At this point it may be helpful to look back over what we have learnt of the church so far and add a few more notes concerning how the early churches operated.
God’s plan in operation
After the repeated failures that marked the early days of human history, God declared his purpose to choose for himself a people through whom he would provide a salvation for all the world. He began by choosing one man, Abraham, and promising to make from him a nation that would be in a special sense God’s people and his channel of blessing to the whole world. The people of this nation, Israel, were therefore both Abraham’s physical descendants and God’s chosen people (Gen 12:1-3; Exod 6:7; 19:5-6; John 8:37).
This did not mean, however, that all those born into the Israelite race were, on account of their nationality, automatically forgiven their sins and blessed with God’s eternal favour. On the contrary the history of Israel shows that from the beginning most of the people were ungodly and unrepentant. Those who, like Abraham, truly trusted God and desired to obey him were always only a minority within the nation (Isa 1:4,11-20; Rom 11:2-7; Heb 3:16). These were God’s true people, the true Israel, the true descendants of Abraham (Rom 2:28-29; 4:9-12; 9:6-8).
From this faithful minority came one person, Jesus the Messiah, who was the divinely chosen descendant of Abraham to whom God’s promises to Abraham pointed. All God’s ideals for Israel and all his promised blessings for the human race were fulfilled in Jesus (Gal 3:16). Jesus then took the few remaining faithful Israelites of his day and made them the nucleus of God’s new people, the Christian church (Matt 16:18). The church, then, was both old and new. It was old in that it was a continuation of that body of believers who in every age remained faithful to God. It was new in that it did not formally come into being till after the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus (Matt 16:18,21; Titus 2:14; 1 Peter 2:9).
The word used by Jesus and translated ‘church’ meant originally a collection of people – a meeting, gathering or community. It was used for the Old Testament community of Israel, and was particularly suitable for the new community, the Christian church, that came into existence on the Day of Pentecost (Exod 12:6; 35:1; Deut 9:10; 23:3; Acts 2:1-4; 5:11; 7:38; 8:1).
The body of Christ
As the church grew, Christians understood its meaning more fully. They saw that Christ and the church are inseparably united and make up one complete whole, just as the head and the body make up one complete person. Through his resurrection and ascension, Christ became Head of the church. He has supreme authority over it and is the source of its life, growth and strength (Eph 1:20-23; 4:15-16; Col 1:18; 2:19). Another picture of the relationship between Christ and the church is that of marriage. This emphasizes Christ’s love for the church and shows how, in order to gain the church as his bride, he laid down his life in sacrifice (Eph 5:23,25).
Both the picture of the body and the picture of marriage illustrate Christ’s headship of the church (Eph 1:22-23; 5:23). Both pictures also make it clear that God accepts the church as holy and faultless only because it shares the life and righteousness of Christ (Eph 5:26-27; Col 1:22).
This view of the church in all its perfection as the body of Christ is one that God alone sees. The view that people in general see is of the church in a world of sin where it is troubled by imperfection and failure (cf. 1 Cor 1:2 with 1 Cor 3:1-3; cf. Eph 1:1-4 with Eph 4:25-32). God sees the church as the full number of believers of all nations and all eras, a vast international community commonly referred to as the church universal. People see the church only in the form of those believers living in a particular place at a particular time.
Within what society sees as the visible church are those who are genuine believers and those who are not. People often find it difficult to tell the difference between the two, but God knows all things and he will make the decisive separation on the day of final judgment (Matt 13:47-50; 1 Cor 10:1-11; 2 Cor 13:5).
The local church
This leads to the most common usage of the word ‘church’, and that is to denote the meeting together of a group of Christians in a particular locality. This community is the church in that locality. It is the local expression, a sort of miniature, of the timeless universal church (Acts 13:1; 1 Cor 1:2).
