The Church
A word generally used to translate the generic Greek word ekklēsia, which variously means “gathering,” “assembly” or “congregation.” However, the NT tends to use the word to refer to all those who by faith in the person and work of Christ as the fullest revelation of God have entered into a new relationship with God and with one another (1 Cor 1:9–10),
who are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit on earth (1 Cor 3:16) and who have been given the task of proclaiming the present and future reign of God in the world, both by the verbal declaration of the word of God (Acts 20:25–27) and by the administration of the ordinances or sacraments (Mt 28:19; 1 Cor 10:16–17). The church is founded on the past work of Christ in his death, resurrection and ascension, points to the return of Christ in the future and seeks to live in love by the power of the Spirit in the present. (Stanley Grenz, David Guretzki, and Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 26.)
Jesus Christ is the beginning, the middle, and the end of all. In the Gospels he walks in human form upon the earth, and accomplishes the work of redemption. In the Acts and Epistles he founds the church, and fills and guides it by his Spirit. And at last, in the visions of the Apocalypse, he comes again in glory, and with his bride, the church of the saints, reigns forever upon the new earth in the city of God. Philip Schaff
Elliot Ritzema and Elizabeth Vince, eds., 300 Quotations for Preachers from the Modern Church, Pastorum Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2013).
It is well-known that the Greek word for “Church” is ecclesia; and that ecclesia strictly and fully means “called-out assembly;”... The “call” of the glad-message can be read by everyone who cares to inform himself; the separateness of the standing and life to which the summons invites can be readily ascertained; and so the lofty ideal set before the assembly of the Son of God may soon disclose itself to the humble and ardent inquirer. It must be left for each reader to judge how far existing ecclesiastical organizations help or hinder the attainment of that ideal. Only let no one presume to dim the divinely given image. Joseph Bryant Rotherham, The Emphasized Bible:
Charles Hodge said that “the true idea of the Church … is the communion of saints, the body of those who are united to Christ by the indwelling of his Spirit.” This statement, therefore, may serve as a general definition of the church. Charles Hodge, Discussions in Church Polity
Constantine’s fusion of church and state was legally enforced by Emperor Theodosius I in 380. A new code of laws (Codex Theodosius) made Christianity, identified with the bishop of Rome, the exclusive religion of the empire. Christianity is claimed to be the successor of the Roman Empire in the guise of Roman Catholicism.
We desire that all people under the rule of our clemency should live by that religion which divine Peter the apostle is said to have given to the Romans, and which it is evident that Pope Damasus and Peter, bishop of Alexandria, a man of apostolic sanctity, followed; that is that we should believe in the one deity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit with equal majesty and in the Holy Trinity according to the apostolic teaching and the authority of the Gospel.
This is a distortion of the “proof text” for the papacy (Matt 16:18) that, however, makes no reference to “the Romans.” Hearsay becomes a solemnly promulgated divine truth, enforced by law.
Eric W. Gritsch, Toxic Spirituality: Four Enduring Temptations of Christian Faith (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2009), 89.
In the first place, this image is without doubt suggested by that of the rock, which is applied to Peter’s confession. At the same time, there appears to be yet another thought present, namely that of the house-family connection. For the person in the Middle East, house means his family as well as his dwelling. That the church is a house connects it with the administration of the covenant. It is continued by God in the line of families. In Scripture, then, the church appears in this sense as the “house of God” (cf. 1 Tim 3:15; Heb 3:6, 10:21); the members of the church are “family” (Gal. 6:10; Eph. 2:19; Matt. 10:25).
You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit. Eph. 2:19–22 NLT
Geerhardus Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, ed. Richard B. Gaffin Jr., trans. Richard B. Gaffin Jr., vol. 5 (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012–2016), 8.
I have written briefly to the church; but Diotrephes, who likes to take the lead among them and put himself first, does not acknowledge my authority and refuses to accept my suggestions or to listen to me. So when I arrive, I will call attention to what he is doing, his boiling over and casting malicious reflections upon us with insinuating language. And not satisfied with that, he refuses to receive and welcome the [missionary] brethren himself, and also interferes with and forbids those who would welcome them, and tries to expel (excommunicate) them from the church. The Amplified Bible (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1987), 3 Jn 9–10.
