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Who is the head of an incorporated church?

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Jerald Finney
Copyright © November 28, 2017

There are two possibilities:

  1. The Lord and the state of incorporation are the heads of an incorporated church.
  2. The state of incorporation is the head of the incorporated church.

Permit me to explain.

Both possible scenarios occur when churches do not understand the Bible doctrine of the church to one degree or another. They do not understand God’s eternal, spiritual precepts as stated in the New Testament nor do they understand man’s temporal earthly law. Let me give a list of some things that corporate churches do not understand and do not want to understand. For a comprehensive examination, see the resource below. Among other things, they do not understand:

  1. that Christ loves the church and gave Himself for it;
  2. that he wishes to be the only builder of His churches;
  3. that He wishes to empower His churches without help from anyone to include civil government;
  4. that Christ desires to be the only Head of His churches;
  5. that He is jealous of His churches;
  6. that He desires His churches to be eternal spiritual entities only;
  7. how a church can walk on earth being connected to a heavenly Head only;
  8. that the Holy Spirit lives in believers thereby making it possible for believers and churches to walk in the spirit only (Galatians 2:20: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me”);
  9. that man creates corporations;
  10. that God the Son and He only establishes His churches;
  11. that the only head of a New Testament church is the Lord Jesus Christ;
  12. that the sovereign of the corporation is the state;
  13. that corporations are earthly temporal organizations whereas God desires churches to be eternal spiritual bodies or organisms;
  14. that when one combines the eternal with the temporary, the eternal is polluted;
  15. that incorporation, being the product of heresy, is a big step toward apostasy;
  16. that corporation is an artificial being, invisible, intangible, and existing only in contemplation of man made law;
  17. that a corporation is an artificial person or legal entity created by or under the authority of the laws of the state;
  18. that no corporation can exist without the consent or grant of the sovereign, since the corporation is a creature of the state and derives its powers by legislative grant;
  19. that a corporate charter is a contract that requires that the controlling sovereign party, the civil government, be appealed to though government agency and the courts for resolution of conflicts;
  20. that many contractual controversies are thereby created whereby the church can sue the state, the members can sue other members, the members can sue the church and the church can sue the members;
  21. the corporate church agrees to set us extra-biblical offices (CEO, secretary, etc.) to handle many church affairs;
  22. that “… whenever there is an incorporated church, there are two entities—the one, the church as such, not owing its ecclesiastical or spiritual existence to the civil law, and the other, the legal corporation—each separate, although closely allied. The former is purely voluntary and is not a corporation or a quasi corporation;”
  23. that a corporate church, at best, is a two-headed monster, partially under the Lord Jesus Christ and partially under the civil government of incorporation.

Now, first let us consider the first scenario – that is, the Lord and the state are the heads of the church. This happens when an incorporated church complies with some of the Lord’s New Testament commandments for churches. Such a church operates in God’s permissive will, not His perfect will. They are like Israel. God established Israel to be under God only; God dealt directly with them as they pursued their earthly God-given goals, work, and religious activities.

Israel rejected the theocracy and demanded a king (1 Samuel 8). God told them He would nonetheless bless them if they would “turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all [their] heart …” (See 1 Samuel 12.20-22 for God’s whole admonition). But once Israel took that first step, the slide down and away from the Lord continued until Israel was completely apostate. The New Testament prophesies the same pattern of apostasy for His churches. We are witnessing it before our eyes in America.

God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, ordained the church and walked with the church until His ascension. When He ascended, He sent the Holy Spirit to walk in and with believers and His churches under His Headship only; their spirits from heaven (heavenly) making the places where they walk together on earth heavenly.

Sadly, most churches are completely under civil government; they are completely apostate. They are under civil government only.

If a church does not become a temporal, earthly, legal entity through incorporation or any other acts, and if that church seeks to honor God in all things, she is under God only.