The story of the early church in Acts shows that when people repented and believed the gospel, they were baptized (Acts 2:38,41; 10:48). By their faith they became members of Christ’s body, the church, and they showed the truth of this union by joining with other Christians in their locality. That is, having become part of the timeless universal church, they now became part of the local church (Acts 2:41,47).
Churches in New Testament times met in private homes or any other ready-made places they could find (Acts 12:12; 19:9, 20:7-8; Rom 16:5,14-15). Their meetings were to be orderly and, above all, spiritually helpful (1 Cor 14:26,40). The believers were built up through being taught the Scriptures and through having fellowship with each other by praying, worshipping, singing praises and observing the Lord’s Supper together (Acts 2:42; 20:7,27; 1 Cor 11:23-33; 14:15).
From the church, believers went out to make known the gospel to others. They baptized those who believed, brought them into the fellowship of the church and taught them the Christian teaching, so that they too might become true disciples of Jesus Christ (Matt 28:19-20; Acts 1:7-8; 8:4; Col 1:27-29). They recognized that their responsibilities applied to distant regions as well as to their own localities (Matt 28:19; Acts 13:2-4; Rom 15:19-20); and besides preaching the gospel they helped the victims of disease, hunger and injustice (Acts 3:2-6; 11:28-29; 16:16-18; Rom 12:8,13; James 1:27; 2:14-16; cf. Matt 25:34-
40).
Each local church, though having fellowship with other local churches (Acts 11:29; 18:27; 1 Cor 16:1-4), was responsible directly to the Head, Jesus Christ, in all things. There was no central organization or head church to control all others, and no set of laws either to hold the churches together in one body or to hold all the believers in one church together. Unity came through a oneness of faith in the Spirit, with Christ as the Head (Eph 4:4-6).
Christians thought of the church not as an organization or institution, but as a family. Christ was the Head, and all the believers were brothers and sisters (Gal 6:10; Eph 2:19). The strength of the church came not from any organizational system, but from the spiritual life that each believer possessed and that all believers shared in common (Phil 1:7; 2:1-2; 1 John 1:3).
Leadership in the churches
The Bible gives few details concerning how the early churches arranged their meetings and carried out their functions. No set form was laid down. That does not mean that the churches lacked leadership or that they carried out their work without thought and planning. Churches had elders to be responsible for spiritual care, growth and direction, and deacons to look after some of the church’s more routine affairs (Phil. 1:1; see earlier notes). People in those leadership positions may have been gifted in various ways, since God gave a range of gifts to build up his people within the life of the body. Among these gifts were apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers (Eph 4:11-13).
Apostles and prophets seem to have been especially suited to the time of the church’s infancy (Eph 2:20; see earlier notes). Evangelists were, according to the meaning of the word, those who preached, announced or proclaimed the gospel, or good news. Their chief concern was to make known the gospel to those who had not heard it, and plant churches in places where previously there were none (Acts 8:5,40; 14:21, 16:10; Rom 10:14-15; 15:19-20; 2 Cor 10:16; 2 Tim 4:5).
Pastors were those whose special ministry was spiritual care. In the language of the original New Testament writings there was a close connection between the words ‘pastor’, ‘shepherd’ and ‘flock’, indicating that many of the qualities of the pastor were similar to those we have already considered in relation to elders (John 21:15-17; 1 Peter 5:1-4). Pastors were not a separate group from teachers, for the way they fed the flock was through teaching the Word (Acts 20:27-28; cf. 6:2-4). In fact, where pastors and teachers are mentioned together in Ephesians 4:11, the grammatical connection between the two words indicates that both words refer to the same people, pastor-teachers.
Teachers, being also pastors, had more than the ability to understand and teach the Word clearly.
They taught in such a way that the members of the church were strengthened in their faith and equipped to serve God (Rom 12:7; 1 Cor 12:28; Eph 4:11-12). They helped Christians develop the ability to discern between teaching that was wholesome and teaching that was not, and so grow towards spiritual maturity (Eph 4:13-14; Col 1:28; 2:4; 1 Thess 5:20-21; 1 Tim 1:3-5; 4:6-8; Heb 5:12-14).
