CHURCH-DEFINED
The church is
not a democracy in which we have chosen God, but a theocracy in which He has
chosen us. The church is the only society in the world that never loses any of
its members, even by death. The church upon its knees would bring heaven upon
the earth.
Wherever we
find the Word of God surely preached and heard, and the sacraments administered
according to the institution of Christ, there, it is not to be doubted, is a
church of God.
John Calvin
Paul
[addressed] the Corinthians as “those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be
saints” (1 Cor. 1:2).
The congregation in Corinth was anything but a “holy” people in terms of life
and conduct; false teaching, schisms, and immorality marred the church. Still,
it was a congregation of saints, of the sanctified, because in spite of the
sinful conduct of many of its members and the worldly character of the church
itself, it was still the church of God in Corinth.
George Eldon Ladd
A Theology of the New Testament, Eerdmans,
1993, p. 589.
A church is a
hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.
L.L. Nash
The church,
as defined by the Word of God, is a group of Christians who dedicate themselves
to meeting together for the regular preaching of the Word of God; who submit
themselves to biblical eldership; who regularly celebrate the ordinances of the
church (baptism and the Lord’s Supper); and who practice and submit themselves
to church discipline as laid out in Scripture.
Wayne Mack
To Be or Not To Be a Church Member, Calvary
Press, www.calvarypress.com, 2004, p.
31.
The holiest moment of the church service is the moment when God's
people – strengthened by preaching and sacrament – go out of the church door
into the world to be the church. We don't go to church, we are the church.
Ernest Southcott
When
Protestants speak of going to church…they are not thinking of a building but of
a congregation. The congregation, not the building is holy… The church is holy
because the congregation is the house of God.
Edmund Clowney
Tabletalk, p. 8-9, June 2004, Ligonier
Ministries, Used by Permission.
According to
Augustine, the true Church consists of those who have repented and believed,
who are spiritually united to Christ as their Head, and who live holy lives as
evidence of their mystical union with Him. Those who do not manifest a
transformed life, he characterized as Christians in name only, not genuine
William Webster
Tabletalk, p. 14, June 2004, Ligonier
Ministries, Used by Permission.
The Church is
not a gallery for the exhibition of eminent Christians, but a school for the
education of imperfect ones.
Henry Ward Beecher
Now the
church is not wood and stone, but the company of people who believe in Christ.
Martin Luther
The church of
Christ is the multitude of all those who believe in Christ for the remission of
sins, and who are thankful for that mercy and who love the law of God purely,
and who hate the sin in this world an long for the life to come.
William Tyndale
Where Christ
is truly preached, there is the gospel; and where the gospel is truly believed,
there is the church.
Mark E. Ross
Unity, Liberty, Charity,
September 2009, Tabletalk, p. 17. Used by Permission.
The church is
primarily a body of people who profess and give evidence that they have been
saved by God's grace alone, for His glory alone, through faith alone, in Christ
alone. This is what a New Testament church is; it is not a building. The early
Christians didn't have buildings for almost 300 years after the church began. The
collection of people committed to Christ in a local area
constitute a church.
Mark Dever
Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, 2000,
Crossway, p. 135.
The Greek
work for church, ecclesia, is made up of a
prefix and a root. The prefix is ek – out of. The
root is the verb coleo, to call. The church in
the New Testament is made up of those who are called out from the world, from
darkness, from damnation, from paganism, to become members of the body of
Christ.
R.C. Sproul
The Purpose of God, An
Exposition of Ephesians, Christian Focus Publications, 1994, p. 95.
If the Church
on earth is the militant Church, the Church in heaven is the triumphant Church…
In these two stages of her existence the Church reflects the humiliation and
exaltation of her heavenly Lord.
Louis Berkhof
Systematic Theology, by permission of
Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 1998,
p. 565.
Strictly
speaking, it may be said that the true preaching of the Word and its
recognition as the standard of doctrine and life, is the one mark of the
Church. Without it there is no Church, and it determines the right
administration of the sacraments and the faithful exercise of Church
discipline. Nevertheless, the right administration of the sacraments is also a
real mark of the Church. And though the exercise of discipline may not be
peculiar to the Church, that is, is not found in it exclusively, yet it is
absolutely essential to the purity of the Church.
Louis Berkhof
Systematic Theology, by permission of
Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 1998,
p. 577.