Refuting the Statement
” The Father will be the one to build the church and NOT THE SON! CHRIST IS PART of the church being its foundation!”
By: Lawrence Carlo Luna
From the website WWW.CONTROVERSYEXTRAORDINARY.COM, Bro Eli Soriano of Members of Church of GOD International had this teaching:
“The Prophet mentioned in Deuteronomy 18:18, being Jesus Christ in reality, will speak the Father’s own words (my words in his mouth). When Christ said, “Upon this rock I will build my church”, it is the “church of GOD” and not his own church- not the church of Christ that others perceived to be. It must be understood that the Father will be the one to build and NOT THE SON! The main reason is that Christ is part of the church being its foundation!”
Bro Eli: The Prophet mentioned in Deuteronomy 18:18, being Jesus Christ in reality, will speak the Father’s own words (my words in his mouth).
Lawrence: The Deuteronomy 18:18 speaks about the prophet to be send by GOD to speak his words. Well, no question for that since Christ testifies to the father because Jesus and the Father are connected to each other. Jesus speaks since he was tasked to proclaimed the kingdom of GOD, to save us through his crucifixion on the cross, and preach the word of GOD through his mouth about the salvation. Just like for example, the secretary will speak in the name/behalf of the president and the secretary will relay to the members the essence of the message of the president for them. This situation is also the same with Jesus since he speaks the truth and follow the will of GOD and proclaimed it to the people.
John 10:30 – My Father and I are one.
John 5:19 – So Jesus answered them, ” I TELL YOU THE TRUTH: THE SON CAN DO NOTHING ON HIS OWN; HE DOES ONLY WHAT HE SEES HIS FATHER DOING. WHAT THE FATHER DOES, THE SON ALSO DOES.
These are the reasons why in Deuteronomy 18:18 said ” I will put my words in his mouth” since he speaks to GOD and not his own but also the Son has the authority which came from the Father.
Connecting the Deuteronomy 18:18 to Matthew 16:18 as said by Bro. Eli ” that the Father and not the Son is the builder of the Church” can’t be applied since Deuteronomy 18:18 does not directly speaks the building and the builder of the church, rather the choosing the prophet to speak the words of GOD.
Deuteronomy 18:18 can be connected only if it talks about the church and its founder but it does not. Therefore, Deuteronomy 18:18 speaks about the prophet chosen by GOD while Matthew 16:18 speaks about the confirmation on the establishment of the church. Take note these verses have different topics being discussed.
Bro Eli: When Christ said, “Upon this rock I will build my church” it is the “Church of GOD” and not his own church- not the church of Christ that others perceived to be.
Lawrence: Matthew 16:18 – And I SAY also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I WILL BUILD UP MY CHURCH; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Very clearly seen in this verse that It was Christ who built the church because he said “I WILL BUILD UP MY CHURCH”.
Christ didn’t say ” My Father said that: I will build up my church” or ” He will build up his church”. Christ used the terms “I” and “MY” because he was the founder. It is grammatically, logically, and theologically wrong if you say “I will build up my church” but you are not the founder. If its true that Christ was not the founder, why he used the terms “I” and “MY”? See, you can’t say “I” and “MY” if you don’t claim that such thing or etc. is yours.
Also, the persons involved in that dialogue of Matthew 16:18 were Jesus and Peter. It was only both of them who had the conversation. Take note that there were only 2 persons involved on that conversation.
Also, Jesus was the founder of the church since he told Peter to take care his sheep.
John 21:17 – Jesus said to him “Take care of my sheep”.
See, it was Christ who founded because if he was not the founder, then no reason for him to say “Take care of my sheep” and give the keys to Peter as stated in Matthew 16:18-19 and John 21:17. The founder of course has the authority to give powers to his disciples.
Bro. Eli insisted that it was the father who founded since he connected Deuteronomy 18:18 to Matthew 16:18 plus, the statement mentioned in Matthew 16:16-17.
Matthew 16:16-17 – Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living GOD”. “Good for you, Simon son of John!” answered Jesus. “For this truth did not come to you from any human being, but it was given to you directly by my Father in heaven.
