The True Church Versus Ecumenism
The year 2000 A.D. is within range of responsible prediction and enlightened prophecy. Political analysts, sociologists, theologians, philosophers and economists are wrestling with the meaning of current developments and are projecting their prognoses into the twenty-first century.
Ecumenism will serve with Communism, racism, space-science, and other items, as a major division in the historians' evaluations of the twentieth century. Certainly ecumenism, or the ecumenical movement with its Vatican Council II, with its breakdown of Protestant distinctives, and with its break-up of denominational distinctions occupies a prominent place in major developments at this stage of our civilization.
With the excitements and challenges of ecumenical developments facing us, it becomes ever more important to hold up the identifying features of the real body of Christ. We must magnify the kind of religious unity taught in the pages of the New Testament over against the ecumenism of our day. The New Testament church in our generation is aloof and separate from both Roman Catholic and Protestant ecumenical activities.
Ecumenism is concerned with national and world manifestations of the "church" in organizational ,expressions of unity and service. The Roman Catholic idea of the church is one in which historical and visible continuity is emphasized. Protestant theology has the church existing where the gospel and sacraments are properly administered. Sectarianism contends that the church exists where the Holy Spirit is, and each sect claims presence of the Holy Spirit. But the New Testament indicates that the church exists in any independent congregation where the distinctive and distinguishing characteristics of the New Testament order appear.
The "Church Of Christ"
What or where is the true church of Christ today? A Roman Catholic clergyman wrote in criticism of the "Church of Christ" as follows: "This church is a reaction against much of the Protestant liberalism that is so prevalent today, the believe-what-you-want-to, one-religion-is-as-good-as-another school of Protestant theology that has watered down Protestantism so much that it is almost impossible to discover what Protestant churches actually believe and teach. In opposition to this wishy-washy attitude, the Church of Christ comes along and says, 'No, here is what you must believe and do to be saved, because we are the true church founded by Christ.'" (Reginald Kelly, Our Sunday Visitor, December 1, 1957, )
Looking into this statement we see some error regarding the author's conception of the "Church of Christ." It is inaccurate and inadequate to categorically classify churches of Christ as an organized movement or sect, called "churches of Christ," "Church of Christ" or "church of Christ." Catholic and Protestant writers are so accustomed to writing of area, national and worldwide organizational manifestations of religious bodies, they cannot feel the impact and import of real autonomous congregations, unified with sister congregations only by the common one faith (Eph. 4:3-6) Such congregations are the churches of Christ.
While there is much in churches of Christ which may be considered as reaction to Roman Catholic perversion or Protestant innovation, faith in these churches goes deeper. It is a faith which reaches back to the days of the apostles in a genuine effort to restore and maintain in our generation the church you read about in the Bible.
It is not out of an arbitrary, bigoted, or dictatorial attitude that we insist on speaking where the Bible speaks, remaining silent where the Bible is silent, doing Bible things in Bible ways and calling Bible things by Bible names. Rather, it is out of a devoted desire to genuinely represent New Testament Christianity in twentieth century America. We do not call on people to believe in a humanly devised creed or join a "church of Christ" sect. We call on people to simply accept what is in the New Testament and reject religious innovations and denominational distinctives.
Wrong Kinds Of Unity
The ecumenical movement might correctly be called a unitive movement. Yet while unity is a desirable goal, the kind of unity sought by ecumenical engineers is not the unity of which the New Testament speaks. The ecumenical movement is spear-headed by organizations unknown and unauthorized so far as Bible revelation is concerned. The ecumenical movement seeks a kind of unity unacceptable to God. The Roman Catholic hierarchy would have all of Christendom in submission to their pontiff--this is Roman Catholic ecumenism. Protestant ecumenism seeks to find a way to include within one unified framework divers traditions, diversity of doctrine, and variety of worship. Both philosophies are in error.
Evolution In Organization
The ecumenical movement is an advanced stage in organizational evolution. Augustin Cardinal Bea described Protestant evolution in organization as follows: "Churches of 'congregationalist' polity, which hold that the local congregation is itself a complete church, more and more became united into 'conventions' which managed things like theological colleges, missions at home and abroad, the building of new places of worship, publications, and the provision of chaplains in the armed forces, in hospitals and factories. The major 'denominations' drew together in international association and of recent years more importance is attaching to the Lutheran World Federation, the Anglican Communion, the Presbyterian World Alliance, the Methodist World Conference and similar world councils of Baptists, Congregationalists, Disciples of Christ and Pentecostalists." (Unity in Freedom, Page 145, Harper and Row, New York, 1964.)
