IS THE CHURCH OF CHRIST
THE ONLY ONES GOING TO HEAVEN?
QUESTION: “I have a very tough question. I have been
a member of the Lord’s Church for a few years, and once people find out,
the first question they ask is, ‘Why does the church of Christ think they
are the only ones going to heaven and not the denominational churches?’
I think they ask this because they do not understand the Bible. Could you help
me with this because a lot of my friends ask me this. I need some scripture
on this matter.”
ANSWER: You are correct that it is a misunderstanding of the
scriptures. It is also a misunderstanding of what the name “church of
Christ” means. To a denominational person, the name “church of Christ”
is no different than “Baptist,” “Methodist,” or “Presbyterian.”
You may have heard people say, “I am church of Christ” as opposed
to saying, “I am a Christian.” Such speech simply perpetuates the
misunderstanding. The name “church of Christ” is not a denomination,
it is an effort on the part of Christians to honor and glorify the Savior. The
early churches were mostly referred to as the church of God (Acts 20:28; 1 Corinthians
1:2; 2 Corinthians 1:1; Galatians 1:13; 1 Timothy 3:5). This was not a “name,”
but a description to whom they belonged. The early churches were also called
churches of Christ (Romans 16:16). Jesus said that the church belonged to Him
(Matthew 16:18) so it is the church that belongs to Christ–the church
that is Christ’s – the church of Christ. The name is not a label
to be stuck on the outside of a product. Rather, it is descriptive of the group
of people who meet to worship at that particular location. This is a difficult
concept to get denominational people to understand because they are so stuck
on labels. In fact, this is exactly what Paul rebuked the Corinthians for doing
in 1 Corinthians 1:10 – labeling themselves and using the label as a reason
for division. Even those who labeled themselves “Christ” were wrong
because they were using the name “Christ” as a label and not as
a description of who they were. The only name that we as individuals should
be worried about carrying is the name “Christian.” A person cannot
be a true Christian and be a “Baptist-Christian” or a “Methodist-Christian”
or a “Presbyterian-Christian.” Either one is a Christian or one
is not. The concept of a “flavored” Christian is not found in the
Bible and is, in fact, forbidden by Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:10. Now, if you
can get them to understand this, then you can get them to understand the next
part, but if they do not understand this, then they will never understand the
next part.
The Bible teaches that there is only ONE church – the church that belongs
to Jesus (Matthew 16:16-18) and that there is only ONE body (Ephesians 4:4).
The Bible also teaches that the body is the church (Eph.1:22,23). That means
there is just ONE church. In addition, we read in Ephesians 5:23 that Jesus
is the Savior of the body. He is not the Savior of anything else but the body.
So, he is the Savior of the church and only the church. Now, applying the principles
that we learn from above, we can understand that Jesus is the Savior of the
church – His church – the church that belongs to Him–the church
of Christ. He is not going to save anyone who is not a member of His church
as only the saved are added to His church (Acts 2:47 KJV). So, to state it plainly,
the saved are members of the church and the church is made up of saved people.
No one outside the church is going to be saved.
At this point the denominationalist will probably say, but you are talking about
the universal church, not the local church and we all know that the universal
church is made up of all of the denominations. This is completely false. In
the scriptures we only read of two different descriptions of the church. There
is the universal church and there is the local church. A denomination doesn’t
fit either of those categories. A denomination is bigger than the local church,
but smaller than the universal church. Moreover, even if the organization was
correct, a congregation would have to practice all of the things that are enjoined
upon churches in the New Testament to practice. Many denominations just are
not doing this today. To be the New Testament church, a church must have an
authorized description (church of Christ, church of God, etc.), an authorized
worship, an authorized plan of salvation, an authorized organization, and an
authorized mission. A person has no authority from God to just go somewhere
and set up a congregation of people to do whatever they want to do and call
that the church. The church must conform to God’s pattern for the church
and that is what makes the church the church of Christ! When we do things the
way God has told us to do things, then by His grace, we will be saved. If we
fail to do things the way God told us to do things, then we have no promise
of salvation.
The accusation, “the members of the ‘Church of Christ’ think
they are the only ones going to heaven” is a straw man argument. It assumes
that the churches of Christ are denominations just like everyone else. It assumes
that it doesn’t matter how the church is organized. It assumes that all
denominations are members of the one universal church. To speak to someone about
this issue you must first point out the fallacies of these assumptions.
So, to answer this question or statement, I would tell the person who made the
statement that this is a misrepresentation of what we believe and if you would
like to find out what we do actually believe, then we can have a Bible study
to discuss it. You might also point out to them that they believe that Christians
are the only ones going to heaven and they don’t seem to have a problem
with that. Then you could get into a discussion how does a person become a Christian.
If they don’t believe that only Christians are going to heaven, then you
will need to have a discussion with them regarding the resurrection of Christ
and the authority that Christ has in our relationship with God (John 14:6, etc.)
by Kevin Cauley
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