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It was no surprise to God that fallen mankind would be confused about His purpose and plan for the New Testament church. Therefore, He graciously provided a number of descriptive concepts and figures that serve to distinguish the heavenly church from its worldly simulation.
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Some of the distinguishing concepts and figures of the New Testament that describe the ecclesia of God include: |
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Household of God
The ecclesia of God is described in the New Testament as a house. It is referred to as the house of Christ (Hebrews 3:6 [2x]), the house of God (Hebrews 10:21), and “a spiritual house” (1 Peter 2:5). The English word “house” is translated from the Greek word oikos. Literally speaking, it means “dwelling” or “house.” Nevertheless, oikos is never used in the New Testament to indicate that the church is a literal house or building. Instead, the Greek word oikos is used figuratively in the New Testament to describe the church as a spiritual house. Indeed, the Apostle Peter referred to the New Testament church a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:5). In addition, the Apostle Paul clarified that the ecclesia of God is “being built together into a dwelling of God "in the Spirit." (Ephesians 2:22) Thus, both apostles indicate that the New Testament church is a spiritual house, created as a spiritual habitation. The church is also described in the New Testament as “the household of the faith” (Galatians 6:10), “God’s household” (Ephesians 2:19), and “the household of God” (1 Timothy 3:15; 1 Peter 4:17). The word “household” is translated from the Greek word oikeios (oy-ki'-os), a derivative of oikos. Generally, while a household may be inclusive of a physical house and its contents, it is often used figuratively in reference to the inhabitants of the house. Indeed, “the household of the faith,” “God’s household,” and “the household of God” are examples of figurative language. Consequently, the ecclesia is not only a spiritual house for the habitation of God but also for the human members of His family made alive in spirit by the redemptive work of the Savior. Family of God Family is an important theme in the New Testament. It is a concept often used in relation to God and His people. First and foremost, the New Testament uses familial language to describe the members of the Godhead. For example, it calls heavenly God “Father” (236 times), and God incarnate “Son” (233 times). In addition, the people that comprise the New Testament church “household” are an eternal family. Resurrected to new life, Jesus is called the “firstborn among many brethren.” (Romans 8:29) Thus, He is the head of a new race of eternal beings born after His kind. The “many brethren” are the redeemed of the New Testament church. They enter a familial relationship with Christ and one another by spiritual birth. As a result, the “many brethren” of the church are joined to God in a union of shared life and referred to as the children of God. (John 1:12-13; 11:52; Romans 8:16; 21; 9:8; Philippians 2:15; 1 John 3:1-2; 10; 5:2) The children of God relate to one another as brother and sister. They are called brothers and sisters 236 times in the New Testament. In familial union, the brothers and sisters of the New Testament church are an eternal household. |
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Body of Christ
The New Testament church is one spiritual body comprised of many individual members. Biblically, it is “one body in Christ (Romans 12:5), “one body” (1 Corinthians 10:17, 12:13, Ephesians 2:16, 4:4, Colossians 3:15), “the body” (1 Corinthians 12:14-26, Ephesians 3:6, 4:12, 16, 5:23), Christ’s body (1 Corinthians 12:27), “His body” (Ephesians 1:23, 5:30, Colossians 1:24), “the whole body” (Ephesians 4:16) and “the entire body” (Colossians 2:19). Jesus Christ is the head of His body, the New Testament church. (Ephesians 1:22-23, 4:15-16, 5:23; Colossians 1:18-19, 2:18-19) Consequently, He serves His body through the role of headship or representative leadership. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul described the body of Christ as a shared life community. “For even as the [human] body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is [the body of] Christ.” (12:12) The many individual members of the body of Christ are not united together by collective desire and effort but by the baptizing work of the Spirit of God. “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.” (12:13a) As a result of the baptism of the Spirit, the individual members of the body were spiritually united or identified with both the head of the body, Jesus Christ and the fellow members of His body. They were “all made to drink of one Spirit.” (12:13c) Baptized by the Spirit, each member of the New Testament church, male or female, young or old, is forever part of a spiritual community; the body of Christ. Describing the church as one body, Paul clarified that the church of the New Testament is an interdependent body comprised of equally important, individual parts. Each has a significant role in the collective body necessary to fulfill its function. (1 Corinthians 12:14-26) |
