Is It Possible to Restore the New Testament Church? # 1

Among religious people--especially among recognized biblical scholars--there is hardly any argument anymore about the time and occasion of the church's beginning. The church of our Lord was established on the first Pentecost after the resurrection of Christ. Dr. Merrill C. Tenney's outstanding book, The New Testament: A Survey (Wm. B. Ferdmans Publishing Company, 1953), says very plainly and succinctly, "The birthday of the church was Pentecost" (p. 251). Josh McDowell's book, Josh McDowell Answers Five Tough Questions (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1990) has one section with the heading, "The Birthday of the Church." Josh makes it very plain that the day of Pentecost was the time for the promise of God to be fulfilled. He was talking about God's promise to the Old Testament prophets about the coming of Christ's kingdom. Josh mentions specifically Joel 2:28-29 which Peter affirmed was fulfilled on Pentecost"(p. 358).

The Old Testament prophets predicted that Christ 's kingdom--the church of the living God--would begin at a certain place--Jerusalem (Isa. 2:2-4) and at a certain time--in the days of these kings (Dan. 2: 44). There are certain teachers who deny the beginning of Christ's kingdom on Pentecost, but time prophecies cannot be postponed. If the kingdom did not begin on Pentecost, then the prophecies of God failed of their fulfillment. Jesus taught that "the scripture cannot be broken" (John 10:35). When God's spokesmen foretold an event, that event had to happen just as the prophets said it would. The integrity of God's word was at stake in the prophecies given by men like Isaiah, Joel, Daniel and Moses.

As the day of Pentecost approached, John the Baptist, Jesus Christ and the apostles spoke at length about the coming of God's kingdom. Matthew records that John the Baptist was preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, "Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Mt. 3:1-2). "Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent, and believe the gospel" (Mk. 1:14-15). We know from these readings that the kingdom of God was not two thousand years or more in the future. Mark tells us that Jesus said, "Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them who stand here, who shall not taste of death, until they have seen the kingdom of God come with power" (Mk. 9:1).

Then our Lord Jesus Christ was preparing to depart this earth and to return to the Father, the apostles were apparently expecting the immediate appearance of the kingdom. They asked Jesus, "Wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel" (Acts 1:6)? Although the apostles did not at that time understand the nature of the coming kingdom, they were certainly looking forward to its appearance. How do you suppose they had reached the conclusion that the kingdom of God was just around the corner? They knew the prophecies of the Old Testament. They also knew the preaching of John the Baptist and of Jesus Christ. They had been taught to pray: "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven" (Mt. 6:10).

Were there any dangers that false prophets and false systems of thought would arise and lead some of God's people astray? Was there a real possibility of the church's becoming doctrinally and morally corrupt? If you have read the New Testament carefully, you already know the answers to these questions, but let us examine a few passages which predict a falling away from the faith. In our Lord's Sermon on the Mount, Jesus warned his followers--including us: "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening (or ferocious) wolves" (Mt. 7:15). In his famous Olivet discourse, Jesus further warned his disciples about false teachers and about a coming apostasy: "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect" (Mt. 24:24).

The apostles were no less direct in warning the early disciples about the dangers of false teachers. Paul's relationship to the Ephesian elders was one of mutual respect and love. Paul's great love for God and for God's people motivated him to speak as follows to the Ephesian elders: "Take heed therefore to yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn everyone of you night and day with tears. And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them who are sanctified" (Acts 20:28-32).

In Paul's letters to a splendid young preacher, Timothy, he emphatically taught that departures from the faith would occur. "Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their consciences seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God has created to be received with thanksgiving of them who believe and know the truth" (1 Tim. 4:1-3). Paul gave a special charge to Timothy in the very presence of God almighty and of the Lord Jesus Christ. He commanded Timothy to "preach the word." Then he added: "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears. And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables" (2 Tim. 4:1-4).

There are numerous other warnings in Paul's writings about false teachers, but none more severe and eye-opening than these remarks from Peter's second letter. "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingers now, and their damnation slumbers not" (2 Pet. 2:1-3). One scripture from John needs to be read at this time. "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1).

Have there actually been departures from the faith? Can we know from careful study of our Bibles what those departures have been? Is it possible to go back to God's original pattern for the church and restore that pattern in our generation? I am not asking you at this time if there has been a restoration of the New Testament pattern. I am asking you if it is possible to restore the New Testament church. Let me raise some questions regarding restoring the New Testament church.

Does the New Testament furnish us with true doctrine and a pattern for the church? Oddly enough, there are people in the church and out who answer that question in the negative. One preacher said, for example, that the patterns in the New Testament are not readily discernible. Which pattern in the New Testament do we follow? Do we follow the pattern of incest in the church at Corinth? Should we be divided like the Corinthian Christians? It is unbelievable to me that any logical man or woman could give such an answer. Should there be any doubt in anyone's mind that both incest and division at Corinth were heartily condemned? Paul even accused the Corinthian Christians of being carnally minded because they had promoted (or at least, had not opposed) division with the church of our Lord (1 Cor. 3:1-3). Paul instructed the church at Corinth to deliver the incestuous brother to Satan for the destruction of his flesh that his spirit might be saved in the day of judgment (1 Cor. 5:5). Everyone who reads the New Testament discerningly knows without question that God almighty opposes division, incest, going to law with a brother and that before heathen judges, confusion at the Lord's table and being insensitive to the consciences of weak brothers and sisters.

