I Beleive in the Holy Catholic Church

The meaning

Now let’s just get it out of the way from the jump – when the creed says “catholic” it does not mean big ‘C’ Roman Catholic.

Remember the Creed has been written and confessed by Christians since the 2nd century, long before there were the divisions of Catholic and Protestant. The word here carries the old meaning of “universal”.

When we confess we believe in the holy catholic church, we are confessing that we believe the church is made up of people from everywhere – from every culture, from every time, from every place in the world. You can go across the world today and you will find communities of God’s people gathered together around His Word and around the sacraments of communion and baptism and the worship of Jesus.

Universal Church - the community of all true believers for all time places, and cultures.

This definition understands the church to be made of all those who are truly saved. Paul says, “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Eph. 5:25).

Here the term “the church” is used to apply to all those whom Christ died to redeem, all those who are saved by the death of Christ.

But that must include all true believers for all time, both believers in the New Testament age and believers in the Old Testament age

There is one people of God.

Local Church -

is a mutually-affirming group of new covenant members and kingdom citizens, identified by regularly gathering together in Jesus’ name through preaching the gospel and celebrating the ordinances.

Ephesians 2:13–22 “13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”

Paul uses word picture to describe the church.

There are three pictures of the church and three principles for conduct.

We have three pictures presented together almost at once: the first, the Church as a great state or kingdom; yes, but it is also a family; yes, and it is also a temple

We are fellow Citizens in the Kingdom of God Kingdom of Citizens

Ephesians 2:19 “19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,”

“So then” introduces the consequence of the preceding verses, that the Gentiles and Jews have been reconciled to one another and to God through the cross. “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints….”

Paul is using the analogy of the church as God’s nation or kingdom. From Abraham until the time of Christ, the Jews were God’s chosen nation. He revealed Himself to them in a way that He did not do with any other people on earth. He made exclusive covenants and promises with them (Rom. 3:1-2; 9:4-5). But now God has created a new man, the church, made up of Jews and Gentiles. The church is presently His kingdom people on this earth. The Gentiles are not second-class citizens in this new people of God, but rather, they are fellow-citizens with the saints (all of God’s holy ones).

Note that Paul again reminds the Gentiles of what they once were: strangers and aliens (see 2:12). He does not want us to forget where we would be if God had not graciously brought us near. The two words are somewhat synonymous, but if there is a distinction, “strangers” refers to a foreigner, while “aliens” refers to the foreigner who lives in the land as a resident alien (Peter O’Brien, The Letter to the Ephesians [Eerdmans/Apollos, 1999], p. 211). Both words convey exclusion. You’re an outsider. Even though you may be living in the country legally, you don’t possess the same rights as legal citizens. You’re treated differently. You don’t’ really belong. As Gentiles, that was our status before the cross.

But now, Paul says, “you are fellow citizens with the saints.” Your spiritual new birth in Christ has made you a natural citizen of His kingdom. You now live under His rule. You now have certain privileges and responsibilities as a member of this spiritual kingdom. You enjoy the benefits that He provides, such as protection from enemies. But also, you must obey His sovereign rule. If He calls you into battle, you must willingly go and fight. If He asks you to represent Him, you gladly do so. As a member of His heavenly kingdom of light, you are distinct from those who are citizens of this earthly kingdom of darkness. The sovereign of this heavenly kingdom demands your total allegiance.

Paul continues to emphasize that the Jews and the Gentiles, who were formerly alienated from one another, are now fellow-citizens in Christ’s kingdom. This means that there are no racial or cultural distinctions among the people of God. We all have equal standing before God in Christ Jesus. Because the church is His kingdom, you must commit yourself to it.

First Peter 2:9-10 puts it this way, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” Then Peter applies it (2:11), “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.”

