SURVEY OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE
by Andrew Corbett
THE NATURE OF THE CHURCH
Just what is the Church? Some people might say it is a group of people controlled by a clergy. Others might say it is simply a religious club where people can come together and worship "God". Still others might be cynical enough to suggest that it's a bunch of clumsy people attempting to perpetuate the teachings of their leader- one Mr. Jesus Christ of Nazareth. But how does the Bible describe the Church and why does it describe it in that way? Firstly we will look directly at metaphors used in the Bible to describe the Church.
A. A BODY:
1. How did Paul refer to the Church? (Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Corinthians 12:12-14)
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Just as a human body is made up of different parts, so it is with the Church. Each member has a different gifting, like a body has different parts. In the Romans passage, Paul says that some are gifted with prophecy, or serving, or teaching, or encouraging, or giving, or leadership, or mercy. For the Church to function properly, it needs all its organs or members also functioning in their gifting. As a body, Paul says in 1Corinthians, that if one part of the body suffers, we all suffer. If one part rejoices, we all rejoice. We can logically expect, then, that in the Church God is building, He is going to put some unusually different people together to compliment each other.
B. THE BODY OF CHRIST:
Not only are we a body made up of people, we are called the Body of Christ. In Paul's passage in 1Corinthians 12, he moves to the conclusion that we are no ordinary body: we are Christ's Body. This has two connotations. Firstly, it suggests that everything we do comes from our Head- Jesus Christ. The Church is not randomly idling along an unchartered course. With Christ as our Head we are directed, fed, attended to, and examined, in the same way that a normal person treats their own body. Secondly, in the Ephesians 5 passage, it suggests that we are Christ's Body in the same way that a wife is the body of her husband. This suggests that we are in unity with Christ, who prayed that the Church would be one with Him (Jn. 17).
C. LIVING TEMPLE:
Peter described the Church as living stones being built into a spiritual house (1Peter 2:5). Paul said the Church was the temple of God (1Cor. 3:9-17). As the temple of God, we have Jesus Christ as our foundation and builder, with the Holy Spirit as our occupant. God guards this temple jealously (refer to Nahum 1:2) and has vowed to destroy anyone who seeks to destroy it (1Cor. 3:17).
D. ONE NEW MAN:
Speaking of the mysterious union within the Church between Jews and Gentiles, blacks and whites, slaves and masters, men and women, Paul said that the Church was being built into one new man (Eph. 2:15; 4:13).
E. THE BRIDE OF CHRIST:
Paul suggests that the Church is Christ's bride in Ephesians 5. He also described his role in presenting the Corinthians as a chaste virgin to Christ (2Cor. 11:2). In Revelation 19:7 and 22:17, it suggests that the Church is also referred to as Christ's Bride. Christ described His second coming in terms of an oriental wedding. He pictured Himself as a bridegroom coming for His waiting bride (Matt. 25:1-13).
F. THE ISRAEL OF GOD:
(Galatians 6:16; Ephesians 2:12)
When the prophet revealed the heart of God to have a new covenant with His people, it was to be with the House of Israel and Judah (Jer. 31:31-34). When Christ came to install the new covenant, it was indeed to the house of Israel and Judah (Matt. 15:24). But not all accepted it. As under the Old Covenant, Gentiles could cross over the wall of separation, and proselytize (change religion), but this time into the New Covenant.
G. A HOLY NATION:
"But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who were once not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy."
1Peter 2:9-10
The Church is termed a holy nation. Under the Old Covenant, God designed to use Israel as a nation to win other nations to Him. When God judged, He often judged entire nations (note- Amos 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 13; 2:1, 4, 6, 9). He also set the boundaries of nations (Acts 17:26). Under the New Covenant, God uses the Church as His nation to win the world. When you entered the Kingdom of God, you lost your natural nationality and took on God's! The New Testament repeatedly insists that we are now foreigners from another Kingdom in a strange land (eg. 1Pt. 2:11). No earthly nation can lay claim to us (Rom. 10:12; Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:11). The Kingdom of God transcends nationalities! When Peter said we were a Holy Nation, he also said we were a peculiar people.
Amen.
© 1999-2002 Andrew Corbett, Legana, Tasmania