What was the first / original church? Is the original / first church the true church?

In spite of this history of development in doctrine and practice over a period of centuries, the Church of Rome claims to be the first Church and that which Christ established on earth with Peter as the first pope. As Romanism has greatly revived and presses its claims with great activity in our present day, many are becoming ensnared and led astray by its subtle propaganda. Therefore it is necessary that we speak out clearly and faithfully in warning souls as to this false and evil system of Jezebel teaching which the Lord condemned in Thyatira. The true Church, founded by Christ on Himself as the Rock foundation (Matt.16:16-18; 1 Cor.3:11), is found in the book of Acts and in the Epistles of the New Testament. It is "the church, which is His body" and the glorified Christ is its only head. It is the "church of the firstborn," those born again and baptized by the Spirit of God into this divine body, and whose names are written in heaven (Eph.1:21,22; 1 Cor.12:13; Heb.12:23). In the Epistle to the Romans, written by the apostle Paul around 60 AD, we can see what characterized the first Church there and note how vastly different are the doctrines and practices of the Papal system at Rome today. The Church of Rome developed out of the evils which came into the professing Church in the Pergamos period. It is the first corrupt and idolatrous Church, where the elements of Judaism and heathenism were combined into a fixed, systematized teaching under the garb or cloak of Christianity.

The first time the church is mentioned in Scripture is in Matthew 16 where, in response to Peter's confession of the Lord, He answered, "Upon this rock I will build My church." The building began at Pentecost, and has continued ever since, and every one that has believed the gospel of our salvation, has been sealed by the Holy Ghost and added to that indestructible structure, the one church, which is the body of Christ. As the work spread out from Jerusalem to other centres, and churches were established in every city to which the gospel was carried, the bounds of the one church were extended, and of course those who believed could no longer all come together in one place, yet they did not come together in their own localities as being separate or independent churches, but as being one with those who were in Christ before them. The separation was purely geographical, and not of the heart, mind, purpose, or doctrine; the truth that there is one body and one Spirit and one hope of your calling, remained the same.

"In the opening chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, the Christian dispensation is seen in actual operation; for that with the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost that dispensation properly commences will probably be admitted by all parties. Moreover, in these chapters the Church of Christ is first spoken of as in actual existence. What in our Lord's discourses is a matter of anticipation or prophecy, here appears as a matter of fact. Though not at first fully aware of the great change which had taken place in their religious standing, still less of its ultimate consequences, the first believers at once formed a separate community in the bosom of the Jewish theocracy; a community having, for its distinctive marks, adherence to the twelve Apostles, baptism in the name of Christ, and the celebration of the Lord's Supper. Thenceforth the Church becomes a matter of history; and its history is nothing less than that of the vicissitudes, prosperous and adverse, which the kingdom of God upon earth has in the lapse of ages passed through.

"It has already been remarked that, far from intending to establish a mere invisible fellowship of the Spirit, our Lord contemplated His Church as having a visible existence, His followers as collected into societies [that society called the Church or assembly of God]. With this view He Himself instituted certain external badges of Christian profession, to come into use when they should be needed, and took measures to qualify a small and select company of believers, by attaching them constantly to His person while His earthly ministry lasted, and giving them a formal commission with extraordinary powers, when He left the world, to preside over the affairs and direct the organisation of Christian societies. These essential conditions of the existence of any regular society we find from the very first in being in the Church: the Apostles were the officers, and, collectively, the organ of the community; members were admitted into it by baptism; and they testified their continuance therein by participating in the sacrament of Christ's body and blood. As we advance farther in the inspired history, we find additions made to these simple elements of social fellowship; the organisation of the Christian society becomes more complex and systematic; questions of polity and order occupy no small portion of the apostolic epistles; and we have every reason to believe, if not from Scripture alone, yet from the unanimous voice of authentic history, that towards the close of the apostolic age Christianity had almost everywhere crystallised itself into a certain, definite, and well known form of ecclesiastical polity" (pp. 192, 193).

Because of this fact the church was founded. The church began upon earth because the Lord Jesus Christ was glorified in heaven. The church was formed here, but there was a living connection between the company of believers so formed upon the earth and the Lord Jesus Christ in glory. You cannot match this fact throughout all the wonderful revealings of Holy Scripture; and therefore I say that the church of God has a unique claim upon you and upon me because of this character.

