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In this message we come to the status of the church. As we consider the status of the church, we shall see the reality concerning the church and the real definition of the church. Therefore, we need to get into the depth of each aspect of the status of the church.
The church has a sevenfold status: the assembly, the house of God, the kingdom of God, the Body of Christ, the counterpart of Christ, the new man, and the golden lampstands.
In the Bible the church is first called the assembly. This is revealed by the Lord Jesus Himself in Matthew 16:18, where He speaks concerning the universal aspect of the church, and in 18:17, where He speaks concerning the local aspect of the church. The Greek word translated “church” in these verses is ekklesia, composed of two words: ek, out, and kaleo, called. Put together, these two words mean a called out congregation or an assembly of the called ones. Hence, according to the literal sense of the word, the church is the assembly of those called out of the world by God.
In ancient times the mayor of a city would sometimes call the people together as a congregation, as an assembly, for a particular purpose. The Greek word used to denote such a gathering is ekklesia (cf. Acts 19:41). The point we would emphasize here is that the word ekklesia, according to biblical usage, refers to the church as a called out congregation. The church is a congregation called out of the world unto God for His purpose. It is much better to translate ekklesia not as church but as assembly. The Brethren teachers insisted on this, and the congregations among the Brethren were known as the Brethren assemblies. I agree with their use of the word assembly. The word assembly is better than the word church.
Although there is no plain mentioning of the church in the Old Testament, there is a picture concerning the church as the assembly. When the children of Israel went out of Egypt, they came to the foot of Mount Sinai. There they were formed into one coordinated entity to assemble before God with the tabernacle as the center and the twelve tribes as the circumference encamping around the tabernacle (Num. 2). Thus, they became one corporate body, the ekklesia, the assembly of God’s called ones. For this reason, the New Testament calls them the ekklesia (Acts 7:38, the word assembly is ekklesia). On the one hand, they were called out by God from Egypt (signifying the world); on the other hand, they were the congregation gathering before God. The children of Israel did not have the nature of the church; they were merely a type, a picture, showing us that the church is the assembling together of those who have been called out of the world by God through His redemption and saving power.
Because the church has the status of the assembly, the ekklesia, we need to gather together. We must assemble and meet in order to have a congregation for God to work and move among us. When God’s called out ones meet together, this is the church. Without such a gathering together of the believers in a locality, there is no practical church life. The practical church life consists in the gathering of the saints in a certain locality. If believers live in a particular city but do not assemble, then in a practical way there is no church in that city. The basic concept of the church as the assembly is that the church is a gathering of the called out ones.
The word church has been damaged by traditional usage. Today many people use this word to denote a physical building with a tower. When these people speak of going to church, they mean that they are going to a building. This concept is absolutely off. The church is not a lifeless building but something organic and full of life. The church is not a physical building without life — the church is an assembly of living persons called out of the world by God for His purpose.
We need to be impressed with the fact that, as used in the New Testament with respect to the church, the Greek word ekklesia indicates that the church is a congregation called out of the world so that God may carry out His purpose. According to Genesis 1:26, man was created by God to bear His image and to carry His authority. However, man fell again and again. Eventually, in the last stage of his fall, man fell into the world, the system of Satan. In the eyes of God, as a result of the fall the entire human race has actually become the world. In John 3:16 human beings as a totality are called “the world.” Since fallen man is in the world and has even become the world, how can God fulfill His purpose with man and through man? The only way is for God to call out a part of the human race. God has done this very thing. In applying His salvation to us, the first thing God does is to call us. Therefore, the first status of the church is that of the assembly of those who have been called out of the world by God to Himself for the fulfillment of His purpose.
Because the church as the assembly is separated from the world, we may say that the church is composed of the real Hebrews. The root of the word “Hebrew” (Gen. 14:13) means “to pass over”; it especially means to pass over a river from one region to another and from one side to another. Hence, the word Hebrew denotes a river crosser, one who crosses a river. The church is composed of the believers who, as real Hebrews, have been called by God out of the world and have “crossed the river” from one realm to another. Now as believers in Christ we are the called out ones, the assembly, the congregation called out by God, the ekklesia in opposition to the world, which is on the other side of the river we have crossed. Just as our forefather Abraham was called out of the land of Chaldea, so we have been called out of the world by God to be His assembly.
Whenever we speak of the church as the assembly, the ekklesia, we need to realize that this means that the church has been separated from the world. The first status of the church indicates a thorough separation of God’s called out ones from the world. There must be a great and thorough separation between the church as the ekklesia and the world as the system, the cosmos, of Satan. As the assembly, the church is separated entirely for God so that He may have a means to carry out His eternal purpose.
The church as the assembly of the called out ones is composed of those who have been called by God. First Corinthians 1:2 says, “To the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all those who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, theirs and ours.” Another verse that speaks of the called ones is Romans 1:7a: “To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called saints.” God begins to save us by calling us. In eternity God foreknew us, chose us, and predestinated us. Then in time, after we had been created and had become fallen, God came in to save us. The first thing in God’s salvation is His calling of us. This means that the One who foreknew us, chose us, and predestinated us from the foundation of the world one day came to visit us. The believers, therefore, have been called by God Himself. God’s calling is not originated or initiated by the called ones. Rather, it is initiated by God, the One who calls.
The church, the assembly, has been obtained, acquired, by God with His own blood. In Acts 20:28 Paul speaks of “the church of God, which He obtained through His own blood.” God obtained the church by purchasing it. In order for anything to be purchased a price must be paid. According to Paul’s word in 20:28, God obtained the church by paying the price of “His own blood.”
