What is "Church?"

One of my favorite exercises is to have people draw a picture of a church. Invariably the majority of people draw a building. I saw this done one time with a group of pastors at a meeting and 13/15 drew a building! If pastors who are teaching churches cannot get buildings out of head then it should not be surprising most other people cannot.

We are further confused because we use “church” numerous ways in English. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

1 : a building for public and especially Christian worship

2 : the clergy or officialdom of a religious body

3 : a body or organization of religious believers: as

a : the whole body of Christians

b : denomination

c : congregation

4 : a public divine worship 〈goes to church every Sunday〉

5 : the clerical profession 〈considered the church as a possible career>

CFU cable even has “The Church Channel” as if church is something that can be tuned into! Now one can hear sermons and music on TV but it is not a church! Our definition church must not come from a dictionary or the culture or even a denominational body, but from Scripture!

The Meaning of Ecclesia in the New Testament

The word for “church” in the New Testament is ecclesia. It comes from two Greek words that mean “from or out from” and “called” and thus at its root means “called out ones.” It occurs 108X in 106 verses (114 total – occasionally just means gathering of people). It only occurs 3X in the gospels, all in Matthew.

Church in the New Testament always refers to a gathering of people – never building: Acts 8:1-3… on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Some devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him. But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.

Saul not ravaging a building, not putting a building in prison, clearly people are in view!

Eph 5:25 Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.

Did Christ give Himself up for a building, or for a denomination, or a worship service? Does Christ love our carpet? Or CFU channel 23? Of course not!

In the New Testament if a specific congregation is in view a city is referenced or a meeting place:

Romans 16:3-5 Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who for my life risked their own necks, to whom not only do I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles; also greet the church that is in their house.

Paul tells us a church met in Prisca and Aquila’s house, but the house was not the church – the people are!

1 Corinthians 1:2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

Here a location is mentioned, but then notice how “church” is defined as “those sanctified in Christ Jesus”

This leads us to our 2nd consideration; if “church” refers to a gathering of called out people, who are they, how are they called out and from what?

Who is a part of the C(c)hurch?

1 Corinthians 1:2 gives us a nice definition of who is part of the church in a general sense: “sanctified” means made “holy or set apart” and it parallels “saints” which simply means “holy ones.” Thus “those sanctified…called to be saints” is equivalent to “those who…call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

In other words, anyone who has been made holy by calling upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is a part of the Church! And since calling upon the Name of the Lord Jesus according to Rom 10:9-10 is how one becomes saved, the church is thus made up of people who are those who are saved by confessing with their mouth and believing in their heart!

Now as a corollary to this, Old Testament saints are not part of the church! Church is distinct entity from people of Israel. Consider Romans 11:25-29 For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery-- so that you will not be wise in your own estimation-- that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; ²⁶ and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, "THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB." ²⁷ "THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS." ²⁸ From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God's choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; ²⁹ for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

God still has a plan for Israel that will pick up in the future, because He made promises to them that have yet to be fulfilled and His gifts and calling are irrevocable. He will never go back on His Word. But that does not happen until all the Gentiles He calls into the church have come in!

A second corollary to who is really a part of the church is that someone who has not called upon the Name of the Lord Jesus to be saved can participate with a congregation and come to worship and do everything else, but is NOT part of the Church in the Biblical sense!

Thus children are not part of the church if they have not confessed Christ, nor just because someone has been a member in the legal sense.

This is because we are told in 1 Corinthians 12:13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

The Body of Christ and the Church are synonymous (Colossians 1:18, 24 He is also head of the body, the church). Spirit baptism ultimately is not about whether people speak in tongues or some sort of second blessing or filling of the Spirit as some churches teach. Notice later in the passage it says “we were all…” – yet at the end of this very chapter Paul points out not everyone has same gifts, yet everyone is baptized by the Holy Spirit. Spirit baptism Biblically is specifically the act of the Spirit that upon salvation makes you a part of Christ’s Body – the Church.

Now in what sense are we called out? 1 Peter 2:9-10 But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; ¹⁰ for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.

We are called out of darkness (ignorance of God due to sin) into light (Jesus is light of the world; light is a metaphor for the knowledge of who God truly is and His truth. Consider Psalm 119 where we read Your word is a lamp unto my feet and light unto my path.

We are called to be a people of God, a royal priesthood (people who serve God). God’s own possession, a people to proclaim His glory!

So when we turn from our sin and confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior God’s Spirit baptizes us into the Church, which is the Body of Christ: the gathering of people with Christ as Head that are called out from darkness into light in order to proclaim God’s glory!

Now you may have noticed “church” sometimes is used more specifically of a particular group of believers and sometimes more generally:

Church Universal and church local

Notice in outline for previous point I have both a capital and a lowercase C. Theologians often use that shorthand to distinguish between Universal Church (sometimes also called the Invisible Church) and the local church.

Universal Church refers to all believers in all time from Pentecost until the Rapture (the “Church Age”). Now there are other members of God’s family from the past (Israelite saints) and there will other believers during the Tribulation period we call Tribulation saints who are also not of the Church.

Local Church is the specific gathering of a group of believers in a specific place organized to carry out the functions of the NT church. This is why Paul refers to the Church at Ephesus, or Revelation has the Church at Laodicea.

Someone might ask when Jesus says “Where 2 or 3 are gathered…” in Matthew 18:20, is that a local church (since those are already members of the Church)?

My answer to this would be no, because the New Testament local church is more than just people together. Since this will be the topic of the next sermon, I will not comment more on that now! Next week I will develop what makes a local church a local church and not just a social club!

Until then consider Paul’s prayer from Ephesians 3:20-21 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, ²¹ to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.