Today, there are many churches with different doctrines in the world. Then, what was it like 2,000 years ago when the Christian faith began to bud? There was only one church that Jesus established and that the apostles attended. The early Church only followed the example of Jesus and walked the right path of faith.
Through the Bible, let’s find out about the early Church that is now respected as the original Christian faith: what name it had, what kind of truth it kept, and which church has inherited its authenticity today.
Name of the Early Church—Church of God
When we set up a company or store, we give it a name. Likewise, the church that Jesus established had a name. The name of that church is recorded as the “Church of God” in the New Testament.
To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy . . . 1 Co 1:2
The book of 1 Corinthians is Apostle Paul’s letter to the early Church in Corinth. Here, Paul referred to the church as the “church of God in Corinth.”
For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. Gal 1:13
Apostle Paul confessed that he persecuted the “Church of God” when he was a member of Judaism. It is well known that Paul severely persecuted the church that Jesus had established before he received Him. All of this shows that the name of the church Jesus established was the “Church of God.”
Truth of the Early Church
It is not the church that Jesus established just because it is called the Church of God. There are God’s commandments in the true Church of God. Jesus, who is God in nature, taught the commandments that the saints must keep and always set an example by keeping them (Jn 13:15). The truths that Jesus set the example of keeping and that the apostles practiced include the Sabbath and Passover of the New Covenant, and baptism.
Sabbath of the New Covenant
The seventh-day Sabbath is a day to commemorate the holy Creator (Ge 2:1–3; Ex 20:8–11). In the Old Testament times, people kept the Sabbath by sacrificing animals. In the New Testament times, Jesus showed the example of keeping the Sabbath of the New Covenant by worshiping in spirit and in truth.
He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. Lk 4:16
Following the example of Jesus, who kept the Sabbath “as was his custom,” the apostles and the saints of the early Church also kept the Sabbath.
It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment. Lk 23:54–56
When the Sabbath was over . . . When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week . . . Mk 16:1–9
The Bible said that Jesus was resurrected on the “first day of the week” after the Sabbath. Since Jesus was resurrected on Sunday, the Sabbath falls on Saturday. The early Church kept the Sabbath of the New Covenant on the seventh day (Saturday), following the example of Jesus.
Therefore, the Church of God worships on Saturday, the Sabbath, as Jesus and the apostles did.
Passover of the New Covenant
Jesus came to this earth to give eternal life to humankind (Jn 10:10) and taught us how to have eternal life.
Jesus said to them . . . “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life . . .” Jn 6:53–54
On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread . . . So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover. When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve . . . Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Mt 26:17–20, 26–28
Jesus celebrated the Passover with His disciples on the evening of the 14th day of the first month by the sacred calendar according to the date recorded in the Bible (Lev 23:5). He promised that the Passover bread and wine were His flesh and blood. Considering the words in the Gospel of John, “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life,” the Passover is the truth that enables us to participate in the flesh and blood of Jesus and have eternal life.
Jesus called the Passover the New Covenant in His blood, and asked us to do this in remembrance of Him (Lk 22:15–20). Accordingly, the apostles and saints of the early Church kept the Passover of the New Covenant even after the Cross.
[F]or Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival . . . 1 Co 5:7–8
Some people equate the Holy Supper of the Passover with the Resurrection Day. However, the Passover was a ceremony performed before Jesus suffered on the cross (Lk 22:15). It is completely different from the day when Jesus broke the power of death and was resurrected after He died on the cross. Therefore, the Church of God celebrates the Holy Supper of the Passover in the evening of the 14th day of the first month by the sacred calendar, just as Jesus and the apostles did.
Day of Resurrection and the Pentecost
Among the powerful work that Jesus performed 2,000 years ago, the Resurrection and the descent of the Holy Spirit are the most outstanding. This strengthened the faith of the saints of the early Church and brought a revival of the gospel. All this was accomplished through the feasts that God established.
The Day of Firstfruits is the feast of offering the first grain to God every year since the Old Testament times (Lev 23:10–11). When Jesus was resurrected, He became the “firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Co 15:20). According to the feast of the Old Testament, He became a sacrifice for the Day of Firstfruits. The saints of the early Church commemorated the resurrection of Jesus, who fulfilled the prophecy of the Day of Firstfruits, and kept the Resurrection Day by breaking the bread that opens the spiritual eyes (Ac 20:6–7).
In the Old Testament times, the fiftieth day after the Day of Firstfruits was the Feast of Weeks, that is, the Pentecost (Lev 23:15–18). Jesus ascended to Heaven forty days after His resurrection. For about ten days after that, the saints prayed earnestly, and on the Day of Pentecost, Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit upon them (Ac 2:1–4). On that day, by the power of the Holy Spirit, a miraculous thing happened: 3,000 people repented and received Christ. Since then, the early Church celebrated the Day of Pentecost every year (1 Co 16:8).
Baptism, Regulation of Veil, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Tabernacles, etc.
Jesus got baptized (Mt 3:13–16) and commanded to conduct baptism (Mt 28:19). According to His teaching, the apostles immediately baptized those who heard the gospel and realized it (Ac 8, 10, 16). In the early Church, which followed the example of Christ, there was a regulation of veil that men should not cover their heads but women should do by wearing veils when praying or worshiping (1 Co 11:1–16).
There are many other truths that Jesus Himself kept and taught. Jesus commanded to fast on the day the bridegroom was taken away (Mk 2:19–20), and He died on the cross on the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the day after the Passover (Mk 15:1–37). Accordingly, we participated in the suffering of Christ by fasting on the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the New Testament times. Jesus also kept the Feast of Tabernacles and promised the blessing of the Holy Spirit (Jn 7:2, 37–39). All these truths are the New Covenant that was kept in the Church of God that Jesus established and that the apostles attended.
We Should Return to the Faith of the Early Church
Jesus said that it is vain to worship God with only their lips while keeping the rules of men and forsaking God’s commandments (Mt 15:7–9). He also warned that those who practice lawlessness, which is not God’s, will cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Mt 7:21–23). Therefore, the apostles of the early Church were wary of preaching a gospel other than the one of Christ.
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel–which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! . . . If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned! Gal 1:6–9
Unfortunately, after all the apostles died, the church became secularized, and it rationalized and accepted the ideas of pagan religions. As a result, the church became filled with false doctrines such as Sunday worship and Christmas, which were the mixture of people’s opinions and the sun god worship customs. The truth of the New Covenant Jesus established was forgotten.
No matter how many people follow some doctrines, they have nothing to do with salvation unless they are God’s will. In order to correctly believe in God and receive salvation, we must find a church that keeps God’s commandments, not man’s rules, and that has restored the faith of the early Church that rejected other gospels and kept only the gospel of Christ.
Today, the only church that keeps the pure truths of the early Church such as the Sabbath and the Passover of the New Covenant is the World Mission Society Church of God, which the Second Coming Christ Ahnsahnghong established. Therefore, the Church of God is the church that inherits the authenticity of the early Church 2,000 years ago, and it is the only true church that God established on this earth.
