The Church, the Falling Away, and the Restoration — John Shaqi
The Church, the Falling Away, and the RestorationShepherd, J. W. (James Walton)
Religion
The Church, the Falling Away, and the Restoration
Shepherd, J. W. (James Walton)
Churches of Christ -- Doctrines; Disciples of Christ -- Controversial literature; Disciples of Christ -- Doctrines
That the apostles taught the churches to do all the Lord commanded will
not be called in question by those who receive the Bible as authority.
Whatever, then, the churches did by the appointment or concurrence of
the apostles, they did by the commandment of Jesus Christ. Whatever acts
of worship the apostles taught and sanctioned in one congregation, they
taught and sanctioned in all, because all under the same government of
the same King. But the church in Troas met “upon the first day of the
week ... to break bread” (Acts 20:7), and Paul exhorts the Hebrew
brethren to “consider one another to provoke unto love and good works;
not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but
exhorting one another; and so much the more as ye see the day drawing
nigh” (Heb. 10:24, 25). From the manner in which this meeting of the
disciples at Troas is mentioned by Luke, two things are very evident:
(1) That it was an established rule of the disciples to meet on the
first day of the week; (2) that the primary object of their meeting was
to break bread. And Luke also tells us that the Jerusalem church
“continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the
breaking of bread and prayers” (Acts 2:42), which shows us that the
breaking of bread was a prominent item in those stated meetings. Other
corroborating evidences of the stated meetings on the first day of the
week for religious purposes are indicated by the instructions Paul gave
to the church in Galatia and Corinth: “Now concerning the collection for
the saints, as I gave order to the churches of Galatia, so also do ye.
Upon the first day of the week let each one of you lay by him in store,
as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come” (I Cor.
16:1, 2).
As we have seen that whatever the primitive churches did by the approval
of the apostles, they did by divine authority, now, as Paul approved
their meeting on the first day of the week, it is as high authority as
could be required for the practice of meeting to worship on the first
day of every week. The items of their worship were:
THE APOSTLES’ TEACHING
They believed that the teaching of the apostles was from God and they
constantly and diligently studied it, that they might know and do the
whole will of God. The constant study of and the profound reverence for
the Word of God were recognized traits of their character. They
certainly had the word of Christ dwelling in them richly. Not only was
reading the Scriptures a part of all the public worship, it was a daily
custom in private life—in the family, the social circle, and even at
their toil. On this point I will give the testimony of Lyman Coleman,
who has gathered much information on this subject. He says:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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