But let us look at what is here taught about the Church. Jesus says — "Upon this rock I will build My Church." This shows that the Church had not yet been founded. There had been, of course, as there were then, saved persons, but since the Church did not yet exist, it is clear that these saints formed no part of it. Thus in the Epistle to the Hebrews, "the Church of the first-born" and the "just men made perfect" are named as two quite different companies (Heb. 12:23). So, too, in the Revelation, where the Church is seen in glory, we find that besides "the bride, the Lamb's wife," there are others of whom it is said, "Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb" (Rev. 19:7-9). Evidently, then, the Church which Jesus was about to build was not the whole of the redeemed, but a particular class distinguished by certain definite characteristics from the rest — from the Old Testament saints, whose spirits are now in heaven, and also, as we shall see, from the saints who will enjoy the blessings of Christ's earthly rule.

So here, upon Peter's confession, the Lord says, "Upon this rock I will build My Church." You understand the glory of My Person; I will show you the work I am going to accomplish. Mark the expression. It is not, I have been building; but I will build My Church. He had not built it yet, nor begun to build it: it was altogether new. I do not mean there had not been souls believing in Him before, and regenerate of the Spirit; but the aggregate of saints from the beginning to the end of time it is an error to call "the Church." It is a common notion which has not one shred of Scripture for it. The expression in Acts 7:38, "The church in the wilderness," means the whole congregation — the mass of Israel — the greater part of whose carcasses fell in the wilderness. Can you call that "the Church of God?" There were but few believers among them. People are deceived in this by the sound. The word, "church in the wilderness," merely means the congregation there. The very same word is applied to the confused assembly in Acts 19, which would have torn Paul to pieces. If it were translated like Acts 7, it would be the "church in the theatre," and the blunder is obvious. The word that is translated "church" simply means assembly. To find out what is the nature of the assembly, we must examine the scriptural usage and the object of the Holy Ghost. For you might have a good or bad assembly: an assembly of Jews, of Gentiles, or of God's assembly distinct from either and contrasted with both, as can be readily and undeniably seen in 1 Cor. 10:32. Now it is this last which we mean, i.e., God's assembly, when we speak of "the Church."

The church of God clearly does not include Old Testament saints. In Matthew 16:18, the Lord said, “Upon this rock [the confession of His Person: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”] I WILL build My church; and the gates of hell [hades] shall not prevail against it.” When the Lord spoke He had not begun to build. “I will build,” is in the future tense. Not till the redemption work was completed, not till His resurrection and ascension, and the gift of the Holy Spirit had taken place, could that building begin.

80 Now it is necessary, before speaking of the state of the Church as it was at the beginning, to notice a difference which is found in the word of God as to the house. The Lord said, "Upon this rock I will build my church." It is Christ Himself who builds His Church; and consequently the gates of hades shall not prevail against it. Here it is not man who builds, but Christ. Wherefore the apostle Peter, speaking of the spiritual house, says nothing of the workmen, "To whom coming as unto a living stone … ye also as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood," 1 Peter 2. This is the work of grace in the heart of the individual by which man approaches Christ. Accordingly, once more, in the Acts it is said that "the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved." This work could not fail, being the work of God, efficacious for eternity, and manifested in its time. We read, moreover, in Ephesians 2, "Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone; in whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord." This building which grows may be manifested before the eyes of men; but if the effect of this work of efficacious grace is not manifested in its exterior unity before men, God will not for that fail to do His work, gathering His children for eternal life. Souls come to Christ and are built upon Him.

Christianity at the beginning had no separate priestly order. Its first converts went everywhere preaching the Lord Jesus. They were the first to spread abroad the glad tidings of salvation, even before the apostles themselves had left Jerusalem. (Acts 8:4) In course of time, when converts were found sufficient in any place to form an assembly, they came together in the name of the Lord on the first day of the week to break bread, and to edify one another in love. (Acts 20:7) When the opportunity came for an apostle to visit such gatherings, he chose elders to take the oversight of the little flock; deacons were chosen by the assembly. This was the entire constitution of the first churches. If the Lord raised up an evangelist, and souls were converted, they were baptised unto the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. This was, of course, outside the assembly, and not a church act. After due examination by the spiritual as to the genuineness of the evangelist's work, the assembly being satisfied, they were received into communion.

At the beginning there were those who "continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine," (Acts 2:42). It is through the apostles that the word of God has reached us, and Paul says, "the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord," (1 Cor. 14:37). John also says, "We are of God; he that knoweth God heareth us," (1 John 4:6).