Ecumenical organizations reaching across denominational lines arose With the formation of national councils of churches, international conferences and worldwide assemblies. The World Council of Churches is an advanced achievement in the organizational evolution.
Reaction In Churches Of Christ
If there are reactionary elements in the makeup of churches of Christ today they are reactions against the whole framework of Catholic and Protestant church organization. Such reaction is based on the same principles which caused the congregations of New Testament times to react against the innovations of their day. But churches of Christ are not created in our generation by reaction. This sort of reaction to religious error helps perpetuate rather than create the church. This reaction is consistent with both the spirit and the nature of the church you read about in the Bible.
Unity And Organization
It is not possible to have the unity for which Christ prayed with organizations which Christ has not authorized. It is not possible to move toward Bible unity with non-Biblical church organizations. A person looking for the church of the apostles' day will not find it under the auspices of organizations which did not exist in the Bible era. Unity reached under the authority of ecumenical organizations will not be the "unity of faith" of which the Bible speaks.
Modern ecumenicalism is based on organizational arrangements unknown to the New Testament church. Jesus said, "I will build my church", ecumenical leaders are attempting to build some thing additional to, or different from, what Christ built. Pope Pius XII asserted that, "The Church of today cannot simply return to the primitive forms of the same initial flock." (Our Sunday Visitor, March 12, 1958.) This is the error of both Catholic and Protestant ecumenism. They cannot return to the primitive forms. But those primitive forms are found in individual congregations (churches of Christ) which seek unity through the word of the apostles (John 17:20-21), rather than through denominational or ecumenical organisms.
Bible And Ecumenical Unity Contrasted
The unity for which Christ prayed is achieved on the congregational level. It is a unity achieved through the word of the apostles, not a unity arrived at through organizational structure. It is a unity achieved on the local level where disciples of Christ are of the same mind and judgment (I Cor. 1:10-11.) The unity for which Christ prayed was not, and is now seen in an organization of congregations or in a denominational set-up, but in the membership of a local church.
In the New Testament there are warnings against religious error (Matt.15:9; 7:21, John 15:1-7, Gal. 1:6-11, II John 9.) The compromising spirit of ecumenism is a contrast. Doctrinal unity is a major feature in New Testament teaching. (Eph. 4:1-6) The ecumenism of our day often minimized such unity. Conformity to apostolic teaching is essential (II John 7-10, Rom. 16:17, I Cor. 5:1-10, I John 4:1, Titus 1: 13, 3:10; Eph. 5:11, II Thess. 3:14) Modern ecumenism would have a "unity" in spite of diversity. The word of God, taken alone, converts individuals to an unadulterated fellowship. It does not create nor encourage efforts toward cooperation or fellowship in and among unauthorized denominational bodies. The simplicity of the Bible church is a contrast to the "Coming Great Church" of modern ecumenism. When denominations merge or confederate there is a union of denominations rather than a return to, or a restoration of, or a representation of the New Testament church.
Conceptions Of The Church
"For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them". (Matt. 18:20). There is an idea that the church is to be found in any local, denominational or ecumenical assembly where the name of Christ is invoked. Reference is made to Matt. 18:20 and it is assumed that any religious or pious assembly of believers fits the picture. But invoking the name of Christ over an assembly does not magically make the group the church of Christ, nor does such use of Christ's name identify with what Jesus meant in Matt. 18:20. Jesus is talking about a meeting called by his authority, operating in behalf of his will and respecting his prerogatives. Merely invoking the name of Christ in an unauthorized gathering or function of pious people or clergymen does not make the assembly or effort representative of the church of Christ. Such an assembly might well be classified under the kind of use of the Lord's name involved in Matt. 7:21-23. (Note also Mt. 15:9, and H John 9.)
A popular view considers all the various bodies of Christendom as comprising the church of Christ. It is supposed that all bodies, especially those cooperating in the ecumenical movement, represent the body of Christ. The historian views of church as a movement composed of major faiths and minority factions. But the New Testament makes no such use of the term church. The noun church is used of the great body into which people are baptized (Matt.16: 18); it is used for local congregations as in Romans 16:16; it is used in reference to the local assembly as in I Cor. 14:34. In the New Testament the word church is never used to include faiths within the one faith; never used to include bodies within the universal body which are larger than local independent congregations; it is not used to accommodate diversified creeds. Therefore, to accept Christendom as the church of Christ is to be unscriptural, non-Biblical, and presumptuous. The branches of John 15 and the body parts of I Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4 are individual people, not bodies of people or organizations.
