Early Christians were united in one faith or belief system. They were not divided into sectarianism or denominationalism. They had one leader or master, Jesus Christ. The Bible, the Word of God, was their standard of truth. By remaining in the Word and being united as one body in Christ, they became one flock under one shepherd. In this way they were truly Christ’s disciples. By knowing the truth, they were set free from all sectarianism, paganism, denominationalism, and false doctrine. Early believers became known by one name, “Christians.”*
Jesus said:
Matthew 12:25: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
John 10:16: “. . . they shall heed my voice. So there shall be (they shall become) one flock, one shepherd.”
John 15:4: “Remain united with me, and I will remain united with you.”
John 8:31: “If you continue (remain) in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make (shall set) you free.”
John 17:17 said: “Sanctify them in the truth; thy word is truth.”
Matthew 23:10: “Neither be called leaders (master), for you have one leader (master), the Christ (the Messiah).”
The Apostle Paul said:
1 Corinthians 1:10-14: “I appeal to you brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you agree and there should not be divisions among you, but that you should be united and in the same line of thought. What I mean is that each one of you says, ‘I belong to Paul,’ or ‘I belong to Apollos,’ or ‘I belong to Cephas (Peter),’ or ‘I belong to Christ.’ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?”
1 Corinthians 3:4-5: “4 For when one says, ‘I belong to Paul,’ and another, ‘I belong to Apollos,’ are you not merely men? 5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.”
Ephesians 4:4-5: “There is one body and one Spirit. . . one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above (over) all and through all.”
1 Corinthians 12:12-13 states: “12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body– Jews or Greeks, slaves or free- and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.”
Galatians 3:28 states: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is no male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
The physician Luke wrote:
Acts 11:26: “In Antioch that disciples were for the first time called Christians.”
The Apostle Peter said:
1 Peter 4:16: “Yet if one suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but under that name let him glorify God.”
Ignatius, the Bishop of Antioch wrote:
“Let us learn to live like Christians. To profess any other name but that, is to be lost to God.”
Martin Luther wrote:
“I ask that my name be left silent and people not call themselves Lutheran, but rather Christians. Who is Luther? The doctrine is not mine. I have been crucified for no one. Saint Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:4-5 would not suffer that the Christians should call themselves of Paul or of Peter, but Christian. How should I, a poor stinking bag of worms, become so that the children of Christ are named with my unholy name? It should not be dear friends. Let us extinguish all factious names and be called Christians whose doctrine we have. The pope’s men rightly have a factious name because they are not satisfied with the doctrine and name of Christ and want to be with the pope, who is their master. I have not been, and will not be a master. Along with the church I have one general teaching of Christ who is alone our master.” Matthew 23:8
*The early church movement was initially referred to as “the Way.” (Refer to Acts 9:2, 19:23, & 22:4)
*Currently, there are an estimated 34,000 denominations, all claiming to be Christian and yet differing from one another in theology and doctrine. An enemy (Satan), overnight, sowed weeds in with the wheat. (Rd. Matthew 13:24-30)