CHURCH OF CHRIST

Don’t Forget:•Family Night Out @ Ming’s•Old Phil. meeting, May 6

May 2, 2010

HEBRON

The Call for Spiritual Unity

Body

Spirit

Hope

Lord

Faith

Baptism

God1—Ephesians 4:4-6

The One Faith

I. What is the One Faith?

II. Is there One Faith?

What is the “One Faith”?

Faith—three different senses in the New Testament:

1) belief—personal consent (Hebrews 11:6)

2) scruple—personal opinion (Romans 14:22)

3) the faith—the system of faith (Acts 6:7; Jude 3; Gal.1:23)

What is the “One Faith”?

• The system of faith is equivalent to the form of doctrine or pattern of teaching– Romans 6:17 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.

– Form: die, stamp, model, type

What is the “One Faith”?

• John 20:25 …except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails…

• Acts 7:44 …that he should make it [the tabernacle] according to the fashion that he had seen (pattern, Heb.8:5)

• Philippians 3:17 Brethren, be ye followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample

Is there “One Faith”?

“The problem with a restoration theology is that it rests on the premise that the mission of the church is to set up a ‘true church’ in which all the details of church life are exactly like they were in a first century world. It functions on the assumption that there is a blueprint or pattern in the New Testament that the church is to reduplicate in each succeeding generation”

Is there “One Faith”?

“I am not suggesting an anarchical approach to Christianity which disregards the authority of Scripture. What I am arguing is that the New Testament cannot legitimately be used as a book of specific rules covering every aspect of the work, worship, and government of the church”

Is there “One Faith”?

Of all the patterns and paradigms we (the Churches of Christ) could have chosen to emphasize, it was the first-century-church-model that became the blueprint on which we built our church. We became students of the church in Jerusalem, Corinth, and Rome. We modeled ourselves and our congregations after those congregations. We set about the challenging work of replicating in modern times the ancient and primitive rites of first century faith and practice. We identified and catalogued the early churches’ modes of worship, methods of outreach and cooperation, their structures for leadership, the names by which they called themselves, the ethical standards by which they lived, and the means by which they expressed and maintained community” Tim Woodroof’s article “A Pattern to Lean On” (New Wineskins, March – April 2010)

Is there “One Faith”?“It is most likely that in the Apostolic age when there was but ‘one Lord, one faith, and one baptism,’ and no differing denominations existed, the baptism of a convert by that very act constituted him a member of the church, and at once endowed him with all the rights and privileges of full membership. In that sense, ‘baptism was the door into the church.’ Now it is different…” (Edward Hiscox, 1951, The Standard Manual for Baptist Churches)

Is there “One Faith”?

There is a pattern for:1) Salvation

– Romans 6:17 …form of teaching…

2) Worship– John 4:24 …in Spirit

and in truth3) Life

– Colossians 3:17 whatsoever ye do in word or deed…

Is there “One Faith”?

• Those patterns were to be duplicated– John 17:20-21 Neither pray I

for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one

– II Timothy 2:2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also

One Final Statement:“The existence of a divinely authorized pattern for worship, or for other matters which we have not touched on, does not deny the gospel of grace…we are saved by the sacrifice of Christ through our faith in Him [which includes obedience to Bible commands and requirements—to save, faith must live and to live, faith must obey (James 2:14-26)…When we recognize that He has saved us by His death, when we believe that Scripture is His own revelation of Himself and His will, and when in gratitude we search the Scripture for His will for us…that is not legalism. It is faith working through love”—Cecil May, Jr.

Consider During the Lord’s Supper:Matthew 26:26-28 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins