THE CHURCH BELONGING TO CHRIST
By Timothy Glover
Jesus said, “I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18). Again, Paul wrote that Jesus “purchased the church with his own blood” (Acts 20:28). Paul also affirms that there is “one body, the church” (Eph. 4:4). Yet, what is the church?
The word “church” is a collective noun that forms individuals into one group. The word is from the Greek “ekklesia” which means “the called out”. Out of what were these people called? 1Peter 2:9 refers to God’s people as having been “called out of darkness and into his marvelous light.” Since Paul tells us in 2 Thess. 2:14 that Christians are called by the gospel (God’s power to save -Rom. 1:16), then “the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation” (Eph. 1:13) is the means by which men and women are called unto him. An example is found on the day of Pentecost recorded in Acts 2 when Peter told them what they must do: “Repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.....” (38). Those who “gladly received the word were baptized and the same day were added unto them about 3,000 souls” (41). To what where they added and who added them? We are told that the “the Lord added to the church those who were being saved” (47). Therefore, those who respond in obedience to the preaching of the word, and are baptized will be added to the church by the Lord. Or, the church is made up of individuals who have obeyed the call of the gospel. Now, let us return to our original thought. Jesus said that the church (saved individuals) belongs to him.
I beg my readers to consider just who belongs to him. Yes, the church belongs to him. But, what makes them his church? They are his because they have submitted to his will. They repented and were baptized for the remission of their sins. Paul was told by Ananias in Acts 22:16, “Why tarriest thou, arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling upon the name of the Lord.”
When one follows Christ and his will as described above, a relationship exists that is described in various ways. For example, the church is the kingdom, the vineyard, the army, the family, the temple, the body. All these figures describe that special relationship of purchased people belonging to the Lord. To be built into the building, grafted into the vine, born into the family, hired to work his vineyard, or enlisted into his army, is to enter the same relationship. The value of the figures is to illustrate some particular point in relation to Christ. Some emphasize a point (such as the power of Christ, love and concern, godliness, oneness ) stronger than others. Yet, all refer to the one and same relationship. Do you belong to him? You do only if you have obeyed the call of the gospel. If not, you have not been added to the church belonging to Christ.
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