From the above data we can see that there was some overlap between the gifts mentioned in the New Testament. People were not divided too sharply into separate categories, and some combined within them several of the gifts; e.g. Paul (Rom 15:20; 1 Tim 1:1; 2:7), James (Gal 1:19; 2:9-10), Timothy (1 Tim
4:13-16; 2 Tim 4:5), Barnabas (Acts 11:22-26; 14:14), Silas (Acts 15:32; 17:10-14) and others.
Responsibilities of church members
God’s purpose was not for these specially gifted people to do all the spiritual work in the church, or to be so dominant that the church members became completely dependent on them. On the contrary, they were to use their gifts to teach, train and build up other Christians and so prepare them for fuller Christian service. In this way individual Christians grew to spiritual maturity and the church as a body was built up (Eph 4:11-16; 2 Tim 2:1-2; cf. 1 Cor 14:3-4,12,26).
Paul pointed out to the early Christians that in a local church each member had a gift for the service of God, given by the Holy Spirit according to his will (1 Cor 12:11,18). He likened the church to the human body: a living organism made up of many parts, all with different functions to perform. Yet with the variety there was equality. The church, unlike ancient Israel, had no exclusive class of religious officials who had spiritual privileges that ordinary people did not have (Rom 12:4-8; 1 Cor 12:12,27; Eph 2:18-20). Many gifts operated in the early churches, but Christians were to use them in dependence upon the Spirit’s power and in keeping with the Spirit’s teaching (1 Cor 12:4-11).
If a local church was to operate properly, all the people in that church needed to find out what gifts the Holy Spirit had either given them or withheld from them, then develop the gifts they had (Rom 12:6- 8; 1 Tim 4:14-16). This would leave no room for pride on the one hand or jealousy on the other, but through the care of the members one for the other the church would be built up (1 Cor 12:14-30).
THE CHURCH AND ITS FUNCTION
At this point it may be helpful to look back over what we have learnt of the church so far and add a few more notes concerning how the early churches operated.
God’s plan in operation
After the repeated failures that marked the early days of human history, God declared his purpose to choose for himself a people through whom he would provide a salvation for all the world. He began by choosing one man, Abraham, and promising to make from him a nation that would be in a special sense God’s people and his channel of blessing to the whole world. The people of this nation, Israel, were therefore both Abraham’s physical descendants and God’s chosen people (Gen 12:1-3; Exod 6:7; 19:5-6; John 8:37).
This did not mean, however, that all those born into the Israelite race were, on account of their nationality, automatically forgiven their sins and blessed with God’s eternal favour. On the contrary the history of Israel shows that from the beginning most of the people were ungodly and unrepentant. Those who, like Abraham, truly trusted God and desired to obey him were always only a minority within the nation (Isa 1:4,11-20; Rom 11:2-7; Heb 3:16). These were God’s true people, the true Israel, the true descendants of Abraham (Rom 2:28-29; 4:9-12; 9:6-8).
From this faithful minority came one person, Jesus the Messiah, who was the divinely chosen descendant of Abraham to whom God’s promises to Abraham pointed. All God’s ideals for Israel and all his promised blessings for the human race were fulfilled in Jesus (Gal 3:16). Jesus then took the few remaining faithful Israelites of his day and made them the nucleus of God’s new people, the Christian church (Matt 16:18). The church, then, was both old and new. It was old in that it was a continuation of that body of believers who in every age remained faithful to God. It was new in that it did not formally come into being till after the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus (Matt 16:18,21; Titus 2:14; 1 Peter 2:9).
The word used by Jesus and translated ‘church’ meant originally a collection of people – a meeting, gathering or community. It was used for the Old Testament community of Israel, and was particularly suitable for the new community, the Christian church, that came into existence on the Day of Pentecost (Exod 12:6; 35:1; Deut 9:10; 23:3; Acts 2:1-4; 5:11; 7:38; 8:1).
