The Church of Christ
One question many people might have is: "How do commentators and various authors (like MacArthur) speak of the church of Christ when they neither believe nor belong to it?" The answer lies in the definition of terms. They mean something different from what the New Testament does. In the Bible, the church consists of those who are saved from their sins. The Lord adds them to His body when they repent and are baptized (Acts 2:38, 41, 47).
However, when people today speak of the church, they envision one huge conglomerate consisting of all the denominations (and cults?). In Betty Burton Choate's book, Search for Truth, a fictional account of a young couple's seeking salvation and the true church, she records comments which are often heard: "I know that our pastor says that the world-wide church of Christ is made up of the saved people from all churches" (57); "I've heard our pastor say that the saved of all churches make up the spiritual church of Christ! So, he's saying there's only one church, too…" (71).
The only problem is that these definitions do not come from the Scriptures. How do we know that? The answer is that none of these denominations existed in the first century; it would therefore have been impossible to define the church of Christ in such a manner. To try to make the church of Christ a conglomerate of denominations could not have occurred until the sixteenth century. To try to impose a modern definition upon a first-century church is inappropriate and wrong. Furthermore, it reveals a lack of integrity in handling the Scriptures.
The churches of Christ in Romans 16:16 could not refer to different denominations because none existed. When brethren began to fracture and splinter in Corinth, Paul admonished them severely to "be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment" (1 Cor. 1:10). He did not tell them to become Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, et al.—but somehow be (in some way) the church of Christ. They could only be Christ's body by being united—not divided.
Everyone acknowledges that the Lutheran Church began in the 16th century. So did the Presbyterian Church and the Anglican Church. The Baptists date their founding at 1609; the Methodists come later in 1784; Episcopalians in America cite 1789. These are all 1,500 years too late (or more) to be the church of Christ or even part of it!
Jesus established His church in the first century, which anyone can read about in the New Testament (Matt. 16:13-19; Acts 20:28; Eph. 1:22-23; 4:4; 5:23). It can be identified by the gospel it preaches, the worship it conducts, the origin it claims, and the doctrines that it teaches. Denominations do not comprise the church; only Christians can do that.