We Did Not Have A Special "Easter Service"

by Dave Brown

Do not be deceived, Jesus is building His church on the rock of faith that Peter exhibited: “Thou are the Christ, the son of the living God.” Mat. 16:18: “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it.” This church is spoken of as existing after the events of Acts 2 (5:11, 8:1-3, 9:31, 11:22-26, 12:1, etc., etc.). Churches sprang up wherever the gospel of Jesus was heard and obeyed (Act 13, 14). There was no sanctioning authority for these churches — when people obeyed the truth and determined to work together in obedience to the truth, they were a legitimate church in the local sense of the word. Thus, in the bible we often read of “home churches” or churches that met in members’ houses, especially when they were in small groups.

The word church in Mt. 16:18 is singular, and thus refers to no single local church (as opposed to Rom. 16:16 and most other places, where local congregations are being discussed). We can call this the “church universal,” as opposed to the local church. While local churches are required to be organized (1 Tim. 3:1f; Tit. 1:5f), there is no organization specified for the church universal. This displays the obvious wisdom of God and the sublimity of the scriptures. It is totally impossible for mankind to conceive of a religious body that is not centrally organized. And yet, that is exactly what the bible teaches. For, unity is brought about by common obedience to the truth, not by any central organization contrived of mankind. Indeed, anyone who can open his eyes can see that the centralized organizations that control religious organizations are corrupting in their nature and ultimately self-serving. In most cases they freely admit to not being the organization of the church universal, admitting guilt of the sin of 1 Cor. 1:10 — that of dividing the Lord’s body by denominating.