The Doctrine of the Church

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The Church forms a spiritual unity of which Christ is the divine Head. It is animated by one Spirit, the Spirit of Christ; it professes one faith, shares one hope, and serves one King. — L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans publishing co., 1938), 564.

Jesus said, “On this rock I will build my church” (Matt. 16:18); it wasn’t someone else’s church to which He was merely making additions, but the church itself He was building and of which He is the foundation. Earl Radmacher (b. 1933) said, When Jesus established “my ekklesia” [assembly] it was as different from the Old Testament ekklesia as it was from the numerous “Greek ekklesiai,” etc. The content of ekklesia is determined by its modifiers. (NC, 134) The modifier “my” makes this ekklesia one that Christ built Himself. — Norman L. Geisler, Systematic Theology, Volume Four: Church, Last Things (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers, 2005), 23.

The universal church is also called by many other names; one book, Images of the Church in the New Testament by Paul Minear (b. 1906), lists ninety-six different figures of speech, each revealing a different dimension of Christ’s relationship to the church. — Norman L. Geisler, Systematic Theology, Volume Four: Church, Last Things (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers, 2005), 47–48.

The church is the community of all true believers for all time. This definition understands the church to be made of all those who are truly saved — Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House, 2004), 853.

Jesus Christ himself builds the church by calling his people to himself. He promised, “I will build my church” (Matt. 16:18). And Luke is careful to tell us that the growth of the church came not by human effort alone, but that “the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47). But this process whereby Christ builds the church is just a continuation of the pattern established by God in the Old Testament whereby he called people to himself to be a worshiping assembly before him. — Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House, 2004), 853.

Therefore, even though there are certainly new privileges and new blessings that are given to the people of God in the New Testament, both the usage of the term “church” in Scripture and the fact that throughout Scripture God has always called his people to assemble to worship himself, indicate that it is appropriate to think of the church as constituting all the people of God for all time, both Old Testament believers and New Testament believers. — Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House, 2004), 854.

The invisible church is the church as God sees it. In its true spiritual reality as the fellowship of all genuine believers, the church is invisible. This is because we cannot see the spiritual condition of people’s hearts. This is why Paul says, “The Lord knows those who are his” (2 Tim. 2:19) — Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House, 2004), 855.

Augustine said that the invisible church is found substantially within the visible church. Imagine two circles. The first circle has “the visible church” written on it. That’s the outward, humanly perceivable, institutional church as we know it. The invisible church, as another circle, exists substantially within the circle of the visible church. — R. C. Sproul, What Is the Church?, First edition., The Crucial Questions Series (Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2013), 25.

Within the physical confines of the institutional church there are people who are true believers, but there are also unbelievers inside the visible, institutional church. They’re in the church, but they’re not in Christ because they’ve made a false profession of faith. Jesus said of some of His contemporaries, “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” (Matt. 15:8). Jesus recognized that there were people within Israel who were not true believers. Paul said something similar: “Not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel” (Rom. 9:6) — R. C. Sproul, What Is the Church?, First edition., The Crucial Questions Series (Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2013), 25–26.

The visible church is the church as Christians on earth see it. In this sense the visible church includes all who profess faith in Christ and give evidence of that faith in their lives. When Paul writes his epistles he writes to the visible church in each community: “To the church of God which is at Corinth” (1 Cor. 1:2); “To the church of the Thessalonians” (1 Thess. 1:1); “To Philemon … and Apphia … and Archippus … and the church in your house” (Philem. 1–2). we could say today that the visible church is the group of people who come together each week to worship as a church and profess faith in Christ — Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House, 2004), 856.

Of the 115 New Testament references to church or churches, nearly one hundred of them refer to the visible church(es). The biblical writers’ efforts were focused in that direction; after all, the invisible church is Christ’s spiritual body, which is His exclusive work, while the local visible church(es) are a work of Christ’s disciples on earth — Norman L. Geisler, Systematic Theology, Volume Four: Church, Last Things (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers, 2005), 65.

John wrote to seven local churches: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea (Rev. 2–3). Paul addressed most of his epistles to local churches. — Norman L. Geisler, Systematic Theology, Volume Four: Church, Last Things (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers, 2005), 65.

