Quentin Martin, he says," I remember hearing some quotations from Ignatius seeming to support the authority of congregational leaders. In our day, what would you say about this?" There's more. A certain Christian organization, leaders and teachers proclaim that if all the members want to retain their salvation they receive through Christ, they must remain loyal to members of their organization and accept all the teachings of the leaders.
Would this count as presenting an altered gospel instead of the original gospel of salvation? Would Paul's words at Galatians 1:8 apply here? Thanks. I really appreciate your insight. Now, Quentin later contacted us and explained that his question particularly pertained to Jehovah's Witnesses who make that claim. Now, unfortunately, there are a lot of other groups that either claim to be the one true church or else they'll shun you if you leave them.
Now, when Ignatius wrote his words about obeying the bishop and the elders of the church, he was writing at a time when there was only one undivided church. He was talking about obeying the leaders appointed by the apostles or by the disciples of the apostles versus listening to the Gnostic teachers who, you know, wandered about from congregation to congregation and tried to subvert God's people. But we're living in an entirely different situation today.
I mean, we still should be obedient to the leaders of the church we belong to, but no church today has any right to claim to be the one true church. If a church is following Scripture, it can certainly claim to be a legitimate church and a part of the body of Christ. But it doesn't have the right to claim to be the only church or to say," We're the only Christian," something like that.
Every individual Christian is free to judge for himself or herself based on Scripture, based on the historic faith, as to what church they choose to attend. I mean, it's a terrible sectarian spirit for a church to claim that those who leave it are going to lose their salvation. Now, rather than going to Galatians that you asked about, and yes, I think it would apply to this, I want to mention 1 Corinthians because there, Paul talks a lot about a sectarian spirit.
Now, what he was condemning was persons saying," I'm of Peter, I'm of Paul." They were still staying in the same church. They weren't starting, you know, separate churches and condemning everyone else. And yet, just staying in the same church and having you know this kind of loose sectarian spirit, he denounces as being carnal. And then in Galatians 5, when Paul lists the works of the flesh, he includes heresies. At least that's the way our Bibles usually translate it.
But the Greek word there, which is actually it's a transliteration, the word heresy, it doesn't mean holding to doctrinal errors. It means forming a sect or a faction. So anyone who proclaims that their particular church or group is the one true church, or that if you leave them, then you've lost you're not going to be saved. Well, they're guilty of forming a sect or a faction.
And Paul ends that passage in Galatians 5 by saying," I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." That's pretty serious. He's saying," If you start a faction, you're not going to inherit the kingdom of God." So I personally would not be part of any church today that claims to be the one true church or that claims that those who leave it will lose their salvation as a result.
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