The Church Week 1 Flashcards
= the doctrine of the church
ecclesiology, from the Greek word εκκλησια (ekklēsia)
The church is the people of God who have been saved through repentance and faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ and incorporated into his body through baptism with the Holy Spirit. It consists of two interrelated elements:
The universal church is the fellowship of all Christians which extends from the day of Pentecost until the second coming, and which incorporates both the deceased believers who are presently in heaven and the living believers from all over the world. This universal church becomes manifested in local churches characterized by being doxological, logocentric, pneumadynamic, covenantal, confessional, missional, and spatio-temporal-eschatological. Local churches are led by pastors (or elders) and served by deacons, possess and pursue purity and unity, exercise church discipline, and develop strong connections with other churches. In terms of their ministry and mission, these communities regularly gather to worship the triune God, proclaim his Word, celebrate the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, engage non-Christians with the gospel, exercise spiritual gifts, disciple their members, care for people through prayer and giving, and stand for and against the world.
The definition emphasizes at the outset that the church is
the people of God or, in the words of the early creeds, “the communion of saints.”
In contrast with some common notions today, it is not a building (the red brick colonial-style building with white pillars and a steeple just a few blocks down from where we live), a denominational tag (e.g., the Presbyterian Church USA), a national or state church (e.g., the Lutheran Church of Sweden), avatars worshipping together in the virtual world of Second Life, or the Catholic Church (with its claim that “the one Church of Christ…subsists in the Catholic Church”). Rather, the church is people; specifically, the church is the
new covenant people of God.
Though the people of God have existed from the beginning of the human race (one thinks especially of the people of Israel who lived under the old covenant), the church (adhering to the new covenant) did not exist prior to the first coming of Jesus Christ. (Thus, we can speak of the one people of God consisting of different and distinguishable expressions, e.g.,.)
the old covenant people of Israel, the new covenant people of the church
Christ is the Redeemer who accomplished salvation through his atoning death and resurrection for the people of God who compose the church. It is through the gospel, and a response to it of repentance from sin and faith in Christ, that Christians have been saved (and by this term I mean all aspects of the might work of God that are commonly regarded as encompassing salvation, including election, effective calling, regeneration, justification, adoption, sanctification, and perseverance). An additional aspect of the salvific work of God—one that is often overlooked but relates directly to the identity of the members of the church—is the
incorporation of Christians into the body of Christ as he baptizes them with the Holy Spirit (John 1:33; 1 Cor. 12:13). Accordingly, all who are “in Christ” are de facto “in the church” and compose its members
The church consists of two interrelated elements, commonly referred to as
explain these..
the “universal” church and “local” churches.
The universal church is the company of all Christians stretching from its inception (accomplished by the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, and created by the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost) to its terminal point, Christ’s second coming at the end of this present age (or, specifically, the rapture of the church prior to his return). It incorporates both the deceased believers who are currently in the presence of Christ in heaven and the living believers scattered throughout the world. Whereas the former aspect is gathered together as the “heavenly” church, the latter aspect does not assemble, does not possess a structure or organization, does not have human leaders, and does not have a specific space-time address. These intangibles do not render the universal church any less real, however, as the next point demonstrates.
This universal church (at least its living members) is manifested (by Christ, its head, and the Spirit) and manifests itself (through Christians associating themselves with one another) in local churches, characterized by seven attributes:
what are they and explain them?
- doxological, or oriented to the glory of God;
- logocentric, or centered on the incarnate Word of God, Jesus Christ, and the inspired Word of God, Scripture;
- pneumadynamic, or created, gathered, gifted, and empowered by the Holy Spirit;
- covenantal, or gathered as members in new covenant relationship with God and in covenantal relationship with each other;
- confessional, or united by both personal confession of faith in Christ and common confession of the Christian faith;
- missional, or identified as the body of divinely-called and divinely-sent ministers to proclaim the gospel and advance the kingdom of God; and spatio-temporal-eschatological, or assembled as a historical reality (located in space and time) and
- possessing a certain hope and clear destiny while they live the strangeness of ecclesial existence in the here-and-now.
