WHOSE CHURCH ARE WE SEEKING?
An introduction to our study of church history
TEXT B4 TRADITION — Read First, Conclude Later
1. Why are we beginning this study?
Jesus said, “I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18).
Paul called the church Christ’s body and said that Christ is its head (Ephesians 1:22–23). He also reminded the elders at Ephesus that the church was obtained at the cost of Christ’s blood (Acts 20:28).
That is the church we want to belong to.
Our purpose in this series is not to persuade you to join the religious group in which we grew up. Nor are we trying to establish another group built around our own conclusions.
We want to understand what Christ and His apostles taught. We want to follow Him more faithfully. And we want to grow closer to other believers who are seeking to do the same.
To do that, we must be willing to examine not only the beliefs of others, but our own beliefs as well.
2. Who knows who belongs to Christ?
Read 2 Timothy 2:19:
“The Lord knows those who are his.”
Those words should make every one of us humble.
We can study what Scripture teaches about becoming a Christian, living as a Christian, and belonging to Christ’s church. We can examine a teaching and explain why we believe it is right or wrong.
But we do not know everything about another person’s understanding, opportunities, heart, or relationship with God.
A person may misunderstand many passages of Scripture and still belong to Christ. Another person may possess considerable biblical knowledge and yet need to examine his own life before God.
Only God knows fully who belongs to Christ.
We must not confuse our understanding of the church with God’s perfect knowledge of His people.
We will examine teachings and practices throughout this series. We will not presume to make God’s final judgment about the people who hold them.
That responsibility is far above our pay grade.
3. What is our method? Read first, conclude later.
The word exegesis refers to drawing out the meaning of a text by studying what it actually says.
When we read a passage, we should ask:
Who wrote it, and to whom?
What question or situation was the writer addressing?
What do the surrounding verses tell us?
What kind of writing is this—history, instruction, poetry, prophecy, or something else?
How does the passage fit with the rest of Scripture?
We should seek to understand what the writer meant before deciding how the passage applies to us.
The opposite danger is eisegesis: bringing a conclusion to the text and then looking for words that appear to support it.
All of us can fall into that habit.
We may have heard an interpretation so often that we no longer think to question it. We may have built a practice around that interpretation. We may even feel that reconsidering it would mean turning our backs on people we love and respect.
But our loyalty must be to Christ and His word.
Read Acts 17:11. The Bereans examined the Scriptures to see whether what they were hearing was true.
That is the attitude we want to bring to every page of this series.
Read first. Examine the context. Listen to the evidence. Then make a conclusion.
And if further study shows that our conclusion needs to change, we must be willing to change it.
4. Will careful study settle every disagreement?
We believe careful study of Scripture can bring Christians closer to the unity for which Jesus prayed.
Read John 17:20–23. Jesus prayed for those who would believe in Him through the apostles’ word, asking that they might be one.
If we begin with Scripture rather than with the conclusions of our separate traditions, we have a common place to begin.
But we should not promise that every sincere student will immediately reach the same understanding of every passage.
We may agree about what a passage says and still disagree about how it applies to a particular situation.
For example, Christians may agree that the gospel should be preached and that people in need should be cared for, yet disagree about how congregations should organize or finance that work.
Those disagreements deserve careful study. They should not be dismissed as unimportant.
But neither should they become an excuse for contempt.
When we cannot yet agree, we must continue to study—and continue to love one another.
5. What does love require when we disagree?
Read 1 Corinthians 13:1–7.
Paul says that even great knowledge is worth nothing without love. He describes love as patient and kind. It is not arrogant and does not insist on its own way.
Now think about what happens when people from different church backgrounds discuss Scripture.
One person has studied the Bible for sixty years. Another has only recently begun. Each may have been taught a different understanding of the same passage.
If each person comes only to defend what he already believes, everyone may get a turn to speak without anyone really listening.
That is not the kind of study we are inviting you to join.
Agapē love requires us to care enough about another person to listen carefully.
Can we explain the other person’s understanding fairly before we respond?
Can we consider a passage that challenges our position without immediately looking for a way around it?
Can we say, “I had not thought of that before. Let me study it”?
And can we disagree without treating the person who disagrees with us as foolish, dishonest, or less worthy of our respect?
Read James 1:19. We are to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.
Those instructions belong in every Bible study—including this one.
6. Are we willing to change?
It is easy to invite someone else to reconsider a long-held belief.
It is harder to reconsider our own.
Read Acts 18:24–28. Apollos was an eloquent man who knew the Scriptures and taught accurately what he understood about Jesus. Yet Priscilla and Aquila explained the way of God to him more accurately.
His knowledge did not mean he had nothing left to learn.
Neither does ours.
The writer of this series has changed long-held conclusions through further study of Scripture. That experience is one reason for inviting you to read along.
We are not asking you to accept our present understanding simply because we have studied for many years. We are asking you to examine the passages for yourself.
We must be willing to do the same.
We should not change a conviction merely to avoid disagreement or please another person. But when Scripture shows that we have misunderstood something, we should have the humility to acknowledge it.
A willingness to change is not a lack of conviction. It is a commitment to let Scripture correct our convictions.
7. What can we learn from those who came before us?
This series will take us through many centuries of church history.
We will study the development of church leadership, the growth of institutions, the divisions between East and West, the Reformation, and later movements that sought to recover or renew Christian faith and practice.
We will meet people who challenged teachings and practices they believed were wrong. Some endured rejection, imprisonment, persecution, or death because of their convictions.
We should not forget their courage or their sacrifices.
We have benefited from the questions they asked, the Scriptures they studied, and the work they left behind.
At the same time, sincere people can misunderstand Scripture. Their good intentions do not settle whether a teaching is correct.
