Foundations of Faith
THE CHURCH (I)
Have you ever watched a marionette show. A marionette is a puppet that is moved by strings or wires by its operator. Many Christians think of their relationship with God like that. I am down here on earth, connected with God up there in heaven. I am trusting in the finished work of Christ for my salvation, so I can be sure of going to heaven for eternity. I can pray to God at any time and know that He will hear me. I know God as my loving and giving Father. I have the Holy Spirit dwelling in me.
All these things are blessedly true of the believer in Christ. But there is much more to being saved than just having an individual relationship with God. One of the blessings of our salvation is being made a member of the body of Christ (Jan98). God not only has saved us to be individual children of His, but He also has united us collectively as the body of Christ.
This body often is referred to in the Bible as “the Church.” The Scriptures have much to say about the Church as it is of great value to God. “Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it … that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church” (Eph. 5:25-27). We shall devote several issues to the study of this important topic.
There were many true believers in Old Testament times (Rom. 4:1-8; Heb. 11:1-32). However, the Church was not known back then; the believers served and followed the Lord as individuals. The Church as a unified body of believers did not begin until the Day of Pentecost, about 50 days after Christ died and rose again.
The Church was not yet in existence while Jesus was still living. He said to Peter, “Upon this rock I will build My Church” (Matt. 16:18), and clearly “this rock” was Jesus, not Peter (1 Cor. 10:4; 1 Pet. 2:4-8; Eph. 2:20).
Also, it is by the Holy Spirit that we are “baptized into one body” (1 Cor. 12:13). Jesus, both before His death and after His resurrection, prepared His disciples for being “baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence” (John 7:39; Acts 1:5,8). There were about 120 disciples who were baptized by the Holy Spirit into the Church on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 1:15; 2:1-3; see Dec94 for more on the baptism of the Holy Spirit). Thousands more were added by the Holy Spirit soon afterward (Acts 2:41,47; 4:4,14).
The Greek word for “church” in the New Testament is ekklesia. The word ekklesia literally means “called out ones.” It was used generally by Greeks to refer to a public assembly of the citizens summoned by the town crier. The early Church was made up of Jews who, upon believing on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, were called out from the Jewish religion to be members of the body of Christ (Acts 2:44, 46). Later on, when the gospel came to the Gentiles, many of them also believed and were called out of their pagan religions and joined with the Jewish believers in the same body, the Church (Acts 10:45; 15:14; Eph. 2:11-21). In this series of articles, we shall use “Church” with a capital C to denote the Church of Christ as a whole, worldwide (such as in Eph. 5:23), and “church” with a lower-case c to denote a congregation or expression of the Church in a certain place (such as Gal. 1:2). The Bible does not-and we shall not-use the word “church” to designate a building where Christians meet together.
The word ekklesia goes far beyond simple membership in a body. As mentioned above, it expresses the thought of an assembling of people. The chief activity of the local ekklesia or church is being assembled together for worship, prayer, or being taught the Word of God. We shall often use the word “assembly” in this series, especially in reference to the believers gathered together in a particular place.
The Church is viewed in the New Testament in three aspects:(1) its unity as the body of Christ; (2) its order and ministry as the house and temple of God indwelt by the Holy Spirit; and (3) its heavenly character and hope as the bride of Christ. We begin by considering the body of Christ. (See Assignment 9)
Comparison of the physical body with the body of Christ. The human body has hundreds of different parts, both external (eyes, mouth, fingers, hair, skin, etc.) and internal (muscles, bones, lungs, blood, nerves, etc.), and quadrillions of individual cells. Each cell and each part has a role to play in the physical body.
The body of Christ is just like that. The analogy between the physical body of a human being and members of Christ’s body is clearly presented in the Bible:”As the [human] body is one, and has many members … so also is Christ…. Now has God set the members … in [Christ’s] body, as it has pleased Him … many members yet one body” (1 Cor. 12:12-27).
The cells in the human body do not live forever. As they die, others take their place (except for nerve cells which are not replaced). Where do the new cells come from? In the biological process of mitosis, young, active cells are always dividing, producing new cells. When a cell ages it stops dividing and dies.
The body of Christ works in the same way. When one member leads another soul to Christ, there are now two members. Every Christian has the privilege and responsibility of reaching out with the gospel to those about us and leading others to Christ. This begins at home with members of our household, and then extends to other relatives, neighbors, schoolmates, fellow employees, and others. As we do this, members who die are replaced by new members, and the whole body grows. (See Assignment 10)
We shall continue to compare the human body and the body of Christ in the next issue.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Three of our readers completed all 25 (13 regular plus 12 review) assignments for 1997. Drew Johnson of West Reading, Pennsylvania led the way with a score of 98.0% for the year. John Hope of Mechanicsville, Virginia and Dickson Wanga of Mweiga, Kenya had scores of 94.4% and 91.2%, respectively. Gabriel Ofagbe of Lagos, Nigeria and Richard Unutaire of Warri, Nigeria completed 21 and 19 assignments, respectively.
Running the Race
Assignment 9: Write out a verse in Romans 12 about the body of Christ, one in 1 Timothy 3 about the house of God, and one in Revelation 19 about the bride (or wife) of Christ.
Assignment 10: What is the first thing Andrew did when he began to follow Christ (John 1)?