The Restoration of the Church
The apostles foretold that many Christians would fall away from the faith. While there have been rebels and backsliders in every generation since Christ walked the earth in the flesh, the apostles spoke specifically of what we call “the Great Apostasy,” a sweeping and devastating fall of many from the truth that would coincide with the revealing of one called, “the man of sin/lawlessness” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12). The passage teaches us that this “man” was being restrained while Paul wrote, and would be revealed when the restrainer was removed. I believe the restrainer was the Roman Empire and that the man of lawlessness was/is Catholicism specifically, and pseudo-Christian religion in general. Perhaps I’ll explain why I believe that in detail in a later post. The apostasy happened, and its results abide, and any time the Lord’s people drift away from the truth, restoration is needed, either individually or congregationally. Thankfully, the Lord has preserved the beacon of truth, the Bible, as a guide to Christ for all generations. It teaches us of God’s plan for the ages culminating in the sacrifice and resurrection of Christ and establishment of the church. It teaches the essentiality of unity among members of the church. When, through open-minded, prayerful study, one comes to realize that he is in error on any point, especially if he has been lured into believing and obeying the dogmas of the world’s religions, including pseudo-Christian ones, his responsibility (and joy) is to remove himself from such associations in favor of fellowship with true Disciples.
The churches of Christ are striving to be the church established by the Lord in the First Century, AD. The churches of Christ in these last few centuries have mostly been planted and nourished as a result of what became known as the Restoration Movement. In the late 1700s and early 1800s several independent efforts to do away with the causes of division among Protestants began to materialize. Preachers such as “Raccoon” John Smith, Thomas and Alexander Campbell, and Barton W. Stone pleaded for a return to the pure, simple, primitive “ancient order.” They spurned all creeds, councils and anything else that caused Christians to be separated into various sects, and looked to the Bible alone as the sole authority in Christianity, and to preaching and practicing it alone as the only means of accomplishing true unity among believers in Christ. God blessed the effort and the cause flourished. Masses streamed out of denominationalism into undenominational churches of Christ. By the grace of God we have been blessed with such a heritage and must continue the effort to “speak where the Bible speaks and be silent where the Bible is silent.” Every generation faces the challenges to godly unity in the forms of false doctrine and sectarian division contrary to the will of God, and must freshly pursue the task of truly being Jesus’ disciples so that we can maintain solidarity as the one church of the New Testament, and so that we may always progress in the task of converting the unchurched to Christ, and the sectarian out of denominational dogma. We must do all this in love, with all patience (2 Timothy 2:24, 4:2).
There are some among us who do not properly appreciate the greatness of this mission. It is not something merely contrived in the minds of men that may be taken or left. The fact of the matter is that any time the Lord’s people drift away from the truth, restoration is needed, either individually or congregationally. Is the Bible still the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Is the unity of all believers in Christ still desirable? Is leaving behind sectarian and denominational dogma still an admirable thing to do? The answer to all three questions is, yes, and as long as it is, the restoration and propagation of pure, simple, primitive Christianity—the ancient order—will continue to be right and essential.
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The Restoration of the Church. This I do not understand. I believe the kingdom of God was established when Jesus died and was raised from the dead. I don’t believe that it was ever in a state of unrestored.
I do believe that many believers miss God’s. This happens when one builds a total truth on a part of the scripture. In the same way Peter wanted to build a temple or that many in the Old Testament wanted to stay in an area and dig wells. People find a truth and build a creed around it. I have studied many differing denominations. How they came denominations is by building a thought around a part of God’s truth.
God’s church has surived thru out the centuries. Under many differing names in order to be identified. The Way, Believers, Church in (what ever town). Disciples. All names are understood to be under Christ. In the New Testament, people identified themselves by stating that they of Apollo or of someone that lead them in faith, repentance, baptism, This is the error of being human. Scripture also tells us that God is faithful, even when we are faithless. So I don’t believe these men were part of a restoration but to correct error but these men did not correct all error. I respect Alexander Campbell, but I don’t think even he had it all together. That is why there is Grace. Blessed be Grace.
The church has always been what it is. Both as a concept, and in practice as the body of God’s people, it has always had the characteristics the Lord gave it. Thank God for grace, for no man I’ve ever met has “all knowledge,” or understands “all mysteries,” therefore we can be safe in God’s fold with imperfect understandings of the church.
