Thought: Church Order and Scripture
How we go about operating church and church function has become a strange game of making your best copy based on Scripture. Why would they all look so different? Some say that is what God intended. “Of course everyone is not going to agree on everything, especially beliefs, but we love each other anyway.” Or, “Go with the practice that your church has decided on because that is where God has you.” Nice sentiments until you think about it a little longer.
For example, the Council at Jerusalem in Acts 15 recognized God’s decree on an essential issue for all churches. Not just the churches in Jerusalem, not just churches who felt like going along with it. If you were called a church of God, you were expected to fall in line. At the very least, there was a centralized form of authority.
Further, traditions were not relative to each church. The Apostles did not go around and say, “You can do the Lord’s Table this way and you this way, and you can baptize this way and you this other way.” They proclaimed a unified Gospel complete with instruction for the worship of God and the Way of Life. Down to traditions we now call “dated” or “cultural.” For example, Paul not only taught in every church, but also knew that the other Apostles taught the same in every church, that women ought not to pray without their heads covered in 1 Corinthians 11:13-16. He says in verse 16, “If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice, nor do the churches of God [Emphasis my own].” It was an expectation that not only Corinth follow this practice, but his defense of such a practice was that it was the only practice of the Church of God.
Further, Paul’s writings to various churches were expected to be circulated and shared between them. He was not writing to churches with alternative beliefs but creating opportunity for unity through interaction (Colossians 4:16).
Paul has words for people who disagree with his opinion. He says to the Corinthians,
36 Or did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached? 37 If anyone thinks they are a prophet or otherwise gifted by the Spirit, let them acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command. 38 But if anyone ignores this, they will themselves be ignored. - 1 Corinthians 14:36-38
This in reference to something considered so insignificant today. Would you really say that Paul thought, “Yeah, believe what you want,” regarding matters such as Communion or Baptism? It does not seem to have even been a possibility. He not only says that this is the Lord’s command, but ignoring it results in you yourself being ignored as any form of authority.
God is not a god of confusion but order (1 Corinthians 14:33). It looks confusing when we have an abundance of opinions on everything. Things we have the audacity to call “non-essentials.”
My point here is not to be correct on a single point. Rather, I want you to admit that the early church was not variable or relative in its beliefs or practices. And where it was, there were consequences.
