In a post last week I set out to establish that the church is defined as the community of all true believers for all time, but that the New Testament also refers to local bodies of believers as churches. So the church is both universal and local, invisible and visible. Today I want to explore what makes a local church a true church, and how to identify a false church.
In the early centuries there was only one visible church, comprised of many local congregations around the world. There was later a split between the church in the west and the church in the east, with the two eventually becoming the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. During the Reformation an important question arose: what is a true church and what is a false church?
The Augsburg Confession, the Lutheran statement of faith, defines the church as "the congregation of saints in which the gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments rightly administered."
In Institutes of the Christian Religion John Calvin wrote, "Wherever we see the Word of God purely preached and heard, and the sacraments administered according to Christ's institution, there, it is not to be doubted, a church of God exists."
The definitions are similar, and I think Luther and Calvin have it right. A true church is a gathering of believers where the gospel and whole counsel of the word of God are rightly taught and the sacraments (or ordinances for some protestants) of baptism and the Lord's supper are administered.
Let's look at the final words of Jesus recorded in Matthew's and Luke's gospels.
And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
Matthew 28:18-20
Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high."
Luke 24:44-49
These are two separate sayings, not Matthew and Luke disagreeing on what was said. There are some differences, but the general idea is the same. The disciples were to go and make new disciples by proclaiming the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, baptize those who believe, and disciple them by teaching them from the Scriptures and to obey all that Jesus commanded. Jesus didn't mention the Lord's supper in either of these statements, but the words of Jesus at the last supper along with Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians 10-11 make it clear that the observing the Lord's supper is an ongoing expectation in the church. Throughout the history of the church, baptism has marked an individual's entrance into the church and the Lord's supper has marked the individual's remaining in the church.
Right teaching, baptism and the Lord's supper are the marks of a true church. It would, therefore, not be right to call a group of people who gather together for Bible study or fellowship a church if there is no baptism and observance of the Lord's Supper. Although the people gathering, if they are true believers, may be the church, they do not constitute a New Testament church body.
A false church would be a church that teaches falsely concerning the gospel or the person and finished work of Jesus Christ. A church that teaches salvation by works, denies the deity or humanity of Christ, denies the physical resurrection of Christ, or perverts any of the other essential doctrines of the faith once for all delivered to the saints is a false church.
The Church of Jesus of Latter Day Saints and Jehovah's Witnesses are false churches because they both teach salvation by works and deny essential teachings concerning the nature of Christ. While it is possible that some local Roman Catholic Churches are true churches, the Roman Catholic Church officially denies justification by faith apart from works, among a number of other errors, and is therefore a false church. Churches from the Church of Christ denomination who teach that baptism in a Church of Christ church is necessary for salvation are false churches. Seventh Day Adventists who teach that observance of a Saturday sabbath is necessary for salvation are false churches. Denominations such as the Southern Baptist Convention (my own) may contain true or false churches. With a denomination as diverse as the SBC each church must evaluated individually.
It should be noted here that a church that holds to an orthodox statement of faith but obscures or does not regularly teach the gospel should also be considered a false church. Many of today's megachurches have orthodox statements of faith, but you will not hear the gospel preached or the word of God rightly taught. An endless series of sermons on practical principles for a better, more enjoyable life without the gospel makes for a false church. Many charismatic churches with their hyper-emphasis on healing and misplaced focus on the Holy Spirit rather than the person and work of Jesus Christ should be considered false churches. (Please note: I have not said that every megachurch is a false church or that every charismatic church is a false church.)
Paul told the church in Corinth he “decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). In the same letter he later told them, “I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.” Paul's singular message in the church was Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected for the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the Scriptures.
In 2 Timothy Paul wrote to Timothy that the Scriptures are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus; that the Scriptures are God-breathed; and that they are profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:15-17). He then commands Timothy in the presence of God and Christ to preach the word in season and out of season. This is immediately followed by a warning that there will be a day that people will not endure sound teaching but will accumulate teachers for themselves who will scratch their itching ears (2 Timothy 4:14). In other words, there will be a day, and that time arrived long ago and continues today, when teachers will twist the Scriptures to make them say what people want to hear rather than what they actually say. People will not tolerate the preaching of a crucified and risen Savior for the forgiveness of their sins, but will demand Christ-less sermons full of practical life advice or promises of health and wealth.
There is true teaching of the word and false teaching of the word. Just because a man opens a Bible, reads a text, and proceeds to deliver a sermon in a Sunday morning gathering of professing Christians does not mean a true church exists. The word must be rightly taught, and baptism and the Lord's supper must be administered, in order to have a true church.
Churches such as the LDS or Jehovah's Witnesses with their false doctrines concerning the person and work Jesus Christ and false gospels of works are easy to identify as false churches. In other cases it's not as easy to identify a false church, not as black and white as we would like it to be.
Further complicating our discernment of true and false churches is the fact that among true churches there are more pure and less pure churches. That will be the subject of my next post on the church.
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