The Lord Jesus Christ’s opening statement concerning the Church immediately arrests our attention. It is striking: “I will build My Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Mt. 16:18). The statement clarifies at once any question as to whose Church it is, who is responsible for its growth, and the measure of its triumph. “It is My Church,” our Lord declares, identifying Himself with its construction and growth.
We may rightly expect, then, to discover, as Christ unfolds to us the glorious nature of His Church, that the character of Christ will inevitably be reflected in His Church. The daring plan of its construction and the startling perfection of its development demonstrate how completely the Architect gave Himself to His work.
The statement further suggests how complete is the triumph that the Church of Christ enjoys. The ancient eastern city forms the background for this figure, “the gates of hell,” and especially the council of the city fathers who always met in the gates of such cities to decide all matters relating to the welfare of the citizens. All the intelligence, leadership, and planning of and for the city were represented in its gates. So the phrase, “the gates of hell,” graphically pictures all the schemings of the potentates of hell who are pitted against the Church.
Yet the Church will not be overthrown! It not only will withstand, it will conquer and prevail!
At the outset, then, we are given by Christ Himself some measure by which we can form judgment as to the extraordinary character and prowess of this Church. So let everyone of us understand clearly just what we are dealing with; it is with nothing less than with the glorious, triumphant Church of Jesus Christ, against whom not even hell itself can ultimately prevail. No matter how fragmentary and schismatic the Church may appear to our limited view on earth, yet Christ leads it in triumph over all the Satanic hosts, foiling their thrusts, conquering evil by good, and error by truth.
Such a glorious introduction to the Church keynotes the whole presentation of it in the New Testament, and it is to the later presentations of the Church in the Acts and in the Epistles that we now turn.
The Recognized Authority
In beginning, we must state that the New Testament alone will be our sole authority in determining the true character of the Church, and obedience to these Scriptures will be our sole aim. We are aware that in this we run contrary to many esteemed divines who profess to believe that while instructions for the maintenance of godly life in the individual are fully given in the New Testament, yet the instructions for the Church are inadequate.
Further, they believe that the New Testament picture of the early church is partial and limited, and that God intended to bring into existence, as the Church grew, certain forms, practices, and ordinances admittedly not contemplated in the New Testament.
To this is coupled the insistence that modern life and civilization have made necessary many things that the simple life and early beginnings of the Church did not. In this manner, many practices not ordained or contemplated in Scripture are justified.
This principle, however, is dangerous and unwarranted. It is dangerous in that anything could be justified just because someone thinks that it is necessitated by modern life. The same principle could be used to justify opposite and contradictory things. It is unwarranted. The Scriptures give no indication that we are to expect any further revelation as to the Church’s nature and function. We freely admit that God works in history, but we insist that it is only inside the pattern delineated by Holy Writ.
Further, we do not agree that the New Testament picture of the Church is fragmentary. While it is true that the events related cover only about fifty years’ time, they actually encompass an amazing period of expansion of the Church’s early history. Referring to literally dozens of churches, it was comprised of members of many different cultures, conducted in different languages, and extending over areas some of which are separated from each other by over a thousand miles. Basic problems in the expansion of the Church are fully contemplated.
Finally, we find it inconceivable that God should leave incomplete His instructions for the Church while the instructions for the individual are perfect and complete. In our study of the New Testament, we cannot but conclude that every important element necessary for the maintenance of spiritual life and order in local churches is touched upon, either by direct instruction, principle, event or illustration. Our confidence in its adequacy is repeatedly confirmed.
What is the Church?
What is the true Church? Any inquiry of this sort is aided by deciding on the basis of the Scriptures what the true Church is not. It is not a building, however auspicious and awe-inspiring. It is not a club of like-minded people, however altruistic and civic-minded. It is not a pressure group, lobbying for moral reform, however necessary and utilitarian. It is not an institution for the preservation of holy tradition, however revered and respected. It is not a federation of local congregations, however imposing and spiritually-minded. Nor is it any particular denomination, however powerful and numerous. The true Church of God universal and spiritual, cannot be identified or coextensive with any of these groups, though in some particular or other it may be closely related. The true Church is larger and greater than any earthly institution, culture, religion, creed, tradition, or any other restrictions.
