"What the Bible Says about Church: or "The Invisible Church and
the Visible Church"
There seems to be a lot of misconceptions about the the term "church" or "the church" really means or refers to.
This is not meant to be an exhaustive look at the topic of
the Christian Church (much smarter people have written much larger works ) but
rather a bit of an overview for the curious or confused or maybe even ( and hopefully) a refreshing
look for the embittered veteran.
As is often helpful in defining something, let’s talk about
what it is NOT.
The Church is not a building. It is not a steeple and stained
glass. It is not bricks and mortar or wood or crystal.
The Church, as the Bible lays it out, is in fact –
people. Human beings. And to be more specific , human beings who
have met Jesus Christ in a very personal way. Who, through reason and experience, have put their faith in Him, and Him alone,
for the redemption of their souls ( this obviously implies that they have first
also come to acknowledge their need for redemption).
It has been rightly said that the Church is not an organization,
it is an organism.
In other words, it is
made up of people in community and fellowship centered on the Person of Jesus
Christ. And, like spokes in a wheel, the closer these people get to Christ, the
closer they get to each other.
The Greek word used in the Bible for church is “ekklesia” which literally means “called out ones”.
Strong’s Greek Dictionary:
1) a
gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place, an
assembly
d) in a Christian sense
1) an assembly of Christians
gathered for worship in a religious meeting
4) the whole body of Christians
scattered throughout the earth
5) the assembly of faithful
Christians already dead and received into heaven
Notice the first two Christian definitions – one is a singular gathering
at a specific location which we shall refer to as the “local church”.
The other is all Christians ( i.e. true believer’s in Jesus Christ)
throughout the world. We refer to this as the “Universal Church” and
this term often includes the third group -
those already in Heaven – amongst its number.
Vine’s Expository Greek Dictionary
expands on the concept of a “Local” and a “Universal” Church:
(a) (Universal)
to the whole company of the redeemed throughout the present era, the company of
which Christ said, "I will build My Church," Mat 16:18,
and which is further described as "the Church which is His Body," Eph 1:22; 5:23,
An interesting thing to note is that the word “catholic” simply means
“universal” and so the early church was simply called the Catholic Church.
However, throughout history and
especially during the time of the reformation ( in the 15th century)
, there were those who believed that the “catholic” (more specifically the
Roman Catholic) church had strayed from
Biblical teaching, imposed its own rules and at times became corrupt.
When we think of the terms “The
Church” or the “Roman Catholic Church” as portrayed throughout history and even
in today’s view – we must realize that this is not necessarily a true or
accurate representation of “the Ekklesia” .
One way
theologians make this distinction about the Church is that of the “visible Church” and the “invisible Church”.
As we have established above, the
church is made up of all true believing humans. Though we can see the outward
lifestyles and confessions of people, we cannot see their inward heart and
therefore cannot know in an absolute way who is and is not part of this
Biblical, “ invisible Church”.
The visible Church, on the other hand,
would be the official organization, the
building etc… but just because it is concrete in nature, or official with the
government, does not mean it is real in
spirit.
The “visible Church” is often what we
hear of in the history books and the media but it is not necessarily reflective
of Jesus’ teachings.
There are no doubt many true believers
in the visible church but there are also false Christians – fakers,
phonies, posers.
Ghandi noted this when He said “ “I like your Christ, I do not like
your Christians. Your Christians are so
unlike your Christ.”
If you are a Christian, let this not be said of
you - we should all strive to be LIKE
Christ.
Thankfully the Bible assures us that
2Ti
2:19 Nevertheless the
solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: "The Lord knows those
who are His," and, "Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart
from iniquity."
and this is the sum of the Invisible
Church
This is not to say we cannot
objectively judge a person’s lifestyle and the sincerity of their faith – but our
measurements are inevitably finite.
Today we are aware of the distinctions
between the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church ( much of
Greece) the mainline Protestant churches
( i.e. Anglican, United, …) and the Evangelicals you hear so much about in the
States but who have really existed for many years in many forms and in many
countries ( Baptist, Pentecostal, Mennonite Brethren, Alliance etc….)
(By the way for full disclosure, I
would fall under the “Evangelical” category. For more on this term see : )
You may be surprised to learn that of all the ceremonies,
customs and traditions that can be found
in churches , the only two that Jesus instituted absolutely were baptism and communion ( also
known as “The Lord’s Supper” or the “Eucharist” )
(*Note – Most Protestant and Evangelical churches believe
that the bread and wine ( or grape juice) of communion are symbolic of Jesus’
broken body and shed blood while the Roman Catholic Church and some others
believe it literally becomes Jesus’ flesh and blood … as I said, I heartily
take the Evangelical view as I believe it to be the Biblical one.)
One thing they all agree on is The Trinity – in other words, a Triune
God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Dr. Wayne Grudem in his Systematic
Theology gives a point form definition of this incredibly important but
sometimes hard to be understood doctrine.
1) God is the Persons
2) Each Person is fully and equally God
3) There is one God
That is a very brief summary of what a systematic and contextual
look at Scripture clearly teaches.
And as this doctrine implies, the Son – Who is Jesus Christ – is
fully and equally God.
Referred to as the “Deity” of Jesus, this teaching is at
the heart and foundation of Christianity .
In true Christianity , Jesus Christ is no less than the Almighty
Creator God.
This is indeed the dividing line between what is “Christian” and
what is not.
Speaking of Jesus Christ and the Church, Paul writes:
Eph
2:17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those
who were near
Eph
2:18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
Eph
2:19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow
citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
Eph
2:20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,
Eph
2:21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy
temple in the Lord,
Eph
2:22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God
in the Spirit.
Another 2 defining marks of a true Christian church is that it
believes and teaches the Bible as the sole and infallible Word of God and that
it is attempting to function as a church by having communion and baptizing
believers ( the latter would be the difference between an independent Bible
study and a church in progress).
This would be true of both the local independent church
around the corner or a large international organization claiming to be
Christian.
Mat
16:15 He said to them,
"But who do you say that I am?"
Mat
16:16 Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the
Son of the living God."
Mat
16:17 Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon
Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed [this] to you, but My Father
who is in heaven.
Mat
16:18 "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this
rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail
against it.
Eph
1:22 And He (God the Father) put all things under His (Jesus’ )feet, and
gave Him to be head over all things to the church,
Eph
1:23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
It’s important to note that it was Jesus , Himself , who
founded the Church and Who is it’s Head.
and bid us partake in this particular form of community. So to say we love Jesus and then refuse to go
to any type of Biblical Christ-honouring church is really just hypocritical.
Many say that their church is “the outdoors” or “nature”. To be sure, taking in Creation can indeed be
a worshipful experience – incredibly so actually. I can attest to that
personally.
However, that alone
is not enough. It is not community and it is not what Jesus’ meant when he
founded the church.
Act
2:42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and
fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Act
2:43 Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done
through the apostles.
Act
2:44 Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common,
Act
2:45 and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as
anyone had need.
Act
2:46 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread
from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart,
Act
2:47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added
to the church daily those who were being saved.
You can see that in the first verse we see 4 hallmarks of
the church – “they continued steadfastly in”:
1)
The apostles' doctrine (i.e. The teaching and
explaining and life application of the Bible)
2)
and
fellowship (community, meeting together, being accountable to one another and
loving each other)
3)
in the
breaking of bread (communion)
4)
and in prayers (praying together as a group for
each other and all those in the world etc…)
Well, much more could be said but for the sake of simplicity
and readability I think I will leave things there. Please feel free to comment
if you see anything that doesn’t fit Biblically or is missing .