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Field and Building
The Apostle Paul figuratively described the New Testament church as “God’s field” and “God’s building.” (1 Corinthians 3:9) Through his use of these two metaphors he clarified that God is the grower and builder of the New Testament church. While its elect members are servants and fellow workers, it is God who grows and constructs the church. He alone is capable of assembling the elect members of His ecclesia into one spiritual body. Temple The Apostle Paul also referred to the New Testament church as a “temple of God.” (1 Corinthians 3:16) Sharing life with God, the ecclesia is set apart as a dwelling of God in the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:21-22) It is a temple or sanctuary that is accommodative of His living (zoe) presence. Bride of Christ The New Testament refers to Jesus Christ as a bridegroom. (cf. Matthew 9:15; 25:1, 5, 6, 10; Mark 2:19-20; Luke 5:34-35; John 3:29) It is implied that the ecclesia is His bride. (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:25-27; Revelation 19:6-9; 21:9-22:5, 17) Through the instrumentation of the New Testament church, the elect of the Gentile nations are “grafted in” to the eternal, redemptive plan of God as the espoused bride of Christ. Thus, elect Gentiles are privileged to partake of the wedding promises of God illustrated by ancient Jewish tradition. First, the espousal (2 Corinthians 11:2); second, the process of sanctification or maturing of the bride (Ephesians 5:25-27); third, the marriage (Revelation 19:6-9); fourth, the marriage feast (Revelation 19:9); and fifth, the bride existing in her eternal abode with Christ (Revelation 21:9-22:5). Few concepts elicit greater anticipation than that of bride and bridegroom. The New Testament church is utterly privileged to anticipate its future entrance into the presence of its heavenly bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ. According to Hamilton Smith, “In the Church as the Bride we see, not only a company of people who find in Christ a satisfying Object for their hearts but a company of people who become a suited object for His love. This is the marvel and blessedness of the Church viewed as the Bride of Christ - the Father’s bridal gift to His Beloved Son. It is little wonder that the Church should find in Christ an Object of love, but that in the Bride an object should be found entirely suited for the Son to love is indeed a great wonder.”[1] Pillar and Support of the Truth Paul described the church as “the pillar and support of the truth.” (1 Timothy 3:15) While God is the source and disseminator of the truth, the church is the instrument through which He has chosen to communicate His truth to the world during this present age. The head of the church, Jesus Christ, is the embodiment and messenger of God’s truth. The New Testament says that He is “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14); through Him “grace and truth were realized” (John 1:17); His truth sets free (John 8:32); He is “the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6); He came “into the world, to testify to the truth” (John 18:37); “truth is in Jesus” (Ephesians 4:21); He is the “belt of truth” (Ephesians 6:13); His message and teaching is “the word of truth” (Colossians 1:5; 2 Timothy 2:15); and He “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). Additionally, the New Testament reveals that the ecclesia of God has “been established in the truth” (2 Peter 1:12); is “of the truth” (1 John 3:19), and has the truth abiding in it (2 John 2). |
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Kingdom of Priests
Long before the origination of the church on earth, God provided ancient Israel with a conditional opportunity to become “a kingdom of priests.” (Exodus 19:6) Its fulfillment required strict obedience to the conditions of covenantal law. The primary responsibility of Israel’s conditional priesthood was to mediate between God and the pagan nations of the world. Their mediation would be fulfilled through the agency of sacrifice and intercession. Relative to their disobedience of covenantal law, however, Israel failed to meet the conditions of their priestly responsibility. Therefore, they were temporarily suspended from their appointment as a kingdom of priests. As a result, the function of the priesthood was left unfulfilled on earth. As demonstrated by the nation of Israel, fallen mankind proved incapable of fulfilling the conditional requirement of the eternal priesthood. Therefore, God sent His own Son, the perfect high priest, to satisfy what mankind could not. (Hebrews 2:17; 3:1; 4:14-15; 5:1-10; 6:20; 7:1-10; 18; 26; 8:1; 9:11) The priesthood of Jesus Christ was superior to the priesthood of Israel. As high priest, He was “immutable,” “holy,” “perfect,” “innocent,” “undefiled,” “separated