God’s Way of Reconciliation: An Exposition of Ephesians 2 (Chapter 27: Heavenly Citizenship)

Ye are no more strangers and foreigners’! says the apostle. Well, what are we then? ‘Fellow-citizens with the saints!’ That is the first picture. What does this tell us? Very rich teaching! He compares the Church here to a city, or a state, or a kingdom. It is not surprising that the apostle should have done this. In those ancient times there were great state-cities, or city-states; certain cities were actual states in and of themselves. But over and above that, of course, there were great states, great kingdoms, great empires. The apostle at the time of writing this letter was probably a prisoner in Rome, the very metropolis and centre and nerve of the great Roman Empire. She was the capital city, and she had her peoples scattered abroad through the then civilised world, with governors and other important functionaries carrying out the behests and the orders of the central government and, ultimately, of the emperor. It is not surprising, therefore, that the apostle should have thought that the Christian Church is something like that. She is like a great state, a great empire, a great kingdom, and he uses the illustration to convey some very precious teaching to these Ephesians.

This is not a new idea that suddenly came to the apostle Paul. It is a most important conception that is found right through the Bible. There are great sections of the Scriptures which we simply cannot understand at all unless we grasp this particular idea. In the call of Abraham—which is one of the great turning points in history—God was taking the first steps in the formation of a nation for Himself. Until that point God dealt with the whole world, as it were. The first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis deal with the whole world and the history of the whole world and all its people. But at the beginning of chapter twelve in Genesis, in the call of Abraham, the record begins to deal especially and specifically with the history of one nation. There, at once, we are introduced to this whole idea that God’s people are God’s kingdom, God’s nation—this whole conception of a state. In the nineteenth chapter of Exodus the same thing is repeated very clearly. God told Moses just before the giving of the Ten Commandments and the moral law, that the people were to realise that they were a ‘holy nation’, that they were ‘God’s citizens’, that they belonged to Him, that He was their King, and they His people. That was to control the whole outlook of the children of Israel. Before God took them into the promised land He wanted them to realise this. The whole tragedy of Israel was that they failed to do so. They never realised just this very thing, that they were God’s kingdom, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation unto God. And because of that failure all their tragedy descended upon them, and they cut the sorry figure that we see described in the Old Testament. But again, if you go to the Book of Daniel you will find this conception expounded in a most amazing manner. It is the great message of that book. Everywhere we read of kingdoms, fights between kingdoms and the relationship of this kingdom of God to those other kingdoms; the beasts that represent those other powers—Babylon, which already existed, Medo-Persia Greece, and Rome, which would later arise—and this kingdom. Indeed the message of all the prophets was an attempt to impress upon the children of Israel their peculiar relationship to God as citizens of His eternal kingdom. Then as you come to the New Testament you find this is a central theme in the teaching of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Look at His parables of the kingdom. He always thought in terms of the kingdom. He said He had come to establish a kingdom. He said He was a King—He was crucified for saying that, in a sense, on the purely secular level. All His teaching is about the kingdom, and people entering into His kingdom. He starts by saying it to such a man as Nicodemus: ‘Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God’. It is integral to His whole message. The Sermon on the Mount has been well described as the manifesto of that kingdom. And it is found constantly in the writings of the apostle Paul. You find it likewise in the First Epistle of Peter. He quotes the very words of Exodus 19 and then adds, ‘Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God’ (1 Peter 2:9–10). He applies that to all members of the Christian Church. And in the book of Revelation you find exactly the same thing. It is clear then that this is a vital doctrine in the Bible; and as Christian people it behoves us to study it and to grasp it, and to apply it to ourselves, that we may glory in it and rejoice in it as we are meant to do. What then is the teaching?

We are a distinct people

God’s Way of Reconciliation: An Exposition of Ephesians 2 (Chapter 27: Heavenly Citizenship)

The importance of this doctrine should be self-evident. You cannot be a Christian without being a separated person. You cannot be in the kingdom of God and in the kingdom of ‘the world’ at the same time. There is this fundamental ‘either—or,’ whether we like it or not. This same apostle reminds the Galatians that God in the Lord Jesus Christ ‘hath delivered us from this present evil world’ (Galatians 1:4). In writing to the Colossians he says, ‘Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.’ (1:13). What a tremendously important conception this is! If we are Christians we are separated people, we are no longer like everybody else. But someone may ask, But is not that being Pharisaical? Is not that being proud? Not at all! The Pharisee did separate himself, but it was the way in which he did it that was wrong; it was not the separation which was wrong, it was the spirit in which he did it. I am not advocating the better-than-thou attitude, but what I am saying is that as a citizen of the kingdom of heaven I am different from those who are not citizens of that kingdom. How ready we are to assert this on the national level—I am an Englishman, or whatever else it is. We are very careful to emphasise the distinction, that we are not something else. And yet when we come to the spiritual realm people object to it. That is narrow, they say, that is divisive. But let us be consistent, let us be logical, above all let us be scriptural. Whatever we may think about it, the fact is that as a Christian, as a member of the Church, you have been taken out of the world, you are separated. And unless you realise it and rejoice in it, surely there is very good reason for questioning whether you are Christian at all. It is basic, it is fundamental, it is one of the first things that should be obvious.