According to Roman Catholicism the true church is to be found under the authority of an hierarchy succeeding from the apostles of Jesus Christ. This contention is based on the assumption that the apostolic office is continued through the centuries in legal successors to the apostles. But no provision was made for the continuation of the apostolic office. The peculiar qualifications of the office (Acts 1:21-23, 2: 1-6) do not allow for its perpetuation and the special work of the office was completed (John 16:13, II Peter 1:3; Jude 3.) The idea of succession and perpetuity of apostolic authority is based on the organizational apostasies of the second century, not on what is revealed by the Spirit of God in the inspired literature of the New Testament. The "missing link" needed to substantiate the ecclesiastical hierarchy is Bible authority for it. But the link does not exist.
Some have proposed that a precedent for denominational and ecumenical councils or assemblies is found in the Jerusalem meeting described in Acts 15: But the theory is erroneous in view of the propositions set forth in our preceding paragraph. No man or group of men this side of the first century possesses the authority represented in the Jerusalem meeting of Acts 15. All matters of "all truth" (John 16:13) were settled in those days in which the apostles were guided into "all truth". There is nothing left to be done by any organizational assembly -- the New Testament is our perfect guide (II Peter 1:3, Jas. 1:25) and Christ is head over all things to the church (Eph, 1:22-23)
It is sometimes asserted that the church is composed of real "born again Christians" to be found among believers of all denominations and sects. It is assumed that there is a difference between "born again Christians" and "nominal Christians." The true church is supposed to be the spiritually elite in the various church bodies. But the same thing that saved a person gets him into the Lord's church (Acts 2:38, 41, 47) and if what he did in seeking salvation put him into something other than the Lord's church he was not born again. The new birth never put one into an unscriptural church relationship, and if a person were "born again" while involved in an unscriptural church relationship he would naturally come out of it and "be ye separate" (II Cor. 6:17) Epistles of the New Testament were directed to congregations composed of "saints" (Eph.1:1, Co1.1:2) The church in any given locality of New Testament times was made up of folks who had been baptized into one body (I Cor, 12:13) and who assembled together as a congregation because they were all "born again" and of a "like precious faith." The church was made up of baptized believers and was seen in local congregations to which epistles were directed or to which reference is made in the books of the New Testament.
Where Is The Church?
The church is to be found as any given congregation where the distinctive and distinguishing characteristics of the New Testament church are upheld and illuminated so as to reflect a candlestick still in place. (Rev. 2:5)
The Thrust Of The Ecumenical Movement
The major concern of ecumenical engineers is a unified function or witness regarding "Christian truth" to the world. The desire to function is an "ordered expression" is the motive for seeking "organic union," in spite of, or in abandonment of differences in the co-operating denominational bodies. An "administrative unification" is sought in order to expedite unified, collective function and to promote common faith and worship. The ideal of the ecumenists is expressed in a celebrated statement of the Third Assembly of The World Council of Churches (1961).
"We believe that the unity which is both God's will and his gift to his church is being made visible as all in everyplace who are baptized into Jesus Christ and confess him as Lord and Saviour are brought by the Holy Spirit into one fully committed fellowship, holding the one apostolic faith, preaching the one Gospel, breaking the one bread, joining the common prayer, and having a corporate life reaching out in witness and service to all and who at the some time are united with the whole Christian fellowship in all places and all ages in such service that ministry and members are accepted by all, and that all can act and speak together as occasion requires for the tasks to which God calls his people."
The road to this ecumenical goal is one of "organic union" involving restructure of denominations, reorganization of existing bodies under other unscriptural and non-Biblical organizational forms. Such organic union "carries with it the threat of monopoly and misuse of ecclesiastical power; pronouncements by ecumenical organizations life the National Council of Churches of Christ in areas where they have no competence or jurisdiction are undesirable, and this problem would be intensified if there were" administrative unification. (Carl F. H. Henry, Christianity Today, Nov. 5, 1965.) Once such an unification was achieved, a universal body comparable to the Roman Catholic church would be created--having legitimate identity with the simplicity of the New Testament arrangement. In the words of The Sixth Congress of the International Council of Christian Churches (another unscriptural organism, ) "Ecumenicity, as expressed in the World Council of Churches represents a false concept of Christian unity and has no Biblical basis; its leadership includes men who have apostatized from the faith, ... and acts as an instrument for blinding an apostate super-church." (Tim, August 27, 1965.)