Realizing this distinction between the church invisible and the church visible, Augustine said of the visible church, “Many sheep are without and many wolves are within. Calvin warned against this danger by saying that we must make a “charitable judgment” whereby we recognize as members of the church all who “by confession of faith, by example of life, and by partaking of the sacraments, profess the same God and Christ with us.” We should not try to exclude people from the fellowship of the church until they by public sin bring discipline upon themselves — Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House, 2004), 857.

There are many indications (most of which are contained in the above discussion) that each local church had its own autonomy. Each church: (1) had its own officers (Phil. 1:1; Acts 14:2); (2) had its own membership rolls (1 Tim. 5:9); (3) elected its own officers (Acts 6:1–7); (4) sent its own representatives to the Jerusalem conference (Acts 15:2); (5) had its own duty to deal with internal difficulties (1 Cor. 6:1–5); (6) disciplined its own members (5:1–5); (7) had authority to extend fellowship to those of other churches (Gal. 2:9); (8) sent its own missionaries (Acts 13:2); (9) bore its own responsibility to its invisible Head (Rev. 1–3); (10) had freedom to cooperate with other churches (2 Cor. 8:8–19); and (11) had authority to guard and administer its own ordinances (1 Cor. 11:23). — Norman L. Geisler, Systematic Theology, Volume Four: Church, Last Things (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers, 2005), 124.

The Purposes of the Local Church — Norman L. Geisler, Systematic Theology, Volume Four: Church, Last Things (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers, 2005), 94-95.

First, in relation to God, the church’s purpose is to glorify Him:

Second, in relation to the universal church, the purpose of the local church is to be a visible manifestation, an outward expression of the inward character of Christ’s body, manifesting its recognition of His headship and our unity

Third, in relation to other believers, the purpose is to edify Christ’s body:

Fourth, in relation to unbelievers, the purpose is evangelism. ...edification is the internal mission of the church, and evangelism is the external mission

Finally, in relation to the angels, the church’s purpose should be to exhibit God’s wisdom and grace

Paul Minear remarks on the ‘diverse origins of the analogies: in home life, in wedding customs, in farm and lake, in city streets and temple, in kitchen and in courtroom, in ancient legends and contemporary events’. Certainly the major areas of human life are drawn from: — Edmund P. Clowney, “Interpreting the Biblical Models of the Church a Hermeneutical Deepening of Ecclesiology,” in Biblical Interpretation and the Church: Text and Context, ed. D. A. Carson, electronic ed. (Exeter: Paternoster Press, 2000), 75–76.

family life, for we are described as the family of God (Eph. 3:14), his sons and daughters (Deut. 14:1; Hos. 1:10; Isa. 43:6; 2 Cor. 6:18) and therefore brothers and sisters in our relations to one another (Matt. 12:49, 50; 23:8; 1 Jn. 4:21);

comunity life, for the tabernacle and temple symbolize God’s dwelling in the midst of his people (1 Ki. 8:12, 13, 27).

Marriage is used, for Israel appears as the unfaithful bride of Yahweh (Hos. 2:14–20) and the N.T. church is presented as the bride of Christ (2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:32).

The language of covenant uses the figure of the suzerainty treaty to describe the bond that God establishes with his people (cf 1 Sam. 11:1; Exod. 24:7, 8).

The world of agriculture is well represented: bread and wine (1 Cor. 10:16–18), the vine and vineyards (Jn. 15:5; Matt. 21:33–44), the fig and olive trees (Mk. 11:13, 14; Rom. 11:17–24), God’s field and his planting (1 Cor. 3:9), the sowing and the reaping of the Lord (Matt. 13:1–30; Jn. 4:35).

Often linked with agriculture is the world of construction. The church is the house and temple of God (Eph. 2:20; 1 Cor. 3:16, 17), an edifice built on a rock (Matt. 16:18), the pillar and ground of truth (1 Tim. 3:15), God’s building of living stones (1 Pet. 2:3–5).

