WHO is the church ?
The born again called out body of believers.
Christ founded the Church for the salvation of the human race. He established it that it might preserve His revelation, and dispense His grace to all nations. Hence it was necessary that it should be found in every land, proclaiming His message to all men, and communicating to them the means of grace. To this end He laid on the Apostles the Injunction to "go, and teach all nations". There is, notoriously, but one religious body which fulfills this command, and which can therefore lay any claim to the note of Catholicity. The Church which owns the Roman pontiff as its supreme head extends its ministrations over the whole world. It owns its obligation to preach the Gospel to all peoples. No other Church attempts this task, or can use the title of Catholic with any appearance of justification. The Greek Church is at the present day a mere local schism. None of the Protestant bodies has ever pretended to a universal mission. They claim no right to convert to their beliefs the Christianized nations of Europe. Even in regard to the heathen, for nearly two hundred years missionary enterprise was unknown among Protestant bodies. In the nineteenth century, it is true, many of them displayed no little zeal for the conversion of the heathen, and contributed large sums of money for this purpose. But the results achieved were so inadequate as to justify the conclusion that the blessing of God did not rest upon the enterprise. (See CATHOLIC MISSIONS; MISSIONS; PROTESTANT.)
The Apostolicity of the Church consists in its identity with the body which Christ established on the foundation of the Apostles, and which He commissioned to carry on His work. No other body save this is the Church of Christ. The true Church must be Apostolic in doctrine and Apostolic in mission. Since, however, it has already been shown that the gift of infallibility was promised to the Church, it follows that where there is Apostolicity of mission, there will also be Apostolicity of doctrine. Apostolicity of mission consists in the power of Holy orders and the power of jurisdiction derived by legitimate transmission from the Apostles. Any religious organization whose ministers do not possess these two powers is not accredited to preach the Gospel of Christ. For "how shall they preach", asks the Apostle, "unless they be sent?" (Romans 10:15). It is Apostolicity of mission which is reckoned as a note of the Church. No historical fact can be more clear than that Apostolicity, if it is found anywhere, is found in the Catholic Church. In it there is the power of Holy orders received by Apostolic succession. In it, too, there is Apostolicity of jurisdiction; for history shows us that the Roman bishop is the successor of Peter, and as such the centre of jurisdiction. Those prelates who are united to the Roman See receive their jurisdiction from the pope, who alone can bestow it. No other Church is Apostolic. The Greek church, it is true, claims to possess this property on the strength of its valid succession of bishops. But, by rejecting the authority of the Holy See, it severed itself from the Apostolic College, and thereby forfeited all jurisdiction. Anglicans make a similar claim. But even if they possessed valid orders, jurisdiction would be wanting to them no less than to the Greeks.
The Body of Christ
What is a church?
I suppose it’s a place with a steeple and lot of people...
I make that sign with my hands and fingers...
It works for me.
Is this a definition that the early Christian Church would have expressed?
Try this
I like Mary Baker Eddy’s definition of “Church”:
The structure of Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle.
The Church is that institution, which affords proof of its utility and is found elevating the race, rousing the dormant understanding from material beliefs to the apprehension of spiritual ideas and the demonstration of divine Science, thereby casting out devils, or error, and healing the sick.
Amen! God won’t care what denomination we do or don’t belong to. What matters is what we believe about Jesus and whether or not we have received His gift of everlasting life by faith.
Yeshua, and Yeshua alone knows for sure, no matter what any human says, who His faithful are.
We can make all the determinations and definitions we want, and we can make all the personal declarations we want, but only Yeshua knows us as no human does, and knows who His faithful are.
If you believe you are part of that faithful, you are not vexed by this question nor do you seek the world’s answers to it, nor do you make your own opinion of others as a substitute for His. You leave it to Him.
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>> “The universal church consists of all those who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.” <<
And included those that believed in the centuries previous to the Savior’s birth, when belief required vastly more faith than it does now!
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