If and when such an "organic unity" is achieved it will naturally become a religious, social, and political force sometimes competing with, sometimes cooperating with its counterpart--the Roman Catholic Church. In time, concessions and compromises might well bring a merger of "Protestantism" and Roman Catholicism from which there will be much dissent and many rebellions. The road of ecumenism is one which leads away from the New Testament order of things. The unity that ecumenism preaches is not the unity you read about in the Bible. If the "Coming Great Church" of ecumenism ever arrives it will be a church built by man, not in any way identified with the church Jesus built.
The following is inserted here to draw attention to the natural tendencies of monopoly in church organization: "In Mexico earlier in this century, the 'one church' with its totalitarian power owned three-fourths of the land, controlled the banks, and the national economy, directed public education, managed elections, and virtually ran the country while it underwent moral and spiritual decline." (C. Darby Fulton, Christianity Tooday, Nov.5, 1965.)
Conservative Reaction
Among Protestants there is a conservative reactionary type of ecumenism. This evangelical segment of Protestantism opposes the doctrinal softness and compromising liberalism of ecumenical leaders and organisms. They fear the creation of a monopolistic or totalitarian Protestant hierarchy. Many hold a faith in a coming millenium. But these conservative Protestants have an "ecumenicalism" of their own. Instead of working with the World Council of Churches, they have organisms like the World Faith Council of Churches, they have organisms like the World Evangelical Fellowship, Baptist World Alliance, American Council of Christian Churches and the International Council of Christian Churches. They would have the whole of Christendom united under their conceptions of Christianity, and in cooperation with the organisms they employ for world-wide efforts, These conservative Protestants react against liberal ecumenism on the contention that a unity of belief and conviction among Protestants does not exist in sufficient measure to give reality to the "one church" idea. Further, the modernism and liberalism in leading ecumenical-minded churches disturbs the conservative evangelicals and serve as major barriers to co-operation and participation in the major barriers to co-operation and participation in the major ecumenical efforts. Dr. C. Darby Fulton, a conservative Presbyterian, wrote on this problem as follows:
"it will probably be agreed that the great obstacle to union lies in our theological differences--that is, in the area of faith. Here the cleavages are wide and deep...In case after case, even among churches of the same theological tradition, overtures for union have been defeated on the primary ground of doctrinal divergences, or of varying trends toward liberalism or conservatism.. And even when such mergers have been successfully concluded, they have left behind dissident minorities large or small that have continued as separate bodies." (Christianity Today, Nov. 5, 1965.)
The lessons of history regarding the suppression of religious freedom or liberty linger with evangelical Protestantism creating reluctance and reaction against the "organic union" efforts of liberal ecumenism.
New Shape Of Religion In Christendom
Great changes in Catholic-Protestant relations are taking place. In the first half of this century Roman Catholic spokesmen were still using terms like heretics, and error-has-no-rights, in speaking of Protestants. In these years toward the 21st century non-Catholics are referred to as "our separated brethren" and the old rivalry for ascendency in America is clothed under a peace, tolerance, and unity climate.
Vatican Council II revealed to the world a tension between conservative and liberal elements in the Roman Catholic hierarchy. In keeping with the spirit of the age the liberals are gradually obtaining the greater weight of influence and the Roman Catholic Church is moving to the left of its traditional medieval hard-line center. It is generally displaying an irenic spirit and a cooperative attitude in the ecumeni-Protestant relations. But in the words of Carl F. H. Henry, "...there is no evidence whatever that the basic differences in theology which occasioned the Reformation have been dealt with by the Roman Catholic Church.., it will be interesting to see whether Rome ever changes--whether she will make concessions that will be a satisfactory response to the objections raised so dramatically by the reformers." (Christianity Today, November 5, 1965.)
If the history, tradition, and nature of the Roman Catholic Church mean anything at all they mean that the Vatican is exploring new channels of winning converts in the ecumenical climate. Roman Catholic ecumenism is an effort to bring all of Christendom to total and absolute submission to the pope. Worldwide acceptance of the authority of the pope is still the goal of the hierarchy.
