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What is church? What happens in the next life?
8. What is the Church? (Westminster Confession, Chapters twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-three)
8.1 Definition
The Confession states:
The catholic or universal Church, which is invisible, consists of the whole number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ the head thereof; and is the spouse, the body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.
The visible Church, which is also catholic or universal under the Gospel (not confined to one nation, as before under the law), consists of all those throughout the whole world that profess the true religion; and of their children: and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation.
The purest Churches under heaven are subject both to mixture and error; and some have so degenerated as to become no Churches of Christ, but synagogues of Satan. Nevertheless, there shall always be a Church on earth to worship God according to His will. (Chpter XXV, para. 1,2,5)
The Reformed understanding of Church consists of the entire community of God’s people from both the Old and New Testament eras. The collective people of God are often referred to as the congregation or assembly (qahal in Hebrew, ekklesia in Greek). The concept and government of the people of God changes in the New Testament from the nation of Israel to the “called out” people of God. These come from among every nation, kindred, people, and tongue, or in Greek, ta ethne, or the ethnic groups, i.e. the nations. In the New Testament the church consists of those effectually called by God for salvation.
Several biblical concepts are applied to the church from the words of Christ, and the apostles. Christ said he would build his church upon a rock against which the gates of hell would not prevail. The believers are referred to as a priesthood or children of God indicating equal access to the presence of God for all Christians.
In Ephesians the church is referred to as the body of Christ with Christ as the head, the temple of God inhabited by the Spirit with Christ as the chief cornerstone, the family of God, the Bride of Christ, and the members are referred to as soldiers in an army. These are spiritual metaphors for the relationship between believers and Christ, and between and among believers. A physical building is never referred to as a church in the New Testament.
Officers of the church are generally believed to have been taken from the synagogue model with other emphases specifically taken from the teachings of Christ and the apostles. These include pastors (those who shepherd and care for Christ’s people), elders (from the word for mature, indicating age and spiritual maturity, good judgment), and bishop (episkopos or overseer, one who looks over with the intention of expressing care or concern). The New Testament seems to use these terms interchangeably, though these terms later take on different meanings.
New Testament churches were generally founded by apostles and guided by a local council of elders. The apostolically founded churches tended to form into regional churches which related together. In cases of conflict, doctrinal or practical questions they came together in councils, the first of which is the Jerusalem Council, Acts 15. Today’s New Testament churches recognize the five-fold ministry of Ephesians four – apostle, prophet, evangelist , pastor and teacher. The post-apostolic church tended to give new designations to some of these offices.
Later doctrines of the church made the believing community the custodian of the means of grace for salvation. This was particularly true for churches embracing a priestly, sacramental view of the distribution of God’s grace. Eventually, this led to the belief that the church must have a visible administrative unity in order to be valid. Thus, the Catholic system was born.
Church discipline, the remission of sins, the exclusion or re-instatement of members was often carried out by public confession or exomologesis which was administered by the bishop. Its origin is taken from the sequence for repentance and restoration found in Matthew 18.
8.2 Post-apostolic developments
In the time of Ignatius of Antioch (c. 107), a three-tiered system of church government was developed which deeply affected the future church. Ignatius separated the office of bishop, presbyter and deacon into three separate orders. For a church to exist a single (monarchical) bishop was required, and there was only to be one per city. The presbyters, or priests, served as a college (collective or group) under the direction of the bishop in a given region. The deacons served the bishop and the church in its ministries of practical mercy.
In this system, before the canon of the New Testament was finally formed, the bishop became the guarantor of the unity and doctrinal purity of the church. The selection of the bishop was safeguarded by the process known as apostolic succession.
The North African bishop, Cyprian of Carthage, established the concepts of the administrative unity of the church and insisted on communion with the Catholic bishop of a city as a criterion for salvation. Other churches and splinter groups could not give what they did not have, according to Cyprian. All of these developments spawned a system of administration known as diocese headed by bishops. These diocese formed administrative units in ascending order which culminated in five primary patriarchates – Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. The claim of the Roman bishop to a status supreme to the other patriarchs was a source of severe friction and eventually rupture with the other (Orhthodox) patriarchates.
Other patriarchs were willing to concede a primus inter pares (first among equals) status to the bishop of Rome, but refused to recognize his universal supremacy over the church. The other patriarchs tended to work collegially and endorse the conciliar method of church governments which looked to church councils rather than a single bishop to establish doctrinal, polity, and practical policy precedent. These councils along with papal decrees, etc. form what is know as canon law, the basis for policy and doctrine in Catholic and Orthodox churches.
8.3 Reformation developments
In addition to the doctrinal changes brought on by the Reformation, changes in the understanding of the nature of the Church came into play. The Reformation marks of the church were true preaching of the Word of God, the proper administration of the sacraments, and the true exercise of church discipline. This removed apostolic succession and administrative unity as true marks of validity.
Several new views of church government came into being. In addition to the episcopal system, the Presbyterian and congregational forms became prominent. Presbyterian government removed the office of bishop and placed authority in the local council of elders (presbyters), and established regional councils known as Presbyteries in ascending order to include the synod and General or National Assembly. Congregation (or Independent) church government recognized no governing authority beyond the local church – either the congregation or the session.
Discussion Questions:
What do you think of the ancient saying, “There is no salvation outside the church”?
The Confession states that Churches exist in various states of purity or corruption, and some even become synagogues of Satan. When does a church become so corrupt that it becomes necessary to leave? What is the value of staying is c church with a significant degree of corruption?