It may be that Diotrephes, who according to 3 John 9 occupied the first place in the church, but who abused his power, and that the angels of the seven churches (Rev. 2:1–8) are also teachers of the kind who, in distinction from their fellow elders, labored in the word, and thus occupied a unique and significant place.
Herman Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, trans. Henry Zylstra (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2016), 518.
The angel-bishops are stars who shine light into the churches. They are the eyes of the Lord who keep watch over the church and the world. Lamps bring things out of darkness into public view. Lamps are thus associated with surveillance and watching, acts of authority and rule.
Christians rule by shining the light of Christ, the light of the gospel, the light of truth into the darkness of the world. Those who are in the dark, and who love darkness, do not want to be exposed, so they fight back. Lights are also eyes, eyes that search but also eyes that judge and discern.
The angels of the churches are called to ensure that the lights are burning in the church, to ensure that sin is being scared from the dark corners, ensure that the truth of God is being spoken so that the light can come. The angels of the churches shine the light of authority in order to maintain the health of the bodies that make up the body of Christ.
Peter J. Leithart, Revelation, ed. Michael Allen and Scott R. Swain, vol. 1, The International Theological Commentary on the Holy Scripture of the Old and New Testaments (London; Oxford; New York; New Delhi; Sydney: Bloomsbury; Bloomsbury T&T Clark: An Imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2018), 125–126.
Sin, in the reign and power of it, may cohabit with the most excellent natural gifts under the same roof—I mean in the same heart. A man may have the tongue of an angel and the heart of a devil.… The learned Pharisees were but painted sepulchers.
Elliot Ritzema and Elizabeth Vince, eds., 300 Quotations for Preachers from the Puritans, Pastorum Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2013).
We have known joint stock swindlers who have been made chairmen of religious meetings, and who have been cheered to the echo. Party feeling was so strong, and religious disputation so rife amongst them, that such immoralities escaped their notice. Who is the best preacher? what is the sound doctrine? what are the ceremonies to be observed? Such questions as these were all-absorbing amongst them. Moral character was a secondary thing, theories and beliefs primary.
This has ever been too much the case in Christian Churches. Creeds are more thought of than character, doctrines than doings, heretics dreaded more than rogues. Some of the worst men morally I have ever known have been prominent members of Churches. Hence the saying, “Sooner trust a man of the world than a professor of religion.”
H. D. M. Spence-Jones, ed., 1 Corinthians, The Pulpit Commentary (London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1909), 169–170.
Similarly, Messiah in his going forth in the great final judgment for the cleansing of God’s cosmic temple, a judgment adumbrated in the temple cleansings recorded in the Gospels, is depicted in prophetic psalm and apocalypse as a priest-king leading a priestly army (Ps. 110:3ff.; Rev. 19:11ff.). Within the present age of the new covenant the function of negative consecration belongs to the church, this ecclesiastical form of it being declarative and spiritual and not applicable outside the holy covenant community (cf. 1 Cor. 5:12, 13).(Meredith G. Kline, Kingdom Prologue: Genesis Foundations for a Covenantal Worldview (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2006), 87.)
On the other hand, the “kingdom of God” or “of heaven” is a broader concept than that of the church. In fact, it is presented to us as leaven that must permeate everything, as a mustard seed that must grow into a tree that with its branches covers all of life. Plainly, such a thing may not be said of the concept “church.”
There are other spheres of life beside that of the church, but from none of those may the kingdom of God be excluded. It has its claim in science, in art, on every terrain. But the church may not lay claim to all that. The external side of the kingdom (the visible church) must not undertake these things; the internal essence of the kingdom, the new existence, must of itself permeate and purify. It is precisely the Roman Catholic error that the church takes everything into itself and must govern everything.
