The Last Reformation | Page 4

Christian phases]
"The church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood"
(Acts 20: 28), is Clearly set forth in the New Testament. And the term
"church" in its religious usage is given two significations. In its largest
and primary signification, the church of God is the entire body of
regenerated persons in all times and places, and is in this respect
identical with the spiritual kingdom of God, the divine family. In a
secondary sense, church designates an individual assembly in which the
universal church takes local and temporary form and in which the idea
of the general church is concretely exhibited. Besides these two
significations of the Christian term "church," there are, properly
speaking, no other in the New Testament. It is true that ekklesia is

sometimes used as a collective term to denote the body of local
churches existing in a given region, but there is no evidence that these
churches were bound together in groups by any outward organization
which separated or distinguished them from other congregations of the
general church. Therefore this use of the term "church" can not be
regarded as adding any new sense to those of the general church and
the local church already referred to.


CHAPTER II
THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH
Matt. 16:18 introduces in the gospel history the subject of the church.
Jesus said, "I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it." This text implies that the church as an institution
was not yet founded, and it also clearly implies that Christ himself was
to be the founder and builder of his church.
Jesus had already preached that the kingdom of heaven was at hand,
and when he sent forth his twelve apostles he commanded them to
preach and say, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." Jesus himself
taught the doctrines of the kingdom, but in the words of our text there
is implied deeper ideas of the kingdom of God yet to be revealed in all
their fulness of meaning.
[Sidenote: The body of Christ]
We should divest our minds, temporarily at least, of preconceived ideas
of formal church organization and earnestly seek to understand the real
signification of that church of which Christ was himself personally the
founder. A few texts make this point clear: "And hath put all things
under his [Christ's] feet, and given him to be the head over all things to
the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all"
(Eph. 1: 22, 23). The church, then, is the body of Christ. Of this body

Jesus himself is the head. "And he is the head of the body, the church ...
that in all things he might have the preeminence" (Col. 1:18). "For his
body's sake, which is the church" (verse 24). Christ is head of but one
body. "There is one body" (Eph. 4:4). In these texts the body and the
church are used interchangeably, referring to one and the same thing.
The body of which Christ is the head is the church that he built, "the
church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood" (Acts 20:
28).
[Sidenote: The atonement its procuring cause]
It is therefore to Calvary that we must look for the specific act by virtue
of which Christ personally became the founder of his church. There it
was "purchased with his own blood." There we find the application of
those sublime words of the Savior, "And I, if I be lifted up from the
earth, will draw all men UNTO ME" (John 12: 32). By virtue of that act,
God "put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all
things to the church." Yea, by virtue of that act, "God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at
the name of Jesus every knee should bow,... and that every tongue
should confess" (Phil. 2:9-11).
The church, then, proceeds from Calvary: Pentecost was but its initial
manifestation to men and its dedication for service. Of this we shall
have more to say hereafter.
[Sidenote: Composed of true Christians]
Since through his death Christ proposed to draw all men unto him, it is
evident that all the members of Christ are therefore members of his
body, the church. To this agrees the words of the apostle Paul, "For as
we have many members in one body, and all members have not the
same office: so we [true Christians], being many, are one body in
Christ, and every one members one of another" (Rom. 12: 4, 5). "Now
hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath
pleased him" (1 Cor. 12:18).
[Sidenote: