A Biblical Look At
Church Succession Through The Light Of God’s Holy Word Randy
L. Grabber
INTRODUCTION There is much discussion today concerning the fact of church succession, specifically how that succession occurs. Some see the view teaching that all true churches come from other true established churches. Some men do not see the necessity of one established church starting another new church. It is the belief of this author, that there is only one way to scripturally start a new church, and that is by the authority of an existing true New Testament Baptist church. I believe that if the Word of God was approached sincerely, and prayerfully, there would be no controversy over the one and only pattern that is given in God’s Word. It is sad to say, but I fear too many good men have let the beliefs and practices of some misguided men, both of today and days gone by, lead them away from the Word of God. Today we need men that will stand for the Word of God, and not be swayed by those who do not have a clear understanding of the Bible, or even worse, are knowingly and willfully ignoring God’s Holy Word. When I hear things like, “these are just traditional additionals” I wonder what biblical tradition will fall next. 1 have even had men tell me that they saw the biblical pattern of one church starting another church, but that it was not absolutely essential for churches to be started that way today. How sad! I believe that if a person will honestly and prayerfully read this article, and along with it study the Word of God, the truth about the one true biblical pattern will clearly be seen. I also believe that if a biblical pattern is clearly present, we have an obligation before God to follow it exclusively. After all, Landmark Baptists have always claimed that the Bible was their final rule for faith and practice. I believe that it is high time for us to stand up and practice what the Bible teaches! I. The Fact of Church Succession Matthew 16:18-19
“And I say also unto thee, That thou art
Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell
shall
not prevail against it. {19} And I will give unto
thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind
on earth
shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth
shall be
loosed in heaven.” First,
we know the Rock is Christ. Note
the same Greek word, “petra” in I
Corinthians 10:4 (b) “… they
drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that
Rock was Christ.”
Clearly Peter was not the true Rock, Christ is! Secondly,
we can see that the word “build” means “to build up”;
“the act of
building”, the thought of it is “an ongoing process”. Ongoing is His
church to
this very day! Next,
let’s look at the phrase, “and I will give unto thee the
keys …”
Some want to deny that there is any reference to power or authority
there, but
Strong says; “denotes power & authority of various kinds”. It
should be
clear to the reader that Christ did not give [away] His power and
authority,
but rather told His church to operate under His power and authority. The
next phrase we need to look at is, “the Gates of hell shall
not prevail against
it”, note that it’s the church that is on the offense. The church
is to be
going out and spreading the truth, and the gates of hell will never
prevail
against it! Also, the “gates of hell”
is a picture of death. Now we understand that “death cannot prevail
against it”,
thus the death of the apostles cannot prevent the perpetuity of the
church. This
proves that the promise of perpetuity was given to the church, not to a
group
of men. Clearly we see the perpetuity is in the CHURCH, not the design
of the
church. This means that any other true church must come from the
original
church, and not just a copy of the design. This should be easy for us
to relate
to as human beings. For my family name to have perpetuity, I must have
some
descendants that come from me, not just a copy of my appearance.
The
next verse we
need to examine is Matthew
28:16-20
“Then the eleven disciples went away
into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.
{17} And when they saw him, they worshipped him:
but some doubted. {18} And
Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in
heaven
and in earth. {19} Go ye
therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: {20} Teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you:
and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.
Amen.”
The
first observation here is that the eleven disciples are the church,
note: I Corinthians 12:28, “And God
hath set some in the church,
first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, …”
Christ had the
Authority to send the church, and He did, into “all nations”
(verse 19).
They were commissioned to go, to teach, and to baptize; clearly these
things
are the work of the church. We, as the Lord’s true New Testament
Baptist
churches, are to be going, and going under Christ’s authority! It is
obvious
that no one church could go into all of the world, but from the one
true church
that the LORD started, other true churches could be established.
