The Community of Jesus

A Theology of the Church

Kendell H. Easley, Christopher W. Morgan

• Publisher: B&H Academic
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781433680793
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Church

Intended for upper division college students, seminarians, and pastors, The Community of Jesus delivers a biblical, historic, systematic, and missional theology of the church. Today the word church provokes wide-ranging reactions and generates discussion on a variety of issues among Christians and non-Christians alike. In order to sort through this maze of responses and topics, a biblical and theological foundation must be laid that provides a clear vision of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ and its significance in God’s eternal purpose. With extensive pastoral, teaching, missions, and administrative experience, this team of contributors carefully sets forth the biblical teachings concerning the church and then builds on this core material, relating the theology of the church to salvation history, church history, God’s glory, and God’s mission:
• Paul R. House, “God Walks with His People: Old Testament Foundations” • Andreas J. Köstenberger, “The Church According to the Gospels” • Kendell H. Easley, “The Church in Acts and Revelation: New Testament Bookends” • David S. Dockery, “The Church in the Pauline Epistles” • Ray Van Neste, “The Church in the General Epistles” • James A. Patterson, “The Church in History: Ecclesiastical Ideals and Institutional Realities” • Stephen J.Wellum, “Beyond Mere Ecclesiology: The Church as God’s New Covenant Community” • Christopher W. Morgan, “The Church and the Glory of God” • Bruce Riley Ashford, “The Church in the Mission of God”  

Chapter 1

God Walks with His People: Old Testament Foundations

Paul R. House

The OT begins the Bible’s long, multifaceted story of God’s relationship with “his people.” Defined simply, they are persons in right relationship with God, in contrast to those who are not (see Ps 1:1–6; Eph 2:1–10). The Bible calls them many things that highlight their close bond with him: God’s friends (Exod 33:11; Isa 41:8), God’s son (Exod 4:22; Jer 31:9; Hos 11:1–9), God’s priests (Exod 19:1–6; Isa 61:6), God’s assembly (Num 16:3; Deut 23:2–4; Neh 13:1), God’s people (Exod 6:7; 8:23; Deut 7:6; Pss 53:6; 81:11; 100:3; Hos 1:10), God’s bride (Isa 54:1–7; 62:4–5; Jeremiah 2–3; Ezekiel 16; Hosea 1–2), God’s flock (Pss 77:20; 78:52; 100:3), God’s servants (Isa 56:1–8; 66:14–23), and subjects in God’s kingdom (Isa 4:2–6; 11:1–12:6; 65:1–66:24). Because it appears often in the OT and because it links many other images, the term “God’s people” is probably the best summative concept to use. As Charles Scobie writes, “The actual phrase ‘people of God’ appears only eleven times, but phrases such as ‘my people,’ ‘your people,’ and ‘his people’ are frequent (c. 300 times).”1

As it progresses, the Bible presents God and his people in a connected plot in which they walk together from creation in Genesis 1–2 to new creation in Revelation 21–22, via promise texts such as Isa 65:17–25.2 These people are one because they are God’s, and he is one (Deut 6:4–9; Mark 12:28–32). No fissure exists between the people of God in the Old and New Testaments. God’s ways become clearer as the Bible unfolds, but his saving work with, for, and by his people in the Old and New Testaments varies by degree, not by substance.

In this chapter I will seek to provide a foundation for a biblical theology of the church by outlining the identification and mission of God’s people in the OT. I will argue that God calls his people to walk with him so they can be priests for the whole world, thereby sharing his redemptive mission to humanity. He creates his people by bringing them into covenant relationship with him. Though they often rebel against him and his covenant, he does not allow his covenant to fail. He preserves a people on his mission so the Messiah can complete the mission by walking with his people into a new creation shaped by a new covenant that completes, not replaces, all God’s previous covenantal acts.

I will first analyze passages that define the mission of God’s people as a kingdom of priests. By starting with foundational passages, I echo Elmer Martens’s excellent OT theology, God’s Design.3 Second, I will trace the concept of God’s walking with his people in the Law, Prophets, and Writings. Walking with God is how his people serve as his priests in his world. Their identity and mission are united. In these sections I utilize a canonical approach similar to that used by Brevard Childs, Ronald Clements, John Sailhamer, Rolf Rendtorff, and my own work.4 At the end of each canonical section I will present a synthesis of the major themes. These segments try to reflect thematic treatments found in volumes by H. J. Kraus, Walther Zimmerli, John Goldingay, and Robin Routledge.5 I will at times explore or cite NT texts, which I believe have been breathed out by God, just as the OT books have been (2 Tim 3:14–17; 2 Pet 1:19–21). The NT is also valuable for examining the OT because it represents the oldest Christian interpretative traditions. I will conclude with observations about the unity of God’s people in all eras.

The Mission of God’s People and God’s Character: Exodus 19:1–6; 1 Peter 2:9–10; and Exodus 34:6–7

God’s people, like all created beings, have their origin in God. He made them; they have not made themselves (Ps 100:3). Their identity and purpose come from him. One could choose many passages to orient the discussion, but Exod 19:1–6; 1 Pet 2:9–10; and Exod 34:6–7 stand out. Written against the background of Yahweh’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt, Exod 19:1–6 defines God’s people and their mission. The apostle Peter uses this passage to characterize God’s people and their purpose in 1 Pet 2:9–10. Written against the background of Israel’s greatest sin to that point in time, Exod 34:1–27 provides Yahweh’s self-definition and ongoing commitment to Israel. Several subsequent OT writers echo or quote it. Together these passages provide a framework for understanding the ongoing mission of God’s people anchored in God’s permanent, covenant-keeping, and covenant-preserving character.

