“Now I urge you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, that there be no divisions among you, and that you be united with the same understanding and the same conviction. For it has been reported to me about you, my brothers, by members of Chloe’s household, that there is rivalry among you. What I am saying is this: Each of you says, “I’m with Paul,” or “I’m with Apollos,” or “I’m with Cephas,” or “I’m with Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was it Paul who was crucified for you? Or were you baptized in Paul’s name? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one can say you were baptized in my name. I did, in fact, baptize the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t know if I baptized anyone else. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to evangelize — not with clever words, so that the cross of Christ will not be emptied of its effect.” - 1 Corinthians 1:10-17
If Paul could see the pitiful state of the modern Church, I believe we'd be receiving a far harsher rebuke than the Corinthians. Their church was messy, though by inspiration of God, Paul still called them "those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours" (1 Corinthians 1:2). Nevertheless, he had many rebukes for them. Their people prophesied chaotically (1 Corinthians 14:26-33), abused the gift of tongues (1 Corinthians 14:22-25), turned the Lord's Supper into an excuse to get drunk (1 Corinthians 11:17-22), and even tolerated a man whose sexual immorality was so intolerable, the unbelievers wouldn't touch it with a 10ft pole (1 Corinthians 5:1).
Among his list of rebukes is a strong opposition to the developing rivalry within the Corinthian church. They had missed the point of the Gospel, and began attaching themselves to the Apostles, only a few of them accurately assessing that we, who are saved, are of Christ, and not of any man. And so Paul asks a simple question: "Is Christ divided?"
His rebuke is so powerful, it seems to be the only place in the entire Bible where baptism takes a back seat. Baptism is, undoubtedly, a sacred ritual. When we come to faith, we should be baptised in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Such are the final marching orders of Christ Himself (Matthew 28:19). Yet, here, Paul says he is glad that he baptised virtually no one. Paul, who testifies that he labored more abundantly for the Gospel than all the other Apostles (1 Corinthians 15:10), rejoices that he didn't baptise many people?
Of course, this automatically rules out any denomination that preaches the necessity of baptism for salvation. Paul really didn't like false gospels, simply because God does not like false gospels. Thus, Paul says if anyone preaches a different gospel, they are to be considered accursed by God (Galatians 1:8). Thus, we can separate from such false teachers.
But what are we to do when non-fatal divisions raise their ugly heads? What are we to do when we have Lutherans, Baptists, Pentacostals, Anglicans, Evangelicals etc.? We have gone far beyond "I am of Peter" and "I am of Paul". Instead, we have around 1,000 separate denominations.
Of course, there are fakes among them. No doubt, any survey will include religions which simply claim the name of some Christ. Yet, Paul says "For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!" (2 Corinthians 11:14). Another Jesus? Yuck! A different spirit? No thank you. A different gospel?!? "But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed." (Galatians 1:8).
Accursed, accursed, accursed! I do not care who you are. I don't care where you came from. I don't care what you claim is the source if your message. If you made up false teachings to draw people to yourself, if you started in the true faith and drew others out with you, if an Apostle gave your predecessors some oral tradition they conveniently forgot to include in Scripture, if an angel came to you and told you you're a prophet to restore the Christian faith, even if you claim to actually be Jesus, if your "gospel" is not the same Gospel we see in Scripture, you are a fraud, and unless you repent, your false teaching will follow you right back to the hottest pits of Hell.
And so no, I do not fear denouncing the many false "Christian" denominations as not Christian. There are three essential elements of Christianity (Christ, Spirit, Gospel), and if you lack one of them, you are not Christian, plain and simple. So to Hell with those denominations. Quite literally, I am not being vulgar or profane, I am speaking quite literally: to Hell with any false gospels, even if they claim to be Christian.
But not every denomination teaches a false gospel. It is entirely possible to preach that Christ died for our sins and rose again so that all who confess Him as Lord and believe in their hearts God raised Him from the dead will be saved, and yet still have some very peculiar, false, unBiblical ideas, even sinful behaviors, and still remain a member of the body of Christ. This is true of people, and it is true of denominations.