The very organism of our bodies becomes a major metaphor, for we are members of the body of Christ, formed to minister to one another in union with him.

The People of God

The importance of this image for New Testament ecclesiology may be briefly indicated by reference to the frequency of its appearance. It is to be found in fourteen New Testament writings. In seven others, equivalent expressions are used, such as Israel, the circumcision, the twelve tribes, the household of God (Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, James).

Matt. 1:21; 2:6; 4:16, 23

John 11:50; 18:14

Rom. 9:25–26; 11:1 f.; 15:10

Titus 2:14 NASB95

who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

Acts 3:23; 7:34; 13:17–31; 15:14; 18:10

2 Cor. 6:16

Heb. 2:17; 4:9; 8:10; 10:30; 13:12

1 Peter 2:9–10 NASB95

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.

Its previous existence was one of shadowy nonexistence in darkness. The transition into being coincided with the transforming operation of God’s mercy. This transition was, in turn, inseparable from the vocation of declaring God’s wonderful deeds — Paul S. Minear, Images of the Church in the New Testament, ed. C. Clifton Black, John T. Carroll, and Beverly Roberts Gaventa, The New Testament Library (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004), 69.

Rev. 18:4; 21:3

Luke 1:17, 77; 2:10, 31–32; 7:16

God separating/identifying His people — covenanting with them (cf Rediscover Church)

New Creation

If any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold the new has come. (2 Cor. 5:17.)

It identifies Jesus Christ as the agent through whom God’s hand is at work. “We are his [God’s] workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Eph. 2:10.) Christ is the “beginning of God’s creation” (Rev. 3:14) in whom, for whom, and through whom all things are created (Col. 1:16). — Paul S. Minear, Images of the Church in the New Testament, ed. C. Clifton Black, John T. Carroll, and Beverly Roberts Gaventa, The New Testament Library (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004), 112.

Col. 3:10. You have put off the old nature [man] with its practices and have put on the new nature [man], which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. Here there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcized and uncircumcized, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all and in all.

The old humanity is inseparable from its distinctive practices, which fully correspond to the “bondage to decay” as described in Rom., ch. 8. (The parallel passage in Eph. 4:22 strongly suggests that correspondence.)

The new humanity is characterized by a continuing renewal in knowledge or, as the Ephesians parallel suggests, in the mind that chooses righteousness and holiness.

This choice of one humanity against another, however, is not a matter of private morality, but a matter of choosing a society and a kinship. In one humanity the distinctions between races, religions, cultural and economic classes, remain unbridged and in fact unbridgeable. In the other humanity such divisions have been radically transcended and overcome.

The new solidarity of the new mankind conforms to the image of God, an image in the direction of which the renewal causes it to move.

This image (a corporate image, let us remember) is the image of Christ, who himself is in all; he is the indwelling principle and the power by which cohesion and renewal are realized. His is the new nature, which has been “put on” by those who belong to him, the mark of this fact being the renewed act of putting on this new nature, “created after the likeness of God” (Eph. 4:24). — Paul S. Minear, Images of the Church in the New Testament, ed. C. Clifton Black, John T. Carroll, and Beverly Roberts Gaventa, The New Testament Library (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004), 114.

Kingdom of God

representatives of it

Ladd goes on to summarize five specific aspects of the relationship between the kingdom and the church: — Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House, 2004), 863–864.

(1) The church is not the kingdom (for Jesus and the early Christians preached that the kingdom of God was near, not that the church was near, and preached the good news of the kingdom, not the good news of the church: Acts 8:12; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23, 31).

(2) The kingdom creates the church (for as people enter into God’s kingdom they become joined to the human fellowship of the church).

(3) The church witnesses to the kingdom (for Jesus said, “this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world,” Matt. 24:14).

(4) The church is the instrument of the kingdom (for the Holy Spirit, manifesting the power of the kingdom, works through the disciples to heal the sick and cast out demons, as he did in the ministry of Jesus: Matt. 10:8; Luke 10:17).

(5) The church is the custodian of the kingdom (for the church has been given the keys of the kingdom of heaven: Matt. 16:19).