The phrase “His own blood” is very unusual. God is God; He is not a man or a creature. How, then, can God, the Creator, have blood? Prior to incarnation, God certainly did not have blood. But through incarnation our God, the Creator, the eternal One, Jehovah, became mingled with man. As a result, He was no longer only God — He became a God-man. As the God-man, He surely had blood with which to obtain, acquire, the church.
When Christ, the God-man, died on the cross, He died not only as man but also as God. The One who died on the cross was the One who had been conceived of God and born with God. Because He was a God-man, the element of God was in Him. The divine element was mingled with His humanity. In this way God joined Himself to humanity to be the Savior (Luke 2:11) who died and shed His blood for us.
The blood that has redeemed fallen human beings is the blood of Jesus, the Son of God. As human beings, we need genuine human blood for our redemption. Because the Lord Jesus was a man, He could fulfill this requirement. As a man, He shed human blood to redeem fallen human beings. The Lord is also the Son of God, even God Himself. Therefore, with His blood there is the element of eternity, and this element insures the eternal efficacy of His blood. With this blood God has obtained the church by purchasing it.
The God who purchased the church with His own blood is the processed God, the God who became a man called Jesus and Emmanuel, God with us. As such a One, He is no longer merely God — He is God mingled with man. In the matter of His being God only, He surely did not have blood. But in the matter of His being God incarnate, God mingled with man, He surely, in His humanity, had blood to shed on the cross to purchase the church. This is the reason Paul could say that the very God who called us has obtained us, acquired us, purchasing us with the price of His own blood.
Because the church is composed of those who have been called by God and because the church has been purchased by God, the church is of God. In 1 Corinthians 10:32 Paul refers to “the church of God.” God is the Possessor of the church; the church is His possession. God is the Owner of the church because He is the Purchaser. Furthermore, to say that the church is of God means that the church is constituted of God, that it is constituted of the divine and spiritual essence. The church is produced of God as the source.
The church, which is of God, is an entity sanctified in Christ (1 Cor. 1:2). When God purchased the church with His own blood as the price, He immediately put this church into Christ. Now the church is not only of God but also in Christ.
In 1 Corinthians 1:2 Paul speaks of those who have been “sanctified in Christ Jesus.” To be sanctified in Christ Jesus is to be sanctified in the element and sphere of Christ. Christ is the element and sphere that separated us unto God, made us holy unto Him, when we believed in Him, that is, when we were brought into an organic union with Him through our faith in Him.
To be sanctified in Christ means that we have been put into Christ. Christ is a holy sphere, a sphere of holiness. Not only is Christ holy — Christ Himself is holiness. Because God has put us into this Christ (1 Cor. 1:30), we have been put into the sphere of holiness. Now that we are in Christ as the sphere of holiness, we are sanctified.
In Greek, the word rendered “sanctified” is actually a verbal form of the word for holiness. The word for holiness is hagios, and the verb that means sanctify is hagiazo. To be sanctified is to be made holy. Therefore, for the church to be sanctified in Christ Jesus is for the church to be made holy in Him.
Ephesians 5:25 says that Christ “loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” This reveals that Christ is a church-loving Christ. Galatians 2:20 says that Christ loved me and gave Himself for me. Although we may pay attention to this verse, we may not pay adequate attention to Ephesians 5:25, where we are told that Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for the church. The Christ into whom the church was put by God loved the church and gave Himself up for it.
Christ’s loving the church and giving Himself up for the church was for redemption and for the impartation of life. According to John 19:34, blood and water came out of the Lord’s pierced side. The blood was for redemption, and the water was for the impartation of life so that the church might come into existence. In Ephesians 5:25 we have the church coming into existence through Christ’s loving her and giving Himself up for her.
Because the church is sanctified in Christ and is loved by Christ who gave Himself up for it, the church becomes of Christ. This is the reason the New Testament tells us that the church is not only of God but also of Christ.
Romans 16:16 speaks of “the churches of Christ.” Wherever the churches are located, they must be the churches of Christ. We should never think that the church in a particular place is the church of any elder or worker. The church in every locality must be the church of Christ. With Paul we need to learn to say “the churches of Christ.”
The church as the assembly is composed of the saints (1 Cor. 1:2; Heb. 2:12). This means that the church is composed of all those who have believed into Christ and who possess His life. Any person who has not believed into Christ and has not been saved cannot be a component of the church.
In 1 Corinthians 1:2 Paul says, “To the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints.” According to grammar, “to the church of God” is in apposition to “to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints.” This indicates that “to the church of God” equals “to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints.” This strongly indicates that the church is a composition of the saints, and the saints are the constituents of the church. The two should not be considered separate entities. Individually, we are the saints; corporately, we are the church. Thus, the church is not only constituted of God but is also composed of the saints, of those who have been separated, set apart, to God for the fulfillment of His purpose.
Since the church is composed of the saints, the church is of the saints. First Corinthians 14:33 calls the churches “the churches of the saints.” In the New Testament there is only the church of God, the church of Christ, and the church of the saints. There is not a church of the elders or of the apostles in the New Testament. The elders are slaves serving the churches. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:5, “We do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake.”
To say that the church is the church of the saints means that the saints are the owners, the possessors, of the church. However, neither the apostles nor the elders are owners of the church. The elders are the servants of the saints, the apostles are the slaves of the saints, and the saints are the owners of the church.
The church is of God, because God has purchased it with His own blood. The church is of Christ, because Christ loves the church and gave Himself up for the church and because the church is in Christ. The church is also of the saints, because the saints are the components of the church and the owners of the church. Such a church is altogether an entity separated from the world unto God for the carrying out of His eternal economy. Hence, the church is the assembly, the ekklesia, a congregation called out of the world by God and separated from the world. The church belongs to God, to Christ, and to all the saints. This is the church as the assembly.
