Recently my pastor mentioned the pope’s recent affirmation of the old assertion of the Roman Catholic Church that it was the one true church. My pastor then pointed out the danger of our communicating such dangerous concepts to people when we discuss with them what we believe passionately. The Catholic Church, however, is not the only group of Christians to make such a claim. The Orthodox believes that it, not the Roman Church, is the one true, original, apostolic church.

Other denominations believe that they have reconstituted the original church by following a pattern they discern in Scripture. Although there are a number of such groups, they do not agree among themselves what is in that pattern, and hence they are not identical. A number of cults also make the claim to being the one true church by claiming that all traditional denominations have apostatized, and that their interpretation of Christianity is accurate, usually due to a modern day prophet with a special revelation from God.

The plethora of Christian and would-be Christian groups all claiming to be the exclusive one true church with a monopoly on truth and salvation is very confusing and discouraging to the general populace. Their conclusion is that Christians cannot agree among themselves, and are fighting with each other and competing with each other over members. Each group tries to entice people to join its church with the assertion that unless they do so, they shall not be saved, or at best their salvation is uncertain.

The fallacy of the thinking of all these groups is an identification of the one true church of Jesus Christ with a visible body; that is, a group of members who subscribe to a certain creed or set of beliefs and practices. Jesus said that His kingdom, which he seemed to use somewhat interchangeably with church in Matt. 16:18-19, was not an observable phenomenon, but existed within or among them (Luke 17:20-21). Christians should be wary of any group that teaches that it alone is a manifestation of the one true church requiring membership within its ranks for salvation or the assurance of salvation. They need not let such people discourage or confuse them. In our next studies we shall investigate Biblical teaching regarding both the invisible and visible church.