When did the church of Christ begin?
In Matt. 16:18, Jesus made the promise to build his
church. He said, “. . . upon this rock I will build my church; . .
.” Note that the church Jesus would build would be his
church. Jesus said, “my church.” Hence, it would be the
church of the Christ. According to Eph. 1:22-23, Jesus is the
head of the church. His church is his spiritual body. There
is only one body, according to Eph. 4:4. Hence, there is one
church. Jesus does not have more than one body (one
church). To have more than one body for one head would be
a monstrosity. We learn in Acts 2:47 that Jesus adds the
saved to his church. Hence, the saved are in the church of
the Christ (see also Eph. 5:23).
Many people believe that Alexander Campbell started the
church of Christ. However, I don’t see how this is possible,
since Alexander Campbell lived in the 19th century and the
church of the Christ was established in the first century.
You can read about the church of Christ in the NT (see Rom.
16:16). Alexander Campbell was responsible (along with
many other men) of throwing off and repudiating all religious
error and denominationalism, and restoring the church
exactly as it existed in the first century. We all understand
the concept of restoration. Suppose the game of baseball
was lost for 500 years. Then, someone located a rule book
on how to play the game of baseball. These rules were
followed exactly. Question: Would you have a brand new
game that never existed? Of course not! It would be the
restoration of an original. Why can’t the same happen with
the church?
I want to issue this sincere challenge for those who
believe that Alexander Campbell started the church of
Christ. Please name one thing that the church of Christ
believes or practices as a matter of faith that originated with
Campbell and of which is not taught (either stated explicitly,
implied, or an example) in the NT.