THE UNIVERSAL AND LOCAL ASPECT

OF THE CHURCH

  1. Being baptized into the Body of Christ which is the church. I Cor. 12:13; Eph. 1:22-23
    1. You were not baptized into any kind of religion nor any club but you were baptized into the Body of Christ. The goal of your baptism should then be the Body of Christ.
    2. You, therefore, need to know what the Body of Christ is. According to Eph. 1:22-23 Christ is "the Head over all things to the church which is His Body. The Body of Christ is the church. The church is not a dead physical structure but a composition of all redeemed and regenerated believers. Our physical body is composed of many members with Christ as the unique Head.
    3. By coming to the original text of the Bible we can also check that the church is really a group of believers. The church in Greek is: "EKKLESIA", composed of "EK" which means "OUT" and "KALEO" which means "CALL". EKKLESIA was a common term for congregation of the EKKLETOI, those called out, and the called people constituted the EKKLESIA. The church is a called out assembly; a group of people called out from the world ruled by Satan (John 12:31). The world is an evil system arranged systematically by Satan into his kingdom of darkness to occupy people and frustrate them from accomplishing the purpose of God, and to distract them from the enjoyment of God. We are not of the world anymore, because the Lord has called us out of the world (John 15:19). What a blessing to be now in the church, the Body of Christ whose ruler, whose head is Christ!
  1. The church has two aspects:
    1. The universal aspect – Matt.16:18 the Lord said, "… I will build My church…" He did not say, "I will build My churches." The Lord is building only one church in the whole universe that includes all the believers. It is unlimited in space since it includes all the believers all throughout the world. It is unlimited in time since it includes even the dead believers like Apostle Paul. The universal church is real yet not practical. Because it is not practical for us to meet with all the believers all throughout the world and also not possible for us to fellowship with all the dead believers, though they, too, are part of this one universal church. Therefore, to make the universal church practical to us, it should have an expression in every locality or city – the local church.
    2. The local aspect – Matt. 18:17 tells us that if there are some problems to be settled, we have to tell it to the church. The church in this verse is so practical because if we want to fellowship something, right away we can come to tell it to the church. Here we can see that a local church is a group of believers living in a certain locality or city and meeting together as brothers and sisters in the Lord, for His testimony in that place.
  1. The local church has two aspects:
    1. The singular aspect – Acts 8:1 says, "… the CHURCH IN JERUSALEM."
    2. The plural aspect – Gal. 1:2 says, "the churches of Galatia."

1.      Both are names of places, but we can see that in Jerusalem there is only one church, while in Galatia there are many churches. This is because if we are to look at the ancient map, Jerusalem is a city and Galatia is a province. According to the biblical principle, in every city or locality there should only be one local church. Since Jerusalem is a city or locality, there is only one local church in Jerusalem. That is why it is singular: the CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. Since Galatia is a province with many cities or localities, there are many local churches in Galatia. That is why it is plural: the CHURCHES OF GALATIA.

2.      The first local church established was the CHURCH IN JERUSALEM because the preaching of the gospel by Jesus and His apostle started in Jerusalem. After the believers got baptized they meet together as a local church called the CHURCH IN JERUSALEM.

3.      We can find in the Bible that the local church is the practical expression of the universal church. There is only one church expressed in every locality or city because in the whole universe there is only one church. Just as there is only one moon expressed in every place because in the whole earth there is only one moon.

4.      The believers as a corporate Body are called the church. But as individual members of the church we are simply called CHRISTIANS (Acts 11:26). We are not Lutherans, Baptist, nor any so-called brand, but just plain CHRISTIANS. We are carrying the brand of Christ and not the brand of any denomination or religion. In the Bible there is no religion nor denomination such as Roman Catholic church, Baptist Church, Alliance Church, and so on and so forth. We have been betrothed to Christ as our one unique husband (II Cor.11:2). To carry a name other than Christ is spiritual fornication; it promotes division and causes confusion, If she being Mrs. Black would tag herself as Mrs. White then it means fornication which results to division and confusion; like in today’s countless denominations who tagged themselves with special name.

5.      Now, we are clear that the practical expression of the one universal church is the local church. If the gathering of the believers as a local church is in the locality or city of Jerusalem, it is called the CHRUCH IN JERUSALEM (Acts 8:1) or if it is in Philadelphia it as called the CHRUCH IN PHILADELPHIA (Rev. 3:7). Now, in what locality or city do you live? __________________. Therefore, you belong to the CHURCH IN ___________________.