The Right Brand
Some of our modern broad-minders in religion can be and are quite snobbish if you disagree with their lack of doctrinal convictions. One of them, a member of a popular denomination, recently referred to some of us who still respect the simplicity of the gospel, as "an off-brand outfit'. This may serve as a starting point for some worthwhile observations.
A brand can serve a useful purpose, if they are "on" they stand for true quality in the business world and bespeak the integrity of the producers of the goods which bear the brands. If they are "off' they are deceptive and disappointing and to use them is dishonest. The brand must be backed up by quality. It would be poor business or worse for a firm to brand instruments as "keen-kutter' when they are dull and cannot be sharpened so they will cut. A good article with a poor brand has a handicap to overcome. In the business world there is a constant search for quality goods and an appealing brand that does them justice. If the name of an individual or a firm is used as a brand it can represent nothing better than the integrity of the individual or the firm is able to put into the product.
In religion this line of reasoning leads to some obvious conclusions. If it is of divine origin, a matter of faith and represents the revealed will of God, the terminology employed and the name or names used should point unerringly to that fact. If it is human and reflects the opinions and speculations of men, it is almost sure to show up in speculative creeds and unscriptural language. A divine system has little or no need for such terms and the use of scriptural terms to describe a human system of religion is a fraud and a humbug. If the thing is in the scriptures, the language is there to describe it. To take the language of the scriptures and apply it to something that cannot be found in the scriptures is dishonesty at the worst and ignorance at the best. It cannot be encouraged or condoned.
Paul carried about with him some significant and highly interesting brands. In answering some of his critics, he made proud reference to them. "Henceforth let no than trouble me; for I bear branded on my body the marks of Jesus' (Gal. 6:17). This is a figurative use of the term. All are familiar with brands of ownership placed, usually burned or cut, on animals. The brand indicates ownership. To appropriate an animal with another's brand on it without proper legal transactions would be theft, and a man's bearings would be pretty loose if he put his brand on property belonging to somebody else. In Paul's day slaves were often branded. A change of ownership meant a change in the brand or record or both. When Paul became a Christian he became the willing slave of Christ. He renounced allegiance to Satan, threw off the yoke of bondage to sin and began a new life in Christ. "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me: and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me' (Gal. 2:20). "For I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed unto him against that day' (II Tim. 1:12). In his labors, travels and sufferings which far exceeded those of his critics, he accumulated some scars, plenty of them. He was whipped, beaten and stoned. His scars were honorable brands of heroic service. Had he secured them in drunken brawls or other sinful activities they would have been marks of shame. "For let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evildoer, or as a meddler in other men's matters: but if a man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this name' (I Pet. 4:15). All of us carry some marks of one sort or another. We are branded by the Lord and some intelligent and faithful people who know us, as loyal or disloyal, faithful or unfaithful, informed or ignorant, devout or ungodly, liberal or stingy, peace-makers or trouble-makers, sound or unsound, and so on. The scars we bear for the right service are nothing to hide or be ashamed of but rather something to rejoice over. "Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets that were before you.' (Matt. 5:11,12).
Aside from some special uses of marks and brands, some such terms are employed to indicate fundamental relationships between God and his people. "Howbeit the firm foundation of God standeth, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his: and, Let every one that nameth the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness' (II Tim. 2:19). The Lord has a people, saved from sin, separated from the world, marked and branded. What are they and who are they? All who have been justified by faith, have obeyed the gospel, have been baptized into Christ are his. (Rom. 5:1; 6:1-3; 6:17; Gal. 3:26,27) They are referred to in the New Testament as "Christians', "disciples', "brethren', "saints'. These terms tell what they were and are in their various relationships. In their collective capacities they are called "the church" "churches', "the church of God' "churches of Christ' and the Lord referred to them as "my church'. All of them together constituted "the church, which is his body' and various congregations of them were known as "churches of Christ'. This all stands out clearly in the New Testament.
At various places and times this side of the New Testament, differences arose over speculations of various sorts, matters not in the New Testament, and naturally new religious terminology, new religious vocabularies sprang up. If a man is of the New Testament variety, then New Testament brands will serve to fully identify him. If he has to be called something else to identify him, it must follow that he is something else. That something else is unscriptural, not according to the expressed will of God and the source of about all the trouble and division there is in religion. The acceptance of human creeds and the wearing of party names are contrary to the teaching of the New Testament.
Now, who is "off-brand?' We face a peculiar situation just here. Departure from the original and divine plan has gone so far that standard brands of Christians are more numerous than standard brands of coffee, cigarettes or soap. It isn't enough to tell a man that you are a Christian. You must tell him what brand you are, Catholic, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, these being leading standard brands in popular thought are thought of first. Just being a Christian is not enough! It is a sad situation when religious confusion abounds to the point where it is sadly confusing to the average citizen when a man is satisfied to be, and tries to be, just a Christian. Somebody is sure to try to pin him down or pen him up and tag him with a party brand. An "off-brand' is supposed to be something new, untried and to be regarded with some suspicion until adequate tests are made of its reliability. It can become one of the "orthodox' denominations when it gets big enough, old enough and loses enough of its original evangelistic fervor to become popular. By the time it attains this doubtful distinction it has become half smothered in institutional red tape.
Then somebody properly decides to cut the red-tape, crawl out from under the ecclesiastical boards, be a free man in Christ and order his life according to the New Testament. Others join him in this high resolve. They propose to be nothing, be called nothing and do nothing in religion unless authorized in the New Testament. They reject ecclesiastical domination from any set-up be it Catholic or Protestant. They will speak as the oracles of God. "Off-brand' you say? Well, yes, I reckon they are. They are "off' of every "brand' that denotes human authority in religion and minimizes the authority of Jesus Christ and reflects unfavorably on the all-sufficiency of the New Testament in matters of faith. They are back "on' the track the Lord set the church on when he started it on its world-wide mission on Pentecost.