What part of 1 Corinthians 5 is a pattern for the church in our day? Surely, no honest and reasonable man could argue that incest is God's will. Incidentally, the preacher I have just mentioned copied his unscriptural position from a Pentecostal preacher--Dr. Gordon Fee--not from the word of God. The permanent value of 1 Corinthians 5 is the need for every congregation of the Lord's people to withdraw from erring brothers and sisters. Paul commanded the Corinthians" Purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump" (1 Cor. 5:7). Churches cannot allow ungodly members to remain in their fellowship. The Lord himself commended the church at Ephesus for its unwillingness to bear them which were evil (Rev. 2:2). The word "bear" (bastazo) suggests that an ungodly brother is a burden the church cannot bear. Please listen carefully to Paul's inspired instructions to the church at Thessalonica. "Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks disorderly among you, and not after the tradition which he received of us" (2 Thess. 3:6).

Before we can restore true doctrine and scriptural worship, we must know what the Bible teaches about these. Is it possible to know what God has ordained for the work and worship of the church? If it is not possible to know--and many modernistic theologians deny that it is what did Jesus mean when he said, "You shall know the truth; and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32)? Let me ask you some questions to challenge your thinking on this topic. How can the Lord hold us accountable for not doing his will if we cannot understand what the Bible teaches? If we cannot know the pattern, how can we restore it? If men have corrupted the gospel--as almost every serious student of the Bible will admit--but we cannot know what the pattern for the church is, what can we do about restoring the pattern?

In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gave us at least one of the standards by which we can judge all teachers and teachings. After warning his generation and ours about false teachers, he said, "You shall know them by their fruits" (Mt. 7:16). If a doctrine produces rebellion, corruption and degradation, you can know for sure that such a doctrine does not come from God. If a teacher encourages disrespect for the word of God, disregard for the authority of Jesus Christ and disdain for the church of the New Testament, you should have no doubt he is a false teacher. But if the Bible does not provide an objective standard--a divinely ordained pattern--how can we judge concerning the Bible, Jesus Christ and the church?

Paul wanted Timothy to know about the pattern God had given for the church and for our individual lives. He instructed his young friend and brother: "Take heed unto yourself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this you shall both save yourself, and them who hear you" (1 Tim. 4:16). Does the doctrine which Paul commanded Timothy to respect and to obey constitute a pattern--a model? My friends, you know it does. Jesus said on the occasion of his washing the disciples' feet: "For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done unto you" (John 13:15). Throughout his many books to churches and to individuals, Paul commanded adherence to the divine pattern. Again Paul said to Timothy: "But continue in the things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing of whom you have learned them; and that from a child you have known the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Tim. 3:14-17). Paul told Titus: "But speak the things which become sound doctrine" (Tit. 2:1). Do expressions like "example," "the things which you have learned," "the holy scriptures" and "sound doctrine" mean that Paul had given Timothy, Titus and us a pattern?

If we can know what true doctrine is--and the Bible makes it very plain that we can and must--is it possible to restore true doctrine and right practices when they have been ignored or forsaken? Obviously, it is not possible for me at this time to discuss every departure from God's original pattern as revealed in the New Testament, but I want to give one example before our time expires.

Under the Mosaic law, the Jews were required to keep the sabbath day holy (Ex. 20:8-11). If you believe what the Old Testament teaches, there cannot be any doubt in your mind about the duty of God's people to remember the sabbath day and to keep it holy. When the Jews disregarded God's law regulating the sabbath, they had to pay for it. The prophets of the Old Testament continually warned God's people about breaking God's commandments. One of the reasons the Jews were carried into Babylonian exile, as the prophet Daniel makes very plain, was their neglect of the commandments of God--including the sabbath command.

But when the gospel was given, the sabbath command was taken out of the way and nailed to the cross (Col. 2:14-17). Can we be sure the sabbath command was removed? The answer is a resounding YES. There are many passages which teach that truth, but none so plainly and powerfully than 2 Corinthians 3. This chapter deals with what Paul calls "the letter" and "the spirit." He identifies the letter as "the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones." He mentions the fact that the ministration of death "was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away" (2 Cor. 3:6-7). Do you recognize the language Paul has used in this passage? Which law was written and engraven in stones? What law did Moses receive when he came down from the mountain with his face so radiant that the Israelites were afraid and asked him to put a veil over his face? Who can read these words and not know Paul was speaking of the Ten Commandments--including the sabbath commandment. Paul adds concerning the Ten Commandments: For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remains is glorious. Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech; and not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished" (2 Cor. 3:11-13).

God's pattern for the Christian era comes to us in the New Testament--not from the Old Testament. Any attempt to bind the old covenant violates the pattern Jesus Christ gave for the church. Adding the sabbath to the new covenant makes one guilty of trying to be saved by the law of Moses. According to Paul, trying to be saved by the law of Moses means one has fallen away from grace (Gal. 5:4).

This is only one example of departing from the pattern Jesus Christ and the apostles gave to the church of the living God. But we have no authority and no reason for leaving the pattern God has given us. It is a serious matter when men substitute their own judgment or their own experience for what God has revealed in his word. I plead with you to speak and to practice only what the New Testament authorizes. Paul tells us to do all in the name of the Lord Jesus (Col. 3:16).

Winford Claiborne

The International Gospel Hour

P.O. Box 118

Fayetteville, TN 37334

Back to Home Page

Back to Transcripts Titles