But let us go on to something else. The second thing that comes out of that, of necessity, is that the citizens are therefore people who are bound together by a common allegiance to a ruler and to authority and to law, and to a way of life. This is always true of a city, a state or a kingdom. Being thus separated, we are separated for certain specific objects and purposes. There was always a head of a city. He might be a king or he might be somebody appointed, but there was always a head. There is always a head to a state, there is always a king in a kingdom. There is no sense in talking about a kingdom unless you have a king. And the citizens of a kingdom are those who are bound together by a common allegiance to this state, to this king, to this supreme authority, president, or whatever he may be. As citizens we all acknowledge that together. There is this common bond, this common allegiance; we have these common interests together.

We see the importance of this when we apply the concept to the Church. We all acknowledge the same Head, the same King, eternal, everlasting. We have the same common interests. We recognise the same laws. And because of this, we have a common allegiance also to one another. As a direct consequence there are certain things that are peculiar to us which do not apply to other people. This is so elementary that I need not stress it. It is vital, of course, that we should realise that we are not simply speaking about the external, visible Church. The apostle in the whole context of this statement makes it plain and clear that he is thinking spiritually. Let us never lose sight of this fact. We are not simply talking about the Church as an organisation, a visible external organisation; the apostle’s idea is spiritual, mystical and organic. It expresses itself externally, but the vital thing is this internal principle. For, alas, it is possible to be a member of the visible, external Church and yet to be ignorant of Christ, not to know Him, not to be truly, vitally related to Him. There have always been such people, there are still such people; they have been brought up in it, it is tradition, it is something that is part of the social and fashionable round but it is not living, it is not real. Their heart is in the world not in the Church. The greatest tragedy in a sense that has ever taken place in the history of the Church was when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, and that fatal association between Church and State began, which has befogged and confused the situation ever since. This idea of separation has been lost, and people have thought in terms of Christian countries, assuming that everybody in such a country must be a Christian. How utterly opposed to Paul’s teaching! No, it is not merely the external. What Paul means is that as Christians we are citizens of Christ’s kingdom. Where is Christ’s kingdom? Christ’s kingdom is wherever Christ reigns; therefore, Christ’s kingdom can be in the heart of an individual. He reigns in the hearts of all who belong to Him and who have submitted themselves to Him. Christ’s kingdom is on earth and in heaven, in His people. His kingdom is not of this world, it is invisible for the time being, but it is real. Christ’s reign and rule and authority, wherever it is, is His kingdom. That is the thing about which the apostle is speaking. Christ is our Prophet, our Priest, our King, and all who recognise His rule, and who bow to Him in allegiance, are citizens of His eternal kingdom. The value and the importance of looking at it like this becomes evident when we realise that he tells us, that here and now we can be citizens of that kingdom which is to last for ever and ever. We enter it now, we shall continue in it through all eternity.

We are a part of the Family of God.

Ephesians 2:19–20 “19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,”

This is an advance on the idea of being members of God’s kingdom or nation. To be a citizen of a kingdom is a great privilege, but it is rather impersonal and large-scale. I don’t know any of our government leaders personally and they don’t know me. There are millions of citizens of our nation. But, to be a member of a household is personal and more intimate. Family members know one another pretty well. In Paul’s day, to be a member of a household meant refuge, protection, and identity (O’Brien, p. 212).

The sense of belonging is much stronger in a family than in a national sense. I read about a student who went to a university away from his hometown. In the evenings, he would often take a walk. He was lonely because he was away from his family. He would sometimes look into the well-lit windows of homes that he would walk by and see the families gathered around the dinner table. Occasionally, a family member would see him outside and get up and close the curtain. He felt excluded from that household!