Remember,
because the Lord promised perpetuity to HIS church, all other true
churches
must come from HIS church! Still,
some try to question the extent of
the “authority” of the local church to start other new churches. We saw
Matthew 16:19 and Matthew 28:18-19, and
now look at Mark 13:34, “For the
Son of man is as a
man taking a far journey, who
left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man
his work,
and commanded the porter to watch.” This
is clear proof that Christ “gave” His
servants, (members of the church) the
“authority”
to operate, and carry out the great commission. To say that “His
servants” in the passage above, has
reference to only pastors, seems to be out of order. It is by the
authority of
the church that pastors are scripturally ordained. I personally believe
the one
who we see as representing the pastor in the verse currently in
consideration
here is the “porter”, for he is commanded to watch. Look at Hebrews
13:17, “Obey them that have the rule over you, and
submit yourselves: for they
watch for your souls, as they that must give account …”. The
context of Hebrews 13 clearly teaches this to be
the pastor. At
least one more passage is needed to be
examined that we may see a clear picture of this power and authority. Acts 1:8, “But ye
shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come
upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in
all Judaea,
and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Again,
we see that
the LORD said, “and ye
shall be witnesses …
unto
the uttermost part of the earth.” The
only
logical way for this one church to be a witness to “the
uttermost part of the earth”, is to establish other churches in
other areas from the first church! Just so that we are all clear about
the
extent of this “power”, we will note
the definition according to Strong; “strength, power, ability”. Apart
from
Almighty God, no church has the strength, power, or ability to do
anything
scriptural or lasting. Thus when men operate on their own, apart from
the
church and its power, it too is unscriptural and will not last.
Through
the previous scriptures we should
be able to clearly see that the ultimate goal of the Lord’s church is
reproduction! (John 15:16) Let us
now look and see the biblical pattern for this reproduction, “like
begets like”.
II. The
Act of Church Succession
First,
let us note
when our Lord told them not to go, , Luke
24:49 “And,
behold, I send the promise of my
Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be
endued with
power from on high.” We see
here the
church was not to go in its own power! No power means no ready and not
able to
go start another church! The power and authority was given to Christ’s
church,
and apart from this, no one should be going. Oh that ALL men would see
this
today! After this power which was given from on high, on the day of
Pentecost,
we see the Church “going”. When the church at Jerusalem heard of the
believers
at Antioch, we see them sending Barnabas to Antioch in Acts
11:21-22, “And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a
great number believed, and
turned unto the Lord. {22} Then tidings of these things came
unto the
ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth
Barnabas, that
he should go as far as Antioch.”
The first thing we should notice is
that verse 21 says that they “believed,
and turned unto the Lord”,
not that they were added to the church, for there was no church yet
here at
Antioch. Compare this statement then to the one made about the church
at
Jerusalem back in Acts 2:47, “Praising God, and having favour with all the
people. And the Lord added to
the church daily such as should be saved.” When there was a church in the area and
people were saved, the Lord
added them to that local Church! It is clear that this group at Antioch
was not
called a church, nor functioned like a church, until atler Barnabas was
sent
there from the church at Jerusalem. Then we read in Acts
11:26, “they
assembled themselves with the
church, and taught …”
At this point in our study
we must notice
the word “sent”. According to Strong;
“to send forth, send away”. Now notice “sent” in Romans
10:15 (a), “And how
shall they preach, except they be sent? …” The question that
should cause us to think is, “sent by Who” We would say, “by the Holy
Spirit”
of course. Any true preacher of the Word of God will acknowledge only
the
Spirit of God as the “sender”. When we look into God’s Word we clearly
see that
the holy Spirit always sends” His preachers out of His church. Note the
pattern
in the Word of God, Acts
13:1-4
“Now there were in the
church
that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and
Simeon that
was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been
brought up
with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. {2} As they ministered to the Lord,
and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the
work
whereunto I have called them. {3} And when they had fasted and prayed,
and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. {4} So
they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and
from
thence they sailed to Cyprus.”
Clearly
we see
that the Holy Spirit sent Barnabas and Saul out of one of His true
churches. We
go on to note that Barnabas and Saul were working in that local church.
Next we
see that they were sent, not of the church alone, nor apart from the
church, but
rather the Holy Spirit led them and the church, causing the end result.
Certain
men being sent from a certain church led to a certain place! Vertical
leading
of God, resulting in the horizontal work of men through the church. We
can also
see the church at Antioch as the sending church, and as having
authority by
observing that Barnabas and Paul came back to Antioch to give a report
to the
church.
We should note
their message when they returned; Acts
14:26-27, “And thence sailed to Antioch, from whence
they had been recommended to the
grace of God for the work which they fulfilled. {27} And when they were come,
and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had
done with
them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.”