We have to remember that the truth about the proclamation of Peter on Jesus came from GOD since it was revealed by GOD and not based on the idea of Peter in his self. The proclamation was all about Christ being Messiah and Son of GOD.
It was also revealed about Jesus as “Messiah and Son of GOD” by the Father since this gives us a guarantee that the Son has the authority and that authority was already stated in Matthew 16:18-19.
Bro. Eli: It must be understood that the father will be the one to build and NOT THE SON!. The main reason is that Christ is part of the church being its foundation!
Lawrence: Here are the other verses that supports Christ was the founder:
Colossians 1:18 – HE IS THE HEAD IF HIS BODY, THE CHURCH; he is the source of the body’s life.
Romans 7:4 – That is how it is with you, my friends. As far as the law is concerned, you also have died because YOU ARE PART OF THE BODY OF CHRIST; and now you belong to him who was raised from death in order that we might be useful in the service of GOD.
Romans 12:4-5 – We have many parts in ONE BODY, and all these parts have different functions. in the same way, though we are many, WE ARE ONE BODY IN UNION WITH CHRIST, AND WE ARE ALL JOINED TO EACH OTHER AS DIFFERENT PARTS OF ONE BODY.
Romans 16:16 – Greet one another with kiss of peace. All the CHURCHES OF CHRIST send you their greetings.
In Colossians 1:18, it is said he (Christ) is the “HEAD OF HIS BODY, THE CHURCH. ” That’s why he is the founder and owner for he is the head of his church which is his body which he owned. it is not written ” Christ is part of the Father’s body, the church”. CHRIST IS THE FOUNDER AND OWNER FOR HE OWNED HIS BODY, THE CHURCH.
Remember a founder owned his group that he founded. It is never happened that a founder didn’t own the association that he founded.
In Romans 7:4, it is said “YOU ARE PART OF THE BODY OF CHRIST”. Meaning, IT IS US who are part of the body of Christ, not Christ is part of the church being its foundation as said by Bro. Eli Soriano. The body of Christ is the church which Christ is the head, owner and the founder (Col 1:18).
In Romans 12:4-5, it is said “WE ARE ONE BODY IN UNION WITH CHRIST”. Meaning we must be united in that one body or Church in union with with Christ. Bro. Eli will be correct if it is written ” we are one body of GOD in union with Christ”. But it was not written, so therefore, Bro. Eli was wrong.
In Romans 16:16, it is said ” CHURCHES OF CHRIST”, so the owner and founder of the Church is Christ. Bro. Eli will be correct if it is said “Churches of GOD in Christ Jesus”. See, Bro. Eli committed heresies.
Also, the term “Church of GOD” used in Acts 20:28 and 1 Timothy 3:15 is just the same with the term “CHURCHES OF CHRIST” since the term “Church of GOD” really gives us an assurance that the church founded by Christ is of GOD and pleases GOD, not founded by man or any false prophets.
The term “Church of GOD” is not even all capitalized because it is not the exact name of the church, rather, a description of the church which that church is the ground of pillar of truth. Bro. Soriano will be correct if it was written “Church of GOD in Christ Jesus” but it was not written.
Therefore, the founder of the church mentioned in the new testament is Christ and that is why the bible uses the terms “HE IS THE HEAD IF HIS BODY, THE CHURCH”, or “YOU ARE PART OF THE BODY OF CHRIST”, or “WE ARE ONE BODY IN UNION WITH CHRIST” or ” CHURCHES OF CHRIST” to strongly emphasize that Christ is the founder.
Christ can build the church for he was given an authority by the Father as said in John 5:19-29.
Also, you are pleased in the eyes of the Father when you enter to his Son’s church foe GOD the Father is pleased with Christ (Mark 1:11).
Christ can build a church since he is the fullness of grace and truth (John 1:17).
Source: REFUTING ELI SORIANO IN HIS CLAIM THAT THE FATHER BUILT THE CHURCH AND NOT THE SON By Lawrence Luna