Geerhardus Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, ed. Richard B. Gaffin Jr., trans. Richard B. Gaffin Jr., vol. 5 (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012–2016), 9.
Jesus gave certain powers to the church. He did not give the church the right to use physical force to accomplish its tasks. As theologians say, he did not give the church the power of the sword (John 18:36; 2 Cor. 10:4). Only the civil government has that power. But he did give to the church the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God (Eph. 6:17). No matter how much people despise that Word, it is the most powerful force on the face of the earth (Rom. 1:16).
For Paul the gospel is absolutely central because it is the power that reveals the righteousness of God. It is the manifestation of the exalted Christ on earth (Käsemann, Romans, 289).
John M. Frame, Salvation Belongs to the Lord: An Introduction to Systematic Theology (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2006), 242.
Them that are without God judges. The Greek present tense of this verb fits well with Paul’s thought in Romans 1:18, “For the wrath of God is being revealed (presently) from heaven against all ungodliness.” There is a vitally important truth to be observed here. It is true, as the Apostle John said, that “the whole world lieth in wickedness” (1 Jn. 5:19). But it will not do to simply curse the darkness. It is the task of the believer to proclaim the positive truth of the gospel. The saints are obligated to be faithful stewards; as for the world, God will take care of it.
Edward E. Hindson and Woodrow Michael Kroll, eds., KJV Bible Commentary (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1994), 2293.
The church is catholic. The word catholic simply means “universal,” though the Roman Church has tried to steal it from the rest of us. It means that the church does not belong only to one nation or race. In the Old Testament period the church was closely associated with one nation, Israel. But in the New Testament the church is scattered throughout the nations, fulfilling God’s promise to Abraham that in him all the nations of the earth would be blessed.
The church is apostolic. This does not mean, as Roman Catholics think, that every elder must be in a historical succession going back to the apostles. The New Testament knows of no such succession, nor does it suggest that the office of the apostle continues in the church. It does tell us, however, that the early Christians “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, and to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42). The church must always be in fellowship with the apostles, believing the apostles’ teaching, following the apostles’ example (1 Cor. 11:1).
John M. Frame, Salvation Belongs to the Lord: An Introduction to Systematic Theology (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2006), 240–241.
Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen, such alone will shake the gates of hell, and set up the kingdom of heaven upon earth. JOHN WESLEY
Elliot Ritzema, ed., 300 Quotations for Preachers (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012).
The early Christians understood the difference between the church and a building. Clement of Alexandria (c. 150–c. 215) said, “What work of builders, and stonecutters, and mechanical art can be holy?… It is not now the place, but the [assembly] of the elect, that I call the church.” Lactantius (c. 240–c. 320) said, “The Church, which is the true temple of God … does not consist of walls, but of the heart and faith of the men who believe on Him, and are called faithful.”
Hippolytus of Rome (c. 170–235) said that the church is not “a house made of stones and earth,” but “the holy assembly of those who live in righteousness.”
Therefore, when we speak of the church, we do not refer to a building devoted to the worship of God but to the people of God who regularly assemble to worship him in his special presence.
Joel R. Beeke and Paul M. Smalley, Reformed Systematic Theology: Church and Last Things, vol. 4, Reformed Systematic Theology (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2024), 49.
The Church, which is the true temple of God, which does not consist of walls, but of the heart and faith of the men who believe on Him, and are called faithful. But that temple of Solomon, inasmuch as it was built by the hand, fell by the hand. Lastly, his father, in the Psalm, prophesied in this manner respecting the works of his son: “Except the Lord build the house, they have laboured in vain that built it; except the Lord keep the city, the watchman hath waked but in vain.” Ps. 127:1
Lactantius, “The Divine Institutes,” in Fathers of the Third and Fourth Centuries: Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, Homily, and Liturgies, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, trans. William Fletcher, vol. 7, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1886), 113.
1 Paul an apostle—sent neither by human commission nor from human authorities, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— and all the members of God’s family who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: Galatians 1:1–2
Paul’s missionary work did not end with the oral proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ and with the conversion of individuals. Paul established churches, communities of men and women who had come to faith in Jesus the Messiah and Savior, and who came together to study the Scriptures, to learn what Jesus Christ had done and taught, and to live according to the will of the living God.
