Reference · Teaching 7
Church of Christ Issues — Cheat Sheet
Three distinctive issues
| Issue | CoC position | Catholic response |
|---|---|---|
| Infant baptism | Believer's immersion only | Household baptisms + Col 2:11-12 circumcision link + early Church practice (Origen, Cyprian) |
| Instrumental music | A cappella only, silence = prohibition | Silence argument inconsistently applied (buildings, songbooks); OT/Rev. instruments |
| Church structure | Local elder plurality, no supra-local authority | Acts 15 Jerusalem Council binds multiple churches |
Key verses
| Verse | Used for |
|---|---|
| Acts 2:38, 16:15, 16:33 | Common ground: baptism actually does something; household baptisms plausibly include children. |
| Colossians 2:11-12 | Catholic: links baptism directly to circumcision, applied to 8-day-old infants. |
| Psalm 150, Rev 5:8, 14:2 | Catholic: instruments are commanded/depicted in OT and heavenly worship. |
| Ephesians 5:19, Colossians 3:16 | CoC: NT describes singing, not instrumental worship. |
| Acts 15:6, 15:22-23, 15:28 | Catholic: a supra-local body binds decisions on multiple churches. |
| Titus 1:5-7, Acts 14:23 | CoC: local elder plurality as the only NT governance pattern. |
The one-line argument to remember
Start from agreement: "We actually agree baptism does something real — the disagreement is about who's eligible (infants of believing households) and what Old Covenant sign it parallels (circumcision, applied to infants)."
Nuance to hold onto
- Lead with genuine common ground on baptismal efficacy before addressing the infant/mode disagreement — this is more persuasive than starting from difference.
- The "silence = prohibition" hermeneutic is the single best point to probe for consistency (buildings, songbooks, translations all go unmentioned too).
- Acts 15 doesn't prove the papacy specifically — it proves supra-local binding authority existed in principle, which is the more modest, defensible claim to make first.