The Identity of the Church By H. Leo Boles We are taught in the New Testament that Jesus would build but one church. He called this one my church (Matthew 16:18). We are to inquire what sort of church Christ did build. In order to determine the church that Christ built, we must go back through 20 centuries and visit Jerusalem on that eventful Pentecost which occurred after the ascension of Christ to the Father. We must examine with unbiased minds the preaching of Peter on that day. Peters Sermon In Acts 2... On this Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles and they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. There were physical manifestations that accompanied the miraculous descent of the Holy Spirit. When these manifestations were noised abroad, a great multitude came together. There were dwelling in Jerusalem at that time Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. They had come to Jerusalem to keep the Passover and had remained to keep the feast of Pentecost 50 days later. When they came together, they heard the apostles speaking in their own tongues and were confused about what they heard. They did not understand the extraordinary events that were taking place. Some even concluded that the apostles were drunken and even made that charge. But Peter, speaking by the Holy Spirit, denied the charge and explained the phenomenon. He said those events were in fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel. He continued to speak and quoted from David to show that Jesus of Nazareth was the long-looked-for Messiah. He convinced many in the multitude. They had crucified the Christ who had been raised from the dead and ascended back to the Father. By Peters words, they came to belief in Christ. Terms Of Admission... When the multitude had been convinced that the Messiah had been crucified, many of them said, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Peter then continued and said, 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. For the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call (Acts 2:38-39). Then they that were gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls (Acts 2:41). Here we have the first preaching that was done under the commission that Jesus had given the apostles after His resurrection. He had said, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be damned (Mark 16:15-16). The terms of remission of sins were the terms of admission into the church. These people complied with them and were added to His church. They continued steadfastly in the apostles teaching, which means they were instructed how to live in the church. So the preaching of the gospel was essential to making church members. The gospel must be believed, sins must be repented of, and people must be baptized into Christ in order to become members of this church. Christs Church Today... Since we can learn from the New Testament what it took to establish the church of Christ on the day of Pentecost, and since the gospel that was preached on that day is preached now, and people hear it, believe it, and obey it today just as they did in Acts two, we have the same church that was established on Pentecost. If the members of this church continue steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship and breaking of bread and prayers as the first members did, we will have a church like the one that was established on Pentecost. In fact, we would have the identical church that was established on Pentecost. Putting it another way, if the same gospel is preached today that was preached on Pentecost in Acts two, and people hear it, believe it, and obey it as they did on Pentecost, and then live as the early Christians lived, we would have the same church that was established on Pentecost. If people know what was preached on Pentecost and what was believed and practiced, and know what is preached and practiced today, they can know or identify the church of Christ and distinguish it from religious denominations. People today need not be mistaken or confused. It is possible for the same gospel to be preached that was preached then, for people to believe the same gospel as they did then and to live as they did then as members of the church. This would then constitute them members of the church of Christ, and make a group of such people a church of Christ. [Edited for Space-RH]
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 20:43:58 +0000
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