Local churches are led by qualified and publicly-recognized men who are called pastors or elders (as used in the New Testament, two other terms—“bishops” and “overseers”—are other interchangeable terms) who have the responsibilities of teaching sound doctrine, governing (under the headship of Christ), praying (especially for the sick), and shepherding (leading through exemplary lifestyles). These assemblies are also served by deacons, qualified and publicly-recognized men and women who serve Jesus Christ in the many church ministries. Because of divine grace and provision, local churches possess both purity and unity; because of sin, however, they must also pursue greater purity and maintain unity through both divine aid and Spirit-empowered human effort. When their members persist in sin, churches exercise discipline for the purposes of restoring erring members and rectifying entrenched sinful situations, containing such sin-saturated realities, and preserving the honor of Christ and their own reputation. Churches also develop strong connections with other churches for the purposes of cooperative high impact ministry, the sharing of resources, mutual accountability, and the like.
In terms of their ministry and mission, local churches regularly gather to worship the triune God, proclaim his Word through the preaching of Scripture, celebrate the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, engage non-Christians with the gospel, exercise spiritual gifts for the building up their members, disciple them through education and sharing in community life, care for people through prayer and giving, and stand for and against the world by helping the poor and marginalized through holistic ministries and denouncing the evils wrought by sin.
God always relates to his people in
covenant relationship
covenantal elements:
covenants (1) are unilateral (established by God and God only); (2) create or formalize a structured relationship between God and his covenant partners; (3) feature binding obligations; and (4) involve covenantal signs or the swearing of oaths
Old Testament covenants
Adamic -between God, Adam & Eve and the rest of creations
Noahic - Noah and 7 members or his fam and the rest of creation
Abrahamic - promises Abram if he does all these things, God will bless his lineage
Mosaic/old - structure God’s relationship with the massive people of Israel
Davidic - God established with David and offspring - Solomon - ultimately King Jesus - eternal kingdom to come
in the Old Testament, two themes regarding the old covenant
- the OC would be replaced/ don’t away with
2. replaced with a fresh new out pouring of the Holy Spirit
two themes seen how?
- John the Baptist
Luke 3:15-17 - > John the Baptist takes the prophesies of the new covenant and he associated with them with the Messiah; Jesus does this as well - future forecast of the Holy Spirit… day of Pentecost is the day of fulfillment of the prophesies… new church is born - Jesus Christ
- the day of Pentecost
the New Testament view of the old and new covenants
the church is the church of the new covenant, which
4 things
(1) is a unilateral agreement, established by God and God alone that
(2) creates a structured relationship between him and his covenant partners, Christ-followers “from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9);
(3) features binding obligations on the part of both God and his covenant partners (e.g., 2 Cor. 6:16-18; Matt. 22:37-40; 28:19-20; Gal. 6:2); and
(4) is sealed by two covenantal signs, baptism (initiatory rite) and the Lord’s Supper (on going rite)
the biblical vision: characteristics concerning the origin and orientation of the church
- the church is doxological
doxa =
doxological =
doxa = glory doxological = oriented to giving God glory
God has created everything to be oriented to giving him glory:
this includes….
- the heavens and the earth (Ps. 19:1; 108:5)
- the angelic realm (Ps. 29:1-2)
- human beings as the divine image-bearers (Ps. 8:5)
* problem (Rom. 1:23; 3:23) - we have ALL sinned
* reversal for Christ-followers (Eph. 1:11-12) - God by saving us has made us people who are living to praise the Lord
similarly, the church is to be oriented
How does the church reflect the glory of God?
toward the glory of God (Eph. 3:21)
obedience, unity of the church
specifically, the church is to be orthodoxological =
give God his proper honor
the possibility of false glory giving: the idolatry of the church (1 Cor. 10:14; 1 John 5:20-21; 2 Cor. 11:1-4) churches can be oriented to give honor and glory to something else other than God -social injustice, political agenda, idolize ministry, numbers..compromise on the gospel?, good reputation, legalism
the biblical vision: characteristics concerning the origin and orientation of the church
- the church is logocentric
What does this mean?
