Introduction | Table of Contents | Chapter 10

The phrase in the singular, "the church of God," is correspondingly used to designate a company of believers acting together in local capacity and responsibility. Thus Paul addresses his first Epistle to the Corinthians to "the church of God which is at Corinth" (1:2. See also 10:32, and 11:22). He uses the same phrase with reference to the church at Jerusalem, which he had persecuted (I Cor. 15:9; Gal. 1:13). So with regard to the church at Ephesus in Acts 20:28. Obviously the phrase is used of the local church there, for the Apostle, in addressing the elders of the church whom he had called to him at Miletus, exhorts them to take heed to themselves and "to all the flock, in the which the Holy Ghost hath made you bishops, to feed the church of God which He purchased with His own blood" (R.V.). That the church in which they were to exercise their responsibility is spoken of as a flock, and the whole character of the injunctions given to them, indicate that the phrase is used there simply of the local company.

Things that Differ

Similarly in his instructions given to Timothy as to the character and qualifications of a bishop, he says, "If a man knoweth not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?" (I Tim. 3:5). Again, the Epistle is written that he may "know how men ought to behave themselves (lit., 'how it is necessary to behave,' i.e., for all in the assembly) in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth" (verse 15). The description of the kind of person referred to is general, but the application is to any given local assembly, as is clear from the facts that Timothy, who had been at Ephesus, was exhorted in the same Epistle to stay there for a time, and that the Apostle was hoping to come shortly to him there (3:14). If we speak of the whole Church, the Body of Christ, as "the Church of God," we confuse things which Scripture differentiates, and we miss the import and teaching conveyed by the term, which has to do with local responsibility and testimony.

The plural, "churches," is used in other descriptions of such companies, besides that already referred to. They are spoken of as "churches of Christ" (Rom. 16:16), "churches of the saints" (I Cor. 14:33), or, topographically, as churches of a particular country (I Cor. 16:1; 16:19; 2 Cor. 8:1; Gal. 1:22), or, ethnographically, as "the churches of the Gentiles" (Rom. 16:4). None of the phrases containing the word "churches" is used with reference to the entire Church, the Body of Christ, and this for the obvious reason that the Church which is His Body is one and indivisible and to it the plural would be inapplicable.

Scriptural Terminology

The importance of having regard to the Scriptural use of these terms lies especially in this, that deviations therefrom support unscriptural organizations, sectarian views, racial antipathies, and merely human traditions concerning the true Church. The application of the word "church" to the Christians or to the churches in a whole country, as, e.g., "the Church of England," "the Indian Church," or "the Church in China," or again, to any section or branch of professing Christians, is unwarranted by the Scriptures.

Hence the importance even of guarding against the term "Indigenous Church." The expression is subversive of the maintenance of that true and spiritual position and relationship the realization of which is necessary for our fulfillment of the will of God. A believer of Chinese nationality is as much a foreigner spiritually as the missionary from Europe or elsewhere who brought him the gospel. Plants of the Heavenly Father's planting are not "indigenous" in the spiritual realm; they have been transplanted by the Holy Spirit (cp. Col. 1:13). Churches of God as such should know no racial distinctions.

We have already pointed out that it is contrary to the teaching of Scripture to use the word to designate all believers now living in the world, or for any religious system to apply the term to all its adherents in the world. The phrase "the Church on earth" finds no support in the Scriptures. The Church is heavenly in its constitution and organization; its seat and centre are in Heaven, where its one and only Head is. The Word of God does not countenance any organization or amalgamation of churches, whether in a locality or in the world at large.

A Sanctuary

The terms "churches of God" and "churches of Christ" indicate that they are each His possession, a possession purchased by His blood. As "churches of the saints" they consist of those who, by the operation of the Spirit of God, have been set apart to Him for His glory. Not only so, they are, in each case indwelt, as churches, by the Holy Spirit, and hence are I as each one a temple, of God. To the church in Corinth the Apostle writes, "Know ye not that ye are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man, 4**Uoycth the temple 4 of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are" (I Cor. 3:16, 17, R.V.). The word used for "temple" here (as also in 6:19, and again in 2 Cor. 6:16, of the body of the believer and of the whole Church in Eph. 2:21) is naos, which is derived from a word meaning "to dwell." The earthly temple in Jerusalem was most frequently called hieron ("the divine or dedicated place"). That term was applied to the whole building, and is never used in the New Testament in the figurative sense, as in the passages in the Epistles just referred to. Naos, while occasionally used of the whole earthly temple, more frequently signified the inner sanctuary, the holy of holies²⁰."

²⁰It was the naos into which Zacharias entered (Luke 1:9, 10), while the people were without in the hieron. Into the naos the Lord did not enter during His ministry on earth. He drove out the money changers from the hieron, not from the naos. Zacharias was slain between the temple, naos, and the brazen altar, which was outside. The priests alone went into the naos, and there Judas in his despair entered and cast down the money before them.

Many circumstances in connection with the Temple, as with the Tabernacle, find their spiritual counterpart in a local church. Of this we speak more fully later. How solemn and yet what a high and holy privilege it is to be a naos, a sanctuary, a dwelling-place for God, a house of God (oikos, from oikeo, "to dwell") as the local church is called in I Tim. 3:15! "Holiness becometh Thine House, 0 Lord, for evermore." Evil doctrine, evil association and evil practice are to have no place there. Where such exists it is to be judged and put away. It is a place where God's honour dwells (Ps. 26:8, lit., "the place of the tabernacle of Thy glory"). There the honour of the Name of Christ is to be maintained, and those who name His Name are "to depart from iniquity." It is a place of worship, and worship can only rightly be offered in "the beauty of holiness." It is a place of witness for God, where the testimony to His attributes, His character and His Word are to be maintained; for the house of God, the church of the living God, is "the pillar and ground (or stay) of the truth," and the witness is to be that not only of oral testimony but of Christian character and conduct. Those who belong to it are to live "in righteousness and holiness of truth."

Consistent Conduct

It is with that in view that the Apostle, in the passage just referred to, says that the object of his Epistle is that Timothy may know "how men ought to behave themselves in the house of God" (R.V.). That is to say, instruction is given concerning the believers who form a local church, in regard to their general life, conduct and service, so that the assembly itself may be a living testimony for God.

Both in doctrine and practice, our spiritual foes are constantly and assiduously set against such a testimony. Collectively as well as individually, we need to be much in prayer and intercession and ever on the watch, lest the Lord's Name should be brought into dishonour, and the witness He designs be marred by our inconsistencies.

Introduction | Table of Contents | Chapter 10

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