Neither does our admiration for a teacher, reformer, or movement require us to accept every conclusion associated with that person or group.
We will try to represent each group fairly, including what its members believed they were seeking to accomplish. We will examine the teachings and decisions that shaped its history.
We can appreciate a person’s efforts and sacrifices while still questioning a conclusion.
And we can question a conclusion without claiming to know that person’s standing before God.
A Note About Historical Accuracy and Fairness
We have made a sincere effort to present the history of Christianity accurately, fairly, and without prejudice.
Our purpose is not to discredit, ridicule, or show disrespect toward any individual, church, denomination, or religious tradition. Nor do we intend to misquote anyone, misrepresent their beliefs, or attribute motives to people whose hearts we cannot know.
We have sought to distinguish documented historical events from interpretations of those events. Where Christians have disagreed, we have tried to represent their positions fairly and explain the historical circumstances in which those disagreements arose.
Our examination of a teaching, practice, or historical decision should not be understood as a judgment of the character, sincerity, or standing before God of those who held that position.
We recognize that historical records are sometimes incomplete, that sources may disagree, and that our own understanding may need correction.
If we have misstated a historical fact, misquoted a source, or represented a person or group unfairly, we welcome the opportunity to examine the evidence and make an appropriate correction.
Our purpose is to understand the history of Christ's church, learn from those who came before us, and examine our own beliefs and practices in the light of Scripture.
8. Are we seeking unity—or simply agreement with ourselves?
A movement may begin with a desire to correct errors and bring Christians together. Yet its followers may eventually become so attached to their own conclusions that they have difficulty listening to anyone outside their group.
That danger is not limited to one period of history or one religious tradition.
It can happen to us.
We must not finish this series with a list of reasons everyone else should change while assuming that our own understanding needs no further examination.
Read Ephesians 4:1–6. Paul calls believers to humility, gentleness, patience, and bearing with one another in love. He urges them to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Later, he calls them to speak the truth in love and grow up into Christ, who is the head (Ephesians 4:15–16).
Truth and love belong together.
Our goal is not to win an argument for a particular religious group. It is to understand Christ’s teaching and grow closer to Him and to one another.
We may not resolve every disagreement in this series. But we can learn to examine those disagreements without allowing them to destroy our love for one another.
9. Are We Putting What We Learn into Practice?
Our purpose in studying Scripture is not simply to gain more knowledge or become better at defending our beliefs.
We want to follow Christ.
Read James 1:22:
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
James reminds us that hearing God's word is not enough. We must put it into practice.
We can spend years studying what the Bible teaches about love, generosity, forgiveness, and service. But what difference does that knowledge make if we do not love, give, forgive, or serve?
Read Matthew 7:24–27.
Jesus compared the person who hears His words and does them to a wise man who built his house upon a rock.
Notice that both builders heard His words.
The difference was what they did with them.
What should our study produce?
If we learn more about Christian unity, are we becoming more patient with believers who disagree with us?
If we study the love of Christ, are we becoming more loving toward the people around us?
If we study the generosity of the early Christians, are we becoming more willing to share what we have with people in need?
If we study the spread of the gospel, are we doing what we can to help others hear it?
And if Scripture shows us that something we have believed or practiced needs to change, are we willing to make that change?
These questions apply to every one of us, regardless of our church background.
Knowledge should lead to action.
Read James 2:14–17.
James describes someone who sees a brother or sister in need but offers only words of encouragement without providing what that person needs.
What good has that accomplished?
James is not telling us to stop studying Scripture. He is reminding us that genuine faith expresses itself in action.
As we examine the history of Christianity, we will encounter many disagreements about doctrine, worship, leadership, and religious practice.
We should study those questions carefully. But we must not become so occupied with defending our conclusions that we neglect the people Christ has called us to love and serve.
The purpose of understanding Scripture is to help us follow Christ more faithfully.
Let us not be satisfied merely because we can explain what the Bible says.
Let us ask whether we are doing what it says.
10. How should you read this series?
You do not need to agree with every conclusion on these pages to study with us.
Bring your questions. Bring the passages you believe we may have overlooked. Consider each argument in its context.
When a historical claim is made, ask what evidence supports it.
When a biblical claim is made, open the Bible and read the passage for yourself.
Where Christians have understood a passage differently, consider why. Do not assume that a familiar interpretation is correct simply because it is familiar. But do not reject it merely because it is old, either.
We invite you to approach the people in this history with fairness and the Scriptures with care.
And we invite you to extend that same fairness to the people with whom you worship, study, and disagree today.
We are asking nothing of you that we should not be willing to do ourselves.
11. Whose church are we seeking?
We return to the question with which we began.
Jesus said, “I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18).
The church belongs to Him.
We want to belong to that church—not because we have found a perfect human institution or because we have mastered every difficult passage, but because we seek to follow the One who gave Himself for His people.
We will examine Scripture carefully. We will learn from history. We will correct our conclusions when the text requires it.
We will also remember that Christ knows His own.
We do not sit in judgment over the final standing of the people whose beliefs we examine. Nor do we ask you to accept our conclusions without examining them.
Our hope is that careful study of Scripture, joined with love and humility, will bring us closer to Christ and to the unity for which He prayed.
So let us begin.
Open the Bible.
Read first.
Then make your conclusions.
And remain willing to change.
TEXT B4 TRADITION — Read First, Conclude Later.
NEXT STUDY: 01 — WHO WERE THE ELDERS?
We begin with the New Testament itself. Before examining how church leadership developed through history, we will ask what Scripture tells us about the elders who served the earliest congregations.
Return to ONE CHURCH, SO MANY DIVISIONS