Faith Fundamentals: Doctrine of the Church

Introduction

The church is many things, but at its core it is the collection of Christ followers wherever they choose to gather. It is both local (little c church) and global (big C Church). It is the body of Christ, as well as the bride of Christ. It is governed by the Holy Spirit to expand Christ’s kingdom and ultimately glorify the Father.

A very brief history of the Church

The Church was born on Pentecost not long after Christ’s ascension into heaven when He and the Father poured our His Holy Spirit on Christ’s followers.

Originally the Church was fully Jewish, but the Spirit was poured out on the Gentiles (Acts 10), and thus it became clear that God’s people were no longer a particular race. The Church, God’s people, is composed of every “people, nation, race, language”. Together the Church constitutes the true Israel, ‘a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession’ (1 Peter 2:9)

Despite its Jewish origins, the vast majority of the Jews rejected Jesus as the Messiah and therefore the Church (Christianity) very quickly became a primarily Gentile religion. This is still true today, as most Jews unfortunately still reject Jesus and so are excluded from God’s family.

As the Gospel spread, the Church grew and within just a few hundred years shockingly became the dominant religion of the Roman Empire. It has of course outlived the Empire and continued to spread to the ends of the Earth to this day.

The Church for the most part remained united until 1039 AD, when it split in The Great Schism. This divide happened for several reasons but it ended with the ‘western’ church out of Rome (Roman Catholic), and the ‘eastern’ church out of Constantinople (Eastern Orthodox). The two branches still exist today.

About 500 years later, the Protestant Reformation caused yet another split from the Roman Catholic Church, and in the 500 years since Protestantism has given birth to a silly number of denominations.

Our little corner of Christendom, the independent Christian churches/non-denominational/Stone-Campbell Movement was started in the 1800s.

Despite these numerous ‘fractures’, the vast majority of Christians and churches still fundamentally believe the same things, making us a relatively united religion. I personally consider Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox to all be Christians. We all obviously don’t agree on everything, but we generally should agree on the big things - that’s pretty much how family works.

The Church as body and bride of Christ

The church as a whole is known as the body of Christ. He is our head, and He controls us. This is true at a communal level and individual level.

Romans 12:4–5 “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”

1 Corinthians 6:15 “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!”

1 Corinthians 6:19 “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,”

1 Corinthians 10:16–17 “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.”

1 Corinthians 12:12–14 “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many.”

1 Corinthians 12:18–27 “But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”

Ephesians 1:22–23 “And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”

Colossians 1:18 “And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.”

Colossians 1:24 “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,”

Colossians 2:19 “and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.”

It should be clear that each one of us play a role in the church, both local and universal. Paul compares us to body parts. I like to think of us as each individual cells in the body of Christ.

The Spirit has given us all gifts to use to support the church. Ephesians 4:4–8 “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.””

The Church is also described as the Bride of Christ.

The concept is a continuation of what we see in the Old Testament. Isaiah 62:5 “For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.”

But whereas the Israelites failed in their duty of being a good bride, in Christ, the Church does not and fulfils prophecies like:

Isaiah 61:10 “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”

Jeremiah 33:11 “the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voices of those who sing, as they bring thank offerings to the house of the Lord: “ ‘Give thanks to the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!’ For I will restore the fortunes of the land as at first, says the Lord.”

Historically, the Song of Solomon has been interpreted allegorically as being about the relationship between the Church and Jesus.

In the New Testament we see many references to this beautiful relationship between Christ and the Church:

John the Baptist compares himself to the ‘best man’, with Jesus being the bridegroom in John 3:29 “The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete.”

Jesus calls himself a bridegroom when talking about fasting

Matthew 9:15 “And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

2 Corinthians 11:2 “For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.”

Revelation 19:7–9 “Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.””

Revelation 21:2 “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

Paul notes that the institution of marriage is actually a mystery that refers to the relationship between Christ and the Church. Marriage shouldn’t only show us what that relationship looks like, but in reverse the relationship between Christ and the Church should be a template for our marriages.

Ephesians 5:22–33 “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

The Sacraments

1. The Church partakes in certain rites or sacred rituals. Traditionally this term is sacrament. The sacraments are generally viewed as ‘required’. St. Augustine called them ‘the visible form of invisible grace’. Historically there has been debate on how many ‘sacraments’ there actually are that the church should participate in.

2. Catholics and Orthodox traditionally celebrate 7 sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance & Reconciliation, Healing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Marriage.

3. Protestants have typically boiled the sacraments down to two which are explicitly ordered in Scripture: Baptism and Eucharist (Communion). Those are the two we’ll briefly look at:

Baptism

Baptism was practiced from the very beginning of the Church. Jesus himself was baptized, and he taught the apostles to also baptize. In Peter’s sermon on Pentecost he says, Acts 2:38 “And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

According to Scripture, baptism servers several purposes:

The priority of faith and repentance prior to baptism

The forgiveness of sins

The initiation into Christian fellowship

The impartation of the Holy Spirit

Paul points to baptism as a sign of unity in believers in 1 Corinthians when he’s frustrated at their disunity. 1 Corinthians 1:13–14 “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,”

He also describes baptism as ‘putting on Christ’ in Galatians 3:26–27 “for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”

Paul also describes baptism as partaking in the death and resurrection of Christ:

Romans 6:4 “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

Colossians 2:11–12 “In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.”

