[Charnock]

The autonomy of every local Christian Church is a clear and vital principle of Scripture. Unfortunately, it is a truth which seems to be now widely ignored with much damage resulting.

In the earliest days of Christianity there were a few specially chosen men who were given certain "apostolic authority" by the Lord. They served the Lord before the New Testament was given. As they passed on, they left behind a body of inspired truth called "the apostle's doctrine." A part of which is a clear mandate for local church autonomy. It was made clear that there is to be no level of human authority between the Lord and the local church elders.

Anywhere, or if by any means, human authority is superimposed upon the government of the local church, or used in such a manner as to provide a humanly co-ordinated government between local churches, this principle is violated. Whether the transgression is on a national or international scale it makes no difference. Or, in a more subtle way, if "circles of fellowship" or inter-church ties are cultivated and enforced by influential leaders, the error and resulting damage is disastrously the same. A sect is formed. There is a division of Christian testimony and a rallying around certain ideals or concepts other than the Word of God allows.

Nowhere is it taught in Scripture that all Christian churches are to be uniform. They are all under the same Divine headship. They are all to conform to the same perfect Word. Beyond that they express local individuality and are answerable only to the Lord Himself.

The early churches in Caesarea, Ephesus, Corinth and Rome, for example were clearly different. Each had a distinct character fashioned no doubt by its ethnic composition, local conditions and customs etc. in terms of those differences no one of them was more "right" then the others. There was no commandment that they should all meet in the same sort of building, be known by the same human name, dress in a certain fashion or have a certain seating arrangement. Such matters, and many more, were left to the discretion and wisdom of the local elders.

Sectarianism comes from human presumption and results in human pride. It is born when some believers conclude that they should separate themselves from some of the Lord's people over some issue upon which the Scriptures give no direction. Having therefore committed the prior sin of the Corinthians - creating divisions - they proceed naturally to the same succession of errors as plagued that early church. The carnality that accompanies division (I Cor. 3:1-7); the pride of being different from others (4:7); being puffed up with sectarian ideology instead of mourning over unjudged sin (ch. 5). This leads inevitably to internal strife (ch. 6) until the whole system winds up as a house divided against itself. The original sin of division when unjudged, perpetuates itself into more strife, more bickering, still more divisions and of course, more trouble.

It is no wonder that the saddest examples of ecclesiastical weakness are found today amongst those who most prided themselves in the notion that by this kind of division they would gain greater heights of spirituality. It is surely time to deal courageously with this basic error and condemn it wherever we find it and to return to follow the simple principles of New Testament church autonomy.

Christ the only Head. (Eph. 1:20-23, 5:23). He is the Owner, the Master and Director of each and every component of the Christian church. His Word is the only Oracle that speaks with divine authority throughout the Church. The Word of God reveals no other authority within the Church that applies to more than a single local church.

If a certain thing is done or a given issue is resolved a certain way in one church, that is not reason itself to apply the same decisions in another local church, unless there is a clear scriptural mandate touching on that matter.

Christ is the only inter-church link. Note carefully Rev. ch. 1. There the Lord is seen moving in the midst of the lampstands. Those seven lampstands bore no formal relationship to one another except through Him. Here is a lesson we need to learn afresh. Between the churches there is found no horizontal (human) linkage. Their relationship with each other was only via the vertical linkage that binds each to the One who is in their midst.

This clarifies the Biblical distinction between division and separation. Separation is that good and scriptural practice which sets apart all the Lord's people to Himself. Division is the sinful practice that challenges His Lordship amongst His own and seeks to disrupt their fellowship with one another through Him by introducing fragile horizontal relationships.

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