Devotion - Day 6

Two Aspects of The Church

There are two primary ways in which the term “church” is used in the New Testament. Jesus Himself used the term “church” on two occasions and each time He used it in a unique sense. An understanding of these two senses is basic to an appreciation and understanding of all subsequent uses.

The first usage is introduced by Jesus in Matthew 16:18 where He said, “upon this rock I will build my Church”. When Jesus used this term in this passage He was not referring to any particular locality or group of believers, He was designating the church in its broadest sense. He was referring to that which is heavenly, eternal, and comprehensive and still in the process of construction. This Church includes that company of believers in Christ in all ages, living and dead, who are distinct from the world by virtue of their calling from and separation unto God (ph. 1:22; 3:10; 3:21; 5:25-32).

In its broadest sense we could say that the Church even includes those of the human race who are even as yet unborn but who in their lifetime will be numbered among the redeemed by virtue of their responsiveness to the calling of God to salvation. This Church involves a mystical union of all believers of all ages into a spiritual body for the habitation of the Spirit, with Jesus Christ as its head. It is not a union that can presently be seen in the visible sense, but it is an invisible reality in the eyes of God.

This aspect of the Church is referred to as the Mystical Church, the Universal Church, the Invisible Church or the Body of Christ worldwide.

The Local Church

The second usage of the word “church” was also initiated by Christ in His only other reference to the term “church” in the New Testament in Matthew 18:17. In this context Jesus was discussing disciplinary procedures among believers. He dealt with the problem of offenses in the context of a specific group of people that made up a local, earthly, definable, restricted body consisting of professed Christians voluntarily associating together around the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Out of the 114 uses of the word “church” in the New Testament it is interesting that 96 references are clearly to what we shall call “the Local Church” or the “Visible Church”. The Local Church is a present, visible earthly expression in time of the Body of Christ.

Local churches are New Testament organizations of groups of believers in given localities, which are marked out by confession of faith, discipline of life, obedience in baptism, gathered to the person of Jesus Christ, having gifted ministries and keeping the memorial of the Lord. They are always spoken of as complete units within themselves which may voluntarily cooperate and fellowship with other local bodies.