WE ARE NOT CAMPBELLITES: WE ARE CHRISTIANS
Through the years, members of the churches of Christ have sometimes been called “Campbellites.” This title is associated with Alexander Campbell and his important role in the nineteenth-century Restoration Movement. However, calling members of the church of Christ “Campbellites” is both historically misleading and biblically inappropriate. Alexander Campbell did not establish the church of Christ, nor did faithful Christians claim him as the founder of their religion. Campbell himself opposed the use of his name as a religious designation. The church described in the New Testament existed approximately eighteen centuries before Alexander Campbell lived. Our allegiance is not to Campbell, Barton W. Stone, Walter Scott, or any other religious leader. Our allegiance is to Jesus Christ. Paul condemned the practice of attaching religious allegiance to human teachers when he wrote, “Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:12, KJV). Paul immediately asked, “Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?” (1 Corinthians 1:13, KJV). Alexander Campbell was not crucified for us, we were not baptized in his name, and therefore we should not wear his name religiously.
The church belongs to Jesus Christ because Jesus is its builder. Long before Alexander Campbell was born, Jesus declared, “Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18, KJV). Notice carefully that Jesus called it “my church.” He did not promise to build Campbell's church, Luther's church, Calvin's church, Wesley's church, or the church of any other man. Christ built the church, purchased it with His blood, and serves as its only head. Paul instructed the Ephesian elders “to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood” (Acts 20:28, KJV). Paul also wrote concerning Christ, “And he is the head of the body, the church” (Colossians 1:18, KJV). Ephesians 5:23 declares, “Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.” Therefore, if Christ built the church, purchased the church, governs the church, and saves the church, then the church rightfully belongs to Him.
The church of which we read in the New Testament began in Jerusalem on the first Pentecost following the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, commonly dated around A.D. 33. Jesus had promised that His kingdom would come during the lifetime of some who were standing with Him. He said, “Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power” (Mark 9:1, KJV). Immediately before ascending into heaven, Jesus told His apostles, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you” (Acts 1:8, KJV). Acts chapter two records the fulfilment when the apostles received the Holy Ghost on Pentecost. Peter preached the death, burial, resurrection, and lordship of Jesus Christ, and the people were “pricked in their heart” and asked, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37, KJV). Peter answered, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38, KJV). The response was immediate: “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:41, KJV). Acts 2:47 then tells us, “And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” There was the church of Christ functioning in the first century, approximately eighteen hundred years before Alexander Campbell's work in America.
Alexander Campbell should therefore never be described as the founder of the church of Christ. He was an influential preacher and religious reformer who sought to call people away from denominational traditions and back to the teachings and practices of the New Testament. Other men were making similar efforts, sometimes independently of Campbell. Barton W. Stone, Thomas Campbell, Walter Scott, and many others participated in what became known historically as the Restoration Movement. Their purpose was not supposed to be the establishment of another denomination bearing Campbell's name. The restoration principle was that Christians could discard human creeds and denominational traditions and return to the Bible as their authority. There is an enormous difference between establishing a new church and seeking to restore the pattern of a church that already existed in Scripture. If a man discovers an old road that has become covered with weeds and debris and clears away the obstruction so that people can travel it again, he did not build the road. He merely helped people rediscover it. Likewise, restoration leaders did not travel back to Jerusalem and establish the church of Acts 2. That church had already been established by the authority of Jesus Christ.
The designation “church of Christ” is appropriate because the church belongs to Christ. Paul wrote, “The churches of Christ salute you” (Romans 16:16, KJV). This expression should not be viewed merely as a modern denominational title. It describes congregations belonging to Christ. The New Testament also uses such expressions as “the church of God” (1 Corinthians 1:2), “the church of the living God” (1 Timothy 3:15), and “the body of Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:27). Each expression directs attention toward God and Christ rather than toward a human religious leader. If the church belongs to Christ, then there is nothing unreasonable about referring to it as Christ's church or the church of Christ.