But, Paul says, though you once were excluded, now you are of God’s household. You’re family. You’re included. When the family gets together, you want to be there, because it is a great privilege to be a member of this family. When they talk about the things that matter most to the family, the things of God, you delight in the conversation. You want to hang out with the family when they get together just because you’re family. If the family of God gathers for worship, you’re there. If they gather for a meal, you join them. If they meet to talk about family matters, you’re there. You’re committed because you’re part of the family. Do you see the difference between attending church and being a member of God’s family?

So, you must marry the church because it is God’s kingdom and His household, or family. But Paul goes even higher:

The presence of God is present in us.

Ephesians 2:21–22 “21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”

Paul uses a third analogy, of a building. But he is not talking about just any building, but rather, the temple, where God manifests His presence in a special way. God is omnipresent, but there is a special sense in which He dwells in His holy temple. The Jews experienced this as the Shekinah, the brilliant manifestation of the glory of God. But now, Paul says, the church is this temple.

Keep in mind that Paul is talking about the church as people, not as a literal building. In the Old Testament era, the temple was a sacred building. It may have been appropriate then for some old saint to tell the children, “Behave yourself! Don’t you know that this is God’s house?” But for New Testament believers, there is no such thing as a sacred building. God’s temple now consists of His people. The New Testament sometimes refers to individual believers as God’s temple, where His Holy Spirit dwells (1 Cor. 6:19). But here Paul is referring to the saints corporately in a given locale. The people of God who gather in that locale are together the temple where God is worshiped and where He dwells.

Paul describes here the foundation, the formation, and the function of this new temple of God

The corporate church

A. The foundation: God founded the church on New Testament truth, with Jesus Christ central to everything (2:20).

The church is built “on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone.” Paul means that the foundation consists of the apostles and prophets, with Christ being the cornerstone. Apostles refers to the Twelve and Paul, along with James and, perhaps, Barnabas (1 Cor. 15:7; Gal. 1:19; 2:7-9; 1 Cor. 9:6). They had seen the risen Lord Jesus and He commissioned them with special authority to found the church. Prophets refers to New Testament prophets in the early church (Eph. 3:5; 4:11). Before the canon of the New Testament was completed, the prophets received direct revelation from God to build up and encourage the church (Acts 15:32; 1 Cor. 14:3, 29-32). While there is debate over whether the gift or office of prophet is still functional in the church today, Paul’s point here is, the church was founded on the truth that we now possess in the New Testament, the testimony about Jesus Christ.

This means that one crucial criterion for you to consider before you marry a particular local church is, does it emphasize the preaching of God’s Word as His absolute truth? If the leaders of the church dodge certain doctrines in the Bible because they are not popular or they compromise key doctrines for the sake of “unity” with other churches that do not hold to these truths, you should not commit yourself to that church (2 Tim. 4:1-5).

Not only is the church founded on New Testament truth, but also, that truth necessarily puts Jesus Christ in the center of everything. He is the cornerstone. Some argue that this refers to the capstone that finished off a building. But the context here clearly shows that Paul is talking about the foundation stone that was first laid at the corner. It had to be positioned perfectly, because all of the lines of the building came off that corner stone.

Isaiah 28:16 prophesied of Christ, “Therefore thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed.’” Psalm 118:22predicted of Jesus, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner stone” (see Matt. 21:42).

This means that “the temple is built out and up from the revelation given in Christ, with the apostles and prophets elaborating and explaining the mystery, which had been made known to them by the Holy Spirit (3:4-11, esp. v. 5). ‘But all is built on Christ, supported by Christ, and the lie or shape of the continuing building is determined by Christ, the cornerstone’” (O’Brien, pp. 217-218, citing M. Turner, New Bible Commentary in the last sentence). Thus any church that diminishes the person or work of Jesus Christ is not a true church. Any church that undermines the inspiration and authority of the Bible must be rejected. Such churches are buildings without a solid foundation.

B. The formation: God is fitting and growing the members of the church together into a holy temple in the Lord (2:21).

“In whom” (2:21 & 22) refers to Christ. Everything depends on being in union with Him. In Him, “the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord.” Paul mixes metaphors here, in that he first refers to the church as stones in the temple, which were carefully fit together. But since “dead stones” is an inadequate picture, he shifts to a living analogy, stating that they are growing into a holy temple. So, like Peter, he views the church as living stones, an intriguing oxymoron!

