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Pastor: Dr. Lester Hutson

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Lesson 1
The Bible Definition of Church - Part I

Before we begin let's set down some foundational truths to build upon. The first truth is that 'God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints'  (1 Corinthians 14:33). Even when He spoke in parables Jesus always explained them to those who listened: only those with a 'hearing' problem missed out on the great lessons He taught through this means. We can safely rely on the fact that His Word is void of contradiction and deceit.

The second foundational truth is that God cannot lie (Titus1:2). God will absolutely not tell us one thing in one place in the Bible and then tell us the opposite somewhere else. Furthermore, God will not promise us something He will not fulfill (Numbers 23:19). He will not tell us something that is not 100% truthful and accurate (John 17:17).

The third truth is that in God there 'is no variableness, neither shadow of turning' (James 1:17). This means that God will never change His mind on a subject. What He sets forth in the Scriptures is the way it will be for eternity. Jesus said, 'For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled' (Matthew 5:18).

The fourth truth to remember is that God's Word says exactly what He wanted it to say. 2 Peter 1:21 tells us that the Word of God is not man's doing but God's. And in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 Paul tells us that God placed His thoughts directly into the minds of the Bible writers (see also 2 Timothy 3:16). Based on the fact that God's Word is exactly that, His Word, and that each word is there (in the original languages) precisely the way He intended, we can know that all we need to do is properly understand what He has written in order to learn the truth on any subject.

The fifth and final foundational truth (as far as this study is concerned) is that there is a proper way to study the Word of God. There are certain principles that we must remain faithful to in our study of His Word in order to prevent our opinions or bias from misconstruing what He wrote. Very briefly, these are:

1. God's Word is self defining (Isaiah 28:13). Commentaries and other Bible study helps are nice, but we should not use them to explain what God Himself has so clearly put in the scriptures. Whenever there is a question between two passages, or whenever there appears to be a contradiction or conflict between two passages, the fault is ours and not God's. 

2. We must maintain contextual integrity in our study. We cannot lift verses out of the context of their chapters, nor chapters out of the book, nor the book out of the whole Bible. The violation of this principle alone is responsible for most of the variation in Bible teaching done today.

3. We must observe the proper sense of a word or passage. Is it literal or symbolic, generic or specific?

4. We must consider the application and limitation of a passage. Is it limited to certain people or a certain time? Does it apply only to a specific person, persons or time?

5. We must properly consider original meanings. Only the original writings were inspired. All the rest are translations and revisions and contain errors. It is imperative that we consult the original languages if we are to properly learn the controversial truths in His Word.

Now let's build on the foundation we've just laid by looking into God's Word concerning the church. In Matthew 16:18 Jesus said, 'I will build my church' and in Revelation He stated multiple times 'He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches' (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29 and 3:6, 13, 22). Was He referring to two different kinds of churches as some suppose today? In Matthew was He referring to Christendom and in Revelation to specific congregations? Let's find out.

First of all we must apply the 5th principle of proper Bible study ('original meanings' as mentioned above) to Matthew 16:18. The Greek word for our word 'church' is 'ecclesia' and it means 'a called out assembly'. When you are called for jury duty you join a group of 'called out' persons and become joined to an assembly of potential jurors. When you were in school you had regular assembly times in which you were called out from your normal school activities and became joined to other schoolmates to become an assembly of students. And in Mark 3:13-19 and Luke 6:12-16 Christ 'called out' 12 disciples from the many John the Baptist had to form the first assembly of born again believers or the first church. An assembly must assemble otherwise it cannot be called an assembly: trite but factual.

Paul further confirms that Christ founded the first assembly (church) in 1 Corinthians 12:28, when under the leadership of the Holy Spirit he wrote, 'and God hath set some in the church, first apostles...' And he added in Ephesians 2:20 that Christ was the 'the chief corner stone.' Paul was not confused about what the church consisted of. He knew that there was only one type of church: the one the Lord founded early during His earthly ministry (Mark 3:13-19 and Luke 6:12-16) and those which that church started.

We should also apply the principle of original meanings to the words 'will build' in Matthew 16:18. The Greek word for our English phrase 'will build' is 'oikodomeo' which means to 'build up' or to 'edify' and not to build from scratch.   Christ was not saying that sometime in the future He was going to build His church, nor was He inferring that all Christians were part of some universal church. He was simply using the word 'church' in its generic sense to represent what He had already founded (Mark 3:13-19, Luke 6:12-16 and 1 Corinthians 12:28). (In part two of this lesson we will investigate further the use of the generic and specific uses of the word 'church').