The body of Christ
As the church grew, Christians understood its meaning more fully. They saw that Christ and the church are inseparably united and make up one complete whole, just as the head and the body make up one complete person. Through his resurrection and ascension, Christ became Head of the church. He has supreme authority over it and is the source of its life, growth and strength (Eph 1:20-23; 4:15-16; Col 1:18; 2:19). Another picture of the relationship between Christ and the church is that of marriage. This emphasizes Christ’s love for the church and shows how, in order to gain the church as his bride, he laid down his life in sacrifice (Eph 5:23,25).
Both the picture of the body and the picture of marriage illustrate Christ’s headship of the church (Eph 1:22-23; 5:23). Both pictures also make it clear that God accepts the church as holy and faultless only because it shares the life and righteousness of Christ (Eph 5:26-27; Col 1:22).
This view of the church in all its perfection as the body of Christ is one that God alone sees. The view that people in general see is of the church in a world of sin where it is troubled by imperfection and failure (cf. 1 Cor 1:2 with 1 Cor 3:1-3; cf. Eph 1:1-4 with Eph 4:25-32). God sees the church as the full number of believers of all nations and all eras, a vast international community commonly referred to as the church universal. People see the church only in the form of those believers living in a particular place at a particular time.
Within what society sees as the visible church are those who are genuine believers and those who are not. People often find it difficult to tell the difference between the two, but God knows all things and he will make the decisive separation on the day of final judgment (Matt 13:47-50; 1 Cor 10:1-11; 2 Cor 13:5).
The local church
This leads to the most common usage of the word ‘church’, and that is to denote the meeting together of a group of Christians in a particular locality. This community is the church in that locality. It is the local expression, a sort of miniature, of the timeless universal church (Acts 13:1; 1 Cor 1:2).
The story of the early church in Acts shows that when people repented and believed the gospel, they were baptized (Acts 2:38,41; 10:48). By their faith they became members of Christ’s body, the church, and they showed the truth of this union by joining with other Christians in their locality. That is, having become part of the timeless universal church, they now became part of the local church (Acts 2:41,47).
Churches in New Testament times met in private homes or any other ready-made places they could find (Acts 12:12; 19:9, 20:7-8; Rom 16:5,14-15). Their meetings were to be orderly and, above all, spiritually helpful (1 Cor 14:26,40). The believers were built up through being taught the Scriptures and through having fellowship with each other by praying, worshipping, singing praises and observing the Lord’s Supper together (Acts 2:42; 20:7,27; 1 Cor 11:23-33; 14:15).
From the church, believers went out to make known the gospel to others. They baptized those who believed, brought them into the fellowship of the church and taught them the Christian teaching, so that they too might become true disciples of Jesus Christ (Matt 28:19-20; Acts 1:7-8; 8:4; Col 1:27-29). They recognized that their responsibilities applied to distant regions as well as to their own localities (Matt 28:19; Acts 13:2-4; Rom 15:19-20); and besides preaching the gospel they helped the victims of disease, hunger and injustice (Acts 3:2-6; 11:28-29; 16:16-18; Rom 12:8,13; James 1:27; 2:14-16; cf. Matt 25:34-
40).
Each local church, though having fellowship with other local churches (Acts 11:29; 18:27; 1 Cor 16:1-4), was responsible directly to the Head, Jesus Christ, in all things. There was no central organization or head church to control all others, and no set of laws either to hold the churches together in one body or to hold all the believers in one church together. Unity came through a oneness of faith in the Spirit, with Christ as the Head (Eph 4:4-6).
Christians thought of the church not as an organization or institution, but as a family. Christ was the Head, and all the believers were brothers and sisters (Gal 6:10; Eph 2:19). The strength of the church came not from any organizational system, but from the spiritual life that each believer possessed and that all believers shared in common (Phil 1:7; 2:1-2; 1 John 1:3).