The kingdom manifests itself through the church, and thereby the future reign of God breaks into the present (it is “already” here: Matt. 12:28; Rom. 14:17; and “not yet” here fully: Matt. 25:34; 1 Cor. 6:9–10).

Therefore those who believe in Christ will begin to experience something of what God’s final kingdom reign will be like: — Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House, 2004), 864.

they will know some measure of victory over sin (Rom. 6:14; 14:17), over demonic opposition (Luke 10:17), and over disease (Luke 10:9).

They will live in the power of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 12:28; Rom. 8:4–17; 14:17), who is the dynamic power of the coming kingdom.

Eventually Jesus will return and his kingdom reign will extend over all creation (1 Cor. 15:24–28)

The Fellowship in Faith/Family of God

light, bonds of love, communion of Holy Spirit

All these are marks and fruits of sonship —Paul S. Minear, Images of the Church in the New Testament, ed. C. Clifton Black, John T. Carroll, and Beverly Roberts Gaventa, The New Testament Library (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004), 170.

by obeying God (Mark 3:35; 1 Peter 1:14)

by work of reconciliation (Matt. 5:9)

by the love of enemies (Matt. 5:41–45)

by loving the brothers (1 John 3:10–11)

by walking as children of light (Eph. 5:8)

by living free from fear of death (Heb. 2:15)

by being sanctified in Christ (Heb. 2:11)

by watchfulness and soberness (1 Thess. 5:5 f.)

by drawing and accepting the hatred of the world (John 15:18 f.)

by imitating God (Eph. 5:1)

by walking according to the Spirit (Rom. 8:14)

by conquering temptation (Rev. 21:7)

by the acceptance of discipline (Heb. 12:15 f.)

by living in freedom from law (Gal. 4:5)

by coming to Jesus for forgiveness and healing (Mark 2:5)

by hoping in God (1 John 3:1–3)

by relying solely on faith (Gal. 3:26)

by continuing the mission of Jesus to the world (John 17:18–23)

Although this term adelphotēs appeared only twice (1 Peter 2:17; 5:9), the idea is much more pervasive. Shared by this brotherhood was unity of spirit, suffering, sympathy, humility. (1 Peter 3:8; 5:9.) The salutation “brothers” was in the New Testament the most natural (and therefore most quickly conventionalized) way to address fellow Christians or a congregation as a whole. But the salutation reminds us that the birth of the brotherhood was explicitly traced to the work of “the first-born of many brethren.”Brotherhood referred to the mutuality of sharing in his sanctification, his suffering, his death, his spirit, his Kingdom. (Rom. 8:29–30; Heb. 2:11 f.) — Paul S. Minear, Images of the Church in the New Testament, ed. C. Clifton Black, John T. Carroll, and Beverly Roberts Gaventa, The New Testament Library (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004), 171.

There are several family images—for example, Paul views the church as a family when he tells Timothy to act as if all the church members were members of a larger family: “Do not rebuke an older man but exhort him as you would a father; treat younger men like brothers, older women like mothers, younger women like sisters, in all purity” (1 Tim. 5:1–2). God is our heavenly Father (Eph. 3:14), and we are his sons and daughters, for God says to us, “I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty” (2 Cor. 6:18). We are therefore brothers and sisters with each other in God’s family (Matt. 12:49–50; 1 John 3:14–18). — Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House, 2004), 858.

The Body of Christ

the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12–27). We should recognize that Paul in fact uses two different metaphors of the human body when he speaks of the church.

In 1 Corinthians 12 the whole body is taken as a metaphor for the church, because Paul speaks of the “ear” and the “eye” and the “sense of smell” (1 Cor. 12:16–17). In this metaphor, Christ is not viewed as the head joined to the body, because the individual members are themselves the individual parts of the head. Christ is in this metaphor the Lord who is “outside” of that body that represents the church and is the one whom the church serves and worships.

But in Ephesians 1:22–23; 4:15–16, and in Colossians 2:19, Paul uses a different body metaphor to refer to the church. In these passages Paul says that Christ is the head and the church is like the rest of the body, as distinguished from the head: “We are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love” (Eph. 4:15–16).

