![]() There may be exceptions in which a real Christian has suffered abuse at the hands of a false or corrupt church and becomes too anxious to join another congregation at once. 4.1.4 Cyprian, The Unity of the Catholic Church, 6 Augustine, A Sermon to Catechumens on the Creed, 1). The Reformers affirmed the teaching of the holy fathers, that we cannot have God for our Father if we will not have the Church for our Mother (e.g., see John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 4.1.1 cf. The Belgic Confession is even stronger: “since this holy assembly and congregation is the gathering of those who are saved and there is no salvation apart from it, people ought not to withdraw from it, content to be by themselves, regardless of their status or condition” (Article 28: The Obligations of Church Members). The Westminster Confession cites this verse as evidence that outside the visible Church, there is “no ordinary possibility of salvation” (25.2). 18:20).Īcts 2:47 goes on to say that“the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” The shepherd never gathers a straying sheep to himself alone he carries the lost lamb back to the ninety-nine. That’s where Jesus promised to be found (Mt. But it’s significant that Article 13/19 is simply titled “Of the Church.” The opening phrase, “The visible Church of Christ,” acknowledges that what follows can be distinguished from the invisible church, but absolute priority is given to “a congregation of faithful men, in which the pure word of God is preached, and the sacraments duly administered, according to Christ’s ordinance, in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same.” The point is unmistakable: If you want to encounter the Church-the one and only Church-you must go to a place where believers in Christ are gathered for word, sacrament, and accountable discipleship. Sometimes I wish that the 25 Methodist Articles of Religion or the 39 Articles of the Church of England (from which they were abridged) had a statement on the invisible church, as in the Westminster Confession of Faith (25.1). Christ did not die for an abstraction he died to found a new humanity, a new Israel, a citizen assembly, a kingdom on earth, a flesh-and-blood communion of saints (1 Pet. After all, the word “church” (ekklesia) means “assembly”-a group of people gathered together. It is not just a people it is a people in a place. It’s not as if someone can say, “I don’t need to join a church because I’m part of the church.” The invisible Church is always somewhere, always manifested or made visible in a local congregation (e.g., 1 Cor. 2:19)-who do not belong to Christ’s spiritual Body, and will be exposed at the final judgment. In theology, we distinguish between the visible and the invisible Church because there are hypocrites within the church’s recognized membership-weeds among the wheat (Mt. With a bath and a meal, they were welcomed into God’s household. ![]() They were immediately united with the visible Church-a real, living community in which prayers were spoken and sacramental bread was broken (Acts 2:42). And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:41–42).Įveryone who received the apostle’s word was also washed with water and added to the church’s number (Acts 2:41 cf. ![]() Full of the Spirit, Peter proclaimed the good news about the crucified and risen Messiah, and “those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. 5:25), then poured out the Holy Spirit at Pentecost to fulfill his promise, “I will build my church” (Mt. “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Eph. It’s a fitting verse to write beneath the cross, for it describes the community of the cross-the church for which Jesus came to die. When I left my first church, which I pastored for eight years, someone gave me a hand-painted cross with “my verse,” Acts 2:42, in the corner. For years I’ve been captivated by the beautiful simplicity of Acts 2:41–47.
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