Leadership in the churches
The Bible gives few details concerning how the early churches arranged their meetings and carried out their functions. No set form was laid down. That does not mean that the churches lacked leadership or that they carried out their work without thought and planning. Churches had elders to be responsible for spiritual care, growth and direction, and deacons to look after some of the church’s more routine affairs (Phil. 1:1; see earlier notes). People in those leadership positions may have been gifted in various ways, since God gave a range of gifts to build up his people within the life of the body. Among these gifts were apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers (Eph 4:11-13).
Apostles and prophets seem to have been especially suited to the time of the church’s infancy (Eph 2:20; see earlier notes). Evangelists were, according to the meaning of the word, those who preached, announced or proclaimed the gospel, or good news. Their chief concern was to make known the gospel to those who had not heard it, and plant churches in places where previously there were none (Acts 8:5,40; 14:21, 16:10; Rom 10:14-15; 15:19-20; 2 Cor 10:16; 2 Tim 4:5).
Pastors were those whose special ministry was spiritual care. In the language of the original New Testament writings there was a close connection between the words ‘pastor’, ‘shepherd’ and ‘flock’, indicating that many of the qualities of the pastor were similar to those we have already considered in relation to elders (John 21:15-17; 1 Peter 5:1-4). Pastors were not a separate group from teachers, for the way they fed the flock was through teaching the Word (Acts 20:27-28; cf. 6:2-4). In fact, where pastors and teachers are mentioned together in Ephesians 4:11, the grammatical connection between the two words indicates that both words refer to the same people, pastor-teachers.
Teachers, being also pastors, had more than the ability to understand and teach the Word clearly.
They taught in such a way that the members of the church were strengthened in their faith and equipped to serve God (Rom 12:7; 1 Cor 12:28; Eph 4:11-12). They helped Christians develop the ability to discern between teaching that was wholesome and teaching that was not, and so grow towards spiritual maturity (Eph 4:13-14; Col 1:28; 2:4; 1 Thess 5:20-21; 1 Tim 1:3-5; 4:6-8; Heb 5:12-14).
From the above data we can see that there was some overlap between the gifts mentioned in the New Testament. People were not divided too sharply into separate categories, and some combined within them several of the gifts; e.g. Paul (Rom 15:20; 1 Tim 1:1; 2:7), James (Gal 1:19; 2:9-10), Timothy (1 Tim
4:13-16; 2 Tim 4:5), Barnabas (Acts 11:22-26; 14:14), Silas (Acts 15:32; 17:10-14) and others.
Responsibilities of church members
God’s purpose was not for these specially gifted people to do all the spiritual work in the church, or to be so dominant that the church members became completely dependent on them. On the contrary, they were to use their gifts to teach, train and build up other Christians and so prepare them for fuller Christian service. In this way individual Christians grew to spiritual maturity and the church as a body was built up (Eph 4:11-16; 2 Tim 2:1-2; cf. 1 Cor 14:3-4,12,26).
Paul pointed out to the early Christians that in a local church each member had a gift for the service of God, given by the Holy Spirit according to his will (1 Cor 12:11,18). He likened the church to the human body: a living organism made up of many parts, all with different functions to perform. Yet with the variety there was equality. The church, unlike ancient Israel, had no exclusive class of religious officials who had spiritual privileges that ordinary people did not have (Rom 12:4-8; 1 Cor 12:12,27; Eph 2:18-20). Many gifts operated in the early churches, but Christians were to use them in dependence upon the Spirit’s power and in keeping with the Spirit’s teaching (1 Cor 12:4-11).
If a local church was to operate properly, all the people in that church needed to find out what gifts the Holy Spirit had either given them or withheld from them, then develop the gifts they had (Rom 12:6- 8; 1 Tim 4:14-16). This would leave no room for pride on the one hand or jealousy on the other, but through the care of the members one for the other the church would be built up (1 Cor 12:14-30).