Nurturing Spirituality

The Church: Its Nature, Its Marks, Its Purposes, part 1, by Wayne Grudem

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Chapter 44: The Church: Its Nature, Its Marks, and Its Purposes

A. The Nature of the Church

1. Definition: The church is the community of all true believers for all time.[Eph. 1:22-23, 5:25; Matt. 16:18, Deut 4:10, Acts 7:38, Heb. 12:22-23]

2. The Church Is Invisible, Yet Visible--The invisible church is the church as God sees it. 1 Tim 2.19; 1 Sam 16.7--The visible church is the church as Christians on earth see it. [1 Cor. 1:2,Philm 1-2]--The visible church will always include unbelievers [Acts 20:29-30; Matt 7.15-16]

3. The Church Is Local and Universal [Rom. 16:5, 1 Cor. 1:2; Acts 9:31, 1 Cor. 12:28]--In the New Testament, the word "church" may be applied to a group ofbelievers at any level, ranging from a very small group meeting in a private hometo all true believers in the universal church.

4. Metaphors for the Church--Family [1 Tim. 5:1-2]--The bride of Christ [2 Cor. 11:2]--Branches on a vine (John 15:5), an olive tree (Rom. 11:17-24), a field of cropsand a building (1 Cor. 3:6-9), a harvest (Matt. 13:1-30), a new temple and a newgroup of priests (1 Peter 2:5), God's house (Heb. 3:6)--The Body of Christ--The whole body [1 Cor. 12:16-17]--The rest of the body, distinguished from the head [Eph 4:15-16]

5. The Church and Israel-- Dispensational view: the church and Israel are two distinct groups, atleast in this age and the millennium--Non-dispensational view: the church is the "new Israel" or the new"people of God" [Rom. 2:28-29, 4:11-12, 9:6-8; Gal. 3:29, Eph. 2:14-16]

6. The Church and the Kingdom of God

1. The church is not the kingdom [Acts 8:12; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23,31]

2. The kingdom creates the church

3. The church witnesse s to the kingdom [Matt 24:14]

4. The church is the instrument of the kingdom [Matt. 10:8, Luke 10:17]

5. The church is the custodian of the kingdom [Matt. 16:19]

B. The Marks of the Church (Distinguishing Characteristics)

Luther and Calvin agreed that true churches are marked by:

1. Pure preaching of the Word

2. Right administration of the sacraments(baptism and the Lord's supper).I would add today:

3. Attempting to function as a church the question of "parachurch" organizationsThe question of which churches are true and false churches today.

C. The Purposes of the Church

1. Ministry to God: Worship [Col. 3:16]