There is no doubt that the religious world is in a mess. There are literally hundreds of churches, all claiming to believe in the same Lord and follow the same Bible, yet all teaching and practicing different things. To the world it is confusing, and it turns people away from what they call “organized religions.” This should not surprise us. Jesus prayed for His disciples to be one so that the world would believe in Him.
John 17:20-21 (ESV)
20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
If unity among the disciples of Christ will cause others to believe in Jesus, what will disunity do, logically speaking? Obviously, it would cause people to not believe in Jesus.
How can all this chaos and confusion ever be fixed? Sadly, it is not likely that it ever will be. Things can improve, however, but only by coming to the unity of the Spirit (Ephesians 4:1-4).
One might wonder how we can possibly all come to the unity of the Spirit. There is just one way—by following the teachings of the Spirit alone. Those teachings are found in the Bible.
This is where sound churches of Christ differ from all other churches. We not only believe in the Bible, we believe in the Bible alone so far as spiritual instruction is concerned. Most denominational churches will quickly say that the Bible is a rule of faith, but they won’t say that the Bible is the only rule of faith. This opens the door for division. So-called latter day revelations lead to division. Creeds written by men lead to division. It is only when we rely on the teachings of the Spirit alone, as it is revealed in the Bible, that we can do away with division and begin speaking the same things. This is the will of God.
1 Corinthians 1:10 (ESV)
10 I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.
It is a common practice today for denominational preachers, especially the so-called T.V. evangelist, to claim that God is speaking to them, giving them new revelation that is not in the Bible. Such claims should be rejected outright. The Bible is clear that God is finished revealing His will to man.
Jude 1:3 (ESV)
3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
The word once in this passage is from the Greek word hapax, meaning, “once for all,” of what is of perpetual validity, not requiring repetition (Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old Testament and New Testament Words. This is in harmony with the promise Jesus made to His apostles in the upper room.
John 16:13 (ESV)
13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
How much truth did Jesus promise the apostles they would be given by which they would be guided? Jesus said the Spirit would guide them into ALL truth. Did Jesus tell them the truth? Of course He did. That means that there is no more truth that anyone needs to have today. Everything God wants us to know about His will was revealed to the apostles by the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:6-12), and from the apostles to us by their inspired writings. Paul, being an apostle of Christ, was able to write the following about the revelation given to him by the Spirit.
Ephesians 3:3-4 (ESV)
3 How the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. 4 When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ,
We learn the will of God today by reading the inspired teaching of the apostles, not by listening to some person claiming to be revealing new revelation. It is only when we realize this, that we have any hope for unity.
Perhaps the chaos will never cease in the religious world, primarily because most will not trust in the Bible alone. We can, however, promise you this at the Brown Street church of Christ—we will never, ever preach from a denominational creed, nor will we ever claim that God has spoken to us apart from the Word. Instead, we will always teach and preach the Bible as our only rule of faith. This is the only way we can truly come to the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.