down into," and a "coming up out of the water." In scriptural baptism, one is "buried" (Rom. 6:3,4) Neither sprinkling nor pouring meets these scriptural requirements. Hence, if you submitted to sprinkling or pouring, your "baptism" was wrong.
(5) IT HAS THE WRONG PURPOSE (Acts 2:38; Mk. 16:16; Acts 22:16; 1 Pet. 3:21). These passages teach baptism to be "for the remission of sins," to be "saved," to have one's sins "washed away." Denominations usually assert they are baptizing one into that particular denomination rather than into Christ Jesus(Gal.3:26,27; Rom. 6:3,4). So even though one has been immersed, if he was not immersed for the scriptural purposes, that person's baptism was wrong.
Most sectarians teach that one is baptized to show that he has been saved rather than in order to be saved. Were you so baptized? If you will remember whether you confessed that you had been saved (which you very possibly may have done), you will be able to ascertain whether your immersion was "for the remission of sins" and into the body of Christ ( 1 Cor. 12: 13).
(6) IT HAS THE WRONG ORDER (Heb. 11:6; Rom. 10:17; Mk. 16:16; Acts 2:38; Acts 8:37). These verses establish the sequence of events in conversion to be hearing, faith,repentance, confession, immersion, forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Sectarians confuse this order. They state the sequence like this: Gift of the Holy Spirit, repentance, faith, salvation, and then baptism.
(7) IT HAS THE WRONG ALLEGIANCE
Sectarian baptism binds one to wear a human name, obey and endorse a human creed, belong to a human program, while scriptural baptism binds one to wear a divine name, obey a divine message, belong to a divine body, and to engage in a divinely authorized program. Denominational baptism attracts people to a denominational body rather than to Christ and His Kingdom.
Conclusion
REMEMBER:
1) One cannot be taught wrong and baptized right (Rom. 10: 17; 6:17).
2) One cannot be baptized wrong and worship right (Rom. 6: 3,4; Acts 2:42).
3) One cannot worship wrong and live right (John 4:23,24).
4) One cannot live wrong and die right (Matt. 25: 31-41).
5) Therefore, one cannot be baptized wrong and die right.
What about you, my friend? Have you submitted to scriptural baptism? Do not make the error of interpreting what you did years ago in the light of what you now know the Bible to teach. Many have made this mistake. One must understand what he is doing at the time he is doing it to obey the gospel scripturally from the heart.
"But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness" (Rom. 6: 17,18).
So far as I know, all denominations except the Christian Scientists and the Quakers practice some rite that they call baptism. Most people, therefore, have submitted to some ordinance that was called baptism. When these people learn about the New Testament church, they often want to come into the church on their denominational baptism. But if something is wrong with denominational baptism, and I think there is, these people plainly need to be told about it. This I shall attempt to do in this short piece.
Note these things wrong with denominational baptism:
(1) IT HAS THE WRONG AUTHORITY (Matt.28:18; Col.3:17). Denominational councils and creeds authorize denominational baptism. Jesus never authorized it, nor did he ever command anyone to be baptized into any denomination.
(2) IT USUALLY HAS THE WRONG SUBJECT
(Matt.28:19,20; Mk.16:15,16; Acts 8:37; Acts 2:38) The Bible teaches, and everyone is agreed, that the penitent believer who confesses his faith is a proper subject of scriptural baptism. But denominations often sprinkle infants who cannot meet the above requirements. Denominations also baptize people who think they are saved rather than persons who desire to be saved.
(3) IT HAS THE WRONG CONFESSION (Acts 8:37). Persons in the New Testament confessed their faith in Christ as the only confessed their faith in Christ as the only confessional requisite for baptism. But persons desiring to undergo denominational baptism will be asked to confess agreement with the sectarian creed. One denomination that I know requires a confession consisting of twenty propositions. More common is the unscriptural confession wherein one states that he believes that God for Christ's sake has pardoned his sins. Many who now question their denominational baptism have not the faintest remembrance of what they confessed.
(4) IT USUALLY HAS THE WRONG ACTION (Acts8:37; Rom. 6:3,4; Col. 2:12) Scriptural baptism entails "much water" (John 3:23), and a coming "unto," a "going down into," and a "coming up out of the water." In scriptural baptism, one is "buried" (Rom. 6:3,4) Neither sprinkling nor pouring meets these scriptural requirements. Hence, if you submitted to sprinkling or pouring, your "baptism" was wrong.
(5) IT HAS THE WRONG PURPOSE (Acts 2:38; Mk. 16:16; Acts 22:16; 1 Pet. 3:21). These passages teach baptism to be "for the remission of sins," to be "saved," to have one's sins "washed away." Denominations usually assert they are baptizing one into that particular denomination rather than into Christ Jesus(Gal.3:26,27; Rom. 6:3,4). So even though one has been immersed, if he was not immersed for the scriptural purposes, that person's baptism was wrong.
Most sectarians teach that one is baptized to show that he has been saved rather than in order to be saved. Were you so baptized? If you will remember whether you confessed that you had been saved (which you very possibly may have done), you will be able to ascertain whether your immersion was "for the remission of sins" and into the body of Christ ( 1 Cor. 12: 13).
(6) IT HAS THE WRONG ORDER (Heb. 11:6; Rom. 10:17; Mk. 16:16; Acts 2:38; Acts 8:37). These verses establish the sequence of events in conversion to be hearing, faith,repentance, confession, immersion, forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Sectarians confuse this order. They state the sequence like this: Gift of the Holy Spirit, repentance, faith, salvation, and then baptism.
(7) IT HAS THE WRONG ALLEGIANCE
Sectarian baptism binds one to wear a human name, obey and endorse a human creed, belong to a human program, while scriptural baptism binds one to wear a divine name, obey a divine message, belong to a divine body, and to engage in a divinely authorized program. Denominational baptism attracts people to a denominational body rather than to Christ and His Kingdom.
Conclusion
REMEMBER:
1) One cannot be taught wrong and baptized right (Rom. 10: 17; 6:17).
2) One cannot be baptized wrong and worship right (Rom. 6: 3,4; Acts 2:42).
3) One cannot worship wrong and live right (John 4:23,24).
4) One cannot live wrong and die right (Matt. 25: 31-41).
5) Therefore, one cannot be baptized wrong and die right.
What about you, my friend? Have you submitted to scriptural baptism? Do not make the error of interpreting what you did years ago in the light of what you now know the Bible to teach. Many have made this mistake. One must understand what he is doing at the time he is doing it to obey the gospel scripturally from the heart.
"But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness" (Rom. 6: 17,18).
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
When did Christians meet on first day of week?
All Protestants meet on the day of Sunday...but...the Bible doesn't seem to back this up at all! Look at Good News for Modern Man...it says in Acts 20:7-and following verses that they were meeting at night. That would be Saturday night according to our calendar...the only time...that there is a record of a real church meeting on the Lord's Day.
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