They therefore who were come together, asked him, saying: Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? But he said to them: It is not for you to know the times or moments, which the Father hath put in his own power: But you shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the earth. – Acts 1:6-8
I was reading the above passage from Acts of the Apostles and was struck by a thought. After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to the twelve Apostles and spent forty days with them, teaching them about the kingdom of God (verse 3). St. John says that he did many other signs in their presence that weren’t even written down (Jn 20:30). In fact, he says that if everything that Jesus did were written down, “even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written” (Jn 21:25). Despite even after forty days of intimate, intense daily instruction from Christ in person through the Holy Spirit, their question in verse 6 shows that their understanding still remained at least partly bound to earthly concerns.
First-century Judea was under heavy Roman occupation, and the Jewish people fervently looked for their liberation with great anticipation. The disciples, being first-century Jews, had been steeped in the oral tradition of the Old Testament prophets and writers (like Daniel, Amos, Jeremiah, Isaiah, King David, Micah, Haggai, Zephaniah, etc.) to expect a triumphant earthly Messiah to deliver them. So, when Jesus appeared to them it must have seemed natural to ask him when he would restore his kingdom on earth. St. John Chrysostom (A.D. 401) in his Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles observes that they were still thinking about an earlier political and religious order rather than fully comprehending the spiritual Kingdom that Christ was establishing. In other words, their understanding was limited by their attachment to a historical model that was familiar to them.
I see a theological parallel of this partially misguided historical attachment with statements that Workers have made over the years claiming that the 2×2 Fellowship was directly descended from Jesus and the New Testament church. Typical Worker statements can be found on the Telling the Truth web site as below:
“We believe we have existed since Jesus sent forth the 70 disciples two by two.” Richard Sullivan, 1943
“We are not following some way founded in the early 1900’s, but it goes clear back to Christ.” Therald Sylvester (deceased Western Overseer) 11/16/83
“You can tell whether a church is a false church or not if it was started by a man or woman. We are the only church on earth that was started by Christ.” Jack Carroll, deceased Western USA Overseer and one of the original workers.
“This is the only way that was started by Christ.” Willie Jamieson, deceased Western USA Overseer and one of the original workers, Post Falls Conv., 1957.
“This faith began in New Testament days, not in Ireland nor in the U.K.” Roddy MacLean (Scotland Worker) Letter dated June 1, 1995
“A question arises: When did your faith start?…When people ask us about this, we are grateful to know we know when it started. In Acts 10:35: “That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached.” It began from Galilee. Isn’t that a wonderful little story? This Gospel, this Truth, this Word of Jesus, began in Galilee. That is where Jesus was raised and spent many of His days…and began His ministry in Galilee…the earthly fulfillment of the heavenly plan…and continues right down to the present day. It is a wonderful thing we don’t keep a history of the kingdom. We have an accountant that keeps a history of every person and does it better than we could…the Lamb’s Book of Life. We can be satisfied this was planned in eternity, and Jesus came down and established it in Galilee. Right down to our age today…1996…this same truth which Jesus lived and taught…from place to place, and area to area…”(Gordon Winkler, Pulaski, Virginia Convention – Sept. 1, 1996)
“If anyone asks you where this way started, it wasn’t in Ireland. It came from here…” Then he quoted scripture from Acts about after the baptism of John and the shores of Galilee (Wilson Green, Conv. 1990s)
“William Irvine began to think HE started the truth. He was instrumental, but what was born in our hearts was of God. Some began to call us Cooneyites which wasn’t the truth either. We preach that our faith began on the shores of Galilee” (Older worker from southern USA).
“This way started in Galilee.” Ned Manning, worker-Irish descent
Anyone can claim their faith “began on the shores of Galilee” in the general sense. However, in the case of the 2×2 Fellowship this is only a half-truth at best. The above comments show how Workers have gone one step further by claiming direct apostolic succession. There are usually two main reasons to do this. First, it allows the Workers to try appropriating the divinely-inspired authority of the Apostles themselves if apostolic succession can be proven. Unfortunately for them, the diligent research of people like Cherie Kropp-Ehrig, Kevin Daniel and Doug and Helen Parker has shown this to be demonstrably false. Depending on your overall opinion of Workers, their above statements could even be considered intentionally misleading.
