"Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season.… For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine" (2 Tim. 4:2–3a).
When is a church not a church? This question hits home when someone is very unhappy with his church. He questions the activities that are going on, complains that his soul is not being fed, and wonders whether he should leave his church. This is a very serious dilemma, and it is one with which believers have wrestled throughout Christian history. This was particularly evident during the Reformation, which fragmented the church unlike ever before. Churches sprang up all over, each with different liturgies and governments, but all claiming to be Christian churches. How, then, do we discern a true church from a false one?
The Reformers believed the Bible establishes three marks of a true church. First, the Gospel must be preached faithfully. Second, the sacraments must be duly administered. And third, there must be authentic discipline executed by an ecclesiastical government which exists for the nurture and discipline of the people.
The essential truths of Christianity must be faithfully taught and proclaimed. If a church denies an essential of the Christian faith in its official statements of doctrine, then that church, according to the Reformers, cannot be considered a true church. For example, the Roman Catholic Church would not be considered a true church because it denies justification by faith alone, which is essential to the Christian faith. To deny this point is to deny the Gospel.
The second mark has to do with the sacraments. The Reformers said that only the church should administer baptism and the Lord’s Supper. There are many parachurch organizations that teach, evangelize, and publish materials, but these may not administer the sacraments because they are not the church. Such organizations should resist the temptation to take over the responsibilities of the church.
Finally, discipline must be executed by a faithful government. In history, the measure of discipline has varied from very harsh to rather lax. In the sixteenth century, the church took discipline very seriously because it took hell seriously. One reason discipline is so lax today is that we don’t take eternal punishment seriously. If a church habitually fails to discipline, if sin runs rampant without consequence, then that church has ceased to be a true church and should be fled.
For more study on church discipline read 1 Thessalonians 5:12; 2 Thessalonians 3:6, 14–15; 1 Corinthians 5:4–5; Titus 3:10. If you would like more biblical support for the marks of the true church, read the verses below. Deciding to leave a church is a serious matter and should never be done on a whim. Pray for your church, that it will be true.