However there are boundaries. The New Testament clearly teaches that there are matters so fundamental to the faith that one cannot deny or transgress them and remain part of his fold. The Spirit foretold of apostasy. Apostasy happened (and happens). When it does (whether on the part of an individual or entire church), the Scriptures teach us that restoration is in order (Acts 15:16; 2 Cor 13:11; Gal 6:1).
The “Restoration Movement” was/is simply the effort to cooperate with God in helping individuals and groups of disciples to correct themselves where they have erred from the true understanding, practice, and experience of Christianity as revealed by the Lord in the Bible. It is a Scriptural principle that we endeavor to put into lively practice and is never complete. Does everyone claiming to be Christ’s disciples practice this? Certainly not, as long as denominations, sectarianism, and major false doctrine continues to be embraced. Not every “Church of Christ” puts the restoration principle (which is essentially the same thing as growth and repentance) into practice. But our general concensus and historical mission is to practice it and so be no denomination at all, but disciples who have returned to the original item, abandoning all the additions and subtractions men have made to it embodied in the Catholic, Orthadox and Protestant denominations that arose over the centuries. So, the Restoration Movement is not something distinct from true Christianity at all, but the attempt to genuinely practice it. It is Christianity.
Thanks for the input, your comments are welcome.
—JLP
I do not attend a Church of Christ, so I am trying to understand about restoration as you see it vs reformation as other men such as Martin Luther described correction. I was very intrigued about not being a denomination. I call myself a Christian and not a Baptist or anything else for that matter. I consider myself a follower of Jesus. I belong to the Way as I understand it from the New Testament. I consider myself as a New Testament believe that the Gospel is that Jesus is God’s Son, that he came in the flesh and born into this world thru Mary, a virgin. The Good News is that he came to this earth to restore us to the Father by taking our stead and was punished for our sins. This was the restoration.
I do believe that error was taught, even in the first century church. Gentiles had to be reconciled to Jew as brothers in Christ. Peter had to be corrected by Paul in this matter. So we are constantly being corrected as the Holy Spirit reveals the scripture to us. Jesus said many times that we need to have ears to hear and eyes to see, what the Spirit is saying.
I am sure that Campbell and other men of God saw error and taught the scripture in order to bring the truth as revealed to them thru study and preachers, pastors continually do this today.
I appreciate finding this web site. I enjoy discussion, so please understand that I am not trying to debate but to understand. Thanks
“I do believe that error was taught, even in the first century church. Gentiles had to be reconciled to Jew as brothers in Christ. Peter had to be corrected by Paul in this matter. So we are constantly being corrected as the Holy Spirit reveals the scripture to us. Jesus said many times that we need to have ears to hear and eyes to see, what the Spirit is saying.”
Agreed, wholeheartedly! This is what I meant in my first response to you about the relationship between restoration & repentance.
“I am trying to understand about restoration as you see it vs reformation as other men such as Martin Luther described correction… I am sure that Campbell and other men of God saw error and taught the scripture in order to bring the truth as revealed to them thru study and preachers, pastors continually do this today.”
Campbell (and the others) actually called their missions “reformation,” the term “restoration,” I believe, began to be used a bit later as brethren recognized that the implications of reformation in many cases required seperation from individuals and bodies that both refused to repent of error, and contributed to divisions. The “Restoration Movement” began as more than anything else, a unity movement. As some folks (certainly not all) in the Protestant denominations (especially) resisted the attempts to bring unity, because of false doctrines held and imposed upon churches through creedbooks, councils and conventions, it became clearer that, though there may well be true disciples in association with the various sects (denominations), the sects themselves are not actually the true church. Even Luther began simply desiring to reform the Catholic church, but over time it became clear that the Catholic church was no longer the church at all. It was far beyond needing reformation. So members of churches of Christ have observed, albeit to a lesser degree with some of the Protestants, that it is better to leave the judgment of sectarian churches to God while focusing, instead of fighting to reform them, on actually seeking to be restored into what came before either Catholicism or Protestantism. So, while we wish for grace and salvation for Catholics and Protestants, we cannot be partakers of either. We will be simply Christians. In order to maintain a basis for true Christian unity, we strive to teach and practice nothing for which there is not clear authority in the Scriptures. That is what we mean by “restoration,” and we invite you to join in the ongoing effort.
—JLP