The barriers to the Vatican's ambitions exist in these factors: (1) non-Catholic concepts of unity are far removed from Catholic theory; (2) Catholic innovations, restrictions, restructions, and prohibitions are foreign to the modern freedom-loving non-Catholic mind; (3) the non-Biblical nature of the Roman Catholic system and structure appear as irrelevant to Bible reading non-Catholics.
From the other side, the theological liberalism of major Protestant leaders, and the near infidelity of it, are repulsive to the authoritarian and legalistic thrust of Roman Catholicism. The loose discipline and free thought in Protestantism is too great a contrast to the traditional Roman Catholic image.
If Roman Catholic ecumenism remains true to its tradition it will still be an effort to win the world to allegiance to the pope. It will still be an effort to subject the world to one like he who "sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." (I Thess. 2:4) It is amusing but significant that at the time the pope was airborne on his way to America in 1965, a prelate quipped, "I suppose we should now address him as 'Our Father who art in heaven.'"
If ever a union of Roman Catholic and Protestant movements materializes it will come because the Roman Catholics abandon their traditional forms, or the Protestants acquiesce to these forms and forsake their own. There is no way for either one to conform to the New Testament short of total abandonment of their theological and structural norms.
The ecumenical efforts of our Lord, through the apostles, converted individuals to a fellowship which involved no hierarchal or denominational structure. How simple is the New Testament way in contrast to the complex religious systems of our day!
If it be argued that the needs and requirements of our age demand organizational structure, we contend in response that the church can do now what it did then under the autonomous congregational system provided by the authority of Christ. Christendom got itself involved in social, economic, and political interests of the world after the days of the apostles, and organizational forms were created to meet the needs of the apostate (not apostolic) church for unauthorized functions. The gospel of Christ was carried to every creature in all the world (Col. 1:6,23) without any organization larger than the local church --in the first century. The true church can do the same today. What a difference between the all-sufficient simplicity of the New Testament church and Roman Catholic complexity, between the church Jesus built and the "Coming Great Church" of Protestantism! Modern ecumenicalism is based on, and expedited by, organizational arrangements unknown to the New Testament church.
The "scandal" of modern Christendom is not merely disunity--it is organizational apostasy. In any ecumenical church organization, whether it be an hierarchal one, or a federation, it takes ecumenical administration and discipline to maintain the ecumenical fellowship, and thus men exercise ecumenical religious authority for which there is no New Testament precedent or allowance.
Contrast
The Lord's worldwide cause and modern ecumenicalism are not identical. When denominations merge or confederate you have a union of denominations rather than a return to, or a restoration of, the New Testament church. The church that Jesus established cannot be found in an organization of congregations or in a denominational set-up, or in an ecumenical movement, but in the membership of a local church.
Ecumenism today is the concern for the development of one universally organized church. If the ideal or goal of modern ecumenicalism could ever be reached or realized, the structure would not resemble the church for which Christ died, nor be identified with it.
The union efforts in Christendom today merely result in a lesser number of single denominations, and if the drive toward one "Coming Great Church" were successful you would still have an organism or some organisms larger than the local church. For this there is no Bible authority.
Someone Has Well Said, "The Answer To The Prayer Of Jesus In John 17 Does Not Depend Upon What Digressive Bodies Or Sectarian Denominations Are Going To Do About This Or That Or Anything Else. The Prayer Of Jesus Had To Do With The Unity Of Those Who Believed In Him Through The Word Of The Apostles. Wherever You Find A Body Of People Who So Believe And Do, Who Are Not Bound By Human Creed, Order, Or Organization, There You Find The Unity For Which Jesus Prayed, In That Body Of Christians Whether Large Or Small, It Is Not A Pseudo-Unity, A False, Counterfeit Unity Of Compromise And Affiliation But Of Oneness In Jesus Christ 'Through Their Word'.
The New Testament church is known by her baptized believers, undefiled authorized worship, local autonomous congregations, scriptural designations, with no creed but Christ and no manual but the New Testament.
Our mission is to preach the gospel and lead individuals to take a stand with a local church which endeavors to speak where the Bible speaks, remain silent where the Bible is silent, doing Bible things in Bible ways and calling Bible things by Bible names. When the world views such a congregation it may well "believe that God hath sent Christ" (John 17:20-21) The prayer of Jesus is answered.
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