What Does It Mean to “Restore?”


Lovers of classic cars are quite familiar with this word. When a person wants to restore his old Mustang, GTO, or Road Runner, he intends to make it like it was originally built: the way it came from the factory, the way it was sold off the showroom floor. According to Webster’s Dictionary, the words “restore” and “restoration” have the following meanings:
A restored car has been returned to its originally intended condition of existence. It exists in its original state. The original state of most classic cars does not include the addition of superchargers, nitrous oxide, and various other “hot rod” additions. Any true restorer of cars knows that if he adds something extra, leaves something off, or modifies anything about the vehicle, he is not really restoring it, but changing it.

When a person seeks to restore a car, he must do several things. He consults original documentation about the vehicle, documents from the manufacturer. He does not turn to the latest hot rod magazine to look for modifications, he goes back to original sources, and he uses original parts (sometimes called OEM parts). He recognizes that the original sources are not subject to various interpretations, but that there is a correct model, a correct way, that the vehicle was intended to be. He also recognizes there were a few things left to be decided by the original buyer, like color, engine size, and a few options. Nevertheless, he knows that a Camaro is a Camaro and a Mustang is a Mustang, regardless of the optional items chosen by the buyer. For there are certain qualities about the car that make it a Camaro or Mustang, and necessarily make it different from every other type of vehicle.

I recently needed to “restore” my computer to its original state because of some problems it was having. I read the original documentation that came with the computer and obtained the disks containing the original software. I wanted the computer to be just the way it came from the maker…the original configuration. And using the original documentation and software, I did just that. Why? Because I knew that it would work correctly the way it came from the manufacturer; the manufacturer was the expert who created it, so I trust the manufacturer’s judgment.

These same principles hold true regardless of what one is restoring: cars, jewelry, artwork, buildings, software on a computer, and religion.

The original congregations established in the first century by the Apostles had problems. The Apostles wrote them several letters to correct those problems, but eventually the Apostles and Prophets died, and the churches no longer had a direct source of divine guidance. God’s simple plan for the design and purpose of the church was abandoned as Christians sought to do something greater and, in their opinion, more effective than the way God intended. The simple autonomy of each congregation was violated as they set up a hierarchy of human leaders to oversee the work of multiple congregations, with the highest power resting in the leader originally called a “bishop” and later called the Pope. The Catholic Church was born out of this. With its human hierarchy and disregard for the authority of the inspired written Word, the Catholic Church was not a restoration of the New Testament plan.

Martin Luther, upon posting his 95 Theses in 1517 AD, attempted, not a restoration, but a reformation, of the Catholic Church. His purpose was not to go all the way back to the Bible and restore its original form, but to try to make modifications to the existing institution. You can modify a car all day long, but until you remove the parts not included by the maker and add the parts missing from the original design, you have not restored it! Martin Luther make any changes he wanted to the Catholic Church, but until he truly restored the church of the New Testament, it was still a Catholic Church!

In the 1800’s, men like Alexander Campbell and Barton W. Stone did seek a true restoration of the church. Campbell wrote, in his publication called The Christian Baptist:
Such is the goal of those in the Restoration movement today. We bear the simple name of “Christian” rather than any of the denominational labels, because that is the name used in the New Testament. We call our assemblies “churches of Christ” rather than denominational names given after various human leaders that established them, because Christ is the King and Bridegroom of the Church, and that is one of the names given to His Church in the New Testament. We wish to restore, not reform, our churches to be the way they were intended by the original designer and manufacturer in the New Testament, Christ. We do not add things to our worship and work, nor do we fall short of any of it. Neither do we change the characteristics that necessarily associate us with Christ and differentiate us from the “modified” churches called denominations. We are a restoration of the New Testament churches, returned to the original manufacturer’s intended condition of functionality and form.

One example of our “restoration of ancient ways” is the way we make music. There are many examples of Christians in the New Testament making music by singing. There are no examples of them making music by clapping, shouting, or playing mechanical instruments. Why? Because God did not design or manufacture any of His congregations to be that way! Think back to the illustration about restoring cars. If Dodge never produced a Charger with a convertible top, is it possible to restore a Charger to a form that does have a convertible top? You can’t restore something to a condition that never existed, because then it is not a restoration, but a modification! Likewise, you can’t “restore” the church to have instrumental music if it never had it in the first place.

One slogan often used in our movement is “speak where the Bible speaks, be silent where the Bible is silent.” This means that we should teach and practice all that the Bible shows us to teach and practice, and we must not teach or practice anything the Bible has not showed us to teach or practice. The Bible is the guide to finding Jesus, and Jesus is the only way to find salvation.

Let us reform our individual minds to seeking God’s will with all sincerity, honest, and objectiveness. Then we will be able to restore New Testament Christianity and New Testament churches.


Written by David F. Sims, doing my part to "turn the world upside down" (Acts 17:6)

All quotes taken from the New American Standard Bible, unless otherwise stated.

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