The author of Hebrews seems to refer to baptism (washings) as ‘elementary teaching of Christ’ in Hebrews 6:1–2 “Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.”

He also adds in Hebrews 10:22 “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

Peter also talks about baptism in 1 Peter 3:21 “Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,”

Interestingly, the larger context is Peter comparing baptism to the flood of Noah’s day, with the ark representing the Church that saves people from destruction (but they must first go through the waters).

Like most things, there have been arguments over baptism throughout church history. This has primarily related to the form in which baptism takes place and when it should take place.

Form: Three primary forms of baptism have risen in Church history - sprinkling, pouring, and immersion. Sprinkling and pouring are very similar.

The Greek word for baptism (baptizo) seems to refer to dunking or dipping or what we typically call ‘immersion’. To my knowledge, no Christian group would necessarily disagree that this is a ‘wrong’ form of baptism. However, many denominations don’t practice immersion.

The other popular form is sprinkling/pouring - this is typically done within Catholicism, Lutheranism, Orthodox, and so on. While it is done to adults, it is most often seen in the baptism of babies.

This leads to the question of when baptism should take place.

The primary debate on this is if babies (and even young children) should be baptized.

I personally find the need to baptize babies and young children to be theologically questionable with little Biblical support. It usually revolves around the question of ‘original sin’ and/or if baptism is like circumcision of the OT where children did partake.

However, I must admit that the Church practiced infant baptism extremely early - perhaps even in the days of the apostles.

There is a small minority of Christians who think baptism isn’t necessary anymore at all, which I personally don’t quite understand. Regardless of mode and method, Scripture is abundantly clear: every Christian should be baptized.

Communion

The other common sacrament practiced within most churches is communion, or the Eucharist.

Jesus instituted communion at the last supper:

Matthew 26:26–29 “Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.””

Mark 14:22–25 “And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.””

Luke 22:17–20 “And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”

Paul discusses the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:23–26 “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

Interestingly, in the same passage Paul is chastising the Corinthians for abusing the Supper, and alludes to them being punished by God for it:

1 Corinthians 11:27–31 “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.”

Like baptism, there has been no shortage of arguments over Communion throughout Church history. The theological spectrum of communion ranges from:

Transubstantiation: the belief that the bread and wine (or juice) is/becomes the literal body and blood of Christ when we consume it. This is the Catholic belief. Orthodox are similar, but slightly less rigid.

Consubstantiation: the belief that the substance of the bread and wine co-exist with the body and blood of Christ. This is primarily a Lutheran teaching.

Memorial: the belief that communion is more of a memorial of Christ’s death and not the literal body & blood of Christ. This is probably the dominant view among most Protestant denominations. It’s also one of the newest views (having been birthed in the Reformation).

Our theology of communion will impact how we treat it and partake in it. Basically the higher view of it that you have, the better you will treat it. This is why different denominations take communion at different times - from every Sunday, to twice a month, to even just once a year!

So what do I think? I think there is an element of truth in each interpretation, however I personally do lean much more heavily towards transubstantiation than the average Protestant believer.

Jesus makes it clear that “this is my body” and “this is my blood” - something even Martin Luther and John Calvin, two major reformers, were adamant about. The idea of it just being a ‘memorial’ was proposed by another reformer named Zwingli who Luther and Calvin judged to be a heretic on the issue!

Even if the bread and wine (or juice in our case), doesn’t literally become the body and blood of Christ within us (although I don’t rule it out!), Scripture is clear that there is something especially holy and mystical about it! Paul even says the Corinthians were getting sick and dying because they were abusing the Lord’s Supper.

Regardless of your personal view on the matter, some things should be true of Communion:

It should unite us. ‘Community’ is literally in the name. Many churches have made it too individualized. When we partake in the body and blood of Christ, we are connecting ourselves to each other, not just to other believers in the room, but all believers around the world!

The Eucharist as it is formally known, should transform us because it connects us to Christ himself. We are communing not just with each other, but with God. We’re not just remembering Christ’s death, but we are actively participating in it.

Personally, when I take communion, I pray something like, “Lord, as your body and blood course through my veins, transform me into your image, that I may look more and more like Jesus every day. And connect me with the rest of your body both here and the Church around the world that we may do the Father’s will.”

Conclusion

The Church is both beautiful and messy. But she is the body and bride of Christ, and the institution by which God has designated salvation for the world. Humanity needs the church, and if you study history it becomes quite obvious that everywhere the Holy Spirit sends the church, the world gets better. But more than humanity, Christians need the church. It is our “home away from home”.

People love to say, “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian anymore than standing in a garage makes you a car.” Sure, but if you’ve got a nice car, why wouldn’t you put it in the garage?

So let’s love the church, and treat her well - her Husband will much appreciate it. And let’s heed the words of the author of Hebrews, “Do not give up gathering together, as some are in the habit of doing.”