We should not confuse these two metaphors in 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4, but keep them distinct. — Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House, 2004), 858–859.

Ephesians 4:11–13: And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.

do you have to go to church to be a Christian? Is church attendance, if you’re physically able, a requirement to go to heaven? In a very technical sense, the answer is no. However, we need to remember a few things. Christ commands His people not to forsake the assembling together (Heb. 10:25). When God constituted the people of Israel, He organized them into a visible nation and placed upon them a sober and sacred obligation to be in corporate worship before Him. If a person is in Christ, he is called to participate in koinonia—the fellowship of other Christians and the worship of God according to the precepts of Christ. If a person knows all these things and persistently and willfully refuses to join in them, would that not raise serious questions about the reality of that person’s conversion? — R. C. Sproul, What Is the Church?, First edition., The Crucial Questions Series (Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2013), 24.

“You don’t have to go to church to be a Christian. And you don’t have to go home to be married either. But — if you don’t, it makes for a pretty sorry relationship.” (R. Kent Hughes & W. Carey Hughes, Disciplines of a Godly Young Man, Crossway, 2012, pp 135)

Ekklessia — assembly of the called out people of God. ekklesia in the Scriptures, means something that is called out of something else

The reason the church is called the ekklesia is that the church is the company/assembly of people who have been called out of the world to holiness by God. — R. C. Sproul, What Is the Church?, First edition., The Crucial Questions Series (Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2013), 34.

We remember that when God formed Israel, He said to them: “For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy” (Lev. 11:44). Long before Paul wrote epistles to the saints—the holy ones—at Ephesus, Corinth, or Thessalonica, the idea that the church was a people that had been called out into holiness by God was already deeply and firmly established in the Old Testament. Letters were to the saints — R. C. Sproul, What Is the Church?, First edition., The Crucial Questions Series (Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2013), 34–35.

The church has a holy calling. The church is holy as its members are indwelt by God.

Church is assembly of the called out people of God who are being made holy by the Holy One Himself!

“For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given, ‘If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.’ Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, ‘I tremble with fear.’ But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Heb. 12:18–24).

When we walk into that building, spiritually speaking, we are coming to the place where God’s people are assembled together to offer worship and the sacrifice of praise to Him. The church is holy ground. It’s the sacred place where the people of God are gathered together for the sacred task of worship. The New Testament says that when we enter into worship together, we’re not just worshiping in an assembly of a hundred and fifty people, but our worship is taking place in heaven. Paul warns us of our behavior during the assembly because the angels are watching and participating. Also, the author of Hebrews tells us that we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses—the saints who have gone before us. Abel, Noah, Abraham, and Isaac showed up, and also David and Deborah and Joshua and Isaiah and Jeremiah and Esther and Amos and Leah and Hosea and Joel and Ezekiel and Hannah and Daniel were there. Paul and Peter were there, as well as Stephen, Mary, Barnabas, and Luke, the great physician. Timothy comes to our church, along with Titus and James. And I looked around, and guess who else was there? I couldn’t believe it. Athanasius, Augustine, Martin and Katie Luther, John and Idelette Calvin, Jonathan and Sarah Edwards. The greatest thing about the church in worship is that the church is in the presence of Christ. Christ comes to his bride, and every time the bride assembles, the bridegroom is there. — R. C. Sproul, What Is the Church?, First edition., The Crucial Questions Series (Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2013), 44–47.

The church is also identified as the body of Christ (e.g., 1 Cor 12; Col 1:24; Eph 1:22–23), the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 3:16–17; 2 Cor 6:16; Eph 2:20–21), the bride of Christ (Eph 5:22–33), and the people of God (e.g., 1 Pet 2:9–10). Believers also experience fellowship with one another in the church (Acts 2:42–47; Eph 2:10–14; 1 John 1:7) and thus have the opportunity to grow and mature in the faith (Eph 4:7–16). This makes the church the means through which God accomplishes great things in this world (Eph 3:20–21)—how God makes visible the invisible presence of Christ (Eph 1:22–23). — Jim Samra, “The Church,” in Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016).

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