The other reason for claiming to follow the New Testament church more closely is based on the premise that the primitive church is supposed to the blueprint for the modern church. This premise remains unsupported and will be addressed in later articles, but at its core, Christian primitivism seeks to “correct” certain “failures” of modern Christianity by reconstructing the primitive New Testament church. While there is nothing wrong with valuing and seeking to emulate the early church, I believe the 2×2 Fellowship in general has divided their attention between the enduring nature of God’s kingdom and the historical form by which it began through their inordinate amount of emphasis on “meeting in the home and homeless Workers going two by two”.
To be clear, Chrysostom was addressing the Apostles’ misunderstanding of the Kingdom of God rather than directly criticizing attempts to restore earlier religious practices; however, he also says that their question “shows that they were still attracted by earthly things, though less than they had been”. In Acts 1:8, Jesus gently redirects the Apostles’ attention from restoring a former earthly kingdom to receiving the Holy Spirit and bearing witness to him throughout the world. I believe that 2×2 Fellowship has instead devoted excessive attention to copying the external structures of the primitive church.
Elsewhere, in his answer to some would-be followers, Jesus replied “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God” (Lk 9:62). The imagery of plowing emphasizes that a disciple must remain focused on the task that lies ahead rather than continually looking backward. This passage is different from the Old Testament parallel in 1 Kings 19:19–21 where Elisha was plowing when Elijah called him, and Elijah permitted him to say farewell to his parents before leaving.
In contrast, Jesus’ response in Luke 9 is more demanding, underscoring the urgency of his mission. Although the overall message from Jesus in this passage has more to do with needing quick action without delay, I believe 2x2s spend too much time “looking back” based on the priority they place on reproducing the New Testament practices house churches and disciples being sent in pairs. The fact that they have no formal declaration of actual theological beliefs proves to me that they are too focused on selected superficial similarities to the primitive church. Even St. Paul encouraged “forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead” (Phil 3:13).
Origen of Alexandria (A.D. 239) associates this looking backward with abandoning the spiritual progress made through following Christ. He connects Luke 9:62 with the warning to remember Lot’s wife:
“The righteous stretches forward to the things ahead, forgetting the things behind. Clearly the one disposed contrary to the righteous remembers the things behind and does not stretch forward to the things ahead. Remembering the things behind, he disobeys Jesus teaching and saying, ‘Let him not turn back to take his cloak’ (Luke 9:62); he disobeys Jesus saying, ‘Remember Lot’s wife’; he disobeys Jesus saying, ‘No one who puts hand to the plow and turns back is fit for the kingdom of God.’ (Genesis 19:17) And in the law it is written that the angels said to Lot who had gone out from Sodom: ‘Do not look back, and do not stand in all the surrounding country; escape to the mountain, lest you be taken along.’
And this also has a sense worthy of an angelic spirit: ‘Do not look back’—always stretch forward to the things ahead. You have left Sodom; do not turn toward Sodom. You have left wickedness and sin; do not turn back to it, ‘and do not stand in all the surrounding country.’ Even if you keep the former command that says, ‘Do not look back,’ it is not enough for you to be saved unless you also hear the second command that says, ‘And do not stand in all the surrounding country.’
For one who has begun to progress must not stand in the country around Sodom, even if he has crossed Sodom, but having crossed from standing in the surrounding country he must be saved onto the mountain, according to ‘Do not look back and do not stand in all the surrounding country; escape to the mountain, lest you be taken along.’ If you want not to be taken along with the people of Sodom, never turn back, and do not stand in the country around Sodom, and be nowhere else than on the mountain—for only there is it possible to be saved.” – Homilies on Jeremiah · §13.3
It must be said that Apostles in Acts 1 were not entirely wrong to anticipate the Kingdom of God. According to Chrysostom, they just misunderstood its nature. Similarly, the 2×2 Fellowship is not wrong to value the practices of the early Church. What remains unproven is their assumption is that reproducing certain external practices establishes an exclusive continuity with the Church founded by Christ.
