Reprint from the 1919 Word and Work Magazine

“Ye are Christ’s and Christ is God’s.” 1 Cor. 3:23. “Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ? shall I then take away the members of Christ, and make them members of a harlot?” 1 Cor. 6:15. Every Christian then, belongs to Christ. Let him render unto Christ therefore that which is His.

“We are members of his body.” Eph. 5 :30. “For in one spirit were we all baptized into one body.” 1 Cor. 12:13. “Now are ye the body of Christ and severally members thereof.” 1 Cor. 12:27. “Now are they many members, but one body.” 1 Cor. 12 :20. His body is the church, of which He is the head. Col. 1:18. Every Christian therefore, belongs to the church of Christ. Any religious body, by whatever name, therefore, which does not include every Christian is not the church of Christ. No denomination is the body or church of Christ for no denomination even claims to embrace all who are Christ’s. Nor do all denominations put together constitute the body of Christ for there are many Christians who are undenominational. The church of Christ embraces every Christian, and a comprehension short of this is sectarian.

“And severally members one of another.” Rom. 12:5. Every member belongs to every other member of the body of Christ. Every Christian belongs to every other Christian. Every child of God belongs to every other child of God. And each is his brother’s keeper. A great defect of denominationalism is in ignoring this truth. It divides members of Christ from one another and hinders the unity of the Spirit. Men pray for and endeavor to “keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,” and have in mind only the members of their own party. For brethren not of their denomination they feel little if any responsibility. They easily pass them by on the other side.

Every Christian belongs in an assembly gathered unto Christ, in His name and on the ground of the unity of all His followers,” not forsaking our own assembling together as the custom of some is” for the sake of some denominational assembly which in its very nature is inclusive, at the best, of only a small part of the people of God. “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Brother, sister, right there on ground exclusive of none of God’s children, is where you and I belong. Nowhere else can we all enjoy our membership “one of another.” There, gathered unto Christ as our centre, thank God, everyone, unless he allows a sectarian spirit to hinder, can enjoy every other brother in the Lord. Every Christian in a given locality belongs in that one assembly. If he is not an integral part thereof, he is not where he belongs. If he is a part of some other assembly gathered unto some other name, he is where he does not belong. Let every Christian in any locality grasp this truth and a visible unity will result.

-At the Time Stanford Chambers was the minister at 7th & Camp Church of Christ, New Orleans, LA