Roman Catholics are good at community.  Orthodox focus on reverence.  Episcopalians have great cultural awareness.  Lutherans champion the Word.  Methodists seek to reach out to the disaffected.  Pentecostals emphasize the personal experience of the Holy Spirit.  The Church of Christ stresses obedience to the Lord.  Baptists love to witness.  These are stereotypes, to some degree, but each has an element of truth to it.  When all of us join together, we are more than the sum of our membership rolls- we are the bride of Christ.” 

Mr. Huckins’ concept of denominationalism is not unique to him.  It is the popular notion- denominationalism is not only alright in the sight of God, it is a good thing, a blessing to the world.  Let’s examine what Mr. Huckins said and so many believe in light of the New Testament. 

First of all, Mr. Huckins rightly interpreted 1 Corinthians 12 as describing a body made up of people, but then changed his interpretation of the passage, saying that it describes a body made up of various denominational bodies.  The church is a body made up of various disciples of Jesus who each work together under His headship for the good of the whole.  And individual Christians have something unique to bring to the good of this spiritual body as the eye, ear, and nose have something unique to bring to the physical body (see also Rom 12:4-8).  But the concept of a body made up of denominations is not found in this passage, nor even is the concept of a denomination found in the N.T.  And, how such a body of denominations, each with their own human heads and conflicting doctrines could all work together under the Headship of Christ defies the imagination!  Let us see clearly and teach to a confused world that the church is made up of individual Christians, not of congregations or denominations. 

Secondly, denominationalism is not a good thing.  It is a bad thing.   It is not only unscriptural (as it is not found in Scripture), but it is anti-scriptural as well.  Paul condemned human allegiances as a source of division among Christians.  He rebuked them because some were saying “I am of Paul”, others said “I am of Apollos”, while the rest said “I am of Christ” (1 Cor 1:12).  The apostle went on to say in vs, 13, “Has Christ been divided?  Paul was not crucified for you, was he?  Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?”  Only Christ is worthy of allegiance.  Why should men follow after others who were not crucified for them or who have no authority to tell them what to do?  Yet, what was condemned on a congregational scale in the N.T., is practiced on a grander scale in the humanly devised denomination.  Men say “I am a Roman Catholic”, “I am Orthodox”, “I am Lutheran”, “I am Methodist”, “I am Pentecostal”, “I am “Church of Christ”, or “I am Baptist”  instead of “I am of Christ”, a “Christian”, the name by which a follower of Jesus is to glorify God (1 Pet 4:16).  Jesus prayed that His disciples would be as united as He and the Father so that the world might believe in Him (Jn 17:20-21).  If the picture painted by Mr. Huckins is acceptable and reflects the answer to Jesus’ prayer, then woe be to us.  If denominational division is representative of the unity of the Father and the Son, then we are all in trouble- I would say “Heaven help us”- but if the Father and Son are divided, then how could Heaven help us?    But heaven is not so divided; the Father and Son work together in harmony as all who claim to be disciples of Jesus should.  But because professed followers of Jesus are divided, the world is not led to believe, but rather to scoff and to turn away from the confused mess. 

Finally, Mr. Huckins sees the Church of Christ as a denomination.  Hopefully we don’t see ourselves that way- a part of a sect- a group of congregations known as “Church of Christ”, bound together as a body.  The N.T. describes “no such animal”.  Many who belong to churches called “Church of Christ” do see themselves in a sectarian way and that is why the vast number of “Churches of Christ” have continued to organize themselves into a working body- to become just another sect like the Catholics, Methodists, or Baptists with allegiance to the sect rather than to Christ.

Let us be clear in our thinking.  The only two relationships we can belong to scripturally are 1) to Christ, the Head and His universal body of saved people (Eph 5:22-29) and 2) to a local congregation (1 Cor 1:2).  Let us make sure that as we fight denominationalism we ourselves do not become denominational in our thinking and actions or we will end up being involved in what one writer called “anti-sectarian-sectarianism”.  Denominationalism is not a good thing.  Let us spread the word and long and pray for the N.T. ideal, that all denominational organizations would fold and everyone professing to belong to Jesus would simply be “of Christ”, just “Christians” and belong to no organized group larger than or other than a local church.