Bible alone?

[BreadOfLife]

The church is the body of Christ. All believers everywhere are part of the church as a whole.

As we see in the NT there were also gatherings if believers who were also called the church.

Each church had leaders within them including elders. There was not a central church government that handled matters of faith in the church. Timothy was exhorted to have answers himself.

Paul himself stated he and the other apostles had the authority and teachings of Christ. But yet God gave teachers to the church to teach. No where does Paul or Peter teach of one single central authority of church government.

Each church governed themselves and had their own elders, men of faith

Ummmm, that's NOT what the BIBLE says.
The believers in Matt. 7:21-23 believe they THEY were part of the Church - and they weren't. The Church is all those who submit to Christ - AND His Church (Matt. 1`6:18-19, Matt. 18:15-18, Luke 10:16, John 20:21-23).

- His Church is His BODY (Col. 1:18).
- It is the Pillar and foundation of Truth ( 1 Tim. 3:15).
- His Church is the FULLNESS of Him (Eph. 1:22-23).
- Jesus EQUATES His very SELF with His Church (Acts 9:4-5).

Also - the "churches" in the NT were ALL the SAME Church - just in different locations. Today, we call the regions "dioceses" and locations, "parishes". As for there NOT being a central hierarchy - that's also false. We see evidence of this in Acts 15 with the Council of Jerusalem., where a decision had to be made about the Judaizers and their false teachings.
We've seen Councils ever since, like Nicaea in 325 that addressed the Arian Heresy, Ephesus in 431, which addressed the Nestorian Heresy and so on.

We also have the Letter of Clement, circa 85 AD, where he rules from Rome on a matter taking place in the Church at Corinth.
You literally have to ignore Scripture AND History to make the claim you're making . . .

 

[theefaith]

Acts 2:42 doctrine of the apostles not the Bible alone