(B) How is church defined?

(B) How is church defined? Most Christians' definition of church needs to be redefined. They refer to it as the place they go to for fellowship with other Christians and to worship God, but it is the congregation of Christians themselves who are the church, not the building where they meet. The church is a New Testament term designating the Christian community, whether it be a local congregation of Christians or congregations of Christians collectively throughout the earth (cp Mt 18:17; Ac 11:22-26; 1Cor 3:1-2). Those scriptures refer to local congregations (cp Acts 20:28; 1Cor 10:32; Ga 1:13; Eph 1:19-23; 5:25-27; He 12:23). Those scriptures refer to congregations of Christians collectively throughout the earth – the universal church.

The church is not a building made with hands, but a spiritual building embodied in the Christian community, of which Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone, or foundation (cp Isa 28:16; Mt 21:42-44; Ac 4:11-12; 1Cor 3:11; Eph 2:19-22; 1Pe 2:6-8). As the embodiment of the church Christians in scripture are called God's Building (cp 1Cor 3:9); the Temple of God (cp 1Cor 3:16-17; 2Cor 6:16); the Household of Faith (cp Ga 6:10); the Household of God, an Holy Temple of the Lord, and an Habitation of God through the Spirit (cp Eph 2:19-22); the House of Christ (cp He 3:1-6); a Spiritual House, an Holy Priesthood (cp 1Pe 2:5); a Chosen Generation, a Royal Priesthood, an Holy Nation, a Peculiar People (cp 1Pe 2:9).

The church was decreed in God's eternal purpose before the beginning of time, but it was not revealed to the angels in heaven even until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ (cp Mt 13:17; Ac 15:18 (KJV); Ro 16:25-26; 1Cor 2:7-8; Eph 1:4,9,11; 2:10; 3:1-12; Col 1:25-27; Tit 1:1-3; 1Pe 1:3-12, 18-20). The church is founded upon the great spiritual truth Peter confessed to Jesus in Mt 16 – that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God (cp Mt 16:13-18). Jesus is the rock upon which His church is being built (cp Mt 7:21-27; 1Cor 3:11). It is the same confession of faith in Christ as Peter's, from the heart of every repentant sinner that brings about and confirms their new birth in Christ and sets them in the church (cp Ro 10:8-10; 12:4-5; 1Cor 12:12-20, 27; Eph 2:1-8; 4:1-6). These scriptures show us how the church is constituted. The baptism referred to in 1Cor 12:13 and Eph 4:5 is spiritual – the baptism by the Holy Spirit of repentant sinners into Christ and into His body, the church. The Holy Spirit unites them with Jesus as members of His church upon their conversion to Christ. The church is compared to a human body with its many members. Christ is the head of the body (cp Eph 1:22-23; 4:15-16; 5:23-24). Every born again believer is a member set in the body with a function to perform.

Scriptures stress the importance of church membership – of belonging to a local church. They teach us that it is not possible to be a Christian independent of the rest of the body of Christ because God has foreordained that each Christian has a place, a purpose and a function in the body that no other Christian can fulfil (cp Ro 12:4-8;1Cor 12:14-18, 25; Eph 4:15-16). God has set us in the body to suit His purpose not ours, and if we refuse to join ourselves to a church we are refusing to join ourselves to Christ, because He is the church (cp 1Cor 12:12). It is folly for anyone to assume that they can be intentionally separated from the body of Christ and still be a member of His body. A body is an organised whole made up of parts and members, and nothing can function as a member if it is not attached or joined to the body. This applies in both the physical and spiritual realms. No member of a physical body can function if it is dismembered from the body, and neither can members of the spiritual body, the church, function if they become dismembered from it (cp He 10:24-25).

Here Christians are admonished to remain in fellowship with one another in the church as the day of Christ – His coming again – draws nearer, in order to stir each other up to love and to exhort one another to fulfil their ministries and functions in the church. The word "forsaking" here means abandoning or deserting. We are being warned not to abandon or desert the church like some are doing to their peril. The church is self-propagating. It is a living organism reproducing itself as its members preach the gospel of salvation (cp Ac 2:36-47; 4:4; 5:12-14; 6:7; 11:19-26; 13:48; Ro 1:16; Col 1:3-6). We see in Ac 11:26 that the term "Christians" was first used to describe the followers of Christ in Antioch. To be called a Christian is the highest honour any human being can receive (cp Ac 26:28; 1Pe 4:14-16). See also comments on Ac 2:47 and author’s study The Church in his book Advanced Studies in the Christian Faith (Volume 1).

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