What are the two senses?
logos = focused on the word of God
logos (sense 1): Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word of God
logos (sense 2): Scripture, the inspired Word of God
logos (sense 1): Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word of God
scripture with this and explain
John 1:1, 14 - Church should be centered upon Christ
the church is centered on Christ as the Word of God
- Matthew 16:18 - on this ROCK I will build MY church - Ephesians 2:20 - Jesus is the metaphorical CORNERSTONE; fives direction, guides the church - Ephesians 1:20-23 - Jesus is HEAD over all things; Lord, King, Ruler - let us be focused upon Him
logos (sense 2): Scripture, the inspired Word of God
explain 7 points
- expired, not inspired..2 Tim3:16-17 -product of the created breath of God… divine..
- sufficient.. everything non believers need to know to embrace salvation and all that we as Christ followers need to know to please God fully (2 Peter 1) if God calls you to a task, He will equip you
- necessary - instructs us, can do nothing without it
- truthful (inerrant) - everything it affirms is true
- clear - God has written this revelation in a way for us to understand it - expect to understand it
- authoritative - ultimate authority in our life.. to obey Scripture is to obey God himself
- productive - word of God works
P. T. Forsyth: “If we are not going to use our Bible, it is of no use building our Churches.”
other than the 2 senses…
the church is logocentric .. other aspects of this…
1.
- the word of the gospel (2 Thess. 2:13-14; 1 Pet. 1:23) - chosen by God to be saved - salvation actualized by the Holy Spirit; born again of the Word of God
John Webster: “Scripture is not the word of the church; the church is the church of the word….The church exists in the space which is made by the Word.”
Romans 10:13-17 - committed to be sent to announce the good news to all over the world… the church will be born when we do this
P. T. Forsyth: “Our first business is neither to gather men nor to move them, but to preach in the speech of our time…the universal and moving Gospel. Let it gather them, and let it stir them. The first condition of a true revival is a sound Gospel. To revive the Church, revive its Gospel as given once for all in its Bible.” let the gospel stir them
other than the 2 senses…
the church is logocentric .. other aspects of this…
even more so…
(2.-4.)
- the word of sound doctrine; the word against false doctrine (Titus 1:1; 1 Tim. 4:6; 2 Tim. 1:13-14; 1 Tim. 6:3)
- the word against the church - Scripture is our adversary; always stands against us; always convicting us; lukewarmness, relying on self, course talk, false teachers
John Webster: “Scripture is as much a de-stabilizing feature of the church as it is a factor in its cohesion and continuity”
the sins for which Scripture chastises the church - 15 works of the flesh - 8 of them are about divisiveness of the church
- the church as “a pillar and buttress of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15) - church takes a stand for truth
pneuma =
spirit
the church is pneumadynamic
the church is pneumadynamic, or
specific ministries of the Holy Spirit are directed at
created, gathered, gifted, and empowered by the Holy Spiri
inaugurating, building up, and strengthening churches
pneumadynamic scripture
-Acts 2:1-5 day of Pentecost - HS sent by the Father and Son and inaugurates the church of Jerusalem -
Holy Spirit gives birth to the church itself and gives birth to new churche
-Acts 1:8 Spirit empowers the church to do the work of the Kingdom
-1 Corinthians 12:7, 11 - each member of Christ has been given gifts, soverignly been given by the HS - purpose to further the church
-Ephesians 4:3; Romans 15:30; Colossians 1:8; Romans 14:17 - HS gives the gift of unity; be eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace; HS gives us love for one another; HS fostering an atmosphere of joy, peace, and righteousness
-Acts 20:28; 13:2-3 - HS establishes leaders in the church
pneumadynamic
by these means, the Holy Spirit works powerfully to
inaugurate, build up, and strengthen churches
he biblical vision: characteristics concerning the gathering and sending of the church
the church is covenantal
the church is covenantal, or
gathered as members in (new) covenant relationship with God and in covenant relationship with each other
the church is covenantal
two senses
- the church in new covenant relationship with God through Christ
- God always relates to us through covenants - with covenants, comes signs
- symbols of the new covenant - baptism & the Lord’s supper - church members in covenant relationship with one another