Eckhard J. Schnabel, “Paul’s Missionary Strategy: Goals, Methods, and Realities,” in Christian Mission: Old Testament Foundations and New Testament Developments, ed. Stanley E. Porter and Cynthia Long Westfall, McMaster New Testament Studies (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2011), 183.
The Christian church and the Bible were therefore inseparable from the outset; the church never existed without a Bible nor was there ever a time when it did not recognize the authority of Scripture
Carl F. H. Henry, God, Revelation, and Authority, vol. 4 (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1999), 34.
In general, though, pictures of something approximating weekly Sunday worship in a Christian church do not emerge clearly until we come to the references to synagogue worship in the NT (Mk 1:21; 6:2; Lk 4:16–17, 31; 6:6; 13:10; Acts 13:14, 27; 15:21; 17:2; 18:4), where the emphasis is on reading and expounding the Scripture and debating its meaning.
Leland Ryken et al., Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 747.
Paul knew the importance of authorized apostolic letters, for he saw the authority behind the letter that came from the first Jerusalem church council. The first epistle from the church leaders who had assembled at Jerusalem was the prototype for subsequent epistles (see Acts. 15:).
It was authoritative because it was apostolic, and it was received as God’s word. If an epistle came from an apostle (or apostles), it was to be received as having the imprimatur of the Lord. This is why Paul wanted the churches to receive his word as being the word of the Lord.
This is made explicit in 1 Thessalonians 2:13, an epistle he insisted had to be read to all the believers in the church (1 Thess. 5:27). In the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, Paul indicated that his epistles carry the same authority as his preaching (see 2 Thess. 2:15).
Paul also told his audience that if they would read what he had written, they would be able to understand the mystery of Christ, which had been revealed to him (see Eph. 3:1–6). Because Paul explained the mystery in his writings (in this case, the encyclical epistle known as “Ephesians”), he urged other churches to read this encyclical (see Col. 4:16). In so doing, Paul himself encouraged the circulation of his writings. Philip Comfort, Encountering the Manuscripts: An Introduction to New Testament Paleography & Textual Criticism (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2005), 16.
Beloved, knowing that the world is passing to its doom … make it your chief concern to live righteous and holy lives and renounce your sins. Next, give earnest heed to the things that are heavenly; and, finally, love God with all your heart and put your trust in Him; for He will honor you in His glory for the merits of Jesus Christ and will make you partakers of His kingdom. JOHN HUSS
Elliot Ritzema and Rebecca Brant, eds., 300 Quotations for Preachers from the Medieval Church, Pastorum Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2013).
1 Cor.11:2 confirms that the gospel is the key to Paul’s argument. Here he commends the Corinthians for receiving the message of the gospel that he personally “delivered” (παραδίδωμι) to them in the past. The traditions (παράδοσις) he has in mind are not early church liturgical traditions.Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered [παρέδωκα] to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. 1 Cor 15:1–4
Peter R. Schemm and Andreas J. Köstenberger, “The Gospel as Interpretive Key to 1 Corinthians 10:31–11:16: On Christian Worship, Head Coverings, and the Trinity,” Themelios 44, no. 2 (2019): 249. Themelios 44, no. 2 (2019): 251.
Writing in The Christian Graduate (December, 1956), on “Some Aspects of the Reformed Doctrine of Holy Scripture,” the Rev. H. M. Carson emphasizes that “linked closely to the objective fact of the sufficiency of Holy Scriptures there is the allied doctrine of the inner witness of the Holy Spirit.” This means that “our acceptance of the sufficiency of Scripture is not merely a mental assent, but is a spiritual response to the inner testimony of the Spirit, who brought the Scriptures into being, and who still interprets them to the people of God.”