What is the error of groups like the Latter Day Saints which claim there was no church in existence since the church of the pre-Constantine era?
What kind of governing system does your church function under? Many contemporary expression of the New Testament church claim to be more faithful to the biblical revelation of church than their predecessors of earlier ages. Do you think they are right?
How do you understand the terms “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic” in the Apostles’ Creed?
Should young children (infants) be baptized into the community of the faithful? Why or why not and on what basis?
Is the word church synonymous with kingdom in the New Testament?
Readings for Chapter Eight
Louis Berkhof. “The Government of the Church,” in Readings in Christian Theology, Vol. 3. Milllard Erickson, ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1979. Wayne Grudem. “The Church: Its Nature, Its Marks, and Its Purposes,” in Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing Co., 1994, 853-1090.
Carl Henry. “The Perils of Independency,” in Readings in Christian Theology, Vol. 3. Milllard Erickson, ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1979.
__________ “The Perils of Ecumenicity,” in Readings in Christian Theology, Vol. 3.
Leon Morris, “The Nature and Government of the Church (Episcopalian View),” in Readings in ChristianTheology, Vol. 3. Milllard Erickson, ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1979.
Glossary
Church Government: The means by which churches manage their affairs and make decisions. Generally church government falls into one of three categories: episcopal, presbyterian, or congregational.
Congregational: Congregational church government tends to see the membership of the church as the seat of earthly authority in the church, and all tasks, offices, or authority is delegated to officeholders by congregational vote.
Council: Councils of bishops have been gathered throughout the history of the church to address various questions of Christian dogma and church practice. The great ecumenical Councils such as Nicea, Chalcedon, and Constantinople have been the better known in Church hisotry, but there have been many others as well. The most recent was the Second Vatican Council. Councils are generally seen to supplement papal or episcopla authority in Catholic and Orthodox systems.
Episcopal: This term comes from the Greek word for bishop (episkopos). It denotes a form of government which places primary authority in the hands of a bishop who is seen as a successor of Christ’s apostles. The bishop has great latitude to delegate various responsibilities to other members of the ordained clergy or the congregation.
Free Church: This denotes a group of Protestant churches which tend to be non-liturgical and to have histories which resisted excessive entanglements with state control. Many recent and contemporary Protestant movements today could be seen as being in the Free Church tradition.
John Hus: A follower of John Wycliff, Hus was from Prague in Bohemia. He was martyred for his pre-Protestant beliefs limiting papal power, and encouraging the participation of the laity in the life of the church.
John Wycliff: A leading pre-Reform figure in England. He taught that the Bible was the sole criterion for doctrine, the doctrine of the papacy was not established in Scripture, and refuted the teaching of transubstantiation.
Metropolitan: A bishop of a major city with authority to appoint bishops of smaller cities and regions in the Orthodox episcopal system.
Papacy: The institution named for the bishop of Rome. This became the leading patriarchate in the old Catholic system and later became the source of much contention both in the wider church and state.
Patriarch: A bishop of one of the five leading churches of Christendom – Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem.
Presbyterian: From the Greek word for elder. The system of church government which establishes the seat of decision-making authority for the church in a body of elders. Local churches generally have a session (group of elders) and there are graduated regional courts with greater decision making authority. These include the regional Presbytery, synod, and in large churches the General or National Assembly.
Priest: A presbyter in the old Catholic system. One who is under episcopal authority and has the power to perform the epiclesis in the mass and forgive or retain suns in confession.
Protestant: The movement in the 16th century which protested the doctrine and governing practices of the Roman Catholic Church. Some famous leaders of the Protestant Reformation include Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, Martin Bucer, Menno Simons and many others. The watchwords of the Reformation were that salvation is soley by faith, soley by grace and soley by Scripture. It also emphasized the priesthood of all believers as opposed to a priesthood with special status in the church.
Reformed: The beliefs and church polity (government) characteristic of the Reformers, but especially the branch of the Reformation led by John Calvin.
Synod: A gathering of church leaders on a regional basis for the purpose of deciding questions of belief or practice in the church.
Bibliography
William Ames. “Concerning a National Church,” in The Reformation of the Church. Iain Murray, ed. London: Banner of Truth Trust, 1965.
Louis Berkhof. “The Government of the Church,” in Readings in Christian Theology, Vol. 3. Milllard Erickson, ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1979.
Edmund Clowney. “Toward a Biblical Doctrine of the Church,” in Readings in Christian Theology, Vol. 3. Milllard Erickson, ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1979.
Landon Gilkey. “The Church as the Body of Christ,” in Readings in Christian Theology, Vol. 3. Milllard Erickson, ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1979.
Wayne Grudem. “The Doctrine of the Church,” in Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing Co., 1994, 853-1090.
Carl Henry. “The Perils of Independency,” in Readings in Christian Theology, Vol. 3. Milllard Erickson, ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1979.
__________ “The Perils of Ecumenicity,” in Readings in Christian Theology, Vol. 3. Milllard Erickson, ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1979.
Edward Hiscox. “Church Governement,” in Readings in ChristianTheology, Vol. 3. Milllard Erickson, ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1979.
E.A. Livingstone, ed. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977.
Leon Morris, “The Nature and Government of the Church (Episcopalian View),” in Readings in ChristianTheology, Vol. 3. Milllard Erickson, ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1979.
Thomas Wilcox. “The Necessity of Reformation: An Admonition to the Parliament 1572,” in The Reformation of the Church. Iain Murray, ed. London: Banner of Truth Trust, 1965.
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Pastor P. Steve Paulus D.min. ~ pastor@stauntongrace.org
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