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Thoughts on 1st Corinthians and Restoring the New Testament Church

12/31/2010

For over a week I've been reading, rereading and studying portions of 1st Corinthians. Though I

should be very familiar with this book after years as a Christian, including time training for myBachelor of Ministry degree, I'm finding now that I'm reading it with new eyes. Specifically, I'm not

trying to explain it away or make it fit my preconceived ideas. How successful I'm being is hard to

measure (I'm not very objective where I'm concerned), much is surprising me. Specifically, as

someone who left the Roman Catholic Church in pursuit of a more biblical faith, in addition to the

Gospel of grace in Christ, it's a little jarring to find passages I'm not running to put into practice.

During my time among evangelicals and then within the StoneCampbell Movement(where I'm

now quite comfortably at home) I found many common traits. Chief among them may be a desire to

go from the written page to reallife practice. It is of course an admirable and correct attitude to aim

for immediate obedience. The moment to obey a command of God is the instant in which it is

understood. Reading 1st Corinthians, though, I see where this could be complicated and perhaps

even unnecessary.

Someone searching for the "ancient faith" and the "New Testament church" will be challenged by

the description of the ideal congregational worship experience in Corinth. It included prophets

taking turns speaking, their words then being evaluated by the others for their correctness. There

was also tonguesspeaking, assuming someone was available to interpret. The Lord's supper wasn't

a bit of cracker and a tiny cup of juice, but part of a larger fellowship meal called a "love feast."

Many of my sisters and brothers in Christian Churches and Churches of Christ (a cappella,

instrumental and International) are likely pretty confident they are in churches practicing all thingsin accordance with the "pattern" found in the New Testament Scriptures, but most of all the a

cappella folks hold to this conviction. I remember some of my older professors atHarding

University saying confidently that if someone from the first century were to walk into a 21st

century church of Christ worship service, or vice versa, there would be cultural variables and

language barriers, but that the "pattern of worship" would be recognizable.

Hardly.

I tend to agree with the cessationist view that says the "sign gifts" faded as the apostles died and no

one was left who could impart them. With the completion of the "canon" these gifts were no longerneeded. I tendto agree, but I'm not 100% sold on it. I do know that what Ive seen of modern

Pentecostal doctrine appears quite aberrant, so don't expect me to go thatdirection any time soon.

In any event, Pentecostalism doesn't offer orderly worship including a "love feast" on a regular

basis, so it's not any closer in practice to the example of the New Testament than are the Primitive

Baptists.

In all honesty, I have to confess that while I consider myself a "restorationist," I'm not "that kind" of

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restorationist. Through the Good News that Jesus of Nazareth is the crucified, risen and returning

Messiah of Israel and Lord of the nations I was called out of darkness and transported by Christ

through faith, repentance and immersion in water into his reign. My calling is to obey with my life

that into which he leads me through his word and Spirit. While I can appreciate what I read about

church life in the first century, I can't take it all for here and now, today.

Restoration and backtotheBible movements make a giant leap over historyat least in theory.

Their practice really reflects all the struggles of nearly two thousand years, plus the more

proximate cultural influences. Thats why Ive heard the complaint more than a few times from

members of Churches of Christ (acappella) in Brazil that their churches seem like mini U.S.consulates. The traditions, rather than purely apostolic, were imported from churches in the

southern United States. We simply cant escape our cultural and historical baggage. It seems better

to me, then, that we focus on giving voice to the unchanging heart of the Christian faith in ways

appropriate to our time and place in history.

That bit of cracker and little cup of juice aren't part of a larger meal, but they remind me no less ofJesus and his sacrifice for the sin of the world, in victorious confrontation with the powers. No

prophets speak at my church and the only tongues are English and occasionally Spanish, but the

evangelist (as Paul instructed Timothy) and other men of the church preach the word with

prophetic power and scriptural clarity. Our style is the result of many hundreds of years of history.

The main thing is keeping to the message and mission which the Father has entrusted to us, mindful

of the guarantee of Christs continued presence and that we have been empowered by the Spirit of

God for this purpose.

We declare Jesus as Lord to the salvation of some (and condemnation of others) and await his

return, with resurrection, judgment and New Heavens/New Earth on the horizon.