Does the Bible Mention Denominations?

In this regular feature Dave and Tom respond to questions from listeners and readers of The Berean Call.  Here is this week’s question: Dear Dave and Tom, What is your view of denominations?Is there a biblical basis for such classifications within Christianity?

Tom:

Yes, Dave, the Baptists, the Methodists, doesn’t that go back to the early church partly?

Dave:

Well we had the church at Ephesus, the churches of Galatia, the church of Colossi, but they were all one in Christ.They had believed the same gospel, they had the same Bible; they believed in the same God and they believed in the same salvation and they preached it. Why did denominations arise?Well, Paul writes to the Corinthians and he says there must be divisions among you.He says there are divisions and there will be divisions and there must be to show a distinction between right and wrong.Unfortunately, remember Paul said to the Ephesian elders from the town of Miletus there he called them there in Acts 20 and it must have broken his heart to say it, but he said, “For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.Also, (that is after his death) of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them” (Acts:20:29For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
See All..., 30).So you’ve got men who want to teach some unusual thing like Benny Hinn for example.I remember Benny Hinn saying, “Well you don’t come here to learn what you get everywhere else.Let me tell you something.There’s not three, (speaking of the trinity) there’s nine of them.God the Father has a body, soul and spirit, and so forth.”And so there are many people who are looking for some new thing like on Mars Hill.They want to have some new doctrine.Give me some new doctrine!Give me some insights no one else has and that’s the start of a new denomination.Now we’ve got some distinctives.We ought to be going all of us by the Bible.Unfortunately all claim to be going by the Bible.Part of it is pride.Solomon writes in Proverbs: “Only by pride cometh contention.”There’s a certain amount of pride, I don’t know Tom, whether you had it as a Catholic.You were a Catholic!You’re right!

Tom:

Dave, pride not just in Catholicism, but in religion per se, it just runs the show.This is what Jesus dealt with, with regard to the Jewish religious leaders, the Pharisees, Sadducees and so on.

Dave:

So unfortunately each denomination, well some of them don’t even care whether they go by the Bible.But many of them do.They are hair splitters and another problem of course is tradition.As a Catholic, you know something about tradition.Tradition is on the same level as the Bible in the Catholic Church.They say it.Vatican II says it and so forth.Well then tradition gets built up over the years.But you can visit the Hutterites, or you could visit some Amish communities.They’ve got their tradition.Some of the Amish are divided over whether you ought to have rubber on the tires of your buggy or whether you ought to just go with metal tires.Some of them are divided over whether you can have electricity, or whether you should only burn candles or kerosene lamps.So they are focusing on the minor things and turning them into the major things.It’s like Jesus said to the Pharisees, “You tithe a mint, and plants and seeds.You’re very particular about giving God 10% of that, but you neglect the way your matters of the law and righteousness and love, compassion.So part of the problem is in order to cover over our ungodliness in other areas, we begin to focus on certain things.So the Catholic has a distinctive that their priests can turn that wafer into the body and blood of Christ.And you are not really properly practicing Communion or the Eucharist or the breaking of bread or whatever unless you are a Catholic because only the Catholic priest can turn this wafer into the body and blood of Christ.The result is that you have forgotten about receiving Christ by faith into your heart because you are so focused on ingesting him physically into your stomach.And that is a distinctive.And you know that the Catholic Church anathematizes, damns to hell anyone who disagrees with that.Anyone who does not accept transubstantiation.People were burned at the stake for not accepting transubstantiation.So denominations have come about through a departure from the simple Word of God.And that’s exactly what Jesus said to the rabbis in Matthew 15.He said, “By your tradition you have made void the Word of God.You have introduced traditions that actually undermine the Word of God and this is the situation between denominations.

Tom:

Dave, what would be your encouragement (we’ve got about a minute left) for someone who is dealing with looking for a church, but it’s a part of a denomination.For example let’s say Presbyterian USA, just to pick one and we could pick dozens, which has certain distinctives and has certain affinities.Is it the denomination, is it the church itself?How should they go about looking for a church?

Dave:

Yes, there are differences among denominations as you know.What we want is a church that follows the Word of God, fellowship of believers, who love, know the Lord, and worship him according to the scriptures, whatever they call themselves.And there are many non-denominational churches which still have their traditions and their distinctives which separate them from others.Now they’re all trying to separate on the basis of sound doctrine so you have to decide for yourself in prayer and searching the scriptures daily.And you know Tom; we get hundreds of letters I guess, from all over the world.People can’t find a fellowship of believers that really follow the Bible.But if you can find one, then you want to fellowship with them regardless of what they call themselves.On the other hand, they shouldn’t be calling themselves something that’s exclusive and which on that basis separates them from others.This is a problem which 1900 years of Christianity has left us with.Not that the problem is with Christianity, but it’s with the pride of men who take Christianity and then want to use it to their own ends to draw disciples after themselves.Sadly, it’s something we have to live with and do the best that we can in finding a fellowship of believers that is as close to the Word of God as possible.