Biblical Profile: The Church

The Church

The church is the community of those who recognize the lordship of Christ and submit to him (Eph 5:21-24). In the Greek world, the word translated “church” (Greek ekklēsia) designated an “assembly” of people such as a regularly summoned political body or simply an informal gathering (e.g., Acts 19:32, 39, 41). Similarly, in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) the term is used to refer to the assembly of Israel (e.g., Deut 31:30). In the New Testament, ekklēsia is used to refer to (a) the entire body of Christ in the world (e.g., Matt 16:18; Eph 1:22); (b) all the believers in a given locale (e.g., Acts 9:31; 1 Cor 1:2); or (c) an individual local congregation that gathers regularly for worship, instruction, fellowship, and prayer (e.g., Rom 16:5; see Acts 2:42).

The New Testament uses a number of images to describe the church:

The Israel of God—the “new people of God” (Gal 6:16) who belong to him (1 Pet 2:9-10) and who are his “holy priests” to do his work in the world (1 Pet 2:5, 9)

God’s family (Eph 2:19)—the “household of God” (1 Tim 3:15), made up of those who have been adopted as God’s children and designated as his heirs

A holy temple for the Lord (Eph 2:21-22)—the place where God lives by his Spirit (Eph 2:22; 4:6; 1 Cor 3:16-17; 2 Cor 6:16; Col 1:27)

Body of Christ—the full expression of Christ in the world, with Christ as its head (Eph 1:23; 4:15; 5:23-24; 1 Cor 12:12-27; Col 1:18, 24)

Christ’s pure bride—the one he died for, cares for, and cherishes, who will live in union with him forever (Eph 5:25-29)

The church is part of God’s plan to bring everything in heaven and on earth under the authority of Christ (Eph 1:9-10). Through Jesus Christ, God has called people from both Judaism and the Gentile world to be one new people of God (Gal 6:16), empowered by his Spirit to be present in the world, to worship him, and to share the Good News of his unconditional love (Eph 2:11-22). The church is both grounded in Judaism and is the fulfillment of God’s intention in calling Israel to become “a light to the Gentiles” who “will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth” (Isa 49:6; cp. Rom 11:1-5). In this new Jewish-Gentile community, the traditional barriers that divided people from one another and categorized them into inferior and superior classes—barriers of race, social standing, and sex—are shattered (Gal 3:28).

Those who are united with Christ are members of his body. Paul expresses the reality of the intimate connection between Christ and his people in terms of the organic unity and integration of the physical body (Rom 12:4-8; 1 Cor 12:12-27). To be “in Christ” is therefore to be “baptized into one body by one Spirit” (1 Cor 12:12-13). As a result, “All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it” (1 Cor 12:27).

Believers do not relate to God in isolation but as part of this new family. To be “in Christ” is at the same time to be in the church. To be a Christian is to be incorporated into a community of people that is growing toward expressing the reality of Christ in its life together.

Because the church is one body, unity is called for. So Paul repeatedly urged the Christian community to be united and not to let their differences divide them from one another.

Because the church comprises people of different ethnic groups, it is to be a community of harmony and peace as believers live together in love, bound together by the shared experience of the Spirit (Eph 4:2-6). God’s goal for the church is that it will achieve the fullest possible experience of unity, faith, spiritual understanding, and Christian maturity—to the full perfection of Christ (4:13, 15; cp. Rom 8:29), the likeness of God himself (Eph 4:24, 32; 5:1).

Like every part of a human body, every member of the church has his or her function. God has provided people in the church with many diverse gifts to build up the body and bring it to its full purpose (4:11-16; Rom 12:6-8; 1 Cor 12:7-11, 28).

God’s intention is that the church should be a showcase of his forgiving grace (Eph 2:7; 3:10), a community in which God’s glory can be seen, being devoted to the praise of that glory (3:21; 5:18-20).

Passages for Further Study

Rom 8:29; 12:6-8; 1 Cor 3:16-17; 6:16; 12:7-28; Gal 6:16; Eph 1:9-10, 23; 2:7; 2:14–3:13; 4:2-6, 11-16; 5:18-20, 23-29; Col 1:18, 24, 27; 1 Tim 3:15; 1 Pet 2:5, 9-10