p. 8 | THE ONE TRUE CHURCH by T. B. Snow

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jan 4, 1905

THE ONE TRUE CHURCH.

By T. B. Snow

WHICH one? Where is it? Of what kind of people is it composed? When and where did it originate?

These questions arise in many minds because there are so many denominations, each one of which would fain be deemed orthodox. There is one at least, and possibly more, that lays claim to being the only one in which there is salvation. We will endeavor to answer the questions at the head of this article, but in the reverse order, beginning with the last. When and where did the true church originate? Did it have its origin in the days of Dowie, or Brigham Young, or Wesley, or Calvin, or Luther, or of the apostles?

The one true church antedated all of these. There has been in existence a body of people whom the Lord claimed as His ever since the beginning, when "men began to call themselves by the name of the Lord." Gen. 4:26, margin. In Deut. 23:3, and other places, the one true church is called "the congregation of the Lord;" in Ex. 19:6, "a kingdom of priests," "a holy nation;" in Gen. 6:2, "the sons of God." In the New Testament this same body is called "the church in the wilderness." Acts 7:38. The word "church" comes from ekklēsia meaning a company regularly called out. Sometimes it is the "church of God," sometimes "the church of Christ," sometimes only "the church." In other scriptures it is called "the body of Christ," "the household of God."

All these titles refer to "the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." 1 Tim. 3:15. The true church of the living God centers in that body of believers which accept Jesus as their Saviour from sin, which is "the transgression of the law" (1 John 3:4), and believe the Gospel which is the "glad tidings" of salvation, the only remedy that will effectually heal the leprosy of sin.

Ever since the promise of a Saviour (Gen. 3:15) was believed, and the Saviour accepted as such, God has had a body of people who, through the aid of the Holy Spirit, have been "righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless." Luke 1:6. This body of believers, this one true church, was at one time reduced to eight persons, to-wit, Noah and his family.

After the Flood, when men had again multiplied, they again apostatized and became worshipers of false gods, until the record tells us of but one man who proved true to God and His law. This man (Abraham) was called by the Lord to "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee." Gen. 12:1. The reason Abraham was called to separate from his people was because they were idolaters. Abraham was to form a nucleus around which would gather all who would accept of the Saviour; for Abraham was to "be the father of all them that believe" (Rom. 4:11), and, "if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Gal. 3:29.

Thus Abraham connects the one true church before Christ with the one true church after Christ. The Roman Catholic Church is hardly old enough to have existed in Abraham's time. The believing Jews constituted the nucleus of the one true church "in the wilderness" (Acts 7:36-38), where it was nourished forty years. This people were

chosen of God to give the Gospel to the world—for they had the Gospel—and all who would accept and obey it would belong to the one true church,—the body,—the church of Christ.

This one true church is not composed of those who merely make a profession of religion; but of those who do God's will, "Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven." Matt. 7:21.

The mass of the people who constituted the one true church of Jesus Christ, in the days of Moses, apostatized, repented, and were forgiven. Again and again they departed from the Lord, until they filled up the cup of their iniquity by the rejection and crucifixion of Jesus. Then they were rejected of God, as a nation, and were scattered among all the nations of the earth. Jesus had chosen twelve men to be with Him, to learn from His lips the same Gospel of Salvation that was given to Abraham, which Gospel is "the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek," or Gentile. Rom. 1:16.

These twelve men, chosen by Jesus, formed a nucleus around which the body (church) of Jesus, the one true church, was to gather. They were commissioned to "preach the Gospel," the same Gospel that Abraham had learned (Gal. 3:8), and all who would "believe and be baptized," (Mark 16:16) and "repent and be baptized" (Acts 2:38) would be saved. These believers were first "called Christians in Antioch;" but calling them Christians did not make them Christians. They were Christians (Christ-like) before they were so called at Antioch. Abraham was a Christian, because he believed in Christ and obeyed Him. So was Abel and all true believers, whether they lived in the Patriarchal, Mosaic, or Christian age.

Do you want to "know the doctrine of the one true church?" the doctrine taught by Jesus Christ, the doctrine that God sent His Son to teach? How can you know it? Do you not have to go to some man to learn it?—"Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Rom. 10:17. But "how shall they hear without a preacher?" Rom. 10:14. Here is a man who would know of the doctrine. What must he do?—"If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine." John 7:17.

The first thing for the man to do, is to be willing to do God's will, and then he shall know the doctrine. When he yields his will to God's will, the Lord will see to it that this man will in some way hear the truth. But "how shall they hear without a preacher?" Rom. 10:14. "How can they call on Him in whom they have not believed," unless some man shall instruct them?—They can not.

When the man whom God sends to them preaches to them, what must he preach?—"I charge thee before God, . . . preach the Word." 2 Tim. 4:1, 2. Preach it so it can be understood; "Cry aloud, spare not." Isa. 58:1. And when this Word of God is preached it will result in true conversions, and additions to the one true church, which is set to be the "light of the world."

May every one who reads this article do as did the Bereans of old, who searched the scriptures daily, whether these things were so. Acts 17:11. And for this reason they "were more noble" than those who did not search for themselves.