DENOMINATIONALISM AND THE CHURCH 2

DENOMINATIONALISM AND THE CHURCH 2

 

DENOMINATIONALISM as defined in our previous discourse is the grouping of local churches into identifiable units based on the leadership, doctrines and structure. We established that the personality of the founder of a denomination eventually becomes the most important factor. We also hinted at how the growth of the Church of Christ has made it inevitable for denominationalism to evolve especially for ease of organization. We concluded that denominationalism may have come to stay until Christ returns and how that we must learn to live with it in the light of the pattern set by Christ Himself as revealed in Scriptures.

 

Denominationalism began right from the days of Christ on earth. But before we look at that, let us see the days of the apostles after Christ ascended. Please read the scriptures below;

 

1 Cor 1:

10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

 

11 For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.

12 Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.

13 Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?

14 I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;

15 Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name.

16 And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.

 

They did not call it denomination, but they noticed it was dividing them. They also noticed it was built around personalities. As at this time, there were three of them; Paul, Cephas and Apollos. A set of people managed to set aside these three to say they were of Christ (though it was in a divisive manner).

 

At that time, as read in the scriptures above, it appeared as if baptism was the ultimate seal of denominational membership. As if whoever baptized you showed where you belonged. I suspect that baptism or the baptizer started out simply as a means of identifying church groups. For instance, Paul asked some disciples whose baptism they had. See this scripture below;

 

Acts 19:

3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism.

4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.

5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

 

So we see here that John's baptism made it easy for Paul to identify those people. Once he knew whose baptism they had, he also identified the core of their doctrine which he termed 'baptism of repentance'. It is the same experience in our days when we know what denomination a person belongs to, we quickly identify under whose teachings (or baptism) has been. We know the person whose baptism is that of Prosperity. We know the person whose baptism is of Holiness. We know others to be of Grace, Wisdom, Miracles and the likes. So the baptism is tied to the baptizer to identify the denomination.

 

We can see that the stage for denominationalism had been effectively set as far back as the days of Paul.

 

Now in the days of Jesus we found denominationalism too. The slight difference is that in the days of Paul, we relate it more to the Church of Christ. in the days of Jesus, there were many rabbis (religious teachers or leaders) who had their own followers. So Jesus was seen to be just one those rabbis who had recently began to make waves in the city of Jerusalem and environs.

 

See what some disciples of John spoke of Jesus Christ;

 

John 3:

25 Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying.

26 And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him

 

We can see here that as soon as the people heard Jesus was baptising people (though Jesus Himself did not baptise. See John 4:1-2), they raised the question about purification. And they felt obliged to let John know that his disciples were leaving for the very man John had introduced. Is that the reason preachers are careful to invite other ministers to preach in their denominations?

 

Baptism traditionally was a purification ritual. God had sent John to baptize ahead of the coming of Christ as a symbol of preparing the people for the move of God. So those disciples wanted to know, maybe, if Jesus was doing the same thing by baptising people.

 

What is most important to this write up, is response of John which Paul also emphasied in the passage we read earlier. He pointed them to Jesus.

 

John said as quoted in the scripture below;

 

John 3:

27 John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.

28 Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.

29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.

30 He must increase, but I must decrease.

31 He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.

 

Profound words.

 

He told them it was all about Christ. That His assignment was to point them to Christ and his joy was that they had found Him. He said Christ must continue to take the stage of their hearts above his own (John's) person. How glorious if this is the mind set of leaders of modern day denominations; de-emphasing their person and prestige while promoting vigorously the person of Christ. and the glory. Paul confronted those disciples with this checker; 1 Cor 1:13 '... was Paul crucified for you?...' If Church members can ask whether it was the Pastor that died for them, maybe it will just solve the many unnecessary negative fallout of denominationalism. If preachers would stop acting like they died for the Church, we would not be so divided.

 

We will conclude in the next episode.

 

- Adeolu O V.