Devotionals

Does the Name of your Church really matter?

by Robert Randle
04/05/17
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There are literally thousands of Churches in Christendom with varying modes of worship, liturgy, faith practices, theological doctrine, rituals, hermeneutics and homilies; so is there one particular Church that has the “right” name, and teaching that makes it stand out as the One True Church?  Let’s just investigate this claim and see what the Bible has to say about it.

Matthew 16: 18
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Acts 8: 1a
And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem. . .

Acts 11: 25-26
So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.

NOTE: What were the believers called before this time and what was the Name of the Church?

Acts 12: 1
About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church (Name??).

Acts 18: 22
When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church (Name??), and then went down to Antioch. 

Acts 20: 28
Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the Church of God,which he obtained with his own blood.

NOTE: This is this first time this is mentioned, other than the generic “Church.”

Acts 24: 5, 14
For we have found this man a plague, one who stirs up riots among all the Jews throughout the world and is a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. But this I confess to you, that according to the Way (Heb. ha Derekh), which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets.

NOTE: Is the apostle Paul saying that he is a member of or associated with the Church of the Way, or Church of the Nazarene (Nazarene Church)?

Romans 16: 16
Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of (in??) Christ greet you.

NOTE: Church of Christ; Disciples of Christ Church are possibilities.

1 Corinthians 15: 9
For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

1 Corinthians 16: 16
If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God.

2 Corinthians 1: 1b
To the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:

Galatians 1: 13
For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it.

1 Thessalonians 2: 14a
For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. 

NOTE: Another possible Name can be Church of God in Christ.

1 Timothy 3: 15
If I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.

NOTE: The Church of the Living God is possible, too.

Hebrews 12: 23
To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect. . . KJV

NOTE: This General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn is as viable as any Name mentioned, and as a matter-of-fact, this denomination used to be around but I don’t know if they are anymore.

COMMENTARY: By the sheer frequency of times that it is mentioned, Church of God would be the most likely for any for saints and believing Christians to identify with; as opposed to any of the other Names listed. However, this fact alone does not validate this or any other Christian Church as the “One True Church” based solely on this occurrence in the New Testament, but it would make a strong debate point. Of course, one can counter that it isn’t the Name but whether you are following the example of First Century Christians in the manner they practiced the “pure” religion from the beginning. There were definitely significant differences in the ministry of the Apostle Paul and the leadership of the Mother Church in Jerusalem. I don’t want to get too far afield in this area but I did want to make note of some earlier teaching in one Christian Church that used Acts 20: 7 as Biblical sanction to observe the Lord’s Supper (“Eucharist”) on Sunday. Is that really the case or was it part of a social custom that was incorporated into the fellowship of believers?

Acts 20: 7a, 11
On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day. . . When he had gone back up and had broken the bread and eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left. 

Acts 2: 42, 46
They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house (not in the Church or assembly), they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart. 

As a final thought, it is not what Church you belong to but rather, Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (2 Corinthians 5: 17).

Robert Randle
776 Commerce St Apt 701
Tacoma, WA 98402
April 5, 2017
[email protected]