CHURCH-VISIBLE

 

 

 

Contrast between the Visible and Invisible Church

 

Visible:                                                           Invisible:

Membership: Saved and lost                     Membership: Saved only

Only currently living people                       Both dead and living in Christ

Many local churches                                   Only one universal church

Differing denominations                            No single denomination

Part of the body of Christ                            The entire body of Christ

Differing types of government                   Christ the only head

Ministering the ordinances                        Ordinances fulfilled

 

H. Wayne House

Charts of Christian Theology and Doctrine, Zondervan, 1992, p. 116.

 

 

According to Scripture, the invisible church includes everyone who has ever been genuinely born again for every age of church history.  This church will not meet in a visible way until Christ returns.  The visible church consists of believers who are alive and meeting together right now.

 

Wayne Mack

To Be or Not To Be a Church Member, Calvary Press, 2004, p. 19.

 

 

The visible church may be distressingly and sorely fractured and fragmented into all different kinds of denominations and groups, but the invisible church is the true body of Christ.  Everyone who is in Christ, and in whom Christ dwells, is a member of this one universal church.

 

R.C. Sproul

The Purpose of God, An Exposition of Ephesians, Christian Focus Publications, 1994, p. 99.

 

 

The visible church refers to the institution called ‘the church’ that has visible participants whose names appear on the roll of a local congregation.  In most churches anyone who makes an outward profession of faith (and meets other criteria for membership) is admitted to active fellowship in the visible church.

 

R.C. Sproul

The Purpose of God, An Exposition of Ephesians, Christian Focus Publications, 1994, p. 88.

 

 

There are those, particularly in our day, who are so disenchanted with the visible church that they steadfastly refuse to join any local church.  Such a posture is misguided and involves overt disobedience to the commands of Christ.  Though it is possible for a believer to be confused about this for a season, someone who persists in such a posture is, in all probability, not a believer.  It is the duty of every Christian to join a visible church.

 

R.C. Sproul

The Purpose of God, An Exposition of Ephesians, Christian Focus Publications, 1994, p. 89.

 

 

It is possible that some who belong to the invisible Church never become members of the visible organization… On the other hand there may be unregenerate (people) who, while professing Christ, have no true faith in Him…and these, as long as they are in that condition, do not belong to the invisible Church.

 

Louis Berkhof

Systematic Theology, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 1998, p. 566.

 

 

As the manifestation of the invisible church to the world in time and place, the visible church, though imperfect, remains the true church, because it displays the marks of the church: the Word, sacraments, and discipline. And it is the only church that we can see and fellowship with; we have no Gnostic recourse to any other church than the visible church.

 

John R. Muether

Knowing His Voice, Tabletalk, March, 2009, p. 16. Used by Permission.