Let’s
look at the
word “fulfilled”: According to
Strong; “to make full, to cause to abound, to furnish or to supply
liberally,
to to render full, i.e. complete; fill to the top: so that nothing
shall be
wanting to full measure”. Now we must ask, was all of the
work of the gospel done, or fulfilled? Had they talked to
everybody in
the areas they went to? Was everybody saved where they went to? This
would seem
very unlikely! What then had been fulfilled, completed, or finished?
The churches
that they started! They had proper organization and beginning by the
authority
of the church at Antioch, which Barnabas and Paul had passed on to them
while
on their missionary trip.
God’s
pattern is
clear, Jerusalem sent men to Antioch, and Antioch sent men to …, and so
forth!
Each individual local church may differ on the procedural details of
how this
business is conducted, but one thing that cannot be eliminated is the
necessity
of the new church being established through the authority of an
existing
church. With as clear of a pattern as we see in God’s Word concerning
how
church work is to be done, some would ask, “why would anybody try to do
God’s
work apart from God’s pattern?” We will at this time try to answer this
queslion, and many more common questions to this subject.
III.
Miscellaneous Questions Answered
Q.)
Since we can
see it as the Biblical pattern, why would men try to “start” churches
differently? A.) A
disgruntled
group of people (because of being scripturally disciplined from a
church, and
can’t get proper authority), may try to “start” their own “church”. Acts 20:30 – “Also of your own selves shall
men arise, speaking perverse things, to
draw away disciples after them.” Q.) How
was this succession
possible during persecution? A.) GOD
is able to
work out the details! (Acts chapters
8-11) Whenever
I hear
this question, I always think, “My God is big enough to handle it,
apparently
yours is not”. Q.) I
see the
basic pattern in the Word of God, but how can we limit God to that one
way? A1.)
Multiple ways
would be very confusing, God is not the author of confusion.
1 Corinthians 14:33 – “For God is not the author
of confusion, but of peace …”
A2.) If
we find a
pattern for a course of action on any given subject, and then choose to
operate
in our own methods, we are adding to the Word of God. This is a
terrible place
to be! Revelation 22:18-19 – “For I testify unto every man
that heareth the words of the prophecy of
this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto
him the
plagues that are written in this book: {19} And
if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this
prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out
of the
holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” Q.)
Doesn’t it
bother you that many men of our day think this position is based only
on
tradition? A.) Not at all. I have to answer to God for what I teach, not to men.
1 Corinthians 4:3 – “But with me it is a very
small thing that I should be judged of you, or
of man’s judgment: …”
Q.)
Where does the Bible clearly show of a
church voting to start another church? A.)
Again, a pattern of operation is
present. We can clearly see the churches in the book of Acts voting on
church
matters in Acts 1:26. “And
they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon
Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.” This is
a
scriptural way of finding the Lord’s will about a matter, Proverbs 16:33. “The lot
is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is
of the LORD.”
Also it
fulfills
our duty to do things orderly. I Corinthians 14:40 – “Let all things be done
decently
and in order.” Q.)
Where does the
Bible show any group of believers as less than a true church? A.)
Believers at
Antioch were not called a church until after Barnabas was sent. Acts 11. Q.) If
this is so
clear in the Bible, why didn’t more of our “great” Baptist forefathers
see it? A1.) I
Many of
them never saw the truth about the “local” visible church. How could
they see
it? A2.)
Some of our
Baptist forefathers did see it - Paul, Barnabas, Peter, JoIm, Philip,
etc.
Q.) Why
can’t
proper baptism be the “link”?
A1.) If
baptism
were the proper “link”, what would stop a properly baptized, but also
scripturally disciplined people from leaving, and starting their own
“church”? Acts 20:30 – “Also of your own selves shall
men arise, speaking perverse things, to
draw away disciples after them.”
A2.)
Proper baptism is a result of a
scriptural church, it cannot be the “link” to start one.
Q.)
Doesn’t the
Bible teach of a purely “vertical” transferal of power or authority? A.)