And so Paul's word remains the same: Let there be no divisions among you, and that you be united with the same understanding and the same conviction. What on Earth is wrong with us? Why, if this is how the Church is supposed to look, is it not how the Church looks? Why do we have Baptists over there in one camp, Lutherans over there in another, Evangelicals acting like they're closer to the truth than everyone else etc. As if we all have different Bibles. As if our confessions, our creeds, our statements of faith, our founding documents, are all brand new revelations from God Himself! Is the London Baptist Confession Scripture? The Westminster Confession, is that inspired by God? The Nicene Creed, I suppose, was personally engraved on stone tablets by the very finger of God atop a mountain? I tell you, these scripts may have some truths in them, but they are attempts of men to understand the truth of God, not the truth of God itself.
But the Scriptures are in a league of their own. What does Paul tell Timothy? "Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:12-17).
I can think of no more sound rebuke than this to those who depart from Scripture. What is Scripture for, other than to make us wise to salvation, to inform our doctrine, to rebuke our sin, to correct our errors, to instruct us in righteousness, and thoroughly equip us for every good work? What foolishness is it, then, to stray from it? Are we more righteous than God, that we may redact His Holy decrees? Are we wiser than He, that we should add to His words? By no means! For His word tells us "You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you." (Deuteronomy 4:2, emphasis added). And again, "Do not add to His words, Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar." (Proverbs 30:6).
Are the faithful to be found liars? Should we fail to keep His commandments? Read those same Scriptures, tell me how it worked out for the people of God when they went astray. When they worshiped other gods, when they offered strange fire, when they proclaimed friendship with the world, when they tried to be like the other nations, how did it go for them? God struck them, and even blotted out their names from His book! Do we imagine we will escape the same fate? Will we have any positive reward when we, likewise, depart from His word?
Denominations are folly, simply because when you commit to one, you commit not only to the truths it teaches, but also to its errors. You become beholden to the flaws of men who may not even be alive anymore. They may have died decades, even centuries ago, but the word of the Lord will never pass away. And my brethren, we have an advantage not even the first century Church had. We have easy access to that word! It's right there, in our own language, free of charge, at the touch of a button, and we have been taught how to read it. No more is an education a privilege of the rich. No more are books prohibitively expensive to reproduce. The very word "print" was foreign to our ancestors, yet we have the luxury of accessing Scripture at the touch of a button!
So what's our excuse? Why are we submitting to the traditions of dead men when we have the traditions of God? Long ago, the devil appointed wolves to scatter Christ's flock. And even the best among us were deceived. We always will be. We will always be subject to the frailty of the flesh, caving to various things such as bias, peer pressure, even our own ignorance. But God has provided many safeguards for us against these things. Both as individuals and as congregations, we have everything we need to fulfill God's vision of a united Church. We have the Scriptures, we have local congregations, we even have contact with believers across the globe. When we fall, we can be picked up. When we go astray, we can be redirected. When we err, we can be corrected. All it takes is to submit ourselves to God.
We need nothing more than the early Church had. They did not have denominations. It wasn't even realistic for them to do so. With the full force of Satan seeking your very blood, it's hard to do more than meet in small, local congregations. And not even in fancy church buildings. They were illegal, as it was to preach in the name of Christ. They met in houses. Not that there's anything wrong with meeting in specially dedicated buildings where the privilege is available. My point is not to dismiss these things. Rather, my whole point is simply this: Christ is not divided. There are true believers in every denomination, but there are no true denominations. These denominations only cause divisions. They set brother against brother, and worse, they teach us to downplay the very word of God! We live in a world where each man has his own interpretation, and that's considered fine and dandy. "What did God mean? Who cares? I have my views, you have your views, so let's agree to disagree." What? God's opinion doesn't matter to you? You'd rather believe your "truth" than His?
"Oh, but I was raised this way". Ok? Your ancestors were raised to worship the sun, or the sea, or some great white buffalo. "But I like this teaching". Does God live to satisfy the whims of a clump of dust whose breaths are limited? "But the science says...", lump your so-called "science". Science literally means "knowledge", and woe betide the fool who sets himself against the knowledge of God. "My denomination teaches...". Well, that's my point in a nutshell right there. Your denomination teaches. But is it not better to believe one God, who conquered the grave, than 8 billion people who are heading to theirs?
If there are to be no divisions among us, there are to be no denominations. We should instead unite under God, who has given us His word. When we study it with due diligence, and reverence, we will undoubtedly come to the same conclusions as others who do the same. One congregation will not clash with another, as long as we let God be true, though every man a liar. May the traditions of man perish, and the word of God spread across the globe.