Furthermore, followers of Jesus were given a name long before Alexander Campbell appeared upon the pages of history. Acts 11:26 says, “And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.” When Paul preached to Agrippa, the king responded, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian” (Acts 26:28, KJV). Peter later wrote, “Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf” (1 Peter 4:16, KJV). The name Christian honors Christ. The name Campbellite honors Campbell. Since Christ died for us, Christ redeemed us, and Christ is our Lord, Christians should be satisfied to wear the name that glorifies Him.
Someone might ask how Christians living today can claim connection with a church that began nearly two thousand years ago. The answer is found in the principle of the seed. Jesus said, “The seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11, KJV). A seed produces according to its kind. When the same gospel seed is planted today that was planted in the first century, it will produce the same result. On Pentecost, people heard the gospel, believed its message, repented of their sins, and were baptized for the remission of sins (Acts 2:37–41). When people today hear that same gospel and obey it in the same manner, they do not need to become members of a denomination established centuries later. They can simply become what the people in Acts became—Christians.
Consider the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts chapter eight. Philip “preached unto him Jesus” (Acts 8:35, KJV). As they travelled, they came to water, and the eunuch asked, “See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?” (Acts 8:36, KJV). After confessing his faith in Christ, “they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him” (Acts 8:38, KJV). What denomination did the eunuch join? He did not become a Campbellite because Campbell would not be born for more than seventeen centuries. He did not become a Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, or member of some other later religious movement. He simply obeyed the gospel and became a Christian. The same was true at Corinth, where “many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized” (Acts 18:8, KJV).
The Bible further teaches that baptism places the believer into Christ. Paul wrote, “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27, KJV). Romans 6:3 states, “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?” First Corinthians 12:13 says, “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body.” What is that body? Paul answers in Colossians 1:18: “And he is the head of the body, the church.” Therefore, the New Testament picture is wonderfully simple. A sinner hears the gospel (Romans 10:17), believes in Jesus Christ (John 8:24), repents of sin (Luke 13:3; Acts 2:38), confesses Christ (Romans 10:10), and is baptized into Christ (Galatians 3:27). The Lord then adds the saved to His church (Acts 2:47). No human founder is necessary because Jesus Christ has already established His church and provided the gospel by which people enter into fellowship with Him.
We must therefore reject the idea that Alexander Campbell founded the church of Christ in nineteenth-century America. Historically, Campbell was enormously influential in the Restoration Movement, and we may appreciate his efforts to encourage people to return to New Testament Christianity. However, our faith cannot rest upon him. Paul declared, “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11, KJV). Christ is our foundation. Christ is our Savior. Christ is our King. Christ is the head of the church. Christ purchased the church with His blood. Christ alone deserves the glory.
Our plea, therefore, is not that people return to Alexander Campbell. Our plea is that people return to Jesus Christ and the New Testament. We do not seek to restore Campbellism; we seek to practice New Testament Christianity. We do not want to be Campbellites, Stoneites, Lutherans, Calvinists, or followers of any other man. We desire simply to be Christians. We want to believe what first-century Christians believed, obey what they obeyed, worship as they worshiped, teach what they taught, and organize congregations according to the pattern revealed in Scripture. Jeremiah expressed a principle that beautifully illustrates the restoration plea: “Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein” (Jeremiah 6:16, KJV).
The church of Christ did not begin with Alexander Campbell in America. The church belongs to Jesus Christ and was established in Jerusalem in the first century, commonly dated around A.D. 33, when the gospel was preached and approximately three thousand souls obeyed it on Pentecost. Jesus had promised, “I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18, KJV), and Acts chapter two records the beginning of that church in its established form. Alexander Campbell lived many centuries later and sought to restore New Testament principles, not to replace Christ as the founder of the church. Therefore, calling Christians “Campbellites” gives a man a position that belongs only to Jesus. We are not Campbellites. We are Christians. We do not belong to Alexander Campbell. We belong to Jesus Christ. We seek to be members of the church that Christ built, purchased with His blood, and established in the first century.