Yes. Once, in
the empowerment of the Lord’s Church in Acts
2. Then after that we see the Lord leading in the “horizontal”
efforts of
the church. Acts 8:14-17
– “Now when the apostles which were at
Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent
unto them
Peter and John: {15} Who,
when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the
Holy
Ghost: {16} (For as yet he was
fallen upon none of
them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)
{17} Then laid they their hands on them,
and they received the Holy Ghost.” (Also
in Acts 13, where we have already
studied.) Q.)
Where else in
Scriptures do we see this kind of “horizontal” transferal of power or
authority?
A1.) In several places. All power and authority,
including Governmental authority comes only from God, Romans
13:1 “Let every soul be
subject unto the higher powers. For there is
no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.” Even
so we hold
elections to place people in office. A2.)
Marriage is
another good illustration. We cannot simply live together, rather we
must go to
someone that has the authority, to get married properly. A3.) Probably the most obvious
illustration is in man himsel. God created man, then from man He
created the
woman. Then clearly, all people come from people. Q.) Is
it true,
that if God chooses not to “come down” and take up residence with a
group, they
aren’t a true church’? A.) Absolutely! Ephesians 2:22 – “In whom ye also are builded
together for an habitation of God through
the Spirit.” This is
why we must
follow the biblical pattern, so that God will be with us as we serve
Him!
Q.) Is
it wrong
for an ordained preacher to consider his ordination all the authority
he needs,
to baptize a group in “prospect” (meaning not into any church) then
“organize”
them into a so called “church” at some later date?
A.) Yes this is
wrong! First, the preacher needs the authority from a true New
Testament church
to scripturally baptize. Second, the Bible teaches that believers are
always
baptized into a church. 1 Corinthians 12:13a – ‘For by one Spirit are we all
baptized into one body, whether we be Jews
or Gentiles …” This truth is also
seen in Acts 2:41 – “Then they that
gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were
added unto
them about three thousand souls.”
Q.)
doesn’t the
Bible teach, that “where two or three
are gathered” in Christ’s name, He will be with them?
A.) if
they are
truly gathered “in Christ’s name”, they will be following biblical
patterns!
Q.)
Can’t we
consider this just a matter of, “individual soul liberty”, as some
other “secondary”
issues?
A.) No we can not!
This is a foundational truth of our Lord’s church. 1 Corinthians 3:11 – “For other foundation can no
man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus
Christ.” Where there is no scriptural
beginning there is no church, just a group of deceived people!
The
following are
some questions for those that believe it is possible to start a church,
apart
from church authority, and true church succession.
1.) Why
would some
say that mission giving, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, discipline, etc.
must be
done only in and through the authority of a local church, then go on to
say
that a new church can be scripturally established apart from the
authority of
an existing local church?
2)
Concerning the “vertical
authority only” theory: If our churches have no tangible proof of who
the other
true churches are, such as an organized church granting the authority
to start
a new one, how will we ever guard against “alien immersion”? (Baptism
outside
of like faith and order.) To say it another way, if we have no definite
way to
start churches we then have no definite way to know which ones are true
churches, this leaves us with no definite way to guard against alien
immersion.
How then, will keep our churches pure?
3.)
Will you go on
doubting God and His ability to carry out His promise to His church, or
claim
His promise to His church as your very own? Give Him all the honor and
glory
through His true church! Remember, through his power, true church
succession
will never fail!
I
will conclude this article with
these thoughts:
Ephesians 3:21, “Unfo him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” When we see a pattern as clear as this one in God’s Word, what right do we have to say that there could be “other” ways? Beloved, let the Protestants do things their own way, but let Independent Landmark Baptists start churches the scriptural way, by the authority of a properly established church! It is truly high time that we put our actions where our words are, and make the Bible our final rule for faith and practice! If any say they see the biblical pattern and are still teaching others that there are multiple ways to start a new church, I respectfully submit that you are teaching men to go astray from the truth. That is something that a person will have to answer to God for!
Beloved,
the
church is the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Timothy 3:15).
Let us always endeavor to operate the church
within the guidelines set forth by the God’s Word!
Special
thanks to
the preachers that have boldly stood for this truth, and have through
their preaching
gave me many of the thoughts found in this booklet.
Respectfully, Randy
L. Graber Printed
August 1999 by
Grace
Baptist Church
620 E.
Palmetto Ave. Melbourne,
FL 32904 321-952-0120 Scripture
quotations are from the KJV. Return To Elder Grabber's Page
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