Attitude check: II Timothy 2:15 – We must accurately handle the word of God!

Didn’t Alexander Campbell start the church of Christ back in the 1800s? (continued)

• Acts 24:5, 14

• Alexander Campbell was certainly not the founder or restorer of Christ’s church.

• Jesus Christ is the founder of the one and only church!

  • Matthew 16:18; Acts 20:28; Colossians 1:18 – The church belongs to Christ – not Alexander Campbell. Campbell didn’t restore the church; he restored the thinking of himself and those he reached. The church hadn’t gone anywhere!

  • I Thessalonians 5:21-22; II Peter 3:17-18 – Our job as Christians is to examine everything and cling to what Jesus has revealed as truth.

  • Worshiping according to the instructions in the New Testament was not an idea original to Alexander Campbell. Local churches were worshiping this way before Alexander Campbell was around.

Isn’t baptism an outward sign of an inward grace?

• Notice what scripture says …

  • Mark 16:16

  • Acts 2:38 – Compare translation of Greek word for “for” in Matthew 26:28

Philip in scripture

• Named among the twelve

  • In initial naming – Matthew 10:1-4

  • In Jerusalem awaiting the Holy Spirit – Acts 1:13

  • Included whenever apostles grouped

    • The twelve

    • The apostles

    • Throughout New Testament

  • John 1:43-46

    • Jesus found him in Galilee

    • He was from Bethsaida

    • Philip was convinced that Jesus was the Messiah

    • Familiar with the Law and the Prophets

    • Told a friend about Jesus

    • Took his friend to show him

  • John 12:20-23

    • Greek Jews come to Philip

    • Told Andrew

    • They told Jesus

  • John 14:6-10

    • Philip replies to Jesus

    • “Show us the Father”

    • Jesus declares His oneness with the Father

  • John 6:1-7

    • Jesus asked Philip how much bread it would take

    • Philip quoted a price – about $25,000

    • Said that would not be sufficient

  • Acts 6:5; 8; 21:8

    • Some believe this Philip to be Philip the apostle

    • Acts 6:4; 8:9-19 contradict that idea

  • No other mention of Philip in scripture

• Philip in history and tradition

  • The name of Philip

    • Greek name meaning horse lover

    • Philip of Macedonia: horse lover

    • Philip the Tetrarch over Galilee

      • Resided in Caesarea some of the time

      • Rebuilt the city, named it Caesarea Philippi

  • Identity confusion

    • Many hold that Philip the apostle = Philip the evangelist

    • Makes tracking the traditions and history difficult

  • Why the confusion

    • Papias’ writings

    • Term “apostle” often used differently

      • The seventy of Luke 10:1, 17 often called apostles

      • Galatians 1:19; Acts 14:14

    • Some apocryphal writings

      • Gospel of Philip – gnostic in nature

      • Acts of Philip

      • Letter from Peter to Philip

    • Both martyred in Heiropolis

    • Much about Philip the evangelist confused as a result

  • At some point, went to Phrygia

    • Brought his sister Mariamne and Bartholomew

    • Healed Stachys, a blind man, and stayed in his house

    • By prayer, caused a serpent idol to die

    • Converted proconsul’s wife, enraging proconsul

    • All three condemned to die

      • Hanging inverted or upside-down crucifixion

    • Proconsul relented

      • Saved Mariamne and Bartholomew

      • Too late for Philip

    • Heiropolis mentioned by Paul – Colossians 4:13

  • Philip buried in tomb in Heiropolis

    • Excavations in 2011 found a tomb

    • Inscriptions and symbology indicate Christian

    • Name of Philip and indication of apostleship

    • No bones there

      • Taken to Istanbul in the 3rd century

      • Later taken to Rome

II Timothy 2:15

Miss Nora Yount conversing by mail with Mr. Clement, presiding elder and others

Error: Assuming

• Acts 21:27-29

• Stephanas – I Corinthians 1:16 – households don’t necessarily include infants!

• Lydia – Acts 16:13-15

• Philippian jailer – Acts 16:31-34

• Cornelius – Acts 10:48 (10:24; 11:14, 18; 15:7-9)

• Mark 16:15-16

• Matthew 28:18-20 – Jesus said to make disciples of all the nations and baptize them. Infants could not be disciples, so they were excluded from this command.

Error: appealing to non-authoritative truth

• Matthew 15:1-2, 9-14

• Matthew 7:13-14

• I Corinthians 1:20; 2:4-5

Error: Stretching an analogy

• John 10:7, 9

• Colossians 2:11-12 (see 2:8, 13; 3:9-10)

• Hebrews 8:11

Attitude check: Luke 9:51-56 – Don’t be so trigger-happy! Have the attitude of Jesus, not of James and John. Our goal should be to help, inform, and encourage others.

Does the New Covenant authorize worship with instruments? (continued)

• Does the Greek word psallo include instruments?

  • Psallo had previously been used in connection with instruments, but its meaning had changed by the time of the New Testament.

  • Ephesians 5:18-19 – If psallo does include instruments, that is part of the command and we all have to use instruments!

• “They worshipped with instruments in the Old Testament.”

  • Yes, but we’re not under the Old Covenant.

  • Psalms 33:1-3; II Chronicles 29:25; Hebrews 7:18-19; 8:6-7

  • Acts 16:3; Galatians 2:3; 5:1-4 – It is wrong to do something as religious service that God did not authorize.

• “Instruments are mentioned in Revelation 5:8; 14:2; 15:2 and 18:21-22.”

  • Literal? This is all figurative language.

  • Heaven is not the same as earth. Matthew 22:30

Didn’t Alexander Campbell start the church of Christ back in the 1800s?

• Who was Alexander Campbell?

  • Alexander Campbell was a man born in the 1780s in Ireland who came to America in 1809. His father, Thomas Campbell, was a Presbyterian minister, but through independent Bible study Thomas began to see the error of human creeds and denominational confessions of faith. He began having clashes with his denominational peers and broke away.

  • Alexander Campbell followed in his father’s footsteps and encouraged people to use the Bible itself as a religious authority. Many people claim that Alexander Campbell founded the churches of Christ (see his Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Campbell_(clergyman)). Members of the church have been called “Campbellites.” Some say that just like Lutherans originated in Martin Luther, Methodists from John Wesley, etc., members of churches of Christ find their origins in the teachings of Alexander Campbell.

• We can learn several things from Alexander Campbell and his contemporaries.

  • Philippians 3:17; I Corinthians 11:1 – It is good when we can look at others as examples in following Christ.

    • Thomas Campbell originally stated the motto, “Where the Bible speaks, we speak. Where the Bible is silent, we are silent.” That is a good way to sum up some Biblical principles. Galatians 1:6-9; II Timothy 3:16-17; I Peter 4:11; II Peter 1:2-3; II John 1:9; Revelation 22:18-19

    • Like his father, Alexander Campbell tried to distance himself from reliance on human creeds and traditions. In his writings, he repeatedly called for people to simply stick to the New Testament.

    • In 1816, he preached a “Sermon on the Law” based on Galatians 4:21-31 that became well-known, and which changed his relationship with Baptist groups in the area who disagreed with his conclusions that the Old Law had passed away and that we’re under the New Covenant today.

    • Campbell declared in a public debate that “baptism was never designed for, nor commanded to be administered to, a member of the church.” In other words, we are “baptized into one body” (I Corinthians 12:13). We are not members of the body/church, then baptized.

  • While Alexander Campbell did some remarkable Bible study and teaching, he was not the founder of Christ’s church! In fact, we could list several beliefs in which he missed the mark.