The Christian who adheres firmly to the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture can, he asserts, “be assured that he stands in a noble succession”—a succession which reaches back to the early church and to Christ Himself. It is, moreover, a doctrine that has been prominent “at all periods of spiritual awakening in the life of the church.” We, too, for our part, are convinced that, if there is to be a true spiritual awakening in our own day, it will not be apart from the recognition of the sufficiency of Holy Scripture as the Word of God.
Philip Edgcumbe Hughes, “Review of Current Religious Thought,” Christianity Today (Washington, D.C.: Christianity Today, 1957), 39.
I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these instructions to you so that, if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.1 Tim. 3:14–15
How we ought to act is set in the context of how God has acted toward humanity in the ministry of his Son
Thomas C. Oden, First and Second Timothy and Titus, Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, KY: J. Knox Press, 1989), 44.
Here Paul breaks off his direct instructions to describe the nature of the church, putting his teaching into perspective. It is highly likely that Paul had already given the gist of these instructions to Timothy, but he wrote them down so as to give Timothy support during his absence.
The use of the household metaphor to describe the church echoes 1 Timothy 3:5 and explains why Paul is concerned that an official should govern his family well. He now enlarges on the illustration by introducing a double metaphor—pillar and foundation 1 Timothy 3:15.
Paul is not here laying more stress on the church than on the truth. If the meaning is that the church’s job is to bear witness to the truth as well as combating the false teachers, the word translated foundation must be understood in the sense of a ‘bulwark’ set to defend the truth. 1 Timothy 3:14–16
Donald Guthrie, “1 Timothy,” in New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, ed. D. A. Carson et al., 4th ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), 1299
As such, the church is to ‘hold high’ as on a ‘pillar’ the absolute truth of Christianity upon which it itself is ‘grounded’. Robert L. Reymond, Paul, Missionary Theologian (Scotland: Christian Focus Publications, 2000), 497.
The Christian faith has only one object, the mystery of Christ dead and risen. But this unique mystery subsists under different modes: it is prefigured in the Old Testament, it is accomplished historically in the earthly life of Christ, it is contained in mystery in the sacraments, it is lived mystically in souls, it is accomplished socially in the Church, it is consummated eschatologically in the heavenly kingdom.
David W. Fagerberg, “Liturgical Theology,” in T&T Clark Companion to Liturgy, ed. Alcuin Reid, T&T Clark Companion (London; Oxford; New York; New Delhi; Sydney: Bloomsbury; Bloomsbury T&T Clark: An Imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2016), 9.
Believers discover with Martin Luther that “the Bible is alive, it speaks to me; it has feet, it runs after me; it has hands, it lays hold on me. The Bible is not antique, or modern. It is eternal.”
Joel R. and Lanning Beeke Ray B., “Chapter Seven: The Transforming Power of Scripture,” in Sola Scriptura: The Protestant Position on the Bible, ed. Don Kistler (Lake Mary, FL: Reformation Trust Publishing, 2009), 117.
21. The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures just as she venerates the body of the Lord, since, especially in the sacred liturgy, she unceasingly receives and offers to the faithful the bread of life from the table both of God’s word and of Christ’s body.
all the preaching of the Church must be nourished and regulated by Sacred Scripture. For in the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven meets His children with great love and speaks with them; and the force and power in the word of God is so great that it stands as the support and energy of the Church, the strength of faith for her sons, the food of the soul, the pure and everlasting source of spiritual life. Consequently these words are perfectly applicable to Sacred Scripture: “For the word of God is living and active” (Heb. 4:12) and “it has power to build you up and give you your heritage among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32; see 1 Thess. 2:13).
Catholic Church, “Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation: Dei Verbum,” in Vatican II Documents (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2011).
You have no cause for desperation, although the devil rage never so cruelly, and although the flesh be never so frail, daily and hourly lusting against God’s holy commandments, indeed, striving against the same. This is not the time of justice before our own eyes; we look for that which is promised, the kingdom everlasting, prepared for us from the beginning. JOHN KNOX
Elliot Ritzema, 300 Quotations for Preachers from the Reformation, Pastorum Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2013).
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