The Church: Visible and Invisible
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What is the Church?
What is the Church?
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones once said he was certain that the failure of Christian ministers to teach on the doctrine of the church in the past century was the main reason for much of the problems we are encountering in Christianity today.
It’s a strong statement but I’m minded to agree with him. The lack of teaching on the nature, the purpose and the marks of a true Church from the pulpit is causing untold ruin. There is so little interest in the subject in general. Even sadly amongst theologians, who are prone to treat the matter lightly or not at all in their Systematic theology books. As a rule of thumb, our culture centres on the individual rather than the corporate - self expression, self determination, self worth etc. So it’s no suprise that often the things that appeal to us in the Bible are those things that speak about us as an individual. How does God see me? What is my identity, what is my purpose etc. And though there’s a lot to gain from asking those questions, we need to see that God’s heart for us isn’t individualism, but is community in His Church.
But if we don’t really know what a true church ought to look like, how on earth will we know when we’ve found one? If we don’t know or understand our purpose and responsibility within the church how can will fulfil it?
Are we willing to take a fresh look together at what the Bible has to say about what Church is? Are we willing to have our conception of what Church is all about transformed by God’s word? Because I can assure you, The Church is God’s idea, not mans. We are not free as ministers to define Church for ourselves, we do not have the liberty to reinvent and reimagine it’s mission, it’s purpose, it’s government. The Church was instituted by God and it belongs to Him, and we must shape our understanding of it according to what His word tells us about it.
What if it’s possible that our understanding of what Church is has actually been shaped not just by scripture but by other influences? We definitely need to acknowledge the fact that a Christian’s relationship to church in 2023 is very different to what it would have been in 1423, but why is that? We will take a look in this series at the impact of the reformation on our understanding of Church, and also at other cultural, philosophical shifts that have changed the way Christians think about Church for better and for worse.
So what is church?
Is it an institution?
A building?
A community of people who are pursuing a shared vision?
Or is it more?
EKKLESIA
The word Church, which derives from the word Kirk is believed to have come from Greek work Kyriakon, which means The Lord’s House, or simply ‘of The Lord.’ And so you can see how this Anglo-Saxon word Kirk or Church/The Lord’s House led to many associating the idea of Church with a building.
But the word used in the Bible for Church is actually quite different - it is the word Ekklesia. A compound word made up of Ek, meaning ‘out’ and Kaleo meaning ‘call.’ There is no instance anywhere in the Bible of a building being called an Ekklesia. The Ekklesia, is a group of people. It’s a people who have been called out. Called out of what?
Called out of the world - John 15:19
If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
Out of sin - Ephesians 2:1-7
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
out from the power of Satan - Col 1:13-14
13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Out of darkness into light - 1 Pet 2:9
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
By who? Who does the calling? God is the one doing the calling. The Church is a body of people, a people who God has called out. For what purpose? That they should worship Him.
Though it’s true that the word Ekklesia means ‘called out ones’, that’s actually not the primary way the word was understood at the time. When ordinary Greek speakers in the first century heard the word ‘ekklesia’, (and it was a very common word) they didn’t think ‘ah yes, the called out of the world ones!’. No it had a very ordinary meaning, which the Apostles understood well.
Deissmann - The Ekklesia is the convened assembly
The word qahal in the OT - public gathering, community meeting.
The ekklesia is a gathering, a convened assembly of the people of God into one place. So the Church is not a building, it’s not a place, it’s not an institution, it’s a people!
5 Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in Asia.
Paul says greet the church in their house. The house was not the church, the people were. You can’t greet a building, you can’t greet an institution either. You can only greet people.
In fact the word ekklesia is never used in scripture to refer to an institution, an organisation, a movement or an individual. Most of the time the Apostles use the word ekklesia, they are referring to specific local gatherings of Christians in a particular place.
2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
2 and all the brothers who are with me,
To the churches of Galatia:
So what the Apostles meant by Ekklesia wasn’t just the spiritual sense of people who have been chosen out of the world by God. It was far more practical - they meant Christians who are gathering together for worship locally.
