The Church – Reflections: 7

The more I ponder “the church” the more I keep coming back to the question, “What is the nature of the Church?” I am reminded that in theology, or at least in theology as I know it, we begin with God and the nature of God. If in thinking about God we begin with His nature, does it not make sense that when thinking about the Church that we begin with its nature? To add emphasis to this, if God dwells within the Church, then the nature of God becomes necessarily the incarnational and transcendent nature of the Church. Of course, while the life of God in Jesus Christ was perfectly expressed, the life of God in Christ in the Church is a mystery in the tension of the “already-not yet.” The Church is the fullness of Him who fills all in all (Ephesians 1:23) and yet this fullness is developmentally and organically being manifested (Ephesians 4:1 – 16). To me, at least, this is a mystery.

I have a little book by John Jefferson Davis titled, Handbook of Basic Bible Texts. As I recall this was a required purchase for my Systematic Theology courses at Gordon-Conwell. In retrospect I find it refreshing that we were required to purchase a book of Bible verses grouped around key doctrines – after all, if we weren’t going to base our thinking on the Bible what was the point of theology? (A question a number of seminaries and pastors might ponder).

At the beginning of the chapter on the Church Davis has this quote from Martin Luther, “I believe that there is on earth, through the whole wide world, no more than one holy, common, Christian Church, which is nothing else than the congregation, or assembly of the saints, i.e., the pious, believing men on earth, which is gathered, preserved, and ruled by the Holy Spirit, and daily increased by means of the sacraments and the Word of God.”

I wonder if we functionally believe what Luther wrote?

My Systematic Theology textbook was (and is!) Millard J. Erickson’s Christian Theology. His treatment of the Church begins with…The Nature of the Church. Erickson's leading section heading is, Confusion Regarding the Church, and in discussing the confusion he writes:

“In addition to the confusion generated by the multiple usages of [the term] church, there is evidence of confusion at a more profound level – a lack of understanding of the basic nature of the church.”

“Among the reasons of this lack of understanding is the fact that at no point in the history of Christian thought has the doctrine of the church received the direct and complete attention which other doctrines have received.”

Erickson quotes John Macquarrie:

“Probably more gets written on the Church nowadays than on any other single theological theme. Most of this writing has a practical orientation. We hear about the Church in relation to rapid social change, the Church in a secular society, the Church and reunion, the Church in missions. But however valuable some of the insights gained in these various fields may be, they need to be guided and correlated by a theological understanding of the Church.” [Italics mine].

If we don’t know the nature of the Church how can we know who we are? How can we know how the life within us is supposed to express itself? How can we know our identity? How can we relate to one another? To the world? To the flow of history? How can we stand against temporal pressure to conform to society and to be successful as the surrounding culture defines success?

We are a people who ought to transcend the temporal and in transcending the temporal to be a blessing to those around us. And yet, we are a people driven by the pragmatic and our thinking is utilitarian. Instead of being the timeless and timely people of God we are captives to popular currents and demands and engage in marketplace thinking just as Amazon or Walmart or Apple. We are competitors for customers – either customers who have yet to enter the church world or those patronizing competitors in the church world. Our functional nature is less that of God and more of Wall Street, Madison Avenue, and Hollywood.

Who has the courage to ask fellow pastors to talk about the nature of the Church and how that nature informs pastoral ministry? To ask seminary administrators, professors, and “development” departments? To ask congregations? The language we will hear will be pragmatic and organizational – it will not be Biblical and rooted in the nature of the Biblical Church.

We don’t know who we are.

What is the nature of the Church?