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Bible Encyclopedias
Church
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
or I. Pre-Christian History of the Term
II. Its Adoption by Jesus
III. Its Use in the New Testament
1. In the Gospels
2. In Acts
3. In the Pauline Epistles
IV. The Notes of the Church
1. Faith
2. Fellowship
3. Unity
4. Consecration
5. Power
V. Organization of the Church
1. The General and Prophetic Ministry
2. The Local and Practical Ministry
Literature
The word "church," which is derived from κυριακός ,
I. Pre-Christian History of the Term
Although
II. Its Adoption by Jesus
According to Matthew 16:18 the name
III. Its Use in the New Testament
1. In the Gospels
Apart from the passage just referred to, the word
2. In Acts
In Acts the
3. In the Pauline Epistles
In the Pauline Epistles both of these usages are frequent. Thus the apostle writes of "the church of the Thessalonians" (1 Thessalonians 1:1 ), "the church of God which is at Corinth" (1 Corinthians 1:2; 2 Corinthians 1:1 ). Indeed he localizes and particularizes the word yet further by applying it to a single Christian household or to little groups of believers who were accustomed to assemble in private houses for worship and fellowship (Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:19; Colossians 4:15; Philippians 1:2 ) - an employment of the word which recalls the saying of Jesus in Matthew 18:20 . The universal use, again, may be illustrated by the contrast he draws between Jews and Greeks on the one hand and the church of God on the other ( 1 Corinthians 10:32 ), and by the declaration that God has set in the church apostles, prophets, and teachers (1 Corinthians 12:28 ).
But Paul in his later epistles has another use of
IV. The Notes of the Church
1. Faith
Although a systematic doctrine of the church is neither to be found nor to be looked for in the New Testament, certain characteristic notes or features of the Christian society are brought before us from which we can form some conception as to its nature. The fundamental note is faith . It was to Peter confessing his faith in Christ that the promise came, "Upon this rock I will build my church" (Matthew 16:18 ). Until Jesus found a man full of faith He could not begin to build His church; and unless Peter had been the prototype of others whose faith was like his own, the walls of the church would never have risen into the air. Primarily the church is a society not of thinkers or workers or even of worshippers, but of believers. Hence, we find that "believers" or "they that believed" is constantly used as a synonym for the members of the Christian society (e.g. Acts 2:44; Acts 4:32; Acts 5:14; 1 Timothy 4:12 ). Hence, too, the rite of baptism, which from the first was the condition of entrance into the apostolic church and the seal of membership in it, was recognized as preëminently the sacrament of faith and of confession (Acts 2:41; Acts 8:12 , Acts 8:36; Romans 6:4; 1 Corinthians 12:13 ). This church-founding and church-building faith, of which baptism was the seal, was much more than an act of intellectual assent. It was a personal laying hold of the personal Saviour, the bond of a vital union between Christ and the believer which resulted in nothing less than a new creation (Romans 6:4; Romans 8:1 , Romans 8:2; 2 Corinthians 5:17 ).
2. Fellowship
If faith in Christ is the fundamental note of the Christian society, the next is fellowship among the members. This follows from the very nature of faith as just described; for if each believer is vitally joined to Christ, all believers must stand in a living relation to one another. In Paul's favorite figure, Christians are members one of another because they are members in particular of the body of Christ ( Romans 12:5; 1 Corinthians 12:27 ). That the Christian society was recognized from the first as a fellowship appears from the name "the brethren," which is so commonly applied to those who belong to it. In Acts the name is of very frequent occurrence (Acts 9:30 , etc.), and it is employed by Paul in the epistles of every period of his career (1 Thessalonians 4:10 , etc.). Similar testimony lies in the fact that "the
3. Unity
Although local congregations sprang up wherever the gospel was preached, and each of these enjoyed an independent life of its own, the unity of the church was clearly recognized from the first. The intercourse between Jerusalem and Antioch ( Acts 11:22; Acts 15:2 ), the conference held in the former city (Acts 15:6 ), the right hand of fellowship given by the elder apostles to Paul and Barnabas (Galatians 2:9 ), the untiring efforts made by Paul himself to forge strong links of love and mutual service between Gentile and Jewish Christians (2 Cor 8) - all these things serve to show how fully it was realized that though there were many churches, there was but one church. This truth comes to its complete expression in the epistles of Paul's imprisonment, with their vision of the church as a body of which Christ is the head, a body animated by one spirit, and having one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all (Ephesians 4:4; Colossians 1:18; Colossians 3:11 ). And this unity, it is to be noticed, is conceived of as a visible unity. Jesus Himself evidently conceived it so when He prayed for His disciples that they all might be one, so that the world might believe (John 17:21 ). And the unity of which Paul writes and for which he strove is a unity that finds visible expression. Not, it is true, in any uniformity of outward polity, but through the manifestation of a common faith in acts of mutual love (Ephesians 4:3 , Ephesians 4:13; 2 Corinthians 9:1-15 ).