So the idea of coming together was absolutely central to the Apostles conception of what Church was about. You hear it said sometimes; ‘church isn’t a building, the church is you, it’s me.’ And they’re right to a point, you and I may be members of God’s universal church, but if we neglect actually gathering together for worship we aren’t actually being the Church in the way that the Apostles understood it.
24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. - Heb 10:24-25
There are sometimes things in life that may keep us from attending the church gathering from time to time, like we all experienced during the pandemic. But the ordinary pattern of our lives as Christians should be marked by regular church attendance. It’s a supernatural means of grace into our lives, Church is there for your upbuilding, for your growth as a Christian, and also there as a place for you to operate in your gifting.
And so what is the Church? One definition is that it’s God’s people, It’s His chosen, His elect, called out of the world in order to gather together and serve Him.
God is the founder of the Church, it was He who began it, He was the instigator or it. Not any human, no philosopher or philanthropist, no theologian or visionary, but God. The Church is therefore different from every other religious group, institution or organisation or institution on the planet. It is supernatural in it’s origin. It exists because God brought it into existence, and because of this one fact it will never cease to exist, no matter how much persecution or error there is within and without.
Belgic Confession - Article 27
This church has existed from the beginning of the world
and will last until the end,
as appears from the fact
that Christ is eternal King
who cannot be without subjects.
And this holy church is preserved by God
against the rage of the whole world,
even though for a time
it may appear very small
to human eyes—
as though it were snuffed out.
For example,
during the very dangerous time of Ahab
the Lord preserved for himself seven thousand
who did not bend their knees to Baal.
It became popular amongst liberal theologians in the enlightenment to deny that Jesus ever intended to start the Christian Church, and to put it on par with any other well-meaning humanitarian organisation. Sadly some of this thinking has crept into modern day evangelicalism. But the Church was and is, God’s idea. And so however many problems we see within the Church we must always be careful not to malign it, we have to remember that it belongs to Him, it’s His plan, and He began it, and He is sustaining it.
The Church of God doesn’t begin and end with us - we are simply one expression of God’s great universal Ekklesia which has existed throughout the ages.
The word ekklesia is actually used in the old testament and in the new to describe the people of Israel.
38 This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:
The Church of God actually predates Pentecost, before The Church in the upper Room there was the nation of Israel, before that The Church was through the Patriarchs, Abraham, Noah. God has always had a specific people for Himself. And though these expressions and forms of Church throughout human history look different from one another, they are all part of God’s plan of salvation for humanity. And now through Christ, the promise of salvation has gone out to all nations, and His Church made up of people from every kind of cultural background you can imagine!
9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,
We are sat here today in what theologians call the visible church. We are a visible expression of God’s Ekklesia on earth. But I want you to the Church is much bigger than this, in fact it’s bigger than all the churches in the whole world.
The Apostles also used the word Ekklesia to describe what theologians call ‘the invisible Church’, that is all believers, all of God’s elect throughout the ages, both on earth and in heaven.
“The Visible church is church as man sees it, the invisible church is the church as God sees it.” - Berkhof
It’s impossible to be a Christian and not be a member of this invisible/spiritual church. There is no salvation outside of it. Just as the only hope of salvation for Noah was in the Ark, so to the only hope of salvation for us is in Christ and in His Church.
Article 28: The Obligations of Church Members
We believe that
since this holy assembly and congregation
is the gathering of those who are saved
and there is no salvation apart from it,
people ought not to withdraw from it,
content to be by themselves,
regardless of their status or condition.
But all people are obliged
to join and unite with it,
keeping the unity of the church
by submitting to its instruction and discipline,
by bending their necks under the yoke of Jesus Christ,
and by serving to build up one another,
according to the gifts God has given them
as members of each other
in the same body.
Are you a member of this mystical body? The body of Christ? The invisible church? If so, then let’s evaluate our involvement in the visible church...