Joseph Smith claimed that God ordained him to “restore” the church. He describes the need for this “restoration” in his first vision, where he said,

My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)—and which I should join.

 I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: “they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.”

 He again forbade me to join with any of them; and many other things did he say unto me, which I cannot write at this time.[1]

This raises some key questions that must be answered. What exactly is the great apostasy? What did the church lose that needed to be restored? What is the church, for that matter? The answers to these questions are the hinges upon which the door of truth swings concerning the claims of the first vision. This issue is so vital that in the preface to the 1993 printing of The Great Apostasy by Elder James Talmage, the publishers stated,

If there had not been a general falling away or apostasy from the faith of the original primitive Christian church, then theoretically, there would be no need for Mormonism as a distinct religious faith today. Mormonism’s very existence, therefore, is dependent on the belief that there was an apostasy from primitive Christianity.[2]

In his original 1909 preface, Talmage himself stated,

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints proclaims the restoration of the Gospel, and the re-establishment of the Church as of old, in this, the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times. Such restoration and re-establishment, with the modern bestowal of the Holy Priesthood, would be unnecessary and indeed impossible had the Church of Christ continued among men with unbroken succession of Priesthood and power, since the meridian of time.[3]

The Very Nature of Christ’s Church Makes This Impossible

Despite the claims of these Mormon leaders, it is impossible that the “original primitive Christian church” would fail. We can say this with absolute certainty for the following reasons.

First, because of the Founder. The New Testament church isn’t an invention of men; it is the creation of Christ. Jesus called it “my church” and said “I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Jesus didn’t make a fragile thing when He made the church. Nor is the church a man-made organization that might be corrupted by men. Man has no power to destroy what Jesus Christ made.

As a case-in-point, at the end of the New Testament when Jesus addressed seven churches of Asia Minor, He spoke to them as their authority and declared His Lordship over each church. These churches faced trouble and persecution and sometimes tolerated false doctrine and sinful practice. Jesus corrects and instructs each of them, proclaiming His power to cause each of them to overcome. His churches will overcome by His correction and instruction. And that will be His triumph and His alone. His churches won’t overcome because of their strength or their faithfulness or because they are the model of what a church should be. His churches will overcome because He is almighty.

Certainly, churches have failed and fallen by the wayside. But the one who built the New Testament Church rooted it in eternity, spreading it far and wide throughout the earth, terrible as an army with banners.

Second, because of the foundation. The New Testament church wasn’t founded on a vision, and it can’t be restored by one. Jesus Christ built His church on an unshakeable, unmoveable foundation: the message and doctrine of the apostles and prophets, “Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.”

In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: (Ephesians 2:20-21)

The New Testament itself provides the founding documents for Christ’s church, and Jesus established His church on those documents.

For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (I Corinthians 3:11)

With the church built on such a foundation, it is impossible that any man should shake it or remove it. No doubt there have been individual churches over the course of time who have failed in their loyalty to the doctrine of the New Testament. Churches stand or fail based on their loyal dependence on the foundational truths God provided through the apostles and prophets of the New Testament.[4] Those doctrines cannot fail, though a scattered church may. But where one church fails, God raises up another to take its place. The foundation will not fail, so the New Testament church will not either. Had the church been founded on sand, the winds and waves might have brought about a great fall. But the church was founded on the Rock. It cannot fall.

Third, because of its form. The church is the body of Christ, and thus God’s church is the fullness of Christ.

And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:22-23)

The Bible states this and restates it.

For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. (Ephesians 5:30)

For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. (Romans 12:4-5)

For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many.

But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body.

Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. (I Corinthians 12:12-14, 18-20, 27)

In order for the church to fail then, the very body of Jesus Christ – His flesh and His bones – would have to fail. The church is Christ’s hands, feet, mouth, and heart upon the earth (I Corinthians 12).

The New Testament church is a local body of believers, whose members have been saved, baptized, have qualified leaders (bishops  and deacons, I Timothy 3), under the authority of God’s Word (II Timothy 3:14-4:4), with the power to enact church discipline (Matthew 5:18-20) and charity (I Timothy 5:3-9), for the purpose of glorifying Christ, making disciples and fulfilling the great commission (Matthew 28:19). Since Jesus ascended to heaven, there has not been a time when there were no assemblies of believers, no place where believers could gather in obedience to God’s Word to offer Him worship and make disciples for Christ. We find then an unbroken chain of congregations spread across the globe, where born again believers gather in Christ’s name to worship and serve the Lord.

Finally, because of Who fills it. Revisiting Paul’s claim in Ephesians 1:22-23, we notice that the Bible refers to the church as “the fulness of him that filleth all in all.” This is why we can say that the church is the fullness of Christ: not because the church fills Jesus, but because Jesus fills the church, as He fills all things. This makes the church unique among the various kinds of assemblies we might find in our world. The Bible makes it abundantly clear that the church is an assembly without parallel in our world. And this is the thing that sets it apart from all other gatherings, all other organized congregations. Jesus Christ fills the church. Man cannot possibly extinguish, either by corruption or neglect, the church Jesus established. The New Testament church is as indestructible as the very body of Jesus Christ. The gates of hell cannot prevail against it. Jesus built it on the rock, forms its substance, and fills it; He will never allow it to fall by the wayside or become so corrupt and apostate that He must raise up a special man to restore it.

---

[1] https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/js-h/1?lang=eng

[2] 1993 preface of The Great Apostasy by James E. Talmage (Seagull Books, Salt Lake City, Utah)

[3][3] James Talmage, The Great Apostasy (Original Prefeace, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1909)

[4] John R.W. Stott, The Message of Ephesians: God’s New Society, p. 107