Why are there so many Christian denominations?
The large number of Christian denominations with differing practices and beliefs can be confusing to someone seeking the truth about Christ. How do they know what to believe? Consider how God revealed Himself in the Old Testament. He clearly defined the physical form of worship. He gave Israel’s descendents specific instructions on how to build the tabernacle and offer sacrifices. God specified every detail of the ritual down to what the priests wore. Yet, through the prophets when His people used sacrifices to feed their selfish motives rather than to express repentance, God said that He detested their sacrifices; not because they violated the ritual, but because they did not follow God with their internal character and motives. The external form of worship didn’t reach the inner person. God promised Israel a new covenant, written on people’s hearts rather than on external tablets of stone.
Christ fulfilled what was written in the Old Testament, not just outwardly, but completely. He said the true worshiper must worship God in spirit and truth. The New Testament message emphasizes an internal conversion through Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death and through His Spirit living in us. As Christians, we worship God with a transformed mental attitude that submits our lives as living sacrifices to God rather than accepting this world’s naturally self-centered attitudes.
Still, what was God’s reason for allowing Christians to become so fragmented? While the all-encompassing purpose of God's infinite mind is more than we can understand, God has said that He is working out everything that happens for good. How is God accomplishing good in this situation?
A Biblical example of God using what His people considered awful to accomplish good is the Babylonian captivity. Before Israel and Judah went into captivity, the idol worship of the nations around them infested their own nations. They went through cycles of disregarding God and returning to Him, but they continued to decline from the peak when David and Solomon ruled. The conditions were not right for Christ to come nor were they improving. When Judah returned from the Babylonian captivity, those who worshiped idols stayed in Babylon. They had no incentive to return to a Judah in ruins. In fact, if their family was not firm about worshiping God, they may have lost their separate identity from the rest of Babylon all together. After the Babylonian captivity, idol worship in Judah no longer existed among the Jews.
Can we say that God has a purpose for the many Christian denominations today? Obviously, the human factors motivating the Babylonian captivity did not have God’s purpose in mind. In fact, the Assyrians and Babylonians worshiped many idols and were virtually ignorant of God. Yet, God carried out His plan through them. Divisions among Christians occurred for many different reasons. Many times reasons were less than honorable. Some divisions have even lost their Christian identity. Authors produced volumes debating reasons for division in church history. That is not the question here. The question is what is God’s purpose?
The Reformation started when Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christianity had reached a climax in well-defined external rituals while internal worship and understanding were at a low. Roman Catholic worship mandated using the Latin translation of the Bible, Biblia Sacra Vulgata ("the Holy Bible in the Common Language"), although it was over 1000 years old and Latin was no longer a common spoken language. Not unlike some English speaking Christians today who insist on only using a translation with language almost 400 years old. At first, Latin served as a common language across the Roman Empire, just as Koine (common) Greek served as a common language with the people for the first century missionaries traveling across the Roman Empire. By the Reformation, long after the Roman Empire fell, only scholars knew Latin. Many people in Latin worship services couldn’t understand the message. They only went through the motions. It’s too common for Christians to hold on to once useful traditions long after their usefulness has ended.
The Reformation did more than start denominations emphasizing personal faith and internal worship over external ritual. It returned Christianity as a whole back in that direction. Today Roman Catholic worship for ordinary people is usually in their spoken language so that they understand. Recently the Roman Catholic Church has adopted an agreement with Lutherans stating salvation is by grace through faith alone while salvation does result in, rather than being the result of, the saved person doing good. While Martin Luther based the Reformation on theology, he attacked external Roman Catholic rituals, such as indulgences. Thus, this agreement is more about changing past tradition than altering Roman Catholic theology.
Not only does the New Testament omit clearly defining any external form of worship or church government; it also does not present specific external actions that a person must do for God to save them. God desires right external action be the result of being internally right with Him and being properly motivated by His indwelling Spirit. Christians can look at other denominations and see many things wrong. However, if they are honest, they must recognize the shortcomings within their own denomination. Any denomination that has existed for more than a generation and has enjoyed the freedom to worship without severe persecution has members in name only, to whom the church is only a convenience for performing marriages and funerals. They may be a little more active if they view church as a social club. If a church tries to oust these members, it can only do so by pushing external conformity.
Our internal unity through God’s Spirit motivates Christians to seek harmony with one another. True unity in worship is a congregation with unanimity in Spirit and purpose; not an externally forced unity, but one through internal conviction based on God’s revelation in the Bible. Real unity does not force external unity among churches, but seeks to cooperate with other churches as much as possible. Sometimes division for the sake of internal harmony is better than internal disharmony and fighting. If we recognize that the lost are even within members of our own denomination, we can be more cooperative about reaching them. Sometimes unsaved members within one’s own denomination may have become so callused to the external form of the denomination that it takes a Christian from another denomination to reach them. Isn’t it better to lose members of our own denomination if they find Christ in the process? Differences among denominations can help reach different people.
Given the nature of humanity, a better question is: "If Christianity were a single denomination, would that really accomplish God’s intended purpose of reaching people from the inside out?" For Christians that really belong to Christ, God’s Spirit already unites us. People should identify us as Christians, not by an institution, but by our love for one another.
©2000 Perry Vernon Webb. You may quote this page in part or the whole as long as you 1) do not alter the wording and 2) reference this Internet page as the source of the quote.
Related links:
"If the Reformations Over, Can We Dance," by J. Budziszewski, Boundless Webzine
Joint Declaration On The Doctrine Of Justification -- The Lutheran World Federation And The Catholic Church
How to receive a new life in Christ.
A list of the benefits the Christian receives from suffering.
Back to "Answers to Some Philosophical Questions".