What Is the Church?

What images spring to mind when the word church is mentioned? Some might think of a building that occupies a prominent location in town; others might be reminded of a huge, worldwide organization; few will probably visualize the church as what it is—an assortment of souls who have been redeemed from sin by the blood of Christ and made part of an interacting fellowship, subject unto Christ and the mission He has charged them with.

Whew! That was a mouthful. Let's go a little more slowly and explain how the Bible uses the word translated "church," which is found 115 times in the New Testament. Three times it is translated "assembly," its primary meaning. Eighteen times it refers to the universal church—the entire body of believers everywhere. The other 94 times it is found in the New Testament, it refers to one or more congregations in a city or province. The Book of Revelation, for example, is written to "the seven churches which are in Asia" (Rev. 1:4).

The first time the word is used is in Matthew 16:18, where Jesus promised to build His "church." He is not referring to a literal building, but He uses the concept of a physical structure as a metaphor. The foundation of this building is His own Deity, which Peter confessed just two verses earlier: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (v. 16).

The Deity of Christ is what sets Christianity apart from every other religion. The founders of all other religious movements are dead and buried: Muhammad, Buddha, et al. Only Jesus has died, been buried, but also raised up by the power of God.

Only one other verse (Matt. 18:17) mentions the church until it becomes a reality in the Book of Acts. On the Day of Pentecost, Peter preached publicly the gospel for the first time, and many responded positively. "Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them" (Acts 2:41). Added to whom? The apostles.

Just six verses later, we read that "the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved" (v. 47). Jesus had promised to build His church; by the end of that day, it had been established and was in existence. Jesus had succeeded. Notice, however, that it consisted of people—an assortment of "devout men, from every nation under heaven (Acts 2:5).

In Colossians 1:18, Paul writes that Jesus is the head of the body, the church. He promised to build it, and He kept His Word. He purchased it with His own blood (Acts 20:28). He is now head over the church; individual Christians are the members of His body. The Lord nourishes and cherishes this body, His church (Eph. 5:29).

[This article appeared in the Denton Record-Chronicle on October 25, 1996. The one in column 2 was published on November 1, 1996.]