In the construction of Solomon’s Temple, the stones were quarried and shaped away from the construction site and then brought to the site and fitted carefully together (1 Kings 6:7). It is a picture of the Lord fitting us together with one another, so that each stone contributes a vital part to the entire wall. Individual stones are not of much value apart from the whole, but when they are fit together, the entire structure becomes a beautiful, functional place where God is worshiped. The implication is that it is only in close relationships with one another that God uses us for His purpose and glory. To do that, He often has to chip off our rough edges, which is a painful process! It is often through relational conflicts in the church that we learn where we need to grow and change. If we submit to the process, the end result is worth it!

C. The function: God is building the church together to be His own dwelling place in the Spirit (2:22).

What an amazing truth: God is building us together into His dwelling place in the Spirit! In the Old Testament, the temple was the special place where God met with His people and revealed Himself. But now, not in a physical building, but in the hearts of His people gathered in one locale, knit together in love (Col. 2:2), God dwells.

As stated explicitly in verse 21 and implicitly in verse 22, the church as God’s dwelling place must be holy. Temple refers to the inner sanctuary, the most holy place. God does not dwell where sin is tolerated or excused away. How much of your behavior would you change if you sensed that you were gathering each week in a place where God in all of His holiness dwells? If you had an awareness of God’s presence in your life personally, would you live differently? In one of his books, Watchman Nee says that if you have a small amount of change in your pocket, you can walk along rather carefree. But if you have a large amount of money in your pocket, you’ll walk more carefully, guarding the treasure. When we realize that both individually and corporately, the living God dwells in our midst, we will be careful to walk in holiness.

This also means that when we gather as the church, we should come to meet with God. We want to sense His presence in our midst. As Moses prayed (Exod. 33:15), if the Lord’s presence does not go with us, we don’t want to go at all! So pray and prepare your heart before you gather with the saints, “Lord, I want to meet with You! I want You to show your glory in Your temple!”

Individual believers

Holy

God’s Way of Reconciliation: An Exposition of Ephesians 2 (Chapter 30: An Habitation of God)

As you walk around this building and look at it, what is your main impression? Well, says the apostle, the main impression that this building gives is an impression of ‘holiness’. He does not say a word about the size, he does not say anything about its ornate character. He does not say that there is anything showy about it. But he does say that it is holy. That is its great characteristic. ‘… groweth unto an holy temple, in the Lord’. ‘In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God, through the Spirit.’ Oh, how we have forgotten this characteristic! How sadly is it being forgotten today! Surely this was the fatal thing that happened when Constantine linked the Roman State with the Christian Church. It was forgotten that she is a holy temple, that the main characteristic of the Church is always that it should be holy—not that it should be large or influential. You remember the statement that was once made by a man, perhaps partly jocularly but, also, how truly! In discussing the question of miracles in the Church this man pointed out that it was when the Church could say, ‘Silver and gold have I none’ that she could go on to say, ‘In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk’. The Church today can make neither of the statements. She has got the silver and gold, she has become great and powerful; but she has forgotten holiness. But this is the characteristic of the temple, a ‘holy people’, a ‘place meet for God to dwell in’.

Would that in all our talking and thinking and arguing concerning unity today this principle were put at the centre. But it is not. What are being discussed today are various points of view about ordination; whether bishops are of the esse of the Church or only the bene esse, and so on; mere mechanical matters! As if these were the things that count! As the apostle goes on to say in chapter 4, the one guarantee of true unity in the Church is the unity of the Holy Spirit, the unity of holiness, the unity of holy people. When holiness is the main characteristic, the unity looks after itself. When holiness is put at the centre, much has to go, before much can come in. Every revival, every great increase in the Church in her long history has always followed this pattern. It was when Wesley and Whitefield and others had had their ‘Holy Club’ that the revival came 200 years ago. You start with holiness, and then the numbers increase. But if you try to add to the number without the holiness, you will not have a ‘temple in the Lord’. You will have a great organisation, you will have a flourishing business concern, you will have a marvellous institution; but it will not be the place where God dwells. It may be a place of entertainment and of much bustling activity, but it will not be the Church of the living God. Holiness is her main characteristic.