The true Church is spiritual and heavenly, though both individual and corporate representations of it may be seen on earth. It is composed of those who have truly believed in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (Acts 2:47), who have been formed into one body by the special action of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13), maintained by the Spirit of God who indwells each individual member, led by Jesus Christ who is its “Head” (Col. 1:18), and to be completed finally by the second coming of Christ when it will be presented in perfect form to the Lord of the churches Himself (Eph. 5:27).
The unity of the Church is also spiritual in that all members are responsive to the same “Head,” all are baptized into one body, and all are sons of the same Father. Since true unity is based on these unchanging universals, no failure of any members on earth destroys this unity, though it may mar the practical expression of it in the experience of men.
Similarly, while any inconsistency or imperfection viewed in a member of its universal Church is reprehensible, it does not alter the perfect nature and inheritance of the Church, nor the eternal standing of its members. Disobedience in a son does not destroy the existence and nature of the family relationships, though it will certainly mar the enjoyment of them. So God’s Church exists in perfect unity, a spiritual assembly of the regenerate, seen in God’s view as indivisible and inviolate.
Therefore the Church is not of this world, though some members are still in it; it is not yet complete in heaven, though many members have preceded it there. Because it is spiritual in character, it cuts across every man-made boundary and division–whether national, cultural, ecclesiastical or denominational–and though hidden from the view of most, the formation of it constitutes the most glorious task with which God is occupied in our day. For the individual, nothing is more urgent than entering it by faith, and nothing more rewarding than enjoying its fellowship.
Pictures of the Church
A natural question may arise in the minds of many, “If the true Church is spiritual, of what importance are local churches? Are they superfluous and unnecessary.
Clearly the answer is “No,” for the New Testament plainly shows that local churches were established throughout the Roman Empire by God’s order to unite all believers in Christ in any convenient geographical area into autonomous, Spirit-directed congregations. These local congregations were expressions in this world of the true Church, microcosms which bore the same relation to the “Head” as the universal Church itself did.
In order to express adequately the many relationships which the Church holds to Christ, the New Testament uses a number of strikingly apt metaphors. Each is beautifully illustrative of some aspect of the Church, whether in its local or universal form. The Church is portrayed as:
1. A body, to stress its harmony and dependence. Christ is the Head, making Himself responsible for the direction and guidance of the rest of the body. The Church is the body with its various members fulfilling their various functions harmoniously and interdependently for the growth of the whole (Col. 1:18-24).
2. A building, to stress its planned architecture and construction (1 Cor. 3:9).
3. A cultivated field, to stress its growth and fruitfulness (1 Cor. 3:9b).
4. A temple, to stress its holiness and dedication (1 Cor. 3:16).
5. A chaste virgin, to stress its devotion and expectation (2 Cor. 11:2).
6. A flock, to stress its unity and loyalty (Acts 20:28).
7. A house, to stress its completeness and order (1 Tim. 3:15).
8. A lampstand, to stress its testimony and witness (Rev. 1:20).
9. A pillar and bulwark of the truth, to stress its strength and service (1 Tim. 3:15).
10. A family, to stress its closeness and intimacy (1 Tim. 5:1-2).
Of these lovely metaphors, at least four are used on different occasions to describe both the Church universal and the local church, i.e., the temple, body, bride, and flock.
On the basis of this, a very important principle may be seen: the local church in its function and character stands in the same relation to Christ as the universal Church. It is the Church in miniature, a replica of the whole, giving visible and temporal expression to the invisible and eternal Church.
THE LOGICAL CONCLUSION
Since it is clearly evidenced in the Scriptures that Christ is the Head of the Church, our responsibility in establishing a local congregation will be to see to it that it corresponds to, and is patterned after, the nature of the true Church for which Christ died.
This article is excerpted from a booklet entitled The Church, originally given in a series of messages at Northgate Chapel, Seattle, Washington, 16 months before the author’s death in Ecuador.