from sinners” and “exalted above the heavens.” (Hebrews 5:9; 7:26-28) The priesthood of Jesus was according to “the order of Melchizedek” and “the power of an indestructible life.” (Hebrews 5:6-10; 6:20; 7:11-17) Eternal in nature, it “continues forever.” (Hebrews 7:24) Therefore, Jesus’ eternal priestly ministry was fulfilled “in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.” (Hebrews 8:2) He did not simply “…enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself…to appear in the presence of God for us.” Further, Jesus did not need to “offer Himself often, [like] the high priest [who] enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own.” Instead, the perfect high priest, He only needed to “offer Himself once at the consummation of the ages … to put away sin.” (Hebrews 9:24-26) In eternity and time, the death of Jesus Christ perfectly satisfied the mediatorial obligation of the priesthood. (Hebrews 10:12-14) Therefore, it can be unequivocally stated that He is the “guarantee of a better covenant” that was “enacted on better promises” and as a consequence, He is “able….to save forever those who draw near to God through Him.” (Hebrews 7:22, 25; 8:6) The incarnate Christ fulfilled the eternal purpose of the priesthood by His perfect ministry of sacrifice and intercession. It was ultimately satisfied by His sacrificial role in the fulfillment of the Eternal Covenant and, after His resurrection by the Father, His subsequent position of eternal intercession at the right hand of the Father. (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25; 13:20) Relative to the covenantal union of life between Christ and His body, the priesthood of the New Testament church is very different from the priesthood of ancient Israel. It is not dependent on the temporal sacrifice and intercession of an earthly priesthood. Its priestly obligation is not its own. Instead, the priesthood of the New Testament church is the priesthood of its perfect high priest, Jesus Christ. Consequently, its priesthood is without condition. Thus, the church cooperates by grace through faith alone. As indicated, ancient Israel “had” a priesthood. Its priests were obligated to perform a conditional ministry of sacrifice and intercession for God. Therefore, the fulfillment of the ministry was not guaranteed. As evidenced by the biblical record, ancient Israel proved incapable of satisfying the conditions of its priestly obligation. Rather than “having” a priesthood, the New Testament church “is” an eternal priesthood. Spiritually “baptized into” Jesus Christ, the church was identified with His perfect priesthood. (Romans 6:3; Galatians 3:27) Consequently, the obligation of the priesthood was satisfied unconditionally in the church. Thus, its members, individually and collectively, are part of an eternal priesthood. They are “a holy [and royal] priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:5, 9; cf. Revelation 1:6; 5:10) As part of a holy and royal priesthood, every member of the New Testament church is obligated to pursue the gracious ministry of the eternal priesthood. However, it is not satisfied by obedience to covenantal law. Instead, through faith alone, the New Testament church reveals Jesus Christ, the perfect high priest, through its gracious, sacrificial, intercessory lifestyle. Therefore, it is not obligation to law that provides the motivation for obedience but the indwelling life (zoe) of Christ. Joined to the indwelling Christ, the perfect high priest, the shared life (zoe) community of the New Testament church is comprised of believer-priests. For that reason, the concept of the believer-priest is given strong emphasis throughout the New Testament. The sacrificial, intercessory lifestyle of the New Testament church comprised of believer-priests was designed to point the world to the ultimate high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. |
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Flock of God
Peter described the ecclesia as “the flock of God.” (1 Peter 5:2) The analogy of shepherd and flock is a recurring theme in the Bible. Speaking of Israel, the Prophet Isaiah said of God, “Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, in His arm He will gather the lambs and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.” (Isaiah 40:11) In an intimate relationship of shared life, it should be understood that the New Testament church enjoys the loving care of its Lord and Shepherd to an extent beyond what could be comprehended by the nation of Israel during the Old Testament era. The ecclesia of God is described by some very distinct concepts and figures in the New Testament. Together, they serve to clarify that it is unlike anything else known to mankind. An eternal, shared life community created and cultivated by God alone, the church of the New Testament is, among other things, a household, body, field, building, temple, bride, pillar, and support of the truth, priesthood, and flock. © 2023 James Hiatt |
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