We get further confirmation of the existence of this congregation in Matthew chapter 18. Here, Christ talks about church discipline. Look at verses 15 through 17. These verses contain the four step process for dealing with an unrepentant church member. The first step (verse 15) is for the offended to approach the offender. If this step does not produce repentance and reconciliation then the second step is to take one or two witnesses (verse 16) and confront the offender. If the offender remains unrepentant the offender was to be brought before the assembly (verse 17). And if the offender was still unrepentant after this third step the fourth and final step was to cast that member out of the assembly (verse17). And by the way, Paul put this very principle into action in the Corinthian congregation when he ordered that assembly to 'purge' out such a member (I Corinthians 5). So once again, Paul was confirming that he clearly understood the fact that there was only one type of church: the one the Lord started during His earthly ministry and which in turn authorized Paul (and others) to start other churches in 'Judea, and Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth' (Acts 1:8).

We must also apply the second principle of proper Bible study (maintaining contextual integrity, see above) to these two passages in Matthew (16:18 and 18:15-17). In both instances Christ was addressing His disciples: His first church. The context is the first assembly. He was not addressing all Christians here but only His assembly of 12. To remain faithful to maintaining contextual integrity with the chapters these verses are in we can only apply these verses to other local congregations.

In addition if we apply the fourth principle of proper Bible study (limitation and application) we must agree that this passage is limited to a local congregation, since no other Christians were present. None of the many disciples of John (other than the 12) were present. None of those who became believers prior to this point were present. Did God slip up? Did Christ forget them? No, He was only addressing His first congregation members and this passage was only meant to be applied to future congregations.

And finally we must apply the third principle of proper Bible study (observing the proper sense of a word or passage) to these passages. When Christ used the word 'church' in these texts He was using it generically or representatively. He was not only talking to His first church members but also to all His future churches and their members.

Now, let's try to apply today's concept that the church is comprised of all born again believers to Christ's teaching in Matthew 18. Right away several contradictions and unresolvable problems surface. Matthew 18:17 states that the unrepentant member must be brought before the assembly (church) if the first two steps fail to bring about repentance and reconciliation. So the obvious problem is how to notify and assemble all Christians world wide to handle the third and fourth steps of church discipline?

The next major problem is what happens to the unrepentant member who falls under the fourth step: being purged out of the assembly. What happened to that member Paul had the Corinthian church 'purge' out in I Corinthians 5? Well, if we are to believe that the church is comprised of all born again believers, then the cast out member would have to lose his salvation. And Christ would have to be a liar. Christ said that whoever believed on Him would have everlasting life (John 3:16). Did He lie? NO! He cannot lie (Titus 1:2). So we have an apparently unresolvable problem in the scriptures. We can't reconcile today's popular church concept of all Christians comprising the church, or body of Christ, and this passage in Matthew.

However, as we have seen in the preceding points, if we apply the principles of proper Bible study all these problems are resolved. The fact is that Christ founded His first church and spent three long and hard years training its leaders (1 Corinthians 12:28) what they needed to know, and how that assembly was to govern itself, and what that assembly was to do with itself. After His resurrection He commissioned that first church to reach the world with the gospel and start other churches which would in turn start other churches on down through the ages until today (Acts 1:8, Matthew 28:18-20). And the very real fact is that there is only one kind of church spoken of in the New Testament: His. And it was local and not universal. It consisted only of those baptized believers that were added to it. And later, after His resurrection it sent out missionaries like Paul, Silas, and Peter to start other churches.

SUMMARY

Christ did not speak of two different kinds of churches. He did not teach or infer that all Christians were part of a universal church. His teachings in Matthew chapters 16 and 18 can only be applied to local congregations and not to Christendom. And this truth was not lost on the first members of His first church and neither were they lost on Paul who came along later. These men with Christ as their Head turned the world upside down and established sister churches all over the known world. There is only one kind of church spoken of in the New Testament: His first church and the churches it started.

NEXT LESSON

In order to seal this truth firmly in your mind join me for the next half of this lesson where we will look at each specific reference of the word 'church' or 'body of Christ'. We will look at this issue from the grammatical side as well, exploring the correct useage of generic words to represent specific things.

"It Does Make a Difference What You Believe"