The Plea of the Churches of Christ

The “plea” of the churches of Christ is; “that all those who believe in Jesus Christ and who call themselves Christians be joined together into one church and teach the same things”.

            Well, I understand, you might say; but how could this be possible as divided as we are? Well, first, why are we so divided? Don’t we all have the same Bible? Yes, we have the same Bible, but it is not the Bible that divides us. To understand this, let’s ask a couple more questions.

Question #1. How does a denominational church prove its distinction and differences from the other denominations? Answer; a creed or a statement of faith that points out their beliefs that make them different. This creed or statement of faith is the seed that spawns new members of that denomination. If you plant this creed or this statement of faith into someone’s heart the plant that springs up is another member of that denomination. If you stopped planting this seed into the hearts of men, the denomination would cease to exist. However, the people who accept this seed become one together and the denomination is perpetuated as “one Body”. But they are only one body with their specific denomination.

Question #2. Suppose every denomination was to use the same creed book, what would happen? If you sow the same seed in everyone’s heart, would they not then all be one body of the same church?

And that brings us to the solution of the problem. You see, the problem is not the Bible. The problems are all the different creeds and statements of faith written by men. Without these books all denominations would fail to be different and would soon cease to exist. If all these books were discarded and everyone used the Bible as their creed or statement of faith then all would be one with the same original church in the Bible, the body of Christ.

Carl O. Cooper