The Name of the Church
By Matt Watson
Below is a reflection I wrote a couple of weeks ago but decided not to post it right away.
I have discussed before that the phrase “church of Christ” is only descriptive and is not meant to connote anything other than the church of which Christ is the head. Those of us who employ this description on the outside of our church buildings do not use it as a name distinct from any other church that has Christ as its head. This goes with the belief that there can only be one church, which is the church whose head is Christ. As there can be no type of Christian other than he or she who follows Christ, there can be no type of church other than the church that follows Christ. This is fundamental.
To some people, the fact that the church has no name is confusing. They think that every church must have a name. [This presupposes there is more than one church.] But it is significant that the church does not have a name, and it is important to understand the significance of it. The church is the kingdom of God. Therefore, before we try to name the church, we would need to figure out God’s name, wouldn’t we?
So, what is God’s name? I ask you, because I do not know. The Bible gives many descriptions of God (the Lord, the Creator, the Savior, the Redeemer, Jehovah, I AM THAT I AM, the Almighty). But God himself, by his nature, is nameless. When you talk about someone as high and deep as God, you can’t put a label on Him. When you think about it, to name God probably falls in the realm of idolatry. The closest thing to a name of God is the name he employed as a human being, Jesus. But this is not really a name of God, as if God needs a name to distinguish himself from other gods, which are no gods. This is the name God-Incarnate employed to distinguish himself from other humans, as there are many different humans.
But there is only one God and he is the Ruler of only one kingdom. For a church to employ a name, especially of a person or group, is for it to become something other than the church that follows Christ.
For those who would want to name my church so they can classify me as a member of a denomination, don’t waste your time. I am just a Christian who tries to follow God’s Word as best he can. Anything other than that is too complicated for me. Just let me worship God.
July 17, 2008 at 5:00 pm
What if I took this one step further and argued that everyone who is baptized becomes a part of the Church of Christ? On that, I think we would agree. It is also a Universal Church, if you get my drift
No, seriously, that’s a problem that we are accused of all the time as well, so I feel your pain 
July 19, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Matt,
I really appreciate the sentiment of your article. Like you, I’m just a plain vanilla Christian. No labels for me. Reading through your post an amusing thought occurred to me. The phrase “Church of Christ” is actually redundant…similar to Christians who refer to themselves as “born-again” Christians. I’m thinking to myself “what the heck is the other kind?”. I just thought it was kind of funny.
One more thought and then I’ll stop. In Peter’s sermon in Acts 2, he was actually expounding God’s name as referred to by Joel. Makes an interesting little study. But we do know the name. YHWH (Father) and Jesus (Son) and the Spirit of Christ (Holy Spirit). That’s all from here. Keep up the good articles!