God’s Church? Christ’s Church? Trinity’s Church? Whose?
Posted: Wednesday, December 26, 2007
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
Much confusion exists in today's world concerning the church, universal. There are several thousand religious organizations in existence who refer to themselves as "churches". They are best explained when designated as religious denominations. Each is an organized body created by a man or men in the same manner that a civic club or other such organization is formed. Each one has at least slight differences to all the others. If nothing more than name. They usually have a charter, a headquarters, president (often called by other titles), a board, or group of men all of whom decide what their doctrine shall include and various other duties. Most also have a creed, rules or by-laws containing the requirements for belonging to their organization.
You find the word "church" used in Acts 7:38 where it refers to the Israelites who had been "called out" of Egyptian bondage and, at the same time, were called the chosen of God. The coming of the Lord's church is prophesied in numerous Old Testament scriptures but not termed "the church". It is referred to in prophecy as the kingdom (Psalm 45:6), house of the God (Isaiah 2:3), and numerous other ways. Nave's Topical Bible list's an enormous number of scripture references pertaining to the prophecies and all other references pertaining to the church at http://www.apostolic-churches.net/bible/naves/ntb1107.htm
But God's plan for mankind which was determined before the creation of this universe, was that one entity of the Godhead would be sent to the earth and take on human form to enable man to be reconciled to God. This plan included the preparatory teaching of the coming kingdom (church), His dying for the sins of men, and the establishment of His kingdom, the church. The plan did not include the establishment of an earthly kingdom, but a spiritual kingdom (not of this world) (John 18:26).
All prophecies and all mention of "the church" throughout the Old Testament and through the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John pointed to a time in the future.
"When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 16:15-19) (Underlined emphasis mine JHH)
And in verse 28 of this discussion, He adds: "Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom." Now if these verses are taken in their correct context, anyone can see that this is the same kingdom that John the Baptist preached was "at hand" (Matthew 3:2). Then Jesus came preaching the same thing (Matthew 4:7) (Mark 1:15). When Jesus told Peter (above) that He would build His church on the rock that He was the Christ, the Son of the living God. several facts were contained in this statement that may not catch the eye of every one. Fact one is that it was His church. No one else's. No man made organization. He knew that he was to die for the privilege of building this church which was to be a means of mankind to become reconciled to God. Second fact is that it was to be founded on the solid bedrock of His being the Son of the living God. You will find numerous scriptures throughout the New Testament which show that if one does not believe He is the Son of God, then he has no hope. It is this fact that one MUST believe.
The best biblical example of someone becoming a member of that church (kingdom) that is being referred to in the scriptures above is found in the 8 th chapter of Acts. This incident took place some length of time after the origin of the church recorded in Acts 2. It is needful for us to read verses 26 through 40 to get the full story here.
"And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea."
Take notice that this man was apparently a devout proselyte Jew who had made the long journey to Jerusalem to worship as required under the Law of Moses. But after Philip preached unto him Jesus, and apparently taught him all the requirements needed to become a Christian, he made up his mind to do that very thing. When he requested baptism, Philip told him if he believed, he could be baptized. Then read what he said he believed, underlined above. Now after this process, the eunuch went on his way rejoicing. Why? Because after hearing the words of Jesus preached and the requirements for being a part of His kingdom, he had obeyed and he knew that Jesus had added him to His church. And if you want verification for these conclusions, let's go back to Acts the 2 nd chapter.
After the Holy Spirit had descended upon the twelve apostles (Acts 2:1-4) and Peter had preached the first gospel sermon (Good News of the plan of salvation) recorded, there were some 3,000 who were baptized into Christ's kingdom on that date, then in verses 46 and 47 we read: "And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved."
So now that we see how they became Christians when the church began, and how they were added to it by Him. And although mankind has added their own ideas and preferences to the teachings contained in the New Testament, It becomes clear that the church, the kingdom, His body, belongs to Jesus the Christ. And he alone has the credentials, the sinless life and death on the cross to tell us what we must do to be pleasing to Him and to be added to His church. And let's look at a few scriptures which confirm that.
After Jesus was raised from the grave and before His ascension, he spoke to the eleven apostles and had this to say in Matthew 28:18-20; "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen".
" And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church," (Ephesians 1:22)
"And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence." (Colossians 1:18)
"Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." (Acts 20:28)
Now, this is Jesus' kingdom, His body, His church. It has no name. It is just His church (those He has called out of the world, into His kingdom). He adds those to it, Himself, who become obedient to His teachings. No one votes to see if another can become a Christian. Jesus knows exactly who is to be allowed into His church, and no one else does. No man has been given authority to distort His teachings, to teach anything else other than which is recorded by His inspired writers of the New Testament. Nothing is to be taught by any man other than those.
If we obey the full teachings just as they are intended in the New Testament, we will be a member of His kingdom, where all spiritual blessings are. Jesus will make no mistakes.
(Galatians 1:8-9) "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed"
"For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." (Revelation 22:18:19)
Footnote: All scripture references are from the King James Version
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Hi Joel, very well laid out and very informative. The church is not the name of the building or a name given by men to describle themselves, it is indeed invisible, the body of Christ is the people and the people are His church. If we Christians would understand this, perhaps we wouldn't fight so much about non-essentials. The devil just loves it when we do this. God forgive us. Thanks for sharing this truth. I touched very briefly on this on my article "sing a song of praise" check it out - won't you sing with me? :-) TeresaThanks for the comment Teresa. And you hit the nail on the head. I've heard many people discussing one denomination's faults over those of another, etc. When all Jesus has asked of us is obedience and He will add us to His "called out". I'll read your article.
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