The Franklin County church of Christ is just trying to be the church you read about in the New Testament. We have no earthly headquarters; we take no orders from human authority; we teach no doctrine originating from man. Being human, we are not perfect, but our aim is to follow our king, Jesus our Savior. God gave us the Bible, and it is enough. Paul wrote: "Every scripture inspired of God is als
o profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Anything more than the Bible is too much. God gave the principle of the completeness of his word in the old law: "You shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish from it" (Deuteronomy 4:2). He gave the same principle concerning the book of Revelation in 22:18-19. Also, Paul wrote that we are not to go "beyond the things that are written" (1 Corinthians 4:6). Eternal salvation is much too important to neglect, or to be misguided about; therefore, we teach only what Jesus said for people to do to be saved: "Whoever believes and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark 16:16). He knew what we must do because he is the Savior (1 John 4:14). Those who learned that truth from Jesus taught others to "repent, and be baptized … for the remission of sins" (Acts 2:36-41); "arise and be baptized and wash away your sins" (Acts 22:16); in fact, having believed in Jesus, and repented of their sins, people were commanded to be baptized (Acts 10:48). We cannot be saved by faith only. James made that clear in 2:14-26. In part, he wrote, "You see that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only" (verse 24). He did not say works only. It takes both. He concluded the paragraph by writing, "For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead" (verse 26). We must do all that Jesus commanded (Luke 6:46). In following the instructions of Jesus and the examples of early Christians, we remember his suffering and death (1 Corinthians 11:23-29) on the first day of each week (Acts 20:7) by taking the Lord’s supper (Matthew 26:26-28). Since the followers of Jesus were called Christians (Acts 11:26), we do not approve of any man-made name. In fact, we do not approve of any teaching or practice if the scriptures do not sanction it. Realizing that we are not perfect, we see ourselves as lost people (Luke 19:10) who have been saved by the blood of Jesus (Acts 20:28; Ephesians 1:7), through his grace (Ephesians 2:1-10) and our obedience (Hebrews 5:8-9). Jesus prayed that all believers be one (John 17:20-21). Paul condemned the practice of following men in 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, because if we follow men we cannot be servants of Christ (Galatians 1:6-10). We want unity of all believers based on the Bible. "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all" (Ephesians 4:1-6). Is that what you want? Robert L. Scott
