CoC Ordo Salutis

[TCGreek]

If you've ever read the churches of Christ ordo salutis, order of salvation, you'll know that it goes something this:

1. Hear the gospel

2. Believe the gospel

3. Repent of your sins

4. Confess Jesus as Lord

5. And Be Baptized for the forgiveness of sins.

A person doesn't experince salvation until baptism in the churches of Christ (coc) schema.

But not only have they muddled the waters of baptism, they have also done the same in their ordo salutis:

6. In Scripture "Believing,faith" never precedes Repentance.

7, When both occur together, Repentance always precedes Faith (Mk 1:15; Acts 20:21; Heb 6:1).

Why is this important? Well, the COC think that they are the only ones who got it right and that they have restored NT Christianity, even in their ordo salutis.

So much for being Restorationists.

 

[Darron Steele]

The other problem is at Matthew 28:19-20

“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, |bautizad = baptize| them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, |enseñad = teach| them to obey everything I have told you|; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”*​

Greek transliterated "baptize" means "completely submerge."** In Acts, generic "disciples" is synonymous with Christians when it says “the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch” (NASB).

Now, if people are not Christians until they arise from baptism, that means that they are not "disciples" until after they arise from baptism. That would mean that when they are `completely submerged,' they are not "disciples." We would be `baptizing' non-disciples.

Christ told us to "baptize" = "completely submerge" "disciples." The only way that this would be possible is if they are Christians when they are brought under the water.

...So much for being Restorationists.

Another way that they fail at this is that the Restoration was meant to be a unity movement. The Restoration method was meant to be a means to unity. However, the Churches of Christ are among the most factious church groups in existence -- they have rejected the purpose of the Restoration. Also, the New Testament-era church which was expected to not divide despite disagreement -- Romans 14:1-13 + Romans 16:17. However, Churches of Christ consider almost any difference of religious thought as permission to divide.
___
*NBV|RVA margin and translated|NBV|RVA margin and translated|ICB|NASB.
**Stamatis, Catechetical Handbook of the Eastern Orthodox Church, page 191