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(continued from previous page)
 The
Catholic concept of “church” — sometimes called “historical”
or “institutional” concept — puts a society between Christ
and His people. Study this statement from Catholic Encyclopedia,
V. III, p. 752: “It is to the Church that Christ has committed
those means of grace through which the gifts He earned for men
are communicated to them. The Church alone dispenses the
sacraments. It alone makes known the light of revealed truth.
Outside the Church these gifts cannot be obtained.” This gives
“the Church” sole right to teach truth, to baptize, and
hence to establish new congregations. It explains why “historic”
churches claim succession from the Roman or other “mother”
churches. It denies the “restoration” concept, whereby an
individual may learn truth from the written Word, obey, upon no
authority save that inherent in the Word, and thus become a
child of God.
The
“Bible alone” was accepted in pioneer restoration days; but
as “the church” grew this product took on new status.
“We” alone can scripturally baptize, “we” must send
(authorize) preachers, “we” must validate the Lord’s
Supper. Unintentionally, and without realizing logical
implications of our statements, many have accepted the Catholic,
institutional concept. We have been slow to face this problem,
thinking we might minimize “the importance of the church for
which Christ died.” But Christ did not die for a society or
institution; He died for Sam, Ann, !ke, Ned, Tom, and Sue--and
that spells SAINTS. Ironically, our reluctance to fight the
basic institutional concept is due to our own institutional
concept.
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Should
today’s conservative churches all “go liberal” to the
extent of complete apostasy, would an individual have the right
to study the Bible for himself? Learning what he must do to be
saved, could he obey without resorting to the apostate church?
Teaching others, could he baptize them? Could they form
themselves into a local church, partake of the Lord’s Supper,
etc.? Does the “authority for” or validation of any divinely
decreed service hinge upon approval of any man or group of men?
I believe an individual could learn truth, obey, and serve God
acceptably; for I believe succession is in the seed, not in the
sower (Lu. 8:11-15).
This
does not reject the N.T. concept of “church” — for the
obedient individual is a member of Christ’s church; and his
kind, the world over, make up the universal church on earth.
This does not reject the local church as an organized entity,
for faithful followers of Christ must and will associate
themselves with other saints as opportunity permits, to worship
together and promote the cause of their Lord collectively as
well as individually. To this end the scriptures authorize local
church oversight, treasury, and function. But the authority for
divine things comes from divinity, not from man. We reject the
idea that God has given into man’s hands (elders or “church”)
either legislative, executive, or judicial authority. Christ is
absolute monarch, ruling directly through His Spirit-filled
Word. We are individually and directly responsible
to our King, to serve Him in all good conscience. We pray for
God’s help in doing this.
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