The Doctrine of the Church
The approach taken on this topic will not come from any one system of Theology but instead will come from a Biblicist point of view using an inductive method of Bible study. Inductive being defined as – not coming to the Scriptures with any preconceive ideas but understanding the scriptures from a historical, grammarian, and literal approach.
It must be noted that most references quoted in this paper come from some form of a theological system whether that is covenant theology or dispensational theology or some other variant form. It is this author’s belief that most systems that have been developed through the historic Christian church have something positive to contribute in the understanding of what the biblical church is.
The Church Defined
Over the years the church has been defined in terms that would fit into ones theological system of thinking. Wayne Grudem states:
The church is the community of all true believers for all time. This definition
understands the church to be made of all those who are truly saved. Paul says,
“Christ loved the church and gave himself up for
her” (Eph.
term “the Church” is used to apply to all those whom Christ died to redeem, all
those who are saved by the death of Christ. But that must include all true
believers for all time, both believers in the New Testament age and believers in
the Old Testament age as well. * [1]
The question becomes, “is the assumption made here valid?” “Is the church made up of believers of all times?” James Boice writes:
Each of these Old Testament elements is present in the New Testament
understanding of the church, but the church has characteristics that cannot
rightly be applied to the Old Testament assembly and which therefore set it off
as something new. The church (1) is founded on the Lord Jesus Christ, (2) is
called into being by the Holy Spirit, and (3) is to contain people of all races
who thereby become one new people in the sight of God.* [2]
This view comes from other observations of New Testament Teaching, but is it the whole understanding of what the church is? J. I Packer states:
The church (Greek: ecclesia, meaning “assembly”) exists in, through, and
because of Jesus Christ. Thus it is a distinctive New Testament reality. Yet it is
at the same time a continuation, through a new phase of redemptive history,
of
The differences between the church and
covenant by which God and his people are bound to each other. The new
covenant under which the church lives (1 Cor.
form of the relationship whereby God says to a chosen community, “I will be
your God; you shall be my people” (Exod. 6:7; Jer. 31:33) Both the continuity
and the discontinuity between
form of the covenant, which took place at Christ’s coming.* [3]
This exposition is much closer to answering the question “what is the church?”
If we follow the Scriptures closely we will see a clear and concise explanation to what the church is.
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share
on behalf of His body (which is the church) in filling up that which is lacking in
Christ's afflictions. Of this church I was made a minister according to the
stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, that I might fully carry
out the preaching of the word of God, that is, the mystery which has been
hidden from the past ages and generations; but has now been manifested to His
saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of
this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. * [4]
The church is a mystery revealed which is Christ in you. Allow me to repeat this, the Scripture states that the church is simple and plainly “Christ in you.” And if that is the case then the church did not exist in the Old Testament, because there was no permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit at the time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This mystery is clarified for us by the Apostle Paul in another letter he wrote to the Ephesians in which he says:
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you
Gentiles-- if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which
was given to me for you; that by revelation there was made known to me the
mystery, as I wrote before in brief. And by referring to this, when you read you
can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other
generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been
revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; to be specific, that the
Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers
of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, of which I was made a
minister, according to the gift of God's grace which was given to me according
to the working of His power. To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was
given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring
to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been
hidden in God, who created all things; in order that the manifold wisdom of
God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the
authorities in the
heavenly places. * [5]
This mystery revealed is the fulfillment of the new covenant spoken of in Jeremiah chapter 31.
Behold, days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new
covenant with
the house of
covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to
bring them out of the
was a husband to them, declares the LORD. But this is the covenant which I
will
make with the house of
put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their
God, and they shall be My people. And they shall not teach again, each man his
neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all
know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD,
for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.* [6]
As we read the new covenant we can see that the new covenant is two fold in nature. One, “I will put my law within them”, and “they shall all know me.” How does this happen? In the Old Testament Israel is commanded to teach one another, to pass on the knowledge of God from father to son. For the Scripture states:
Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the
LORD your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in
the land where you are going over to possess it, so that you and your son and
your grandson might fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His
commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your
days may be prolonged. O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that
it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as the LORD,
the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and
honey. Hear, O
love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all
your might. And these words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on
your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of
them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you
lie down and when you rise up.* [7]
But with the new covenant this knowledge will be brought to us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit for the Scriptures also state:
For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all
things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a
man except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God
no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of
the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely
given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human
wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with
spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of
God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because
they are spiritually appraised.* [8]
The second aspect of the new covenant is represented by the following statement, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” How does this take place? In the Old Testament it was through temple sacrifices provided through the Mosaic covenant. But the new covenant specifically states that it will replace the Mosaic covenant, and this is accomplished through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.
With all this said it is clear that the church is simply “Christ in you” and is accomplished through Christ sacrifice and the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit which took place at the day of Pentecost. Thus both aspects of the new covenant were fulfilled.
The Theological
System Debate
Throughout church history it is apparent that the argument over whom or what the church is has defied the various theological systems we wade through today.
The doctrine of God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit is pretty consistent within the Roman Catholic and Protestant elements of the church, but when it comes to understanding the doctrine of the church the divide becomes apparent. The question could be asked, “why is that?” When you begin to review the origin of the doctrinal teachings on the church one would get the impression that what was taught in the beginning of the early church was an inaccurate interpretation of the new covenant. An example of this can be seen in the words of today’s Catholic Church catechism:
The gathering together of the people of God began at the moment when sin
destroyed the communion of men with God, and that of men among
themselves. The gathering together of the Church is, as it were, God’s reaction
to the chaos provoked by sin. This reunification is achieved secretly in the heart
of all peoples: “In every nation anyone who fears him an does what is right is
acceptable” to God.
The remote preparation for this gathering together of the People of God begins
when he calls Abraham and promises that he will become the father of a great
people. Its immediate preparation begins with
God. By this election,
nations.
But the prophets accuse
like a prostitute. They announce a new and eternal covenant. Christ instituted
The interpretation is made that the new
covenant replaced the Abrahamic covenant. This is simply not the case. The Abrahamic and Davidic covenants were everlasting and unconditional
covenants and have never been replaced by any other stated covenant in all of Scripture. The new covenant states that it will replace
the Mosaic covenant which was a conditional covenant, which
Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face continually. Remember His
wonders which He has done, His marvels, and the judgments uttered by His
mouth, O seed of Abraham, His servant, O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones! He
is the LORD our God; His judgments are in all the earth. He has remembered
His covenant forever, The word which He commanded to a thousand
generations, The covenant which He made with Abraham, And His oath to
Isaac. Then He confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, To Israel as an everlasting
covenant, Saying, "To you I will give the
inheritance," When they were only a few men in number, Very few, and
The Roman Catholic Church believed that the church was a continuation of the Israeli covenants. This is correct to a point because the new covenant could be seen as building on to the Abrahamic covenant as stated in Genesis 12:3c “And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” The new covenant could be seen as a fulfillment of this promise.
[1] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994) , 853.
[2] James Montgomery Boice, Foundations of the Christian Faith, rev ed. In 1 vol. ( Downers Grove: Inter Varsity Press, 1986) , 568.
[3] J. I. Packer, Concise Theology (
[4] Col. 1:24-27 NAS
[5] Eph. 3:1-10 NAS
[6] Jer. 31:30-34 NAS
[7] Deut. 6:1-7 NAS
[8] 1 Cor. 2:10-14 NAS
[9] Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Catechism of the Catholic Church (United Sates Catholic Conference, 1994) , 200.
[10] Ps. 105:4-12 NAS