You see “FAQ” on a lot of Web sites and literature from certain companies and it is an abbreviation for “Frequently Asked Questions”. It is a very helpful tool and often gives you the answer to your question in a quick and efficient way. And so, we use here for the same purpose, that is, to address frequently asked questions about the church of Christ.
- Didn’t Alexander Campbell start the church of Christ?
- Doesn’t the church of Christ believe they are the only ones going to heaven?
- Do you believe in the Old Testament?
- Why don’t you use music in your worship?
- Why do you insist on people being baptized before you can consider them a Christian?
- Do you believe people can lose their salvation or fall from grace?
Didn’t Alexander Campbell start the church of Christ?
No, the church of Christ was started by the one for whom it is named: Jesus Christ. Jesus promised to build His church (see Mt.16:18) and then He purchased it with His blood(see Acts 20:28) and when people became Christians, God added them to His church (see Acts 2:47). In the first century, these groups of Christians were known as “churches of Christ”(see Rom.16:16). All that Mr. Campbell did was to read these passages and apply them to himself, something anybody can and should do. If you do as Mr. Campbell did (and thousands of others before and since his time), you will not start a new denomination but simply discover the church that Jesus started. Lastly, please consider this: in the parable of the sower, Jesus likened the word of God to a seed (Luke 8:1-11) and a seed can lie on a shelf or in the freezer for a long time and not lose its viability. You can know that when you put it into good soil. It then will grow and produce some tasty result. Like that seed, the word of God does the same thing. It can lie on someone’s coffee table or in their closet for years, but once it is opened up and read, it gets into someone’s heart and will produce a Christian. That doesn’t mean you have to start a church because God has already added you to His (Acts 2:47). And remember, Jesus said that when He built His church, the gates of Hades would not overpower it (Mt.16:18). That means that it has never ceased to exist since the first century. All Campbell did was to recognize what was already in existence. And so can you!
Under Study Materials, you can find more detailed descriptions of the church that Jesus built, for instance, its worship, its organization and its teaching.
Doesn’t the church of Christ believe they are the only ones going to heaven?
So it has been reported and I think people have misunderstood us and no doubt, well-meaning church members have poorly explained what we believe. The truth of the matter is that everyone believes the same thing about who is going to heaven or, at least, they should if they believe what the Bible says. The Bible tells us a number of things about who is going to heaven. First, only God knows who is going to heaven (see 2 Tim.2:19). Second, only Jesus is the way, the truth and the life (see Jn.14:6). Third, only those who do the Father’s will can go to heaven, so says Jesus (see Mt.7:21). Fourth, we can also read who is not going to heaven: people who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of Jesus Christ (see 2 Thess.1:8,9). In principle, that is what we believe about who is going to heaven and who isn’t. So, the more important question here is exactly what is involved in “doing the Father’s will” and “obeying the gospel”. There is more information on this topic on this Web site.
Do you believe in the Old Testament?
We certainly do! We believe that it is inspired of God and that it has much to offer for us today. For instance, we are told by the Holy Spirit in Rom.15:4, “For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” And in I Cor.10:11, “Now these things happened to them as an example and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” Both of these verses tell us of the instructive value of the OT and we heartily agree with that. We also read in Heb.1:1,2 that God’s messenger has changed; “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.” In fact, the message of the whole book of Hebrews is to convince us of a superior and better covenant under Jesus. Chapter 8:13 says, “When He said, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.” And finally, in speaking of the Law of Moses, Paul said in Gal.5:4, “You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law, you have fallen from grace.”
So, we can see from these few verses that God intended for us to be living under the new covenant that Jesus brought to us. For that reason, we emphasize the reading and studying of the New Testament for it is the law that we are responsible to today. We do not discount the Old Testament, (see Rom.15:4 & I Cor.10:12 above), but we are not Jews, and it was their covenant not ours. So, some people might assume we don’t believe in the OT when we insist that it is an outdated law. A careful reading of Galatians 3:19-25 explains the temporal nature of the Old Law and the faith of Jesus Christ.
Why don’t you use music in your worship?