The Bible Answer to the Question, “Is an Incorporated 501(c)(3) or 508 Church a Church of Christ?” (Prepared for a talk given at the September 16-19 Liberty Baptist Church of Albuquerque, NM, Southwest Baptist Heritage Camp Meeting. Click here to go to Part I of the video of that presentation. Click here to go to Part II of that presentation, “Why a Church Is Not a Business.” Part II was removed from Part I. In Part II, Jerald Finney invited Evangelist and Pastor Terry Woodside to tell his story which demonstrates that a church which is a non-legal entity cannot be sued in America. Click here to go to the page which has links to all sermons and presentations at that meeting.)

Recommended for more in depth study:

Separation of Church and State: God’s Churches – Spiritual or Legal Entities? Links to online edition as well as PDF of 2nd edition.

On the apostasy of Israel and the church see essays on apostasy linked to at:
The Biblical Doctrine of the Church

Audio Teaching: "Separation of Church and State"

The Biblical Doctrine of the Church

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Jerald Finney
© October, 2009

Have you ever done an in depth study of the biblical doctrine of the church? Every Bible believer, and especially every pastor, should have done such a study. Every Bible institute and college should give priority to such a study. Did not Christ “love the church and give himself for it?” Included in that study should be a study of the application of the doctrine of the church. In other words, a scholarly spirtual study of the church would require an in depth study of the definition, organization, and purposes of a church. This  would require a study of such matters as the organization of churches as corporations, unincorporated associations, corporations sole, etc. and seeking Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3) of churches. Do such devices comport with biblical principles? Is our Lord grieved when such devices are employed by churches? What are the consequences to churches, individuals, families and the nation?

The players below will teach on the biblical doctrine of the church. In conjunction with other audio teachings on other pages of this blog, a spirit filled believer will be given the knowledge to answer all the questions in the paragraph above and more. You may or may not agree with all this teaching, but this study will be invaluable to the Bible believing Christian who wants to do things God’s way. This study is patterned after Section II of the book God Betrayed/Separation of Church and State: The Biblical Principles and the American Application (Ordering information for this and other books is on the “Books” page of churchandstatelaw.com.).

To play, just click the link. To download, right click link and then left click “Save link as.”

1. Introduction to the biblical doctrine of the church (Section II, Chapter 1 of God Betrayed) (The audio opens with a song by Brother Rocky Otwell, “Wilt Thou Be Made Whole?” followed by opening remarks and prayer. That portion of the audio is 5 min. 3 sec. in length. The total length is 14 min. 55 sec.).

2. Definition, organization, and purposes of a church (Section II, Chapter 2 of God Betrayed) (27 min. 22 sec.).

3.  The love relationship between Christ and His church (In God Betrayed, but not a specific chapter) (52 min. 16 sec.). This is covered in the booklet which is reproduced on this website at The Most Important Thing: Loving God and/or Winning Souls?)  This may be the most important teaching concerning the issue of separation of church and state. The last few minutes of the audio is of poor quality because of technical difficulties that were later corrected).

4. Heresy and apostasy (Section II, Chapter 4 of God Betrayed) (Begins with a song, “In Times Like These,” sang by Rocky Otwell and prayer. Prayer ends at 3 min. 31 sec. Total length of segment is 28  min. 15 sec.).

5. Recent accelerated apostasy in America (Section II, Chapter 5 of God Betrayed) (14 min. 22 sec.).

6. Apostasy at the end of the church age (Section II, Chapter 6 of God Betrayed) (3 min. 30 sec.)(This audio teaching has been significantly revised. Click “Apostasy at the end of the church age”  to see the revisions).

7. The church will reign with the Lord (Section II, Chapter 7 of God Betrayed) (1 min. 56 sec.)(This audio teaching has been significantly revised. Click “The coming universal church will reign with the Lord”  to see the revisions).

8. Conclusion (Section II, Chapter 8 of God Betrayed) (Conclusion is 5 min. 41 sec. followed by song and prayer. Total length is 8 min. 51 sec.).

I am adding a new study of specific books and teachings on the Bible Doctrine of the Church. Click here to go to that study series.

End

For His Glory,
Jerald Finney
Christian and practicing attorney