God’s People’s Priestly Mission: Exodus 19:1–6

By Exod 19:1–6, Scripture has revealed much significant information about God and his people. Genesis 1–2 reveals God is the Creator of the heavens, the earth, and the first human beings. Genesis 3–4 shows God loved and protected Adam and Eve even after they sinned. Genesis 5–10 demonstrates that God endured humanity’s death spiral into violence and corrupt thinking, judged humanity using a great flood, and began afresh by making a covenant with Noah and his family. Furthermore, Genesis 11–36 shows that he chose and made a covenant with Abraham and his family, the descendants of Noah’s son Shem, to bless the whole world. Genesis 37–50 reveals how God protected this fragile growing family by sending them to Egypt. Finally, Exodus 1–18 describes how God delivered Abraham’s descendants after they were forced into slavery in Egypt and how he brought them safely into the desert to meet with him at Sinai. This deliverance occurred because of Yahweh’s unbreakable determination to keep his covenant promises to Abraham (Exod 2:23–25; see Gen 12:1–9). Now Yahweh calls Abraham’s whole family and those who have joined them to serve as priests for the whole world. As Deut 10:12 will point out later, Yahweh calls a whole group of people “to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve” him with all their heart and soul (NRSV).

Exodus 19:1–4 sets this call to priesthood in the context of Yahweh’s redemptive work for Israel. The account occurs “the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt” (v. 1 NRSV). The phrase “people of Israel,” or translated more woodenly “the sons [bene] of Israel,” refers to the descendants of Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, whom God renamed Israel (Gen 32:22–32). The phraseology indicates a family connection, as does the word typically translated “people” in the OT (‘am).

Yet ancestry is not the only defining factor. When Yahweh delivered these people, the group included persons who were not Jacob’s blood descendants. Moses’ first and second wives were not ethnic Israelites (Exod 2:11–22; 4:24–26; Num 12:1). Caleb, who later represents a whole tribe and desires to invade Canaan when others do not (Numbers 13–14), was not of Israelite descent (13:6). In fact, Exod 12:38 states that a mixed multitude left Egypt. While it is impossible to determine the exact makeup and motives of this group, many scholars agree the phrase means persons of various racial backgrounds left with the Israelites.6

Once the group camps at Sinai (19:2–3), Yahweh gives Moses a message for the people. It unfolds in three parts. First, Yahweh reminds them what he did in Egypt and that he has brought them to Sinai, just as he promised Moses (v. 4; see 3:12). What united this assortment of people was their deliverance by and faith in Yahweh. They owed their freedom to him alone. They also owed their preservation in the desert, safety in travel, and arrival at their destination (Sinai) to God’s power.7 They had personally and corporately experienced God’s kindness.8

Second, Yahweh promises them that if they will reflect their relationship with him by keeping his covenant,9 they will be “My own possession out of all the peoples, although all the earth is Mine” (19:5). The word translated “own possession” originally referred to “valued property to which one has an exclusive right of possession.”10 Israel’s faith in and consequent obedience to Yahweh will mark them as people who belong to him, and him alone. It will show they are happy subjects of his rule.11 As Yahweh’s subjects, they separate themselves from other gods and those who serve them.12

Third, Yahweh describes their function more specifically when he says their covenant faithfulness will show they are “My kingdom of priests, and My holy nation” (19:6). The word for “nation” (goy) indicates that this mixed multitude of descendants of Israel and those who join them will become a corporate entity. Though other interpretations of “kingdom of priests” are possible,13 I think Graeme Goldsworthy’s is correct: “As a people they shall then exist in a unique relationship to God while representing him to the whole world as priests (v. 6). This priestly function in a world that belongs to God gives further meaning to the original covenant promise that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through Abraham’s descendant (Gen 12:3).”14

Priests were to “approach God on behalf of others and to approach people on behalf of God . . . that the blessings of the covenant would one day overflow through them into the whole world.”15 This priestly ministry included teaching God’s word accurately (Hos 4:1–14; Mal 2:7–9), praying for others (Jer 15:1–2), and helping people worship God through offering sacrifices appropriately (see Mal 1:6–14).16

The Priestly Mission of God’s People: 1 Peter 2:9–10

First Peter 2:9–10 affirms this interpretation of Israel’s priestly mission and connects it to NT believers. Like the people gathered at Mount Sinai, Peter’s readers probably included both Jews and Gentiles.17 The apostle calls them to godly living under persecution (1:1–25). He tells them to put away malice, deceit, hypocrisy, and envy in favor of the pure milk of God’s word (2:1–3). He reminds them that though they are “rejected by men” (v. 4), God is building them into a “holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (v. 5). Others stumble over Jesus, the cornerstone of their faith, because they disobey God’s word (vv. 6–8). Peter’s readers do not.

To contrast his readers and those who reject Jesus, Peter uses several OT passages in 2:9–10. First, he tells them they are “a chosen race,” probably citing Isa 43:20,18 a passage that highlights God’s deliverance of his people from trouble and exile, and “a royal priesthood a holy nation” (1 Pet 2:9), citing Exod 19:6. Like their predecessors, their election by God is for the purpose of serving God. Second, Peter states they are “a people for His possession,” a concept found in Exod 19:5; Isa 43:21; and Mal 3:17. These passages describe Israel as a separated covenant people serving as God’s witnesses among the nations.19 Third, Peter writes that their mission is to “proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” Here he cites Isa 43:21 (or perhaps Isa 42:12) and Gen 1:1–3 to tie his readers to I...