The Church

An Introduction

Gregg R. Allison, Graham A. Cole, Oren R. Martin

• Publisher: Crossway
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781433562495
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Systematic Theology & Ethics

What comes to mind when you think of the word church?

In this volume, Gregg R. Allison helps define the church and its mission by presenting an overview of the specific doctrines and practices of different churches and denominations. He lays a basic foundation for better understanding the common practices among local church communities ("mere ecclesiology") and the ways that they diverge from one another ("more ecclesiology"). Through this systematic primer, you will come away knowing not only how various churches differ but also how they're ultimately united as the body of Christ and the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Part 1

Foundational Issues

1

The Triune God and the Church

In this opening part, I present the foundation for ecclesiology. Because this book is an exercise in systematic theology, I begin with a consideration of the triune God and the church. As one theologian proposes,

The revealed secret of God not only concerns the unfathomable majesty of God himself; it also concerns that human society [the church] which the triune God elects, sustains and perfects “to the praise of his glorious grace” (Eph. 1.5). From this there emerges two fundamental principles for an evangelical ecclesiology. First, there can be no doctrine of God without a doctrine of the church, for according to the Christian confession God is the one who manifests who he is in the economy of his saving work in which he assembles a people for himself. Second there can be no doctrine of the church which is not wholly referred to the doctrine of God, in whose being and action alone the church has its being and action.1

Following this wise counsel, I turn to a discussion of the triune God and the church. I focus on three prominent biblical metaphors or images: the people of God, the body of Christ, and the temple of the Holy Spirit.

All that exists has been created by and has its being from the triune God. So it is with the church: it is the creation—or, better, the re-creation—of the God who is three-in-one. Men and women, redeemed through the gospel from “every tribe and language and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9), gather in churches and compose the people of God, the body of Christ, and the temple of the Holy Spirit throughout the world. These biblical pictures help us imagine the church as a Trinitarian re-creation.

At the heart of this affirmation is the traditional doctrine of the inseparable operations of the Trinity. That is, in every divine work—such as creation, providence, salvation, and consummation—the three persons act indivisibly. Take the work of creation as an example. The Father spoke the universe and everything in it into existence (e.g., “Let there be light,” Gen. 1:3) through the Word, or the agency of his Son (John 1:1–3; Col. 1:15–16; Heb. 1:1–2), as the Holy Spirit “was hovering over the face of the waters” (Gen. 1:2) in preparation for actualizing the world.2 Thus, though we commonly refer to the first person as Creator, the doctrine of inseparable operations signifies that creation did not come into existence apart from the work of the second and third persons as well.

So it is with the church. While we commonly associate the church with the Son—foremost in our mind is the metaphor of “the body of Christ” (1 Cor. 12:27; Eph. 4:12)—the inseparable operations of the Trinity mean that this re-creation does not come into existence apart from the work of the Father and of the Holy Spirit through the gospel. Indeed, the church is a Trinitarian re-creation: the people of God, the body of Christ, and the temple of the Holy Spirit.

The People of God

The people of God exist in two senses. First, human beings as created by God are his people. This image, then, relates to human beings as the only creatures who bear the divine likeness (Gen. 1:26–27). In a creation sense, all people who have ever existed, exist now, and will ever exist are rightly the people of God. As Scripture explains,

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for

“In him we live and move and have our being”;

as even some of your own poets have said,

“For we are indeed his offspring.” (Acts 17:24–28)

As the people of God in a creation sense and as divine image bearers, all human beings have dignity, worth, and significance and are to be accorded respect, honor, and love.

Second, human beings as redeemed by God are his people. This image, then, relates to Abraham and the patriarchs; the faithful remnant of Israel; Simeon and Anna, who beheld the infant Jesus; and genuine Christians in the church—to single out some examples. In a redemption sense, all people who have experienced salvation through the good news are rightly the people of God. It is in this second sense that I discuss the biblical image of the people of God.

Positively and negatively, the Old Testament focuses on the people of Israel as the people of God. One passage addresses God’s establishment of Israel as his people, while a second passage rehearses the expulsion of Israel as God’s people. The first narrative occurs shortly after the people were liberated from enslavement to Egypt:

Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” (Ex. 19:3–6)

God established his people as called mercifully by the Lord to himself as a covenant people. By heeding the covenant, they were the Lord’s treasured possession among all the rest of the people whom he created, flourishing as a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.

Sadly, the people of Israel did not heed the stipulation “if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant” (Ex. 19:5). Rather, they disobeyed God’s word and broke the covenant. Accordingly, God expelled them from being his covenant people. Scripture uses striking language to portray this covenant divorce: “When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, ‘Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord’” (Hos. 1:2). After obeying the Lord and taking Gomer as his wife, Hosea and Gomer had a son, whose name signified the forthcoming destruction of Israel. Sometime later, “[Gomer] conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to [Hosea], ‘Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all’” (Hos. 1:6). As if this were not enough, Scripture continues:

When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”

Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” (Hos. 1:8–10)

Thus, God disestablished his people because of their idolatry by forsaking the Lord. Whereas once he showed them mercy as his people, God called them “No Mercy” and “Not My People.” Still, hope is sounded with the promise that God will once again take his people to himself and address them as “children of the living God.”

The New Testament presents the fulfillment of this hopeful promise as taking place in Jesus Christ and those whom he saves through the gospel. He is “a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious” (1 Pet. 2:4). T...