We do use music in our worship but maybe not the kind you’re thinking about. You may be referring to instruments of music like pianos, guitars, drums, etc. But the simple answer to your question is that we don’t find their use authorized by God for His worship in the New Testament church. Worship which is given to God is dictated by God Himself. The principles of true worship are seen in John 4:23.24, where Jesus says that our worship must be “in spirit and truth”. We are also told that “whatever we do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus”(Col.3:16). These verses tell us to look to the teachings of the Lord and the apostles that are revealed for us in the NT for direction and guidance in how God wants us to worship Him.
In the area of music, here is what we find revealed in the NT. We see that our Lord and His apostles “sang a hymn” (Mt.26:30), and that Paul & Silas “sang praises to God”(Acts 16:25), the Corinthians “sing with the spirit” (I Cor.14:15), Paul tells us to “sing and make melody in your heart” (Eph.5:19), He tells the Colossians to do the same(Col.3:16) and James encourages Christians to “sing psalms” (Jas.5:13). Hebrews 13:15 says, “Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips that give thanks to His name.” Some of those passages are directed at worship situations and some are directed to individuals, but all the verses tell us to “sing” and that is the only kind of music we can find commanded for the worship of God in the NT. If the NT told us in these above passages to “sing and play” like we can read about in the OT, then we would use them. But since we are under the NT and it just tells us to “sing”, then that is what we know God wants.
We believe this to be a sound and orderly approach to the Scriptures. If we are to “worship in spirit and truth”, we must honor what God has revealed to us. We know that faith comes by hearing the word of God (Rom.10:17) and we can only worship in faith if we obey His word.
Why do you insist on people being baptized before you can consider them a Christian?
Well, because the Bible tells us to baptize for that reason. Consider these passages: Mt.28:19 where Jesus tells us “Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit:” Why would Jesus command that if it wasn’t important? In Mark’s account, Jesus simply says, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that does not believe shall be damned” (Mk.16:15,16).
Not only did Jesus tell His apostles to teach baptism for salvation, we can also see that they did just as He commanded them. Peter told the people who crucified Jesus what to do to be forgiven or to have that sin(s) remitted. “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). Philip did the same in Acts 8:12, “…when they believed Philip preaching the things of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women”. Again, in Acts 8:30-39, Philip taught the eunuch about Jesus(see v.35) and the very next question that came out of the eunuch’s mouth was, “See, here is water; what prevents me from being baptized?” That is an illuminating question regarding the importance of baptism. Why ask the question if it wasn’t part of “preaching Jesus” (v35)?
There are other such passages in the book of Acts which we will cite here for you to look at on your own (Acts 10:47-48; 16:14,15;30-33; 18:8; 19:1-6; and 22:16). Consider also Col.2:12 and I Peter 3:21, which are both straightforward verses teaching that baptism is necessary to our salvation. It is important to make clear that we are not saying that baptism alone saves, just like grace alone and faith alone don’t save, but baptism when preceded by faith and repentance does indeed save.
Do you believe people can lose their salvation or fall from grace?
It is true that there are some very important promises that God and Jesus make to us regarding our salvation. Jesus tells us that “no one shall take you out of my hand”(Jn.10:29) and Peter says that we are “protected by power of God through faith” (I Pet.1:5). There are many other passages that are similar to these and we certainly do believe these comforting passages
You need to be aware that there are other passages that talk about our need to be faithful and obedient as a condition of our eternal salvation. In Rev.2:10, we are told to “be faithful unto death and you will receive the crown of life”. Other passages clearly warn us of the danger of losing our salvation and falling from grace. Consider Gal.5:4 where Paul says, “you have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law, you have fallen from grace.” The book of Hebrews is full of warnings of losing our salvation. Some of the more notable ones are Heb.3:7-4:2, where the writer compares the falling of the disobedient Jews in the wilderness to those who would fall short of God’s rest due to an evil and unbelieving heart. In short, they would fall away from the living God (Heb.3:12). And then there is Heb.6:4-6, where one’s spiritual state as a Christian is described in some detail but the warning is given that even that person can live in such a way that it would be “impossible to renew them again to repentance.”
Some see a contradiction is these two groups of passages. Some prefer to believe one and not the other. But there is no contradiction. Jesus says that no outside source can take us away (Jn.10), but we can leave. Peter tells us that our salvation is protected through our faith, so that is our responsibility. But if we don’t continue to have an obedient faith we can certainly lose heaven. The assurances of heaven are true and so are the warnings of falling away from or leaving God’s protection.