1. What is Church?
Common English usage of many Biblical words, including ‘church’, is broad and imprecise and commonly theologically misleading.
1.1. Greek: ekklesia
The Biblical word for church, ekklesia, was taken from the popular political assembly of citizens of a Greek city-state. [In Acts 19 a rioting mob is ironically called such an assembly.] Church is thus, a subset activity of the people ( laos, demos). (Note: ‘people’ is a wider concept than ‘church’, the people’s gathering. That is, they remain God’s people even when not assembled.)
1.2. Biblical theology of ‘church’
All Biblical references to ‘church’ (with perhaps one or two exceptions) are to a specific gathering. Working within this background meaning, Biblical usage reveals certain associated concepts and thematic development.
Old Testament :
Israel at Mt Sinai [Exodus 19-20] set the pattern for God’s church:
The assembly of God’s redeemed citizens and community
at God’s summons
in God’s presence
under God’s word and rule.
New Testament:
i. The primary fulfilment of the Mt Sinai assembly is in the heavenly church [Hebrews 12v18-23]. This is a present, not just a future, reality [Colossians 3v1-4].
ii. The secondary expression is in the local earthly church(es), the open public assembly of believers at some particular place [Romans 16v1,4,5,16,23].
1.2.1. Some conclusions:
Speaking of ‘church’ as a building, institution or a world-wide group wrongly strips it of the core concept of assembling or gathering. The key features of the earthly or local church are therefore…
i. Gathering - This distinguishes church from the individual Christian’s wider life. Other features, such as God’s Presence, sacredness, ‘worship’, are the same in and out of church.
ii. Openness to all citizens - This distinguishes church from various other gatherings such as Bible studies etc. (Sub-groups still retain their ID from the heavenly church but do not approximate or express it as fully as the open gathering. They are church-ish.)
iii. God’s summons in the gospel – It is at God’s initiative, not a human initiative to which God responds.
iv. God’s Presence - This distinguishes Christian church from other assemblies.
v. God’s Presence and rule through His Word.
Believers remain part of or in the heavenly church at all times and places but the local or earthly church involves actually assembling. The key functions of earthly or local church flow out of its relationship with the heavenly church. These are…
i. To embody and display the heavenly church.
ii. To anticipate and foretaste the heavenly church.
iii. To express and focus the redeemed community and fellowship of believers. (Note: like ‘people’, ‘fellowship’ is wider than ‘church’. That is, God’s people have fellowship even when not assembled.)
iv. To maintain and build up the imperfect earthly community until the perfect heavenly one is experienced.
Local earthly church attendance is not, therefore, optional for believers but fundamental to who they are in Christ.
1.2.2. Some applications:
We should, therefore, speak of and plan church as...
i. God’s redeemed community gathered to perform the functions just listed.
ii. Open to and expectant of all citizens, not selective or optional.
iii. Primarily for the insider and Christian community.
iv. Reflecting the gospel pattern: God initiates and summons, we respond and gather.
v. Centred or focussed on God’s Presence and rule through His Word.
And more specifically:
i. Opportunities must be provided to express, maintain and build up the redeemed community and fellowship of believers through practical mutual love, service and care. These must extend to be wider than the formal interaction.
ii. The Bible readings must be kept central and determinative of other activities and any particular themes. Other activities within church must be a response to and reflect the themes given by the readings.
iii. Accessibility to outsiders must be maintained.
1.3. Church & Temple
Temple terminology and concepts are commonly mistakenly and misleadingly introduced into speaking and thinking about church. The Temple was the building that marked the locale of God’s Presence. In the New Testament, by God’s indwelling Spirit, the redeemed community [1 Corinthians 3v16-17], as well as the individual believer [1 Corinthians 6v19], replaces a building as God’s Temple. (Note: like ‘people’ and ‘fellowship’, ‘temple’ is a wider concept than ‘church’. That is, God’s people are in God’s Presence even when not assembled.)
Temple practices in the Old Testament, such as sacrifice, service, worship, offering, drawing near etc, were commonly more individual than corporate [Leviticus 1-14]. In the New, these are seen as fulfilled, not in church activities, but in the person and work of the Lord, gospel ministry and Christian life, [Note the use of such words throughout the NT]. For instance…
1. God’s presence, in the Old Testament, was localised in the tabernacle/temple [Exodus 25v8; c40]. In the New, this is fulfilled in the Christian believer(s) by the indwelling Spirit, in all life and times, not confined to or somehow especially so at sacred times, places and activities such as church.
2. ‘Service’, in the Old Testament, referred to covenantal obedience and Temple rituals. In the New, this is fulfilled in gospel ministry and Christian life [Romans 12v1-2] and not confined church.
3. ‘Worship’ variously translates terms for ‘serve’ (see above) or ‘bow down’ in its literal physical sense. In the Old Testament, bowing down in worship is linked especially to the Temple Presence. In the New, it is essentially used only in the Gospels and Revelation where the physical act is appropriate as God or the Lord Jesus are visibly present, and in Acts where it is still connected to Temple activities. It is unused for either Christian life or local earthly church gatherings. (The English word ‘worship’, in contrast, derives from ‘worth-ship’, expressing the wider concept of giving God the honour or worth due to him.)
1.3.1. Some conclusions:
i. Although God’s Presence remains central, church is not entering God’s Presence and it is not this which distinguishes church from other times.
ii. Temple practices are not the model for church, but for the gospel.
iii. Church is not about making some offering to God or giving some service directly to Him but serving God through serving one another.
iv. ‘Worship’ as in ‘bow down’ is not a category used for either Christian life or earthly church.
1.3.2. Some applications:
We should not, therefore, speak of or plan church as.....
i. Entering God’s presence.
ii. On the temple model.
iii. A service to God.
iv. Worship (Nor certain activities within church, e.g. singing).
1.4. Church in 1 Corinthians 12-14:
Several important features or thinking about the Christian community and church are to be discerned from 1 Corinthians 12-14:
i. Nature: The Christian community is the body of Christ with many members , that is, a unity in diversity [c12].
ii. Function: Church is for edification or up-building of believers [12v7; 14v3,4,5,12,17,26].
iii. Mechanisms: Edification is pursued through participation in mutual service out of love [c12-13].
iv. Controls: Edification requires intelligibility and orderliness [c14].
1.4.1. Some applications:
We should, therefore...
i. Seek to edify the community and its fellowship.
ii. Pursue unity without uniformity and encourage diversity without division.
iii. Promote gifted service by all to all. (Possession of a gift does not entail the necessity or right to use it, nor will all gifts operate within church).
iv. Foster an attitude of attending to serve and give, not to be served.
v. Not keep people passive.
vi. Use intelligible and accessible language and presentation.
vii. Carefully arrange all activities within an overall plan according.