THE FIRST TESTAMENT CHURCH

AUTHOR'S FOREWORD

This study was first given to the church of which I am the pastor, because I felt the information was important to us as a church and to me as a pastor. As I continued to study the subject the importance became clearer to me, and I was made acutely aware of the churches' need of this information.

First I put this in outline form for my study and for a few friends who showed an interest in this material. I do not present this as a complete discourse on this subject. I have presented it as concise and understandable as I know how. Most Scripture quotations are given in full because of the tendency of the reader to pass by the references without looking them up in the bible, and thereby missing the full significance of the matter presented. Since it is the weight of the Scriptures that convinces me, I want to give the Scriptures as the evidence and proof of what I feel certain is the truth.

Therefore, I submit this work in hopes of satisfying the minds of some who are honestly seeking the truth, and to challenge the thinking, with the Word of God, of those who are drifting into the trap of Protestantism.

If we do not stand by the bible and its teachings, we may as well join the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic system began from New Testament churches that went into error. During this transition the faithful Christians denounced this apostasy and refused to acknowledge their baptism as valid. Only a Scriptural church could administer Scriptural baptism. Since they had left the Scriptures, they were no longer fit to perform this service. The Reformers recognized this and after failure to reform the Roman Church, withdrew.

The awful inconsistency in this practice is that these Reformers had no authority to baptize because they had no baptism but the Roman rite which they had already denounced as unscriptural. Now if they say their Roman baptism is valid then they have confessed that they were entirely in error when they broke away. If they contend they were right in departing from the Roman Catholic Church then they have admitted their baptism to be invalid, and therefore themselves to be without authority to baptize. And if they have no Scriptural baptism, they most certainly cannot constitute a Scriptural church.

Obviously then, New Testament churches can lose their position if they do not hold to the truth as did the Catholics. Many Baptist churches today are receiving Protestant baptism along with the other Protestant teachings. This is much too serious an error for us to consider them as Scriptural churches. If we received the baptism of Baptists who have received Protestant baptism, with this act, we would be rendering these Baptists scriptural. But it is highly inconsistent to receive their baptism and refuse Protestant baptism. And to accept Protestant baptism would be to recognize the authority of the Roman Catholic Church. If we do that, we have morally obligated ourselves to join them. For authority rests in the Scripturalness of the church, and likewise the Scripturalness of the church rest in the Scripturalness of their baptism as well as their doctrines and practices.  ONLY A NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH CAN ADMINISTER NEW TESTAMENT BAPTISM. ONLY SCRIPTURALLY BAPTIZED PERSONS CAN CONSTITUTE A NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH.

It is in hope of causing men to see the Biblical teaching regarding this subject rather than the philosophy, logic and reasoning of men I submit this, and that with prayer that the Lord will give illumination to every reader into whose hands this material may fall.

G.R. Shuffield