Perrydox.com is devoted to the pursuit of truth, whether plain or paradoxical, whether simple or sublime, or simply absurd yet absolute.
What Is A Denomination?
By definition to denominate/denomination is: 1) To Name (i.e. to nominate is to name); 2) A Part of the Whole (i.e., a $20 is a denomination of American money). The questions I want to have us focus on are:
- Is the church that belongs to Christ a denomination?
- Can we make the church of Christ a denomination?
- Can we be a church like those in the first century, not a denomination?
The answer to the first is, no. Not in its purest, original sense. Denominations are not mentioned in the Bible, and therefore are man-made.
The answer to the second is, yes. We do this by understanding the definition above and making application to the religious realm.
- If we assign an official name to Christ’s church such as “Church of Christ” we have denominated the church.
- If we are Church of Christ Christians, we have denominated the church.
- If we consider all the local churches of Christs as subsets of the One Church (i.e., “congregations of the church of Christ”), we have made the church a part of the whole and therefore a denomination.
- If we consider the Church of Christ just one of the many churches along with all denominational churches that make up the One church, we are thinking denominational.
There are other ways also such as thinking all local churches must be exactly the same in practicing liberties; and if they differ then they are unfaithful. A second way is to automatically accept a church of Christ as a true church of Christ because it wears that name. A third way is to assume that unless one is baptized in a church of Christ, then they are not Christians. We are in the church because we are saved; not we are saved because we are in the church.
We live in a denominational world, and Christians are just as guilty of thinking denominationally. The way we stay the way God intended originally within His word is to concentrate on our own local congregation, and our own personal mindset. When people ask what the name of our church is, I say, “Winston-Salem church of Christ, but any other name you find in the Bible we go by that one too.” That usually gets a chuckle, even an acknowledgement “That’s the way it should be.” Even the denominational world knows better, do we?
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