The Church

Luke describes the first portrait of the Jerusalem church in Acts 2:42-47:

"And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship (koinonia), to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved."

The four marks of the early community:

(1) Apostles' teaching (didache), the community is constituted around received authoritative teaching; the apostles' doctrine shapes the community's identity

(2) Fellowship (koinonia), the sharing of life, resources, and presence; the church is a community, not an audience

(3) Breaking of bread, the Lord's Supper and shared meals (ancient practice did not clearly distinguish the two)

(4) The prayers (tais proseuchais, the definite article suggests the established prayer patterns of Jewish life, now reoriented around the risen Christ)

The result: awe, signs, gladness, generosity, favor with the people, and daily growth. The growth is YHWH's (the Lord added), not the result of programming but of the Spirit's work through the community's faithfulness.

The New Testament gives two primary metaphors for the church that are not alternatives but complementary perspectives:

The body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12; Romans 12:4-8; Ephesians 4:4-16; Colossians 1:18): "For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ" (1 Corinthians 12:12). The metaphor of the body emphasizes:

-- Unity in diversity: "the eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you'" (12:21), every member has its function

-- Mutual dependence: "if one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together" (12:26)

-- Growth toward the head: Ephesians 4:15-16, "speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body... grows"

-- Christ as head: Colossians 1:18, "he is the head of the body, the church"

The bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:25-32; Revelation 19:7; 21:2, 9): "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish" (5:25-27). The bride metaphor emphasizes:

-- The covenant relationship and faithful love between Christ and his people

-- The eschatological completion (Revelation 19:7, "the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready")

-- The lavish, self-giving love of Christ as the ground of the church's holiness

The Reformation distinguished the true church (invisible, all the genuinely elect of all times and places) from the visible church (all who profess faith and gather under a church's discipline). The question was: what marks a visible gathering as a true church rather than merely a religious assembly?

The Reformation consensus (Luther, Calvin, the Reformed confessions):

-- The Word of God rightly preached: the authoritative proclamation of the apostolic gospel (Galatians 1:8-9, "even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed")

-- The sacraments rightly administered: baptism and the Lord's Supper administered according to Christ's institution

The Reformed (and some Lutheran) tradition adds:

-- Church discipline rightly exercised: Matthew 18:15-20 (the process of confrontation, witness, and exclusion for unrepentant sin); 1 Corinthians 5 (the removal of the unrepentant for the protection of the community and the hope of the sinner's restoration); the discipline preserves the integrity of Word and Sacrament

The Nicene Creed's four attributes of the church: "We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church."

-- One: unity in Christ across all visible divisions (Ephesians 4:4-6, "one body and one Spirit... one hope... one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all")

-- Holy: set apart by the Spirit, being sanctified; not sinless but consecrated

-- Catholic: universal, the whole church in all times and places (not a denomination)

-- Apostolic: built on the apostolic foundation (Ephesians 2:20), continuing in apostolic teaching

The Sanctum reads the church as YHWH's primary instrument in the world between the ascension and the parousia. It is not a club for the morally accomplished; it is the community of those who know they need a physician (Mark 2:17). The church's gates shall not prevail (Matthew 16:18), a phrase that presupposes the church is on the offensive, advancing against the gates of death and darkness, not defending against an assault. The assembly that devotes itself to the apostles' teaching, to koinonia, to breaking bread, and to prayer is the community through which the Lord adds daily those who are being saved.