The Church of God

W. Carl Ketcherside

[Page 94]

     The Church of God referred to in the sacred scriptures is not a human organization, but a divine organism. It is not a sect nor is it composed of a combination or coalition of sects. Sects were conceived in the opinions of men; the church was created by the power of God. The church does not consist of denominations or congregations, but of individuals who have been born again. Every saved person on this earth is in it, having been called out of sin and into Christ.

     We should never use the word "church" in a universal sense except to include all of God's children in the universe, nor in a local sense to exclude any who are members of his family in the locality. To talk about "the Lord's church" as limited to a certain party, movement or segment, is to sectarianize the expression and to reveal our ignorance. The Lord's church embraces every one of the Lord's people and it is true that these are not all in the same partisan corral. The flock of God is still scattered over the sectarian hills.

     Parties and sects are regrettable because they divide God's family into rival camps, but they do no more harm than for one of them, born of historical exigency, to appropriate to itself the title, "The Lord's Church" and to arrogantly imply that those who do not belong to it do not belong to the Lord. No person on earth knows the numerical strength of the Lord's church and no one can ascertain it. The figures of total membership that are published for the various parties only reveal which sects are increasing or decreasing. They say nothing about the growth of the Lord's church. There is no such thing as "the fastest growing church in America" for there is only one church, although sectarian parties may thrive or wane, and do.

     We become members of the one body by acceptance of the great universals of the faith, we become adherents of sects by emphasizing unduly peculiarities or distinctions within the faith. That which makes one a child of God is relatively simple but to become a sectarian one must engage in mental ramifications and metaphysical speculations. One becomes a child by adoption, a partisan by deduction elevated to dogmatism. Christian stature is measured only by faith in Jesus, partisan attainment is measured by knowledge of the group requirements for fellowship.

     Each new party that is spawned makes it that much more difficult to be a Christian only, and increases the probability that we will not be such. The real test of the non-partisan child of God lies in his ability to ignore all artificial walls and barriers erected by men, and to associate freely with all of his brethren. These walls are transparent when looked at through lens of love and one can walk through them it he wills to do it. Many are mere paper curtains hung by editorial usurpers who labor under the mistaken view that their journals are the official organs to publish supreme court decisions for the kingdom of the Lord.

     There is no reality to these barriers since only God can give reality to anything in the divine-human relationship. They are simply mental blocks and figments of over-wrought imagination inflamed by partisan zeal. Let us cease to be confined and accept the liberty which we have in Christ. Then we can begin to answer the prayer of Jesus for the unity of all believers in Him. The time is ripe for freedom to serve one another.