The church as individuals or group speak

Congreso Nacional Juvenil3.jpg

(courtesy Wikipedia)

By Spencer D Gear

I interact a little with an Eastern Orthodox person on a Christian forum online. He once wrote to me:

Christ’s Bride isn’t you, or me, or Billy Graham…his bride is the Church.

We are all members of the Body, which is the Church.

The spotless bride that will be presented to the Father, is the Church.

I can’t produce quotes offhand, but my readings of the Fathers (Athanasius, Basil, others) certainly gave me the impression that they understood it basically this way:

1. Salvation is primarily the overcoming of death and as such is expressed primarily in the resurrection – Christ’s resurrection is the justification, or vindication, of the Church. All the righteous will be justified in him.

2. The Church–not as an institution, but as an organic divine/human entity–is really the mystical Body of Christ. The Church is that very same body that is resurrected and seated at the right hand of God the Father.

So basically, we could say it is the Church that is saved, and we individuals participate in that salvation in and through the Church.

The evangelical notion, basically, that the Church is the voluntary association of individually saved believers, is something I simply cannot find, either in Scripture or in the writings of any fathers I’ve read. For that matter I really couldn’t find that notion in the writings of Calvin.

All that said, Christ died once and for all, to destroy death and expiate the sins of Israel–the Church. All who are joined to his Body participate in that. Each time a person sins, he or she must make confession for those sins to God, with the confidence that he will be forgiven because Christ is the mediator who has secured salvation for his people.[1]

How should I respond? This is only a brief reply to some of his points.[2]

Are you saying that individual salvation of people is contrary to an understanding of the bride of Christ? I’m thinking on Scriptures such as:

arrow simple purple right clip art ‘But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name’ (John 1:12 NASB). At the time I became a Christian, there was no group that became the body of Christ. I was the only one around when someone shared the Gospel with me and I responded in faith and received salvation.

arrow simple purple right clip art What did Jesus tell Nicodemus? ‘Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God”‘ (John 3:3 NASB). He didn’t tell Nicodemus, ‘Unless you join the group, called the bride of Christ, you cannot see the kingdom of God’. Thus, individual salvation leads instantaneously to becoming a member of the bride of Christ. Individuals are ‘born again’ to make up the group, the bride/body of Christ.

arrow simple purple right clip art As for salvation, I don’t accept your concept that ‘Salvation is primarily the overcoming of death and as such is expressed primarily in the resurrection—Christ’s resurrection is the justification, or vindication, of the Church. All the righteous will be justified in him‘.

My understanding is that salvation involves being born again (John 3:3) and happens by God’s grace through a person’s faith in Christ alone (Rom 3:23-24; Gal 2:16; Eph 2:8-9). At that moment I am justified. When God justifies a person through faith, that faith is an instrument to receive justification and it is not by works. It leads to a changed human being.

As for the nature of the church, the Scriptures use a range of metaphors: family (Mt 12:49-50), bride (2 Cor 11:2; Eph 5:32), branches on a vine (Jn 15:5), a harvest (Mt 13:1-30), a building (1 Cor 3:9), a new temple of living stones (1 Pt 2:5), holy priesthood (1 Pt 2:5), body of Christ (1 Cor 12:12-27; Eph 1:22-23), etc.

You stated:

The evangelical notion, basically, that the Church is the voluntary association of individually saved believers, is something I simply cannot find, either in Scripture or in the writings of any fathers I’ve read. For that matter I really couldn’t find that notion in the writings of Calvin.

Does your church not involve people choosing to come together to worship? Or is it a forced requirement? Therefore, what’s your objection to ‘voluntary association’ if people make a choice to come together to praise and worship as saved believers?

This I find:

What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up (I Cor 14:26 NIV).

But this is an experience that is far removed from the churches with which I’ve been associated. Does it happen regularly (every Sunday?) at your church gatherings?

I have no problems acknowledging individual people making up a group, whether that is the church as the body of Christ, individuals joining a group for political purposes (like a political party), or individual IT geeks being part of an IT club.
I find it harmonious that I can identify as a born-again, justified Christian believer and am also a member of the church universal, the body/bride of Christ.

 

Notes


[1] Ignatius21#83, Christian Forums, General Theology, Salvation (Soteriology), ‘What Christians must do to keep their salvation’, available at: http://www.christianforums.com/t7828815-9/ (Accessed 26 July 2014).

[2] Ibid., OzSpen#89.

 

Copyright © 2014 Spencer D. Gear. This document last updated at Date: 20 November 2015.