by Edward O. Bragwell, Sr.<\/p>\n
Members of the churches of Christ today generally recognize that they are beneficiaries of “the restoration movement” that began in this country in the late 1700s. While we recognize that our faith and practice must not be rooted in that movement, but in the New Testament, we are grateful to those involved in the movement who encouraged men and women to return to human traditions and creeds, adhering to the “apostles’ doctrine” for their faith and practice.<\/p>\n
As a result, we have done a pretty good job of restoring the doctrine, worship, work, and structure of the early church. As it was in the early years, we must remain vigilant to uphold these things in accordance with the doctrine of Christ revealed to us through the New Testament writers.<\/p>\n
There is another aspect of the early church that we need to give attention to restoring – the spirit of the early church. By “spirit” we mean the attitude, disposition, and passion of those who made up the membership of early congregations, such as the one at Jerusalem. Until we recapture that spirit we are not likely to reach our potential in growth -numerically and spiritually.<\/p>\n
After reading about their hearing and obeying the gospel of Christ in Acts 2, we read about their growth and the multifaceted spirit that precipitated the development of the Jerusalem church in the latter part of Acts 2 through the early chapters of Acts. Let us look at some of the facets of the spirit that characterized that church immediately after those who received Peter’s word were baptized, as recorded in Acts 2:41-47.<\/p>\n
“And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers<\/em>” (Acts 2:42). There are several Greek words in the New Testament translated “steadfast,” “steadfastly,” and “steadfastness.” They all suggest a firmness of character, purpose, and action, and thus best translated by some form of “steadfast.”<\/p>\n The etymology of the word is rooted in Old English. It is from “stede” + “fast.” “Stede” meant a place, like the second part of “homestead.” “Fast” meant firmly fixed, like holding fast.<\/p>\n Local churches need members who capture the spirit of steadfastness that characterized those early Christians. Members who are running the race set before them with steadfastness of purpose; who are contending for the faith with steadfastness of determination; who are shining as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation with steadfastness of character.<\/p>\n Such people are not haphazard in their attendance at worship services. They are deeply involved in every phase of the church’s work. They can be depended on. They are known for their day-by-day devotion to their Lord.<\/p>\n “And fear came upon every soul; and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles<\/em>” (Acts 2:43). The “fear” (Greek, phobos<\/em>) of this passage and many others in the New Testament is not always the cringing fear of terror, but sometimes the fear of reverence and awe. Ephesians 5:33 is a good example of how translators treat the verb form – phobeo<\/em>. In the KJV, a woman is told to “reverence her husband<\/em>.” In the ASV, she is told to “fear her husband<\/em>.” In the NKJV and the NAS, she is to respect him.<\/p>\n Local churches today need to recapture that sense of awe, reverence, and respect for God and those things and events that are particularly dedicated to Him. All too often, like some priests in Israel of old, they make little difference between the holy and the profane. Their approach to a service dedicated to a dead relative or friend was more reverential than one dedicated to the living God and His Son. This reverence, or lack of it, is manifested in the demeanor and appearance of those in attendance.<\/p>\n “And all that believed were together, and had all things common<\/em>” (Acts 2:44). The Christians at Jerusalem were together in more ways than one. They were of “one accord” in spirit and mind (Acts 2:46). They were together in that they shared so much in common – a common faith, a common authority, a common purpose, a common mission, and a common relationship in Christ Jesus.<\/p>\n Because they had so much in common, they sought and enjoyed the physical contact with each other. This sense of togetherness prevailed both in the temple (publicly) and from house to house (privately). They were in contact with each other at times and places other than the public gatherings.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Edward O. Bragwell, Sr. Members of the churches of Christ today generally recognize that they are beneficiaries of “the restoration movement” that began in this country in the late 1700s. While we recognize that our faith and practice must not be rooted in that movement, but in the New Testament, we are grateful to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[448,471],"class_list":["post-89646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-church","tag-spirit"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":70114,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-restoration-movement\/","url_meta":{"origin":89646,"position":0},"title":"The Restoration Movement","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Andy Sochor via\u00a0Unmasking Sophistry, Vol 4. No. 4, October-December 2024 Earlier in this series, we discussed the Reformation Movement. This movement set out to reform the Roman Catholic Church to correct the errors and abuses that had developed over the centuries. While the reformers' intentions may have been good,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":68698,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-rise-of-denominationalism\/","url_meta":{"origin":89646,"position":1},"title":"The Rise of Denominationalism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 2, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Andy Sochor via Unmasking Sophistry, Vol. 4, No. 3, July-September 2024 In the previous article, we discussed the Reformation Movement, which came when the Roman Catholic Church was a religiously and politically dominating force. Over the centuries, it became increasingly\u00a0corrupt until Martin Luther challenged some of the errors and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35424,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-reformation-and-the-restoration-a-tale-of-two-movements\/","url_meta":{"origin":89646,"position":2},"title":"The Reformation and the Restoration: A Tale of Two Movements","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Andy Sochor The New Testament repeatedly warns about drifting; in particular, drifting away from the faith. This can be done either individually or collectively. The Hebrew writer warned the Christians to whom he wrote that they \"must pay much closer attention to what [they had] heard, so that [they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":66619,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-ordain-in-all-the-churches\/","url_meta":{"origin":89646,"position":3},"title":"I Ordain in All the Churches","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 16, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Text: I Corinthians 7:17 There was no such thing as each church making up the rules for themselves. From the very beginning, they \"continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine\" (Acts 2:42), and when the apostles taught something, it was meant for \"all the churches\" to teach\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":45191,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-gospel-doctrine-distinction\/","url_meta":{"origin":89646,"position":4},"title":"The Gospel\/Doctrine Distinction","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"By\u00a0Tom M. Roberts Guardian of Truth XXXVIII: 12, p. 13-14 June 16, 1994 Guardian of Truth XXXVIII: 13, p. 16-18 July 7, 1994 Guardian of Truth XXXVIII: 14, p. 3-4 July 21, 1994 Bred in Infidelity One would have to be totally ignorant of the Bible to deny that Jesus\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17980,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-church-in-1492\/","url_meta":{"origin":89646,"position":5},"title":"The Church in 1492","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 7, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Kent Heaton The world of 1492 was very small. Men knew very little about the earth as we know it today. Christopher Columbus sailed this important year with a crew of 87 to discover a new world. His adventure literally changed the face of the world and man came\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/Columbus.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89646\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Spirit of Reverence<\/h2>\n
The Spirit of Togetherness<\/h2>\n