4. Consecration
Another dominant note of the New Testament church lay in the consecration of its members. "Saints" is one of the most frequently recurring designations for them that we find. As Thus employed, the word has in the first place an objective meaning; the sainthood of the Christian society consisted in its separation from the world by God's electing grace; in this respect it has succeeded to the prerogatives of Israel under the old covenant. The members of the church, as Peter said, are "an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession" ( 1 Peter 2:9 ). But side by side with this sense of an outward and priestly consecration, the flame "saints" carried within it the thought of an ethical holiness - a holiness consisting, not merely in a status determined by relation to Christ, but in an actual and practical saintliness, a consecration to God that finds expression in character and conduct. No doubt the members of the church are called saints even when the living evidences of sainthood are sadly lacking. Writing to the Corinthian church in which he found so much to blame, Paul addresses its members by this title (1 Corinthians 1:2; compare 1 Corinthians 6:11 ). But he does so for other than formal reasons - not only because consecration to God is their outward calling and status as believers; but also because he is assured that a work of real sanctification is going on, and must continue to go on, in their bodies and their spirits which are His. For those who are in Christ are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17 ), and those to whom has come the separating and consecrating call (2 Corinthians 6:17 ) must cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Corinthians 7:1 ). Paul looks upon the members of the church, just as he looks upon the church itself, with a prophetic eye; he sees them not as they are, but as they are to be. And in his view it is "by the washing of water with the word," in other words by the progressive sanctification of its members, that the church itself is to be sanctified and cleansed, until Christ can present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing (Ephesians 5:26 , Ephesians 5:27 ).
5. Power
Yet another note of the church was spiritual power . When the name
V. Organization of the Church
It seems evident from the New Testament that Jesus gave His disciples no formal prescriptions for the organization of the church. In the first days after Pentecost they had no thought of separating themselves from the religious life of Israel, and would not realize the need of any distinct organization of their own. The temple-worship was still adhered to (Acts 2:46; Acts 3:1 ), though it was supplemented by apostolic teaching, by prayer and fellowship, and by the breaking of bread (Acts 2:42 , Acts 2:46 ). Organization was a thing of gradual growth suggested by emerging needs, and the differentiation of function among those who were drawn into the service of the church was due to the difference in the gifts bestowed by God upon the church members (1 Corinthians 12:28 ). At first the Twelve themselves, as the immediate companions of Jesus throughout His ministry and the prime witnesses of the Christian facts and especially of the resurrection (compare Acts 1:21 , Acts 1:22 ), were the natural leaders and teachers of the community. Apart from this, the earliest evidence of anything like organization is found in the distinction drawn by the Twelve themselves between the ministry of the word and the ministry of tables (Acts 6:2 , Acts 6:4 ) - a distinction which was fully recognized by Paul (Romans 12:6 , Romans 12:8; 1 Corinthians 1:17; 1 Corinthians 9:14; 1 Corinthians 12:28 ), though he enlarged the latter type of ministry so as to include much more than the care of the poor. The two kinds of ministry, as they meet us at the first, may broadly be distinguished as the general and prophetic on the one hand, the local and practical on the other.
1. The General and Prophetic Ministry
From Acts 6:1 we see that the Twelve recognized that they were Divinely called as apostles to proclaim the gospel; and Paul repeatedly makes the same claim for himself ( 1 Corinthians 1:17; 1 Corinthians 9:16; 2 Corinthians 3:6; 2 Corinthians 4:1; Colossians 1:23 ). But apostle ship was by no means confined to the Twelve (Acts 14:14; Romans 16:7; compare Didache 11 4ff); and an itinerant ministry of the word was exercised in differing ways by prophets, evangelists, and teachers, as well as by apostles ( 1 Corinthians 12:28 , 1 Corinthians 12:29; Ephesians 4:11 ). The fact that Paul himself is variously described as an apostle, a prophet, a teacher (Acts 13:1; Acts 14:14; 1 Timothy 2:7; 2 Timothy 1:11 ) appears to show that the prophetic ministry was not a ministry of stated office, but one of special gifts and functions. The apostle carried the good tidings of salvation to the ignorant and unbelieving (Galatians 2:7 , Galatians 2:8 ), the prophet (in the more specific sense of the word) was a messenger to the church (1 Corinthians 14:4 , 1 Corinthians 14:22 ); and while the teacher explained and applied truth that was already possessed (Hebrews 5:12 ), the prophet was recognized by those who had spiritual discernment (1 Corinthians 2:15; 1 Corinthians 14:29; 1 John 4:1 ) as the Divinely employed medium of fresh revelations (1 Corinthians 14:25 , 1 Corinthians 14:30 , 1 Corinthians 14:31; Ephesians 3:5; compare Didache 4 1).
2. The Local and Practical Ministry
The earliest examples of this are the Seven of Jerusalem who were entrusted with the care of the "daily ministration" (Acts 6:1 ). With the growth of the church, however, other needs arose, and the local ministry is seen developing in two distinct directions. First there is the presbyter or elder, otherwise known as the bishop or overseer, whose duties, while still local, are chiefly of a spiritual kind (Acts 20:17 , Acts 20:28 , Acts 20:35; 1 Timothy 3:2 , 1 Timothy 3:5; James 5:14; 1 Peter 5:2 ). See BISHOP . Next there are the deacon and the deaconess (Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy 3:8-13 ), whose work appears to have lain largely in house to house visitation and a practical ministry to the poor and needy (1 Timothy 5:8-11 ). The necessities of government, of discipline, and of regular and stated instruction had Thus brought it to pass that within New Testament times some of the functions of the general ministry of apostles and prophets were discharged by a local ministry. The general ministry, however, was still recognized to be the higher of the two. Paul addresses the presbyter-bishops of Ephesus in a tone of lofty spiritual authority (Acts 20:17 :ff). And according to the Didache , a true prophet when he visits a church is to take precedence over the resident bishops and deacons (Didache 10 7; 13 3). See CHURCH GOVERNMENT .
Literature
Hort, The Christian Ecclesia; Lindsay, The Church and the Ministry in the Early Cents. , lects
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Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. Entry for 'Church'. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/isb/c/church.html. 1915.
