What Is The Church?
by Gery Schmidt


The following article is taken from a free publication called Content for the Faith by Providence Strict Baptist Assembly in Canada. Anyone wishing to get on their mailing list can do so by contacting Gery or Mike Schmidt at 104-1138 Yates Street Victoria British Columbia Canada V8V 3M8.



This question will undoubtedly be thought of by many professors of Christ as unnecessary. Surely, every Christian knows what the church is'. But is this so? If we investigate the matter in depth, it will not require much time to discover that not only is there a great deal of confusion as to what the church is, but that the subject of ecclesiology is one which is regarded as of secondary importance, and is consequently neglected. The truth of the matter is that there are as many views of what the church is as there are "cities in Judah." Different materials, different officers, different Christs, different gospels, and different ordinances represent some of the divergencies in ecclesiology presently extant, and which have existed for centuries. But let us consider briefly what the Scriptures themselves declare concerning the church.

First, we turn our attention to the origin and founder of the church. The church, according to God's word, is of divine origin and its founder is Jesus Christ. Christ declares in Matthew 16:18, "1 will build my assembly." This text declares that the church (or more accurately, assembly) is not man-made. Hence, for any church to claim a founder other than Jesus Christ is to disqualify it from being a true church. This text also reveals that the church began In New Testament times. Christ states that he will build (future active indicative) his assembly. Hence, no New Testament church existed prior to the first one at Jerusalem, as found in the book of Acts.

There is also in this text the implied concept of church perpetuity. This is seen in the fact that Christ is the builder of his church. This fact cannot be restricted simply to the first church at Jerusalem, but must refer to every assembly which comes into existence. For no true New Testament assembly can originate outside of the grace and power of God (cf. I Cor. 3:6). To deny church perpetuity and argue that a certain church (or denomination) began at a certain period in history, which possesses and claims no spiritual connectedness by way of a succession of churches back to the Jerusalem church, is to argue for a different builder somewhere along the historicial line, and is a tacit denial of Christ's unbroken presence with his people (Mt. 28:20). No true church of Christ can emerge ex nihilo or out of the bounds of some false church, such as Rome.

Secondly, we will consider the foundation of th church. It is critical that any so-called church be certain its foundation is the right one. To erect a building upon a false, or poorly laid, foundation is exceedingly dangerous, for the building will collapse sooner or later. The Scriptures make it clear that Jesus Christ himself is the foundation of hie church. Paul declares that "no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (I Cor. row this may sound simple enough to most professed disciples of Christ, but the matter of a true foundation is more than just verbally reciting the name of Jesus. Which Jesus Christ are we talking about? In the days of the apostle Paul, there were such things as "a different gospel" and "another Jesus” (Gal. 1:6; 2 Cor. 11:4).

In order for a church to be a true New Testament assembly, its foundation must be the true Jesus Christ. In other words, a true church must have right views concerning the person and work of Christ. To err on the person and work of Christ is to have a false Christ, and consequently a false foundation. And a true New Testament assembly cannot be erected upon "another Jesus." A church cannot be a true one which denies either, or both, the full deity and humanity of Jesus, Christ. The Scriptures clearly enunciate that the Lord is both God and man. A church also cannot be a true assembly which holds that Christ shed his blood for the entire human race. A universal, or hypothetical, atonement is a false gospel and a false hope. Christ came to "save his people from their sins" Mt. 1:21), not every sinner, but only his elect. None of the churches we read of in the New Testament could be called Arminian.

Thirdly, there are the materials of the church to be considered. What sort of materials are used in the building of an assembly? The Lord himself answers this question in Matthew 28.:19, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, immersing them into the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit." The commission of Jesus Christ to his apostles reveals that an assembly consists of immersed disciples and none else. The book of Acts confirms this fact many times over. On the day of Pentecost, three thousand souls were added to the church at Jerusalem, but not before they had "received his word" and were "immersed" (Acts 2:41). And the church at Jerusalem itself consisted of at least one hundred and twenty brethren who were Christ' a disciples and who had been immersed. None but disciples of Christ, regenerate and immersed, are proper materials to be built upon the foundation of Christ. Peter-speaks of the church as a "spiritual house" consisting of "living stones" (I Pt. 2:5 Such stones are not dead ones, that is, unregenerate sinners, but God's elect who have been regenerated and have openly professed their faith in Christ, and have been immersed.

What then are some of the solemn ramifications of these Scriptural facts? Any so-called church which alters the commission of Christ, so as to introduce alien materials in the building of an assembly, or changes the mode of Christ's ordinance from immersion to something else, or ignores Christ's ordinance altogether, cannot be a true New Testament assembly. Consequently, all churches which sprinkle water on infants are false churches. Not only do such assemblies wrongly substitute sprinkling for immersion, they willingly and obstinately disregard Christ's commandment in Matthew 28:19 by building their assemblies with the wrong materials. This latter fact would also include all churches which immerse infants. Unregenerate Infants are not included in Christ's commission. All churches which bypass the ordinance of immersion altogether also cannot be true churches. To ignore Christ's commandment to be immersed, or to build assemblies with the unregenerate, is open rebellion against the King of kings. A true church must be established according to Christ's stipulations. To add or take away from these stipulations is to disqualify one from possessing the New Testament characteristics of a church.

Fourthly, we shall consider the location of Christ's church. The concept of a universal or mystical church is a common one. But an examination of the New Testament texts wherein the word ekklesia occurs reveals that such a concept is quite unwarranted. The assembly, with respect to that which Christ builds, is never anything more than a particular congregation of immersed disciples gathered together in one place for worship. If the church of Matthew 16:18 were a mystical or universal one, one would be at a lose to explain on what grounds local assemblies were established in the book of Acts. Even in passages like Acts 7:38 and 19:32 ekklesia refers respectively to no more than the assembled nation of Israel and the mob. The church at Rome Is not the church at Jerusalem. They are distinct and separate* In Revelation chapters two and three the Lord deals with the seven churches of Asia separately and distinctly. They are not styled the Church of Asia, but as the churches of Asia. Christ's assembly is not universal, mystical, national, provincial, conventional, or associational. The Roman Catholic Church Is an unscriptural concept. The Church of England and the Presbyterian Church of America are both equally unbiblical concepts. For such concepts inevitably lead to hierarchalism, which in turn leads to officers, governments, and practices which New Testament ecclesiology knows nothing of. In the scheme of such concepts the New Testament ekkliesia ceases to be and becomes little more than a cog in the greater machinery of priestcraft.

Fifthly, we will consider the purpose of the church. The chief end of the church is to glorify God. All the pertinent information in how God is to be glorified by the assembly, in terms of doctrine and practice, is to be found in the Scriptures, particularly in the New Testament. And this glorification of God is rightly achieved only when the life of the assembly is conducted according to God's word. No true assembly has any right to add, take away, or modify any aspect of doctrine and practice as found in the Scriptures. Whether we consider the worship service, evangelism, or any aspect of church life, to the degree God's word is obeyed, to that degree is God glorified. The converse of this is equally true. And these facts hold true only for true New Testament assemblies, not for false assemblies, for a false church cannot glorify God as such.

In summary, a true church of Christ is of divine origin whose founder and builder is the Lord Jesus. The Lord is also the only foundation of a true assembly, and this Jesus is both God and man, and shed his blood for none but his elect. A true assembly is built of immersed disciples of Christ and none else, and its location is restricted to wherever a particular congregation is to be found. And the chiefand of Christ's assembly is to glorify God, both in doctrine and practice.

 

 

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