In other words, it was not too long of a reach from assuming apostolic origin to claiming that salvation could only be obtained by hearing the gospel preached by a Worker and that churches that don’t meet in a private home will not be saved. In the Apostles’ case, their attention was focused on the historical model of the Kingdom of Israel. For the 2×2 Fellowship, their focus is on a particular and literal interpretation of the outward form of the first-century Christian ministry. Both approaches risk confusing the historical circumstances in which God’s Kingdom originated with the essential characteristics of the Kingdom itself.
The temptation to apply the wrong degree of emphasis on restoring primitive practices can be irresistible. In general, the 2×2 Fellowship has been incapable of effectively articulating basic beliefs that should be foundational to traditional Christianity. When pressed further, a Worker will reply that “The Bible is our only doctrine”. This non-answer is a mere platitude, since there are hundreds if not thousands of churches that claim their own interpretation of Scripture. They run the risk of having their full understanding of God’s kingdom being limited by their enthusiasm for “meeting in the home and homeless Workers going two by two”.
St. Augustine (A.D. 395) highlights this contrast between Christ’s call to discipleship and backward historical attachment with the dramatic phrase, “The East calls thee, and thou turnest to the West.” (Sermon 100). To Augustine, the “East” represents Christ’s divine calling and the heavenly kingdom ahead, whereas looking “West” (or looking back) represents clinging to earthly attachments and comforts. Applied to the 2×2 Fellowship – it seems that they’re less interested in verbalizing theological truths such as the fully human and divine nature of Jesus Christ and are more concerned with whether people continue meeting in private homes. It is my opinion that, in this setting, 2×2s fall victim to the “stale fantasies of worldly desires” as described by Cyril of Alexandria(On Adoration and Worship in Spirit and Truth, Book 1 §22)
The kingdom of God is not defined by how closely the ministry and practices of the New Testament church are reproduced. More importantly, the 2×2 Fellowship is not made more legitimate because of this fixation on “meeting in the home and homeless Workers going two by two”. Even further, fidelity to Christ is not defined by how closely they replicate the primitive church. Their restorationist preoccupation with recovering the historical circumstances in which Christianity first developed does not equate to the preservation of authentic, apostolic Christianity.
As St. Fulton Sheen wrote back in 1935, “The great characteristic of life is growth…The law of growth was imposed on creation when God told man and the lower creatures of which he was the Master: ‘Increase and multiply’. The same law of growth was imposed on the church when our Lord told His apostles: ‘Preach the gospel to every creature’”. We all entered this world as tiny, helpless newborn humans – yet as adults we bear little resemblance to our humble beginnings. This is precisely why Jesus gave the parable of the mustard seed, showing how the kingdom of God may have started as a tiny seed, but it grows into something global and life-giving.
In his Commentary on Luke, Sermon LIX, Cyril of Alexandria interprets looking backward as evidence of a divided commitment to Christ. The prospective disciple wishes to follow Jesus but remains attached to worldly obligations. He describes a farmer who gets tired and leaves his plowing undone, which results in not having a harvest. He emphasizes spiritual determination rather than recovery of a former way of life. In the 2×2 Fellowship’s case the divided commitment to Christ is not due to laziness as it was with the farmer, it is their continued naive attachment to an idealized past that runs the risk of obscuring the more important continuing mission of the Church.
I do not doubt the zeal of 2×2s or their love of Jesus. The fact remains that the restoration of an ancient religious ecclesiastical structure does not prove continuity with the faith that originally animated it, nor does it guarantee exclusive ownership. This is why the 2×2 Fellowship would do well to heed Augustine’s warning in the same Sermon 100, “Beware, O Christian, beware of pride”.
Author: Randall C. Raine
October 18, 2026
Author’s website: The 2×2 Truth Project https://www.the2x2truthproject.com/acts168?rq=acts%201
St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles, Homily II, on Acts 1:6–8, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 11, edited by Philip Schaff.
St. Fulton Sheen, The Mystical Body of Christ, 2nd ed., Sheed & Ward: 1935, p. 304.