What is the Church?
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My job is to talk to you about what the church is, while next week Jim will get to talk to you about what the church does.
Covenant people of God, Body of Christ, Bride of Christ
εκκλησια- Called out ones, assembly
The church is the people God has called into covenant with himself
Adam-Prophets
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
visible/invisible What does this mean?
in its fullest sense, the church is invisible. Meaning, we cannot see who truly makes up the church of God through faith in Christ. However, this invisible reality has a visible expression; which is all those who profess faith in Christ and gather together to worship him.
local/universal What does this mean?
in its fullest sense, the church of God is universal. There are no boundaries or barriers. We can be confident that we worship together with people all over the world, as the church of God has expanded to most places. However, the church also has a local expression, and it is important that we are a part of that local expression.
when did the church first start?
Old/New as one expression
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
on mystery:
For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
The church is the Body of Christ
many members make up one body
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.
Who was Christ given to as head? Not the whole world, but specifically the church, the called ones, the assembly of God’s people.
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds 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 fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
What is the purpose of the body?
to grow and strengthen itself (help one another)
to do the work of Christ on Earth
The church is the Bride of Christ
this isn’t just NT imagery, this is all over the prophets as well.
Hosea and others - the people of God is an unfaithful wife
You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married. 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.
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.
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.”
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
