WHAT IS THE CHURCH?
The church is a building. Perhaps you are envisioning a grand cathedral, a quaint chapel, a location in a strip mall, or a school auditorium. While these are just a few of the many places that the church gathers, this is not the sort of building pictured throughout Scripture. In fact, it is ironic that when you ask most people about the church they attend they usually identify a physical building. Yet we see that Romans 16:5 says “Greet also the church that meets at their house.” Paul is describing the church as something separate from the place where they are meeting. So, the church is a building, but not a physical building? What other buildings are there? Thankfully, we can look to the Bible for the answer.
The word “church” derives from the Greek word ekklesia, which means “called out” or “assembly.” The view of church then is not of a physical building, but of people. Specifically, people that are called out of the world and called into the body of Christ. The church is the gathering of those who believe in Jesus, who come together to participate in fellowship as they worship the triune God. This assembly is not only for Christians to exalt and glorify God, but also “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:12) so that believers grow closer in unity through the transforming knowledge and love of Jesus.
It has been emphasized that the church is not a physical building, but we get a clear metaphor in Ephesians 2:19-22 of the church as a building—a spiritual building serving as the household of God. “[We] are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets” (vv. 19–20a). Paul describes here that the foundation of this spiritual building is built upon the prophets of the Old Testament and the Apostles of the New Testament. This foundation is not built upon these individuals themselves, but on the revelation that they were charged with bringing into the world. These men were the agents tasked with delivering the Word of God. So, in a real sense, the church is built upon the word God has given His people, the holy text of the Bible. The foundation of every Christian church must be God’s “breathed-out” Word—with a view of the Bible as inerrant, authoritative, and sufficient so that “the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim 3:17b). To have a church without Scripture as its foundation is to have a church built upon sand instead of upon rock. (see Matt 7:24-27)
The second aspect of the church is that of “Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone.” (Eph 2:20b) Jesus himself is the cornerstone of this spiritual building, the point at which all things are held together. A church that removes their focus from Christ loses this cornerstone and begins to see everything fall to pieces. “In [Christ] the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (vv. 21–22). The church is a new temple that is built upon Christ as the Word, built by Christ as our Savior, and built for Christ as our Lord.
The next aspect is that all believers are vital pieces of this new temple, building it one stone at a time. As 1 Peter 1:5 says, “you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house.” God is building His church, not with brick and mortar, but with people. And just as each block of a building is crucial to the integrity of the structure, so too is each believer to the overall health of the church. This spiritual building is still under construction and each day more stones are added by the Builder as people turn from their sins and place their faith in the work of Jesus Christ. Construction will not be complete until Jesus returns in glory to establish His kingdom.
The church is built on the foundation of God’s Word, centered on Jesus Christ, and built by God with people of faith. Like any good building, the church is also a place for shelter and rest. “In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” (v. 22) The church is a gathering where God promises to dwell with His people. While God resided with His people throughout the Old Testament in temporal locations, the coming of Christ revealed a new and grand reality-- God would live among His creation! In describing the incarnation of Jesus, John 1:14a says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”
After Pentecost, God dwells with His church through the Holy Spirit residing in the heart of each Christian. As beautiful as that truth is, the picture gets even better. The church is also a place for all believers—tired and troubled, sick and struggling, weak and weary—to find rest. Through the gathering of God’s people, the proclamation of the Word, singing of songs, giving of gifts, and celebration of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, the soul is filled and finds true comfort and rest. Rest found not in ourselves, but in the finished work of Jesus Christ. The church is a spiritual building where we live in the promises of God and rest in the good news of the gospel “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Eph 3:17-19)
