The Church · Core Doctrine
The Church
Jesus said He would build something, and the word He used did not mean a building. It meant the people who get called out and gathered — an ordinary Greek word for a town meeting. He used it exactly twice, and the two times point in two different directions: once at something worldwide and still future, once at a congregation close enough that you could walk over and tell it something. This page is about what that gathering is, who leads it, what it is for, and one thing it never was.
THE ARTWORKPerugino paints the moment right after Matthew 16:18, and he paints it in an empty square. The crowd of apostles is small; the pavement behind them is enormous, and it runs back to a building that had not been built yet. That is the honest picture of what Jesus said: a handful of men, a promise in the future tense, and a great deal of open ground.
The Word He Chose
— an ordinary word for a town meeting, used twice, pointing two waysIn all four Gospels, Jesus uses the word church in only two places — and both of them are in Matthew, who writes it down with the Greek word ekklēsia. In the world that word came from, it had nothing religious about it at all. It was what you called the citizens of a town when the herald went round and summoned them out of their houses to meet. So the word says nothing about a place and nothing about a building. It says called out, and gathered — and it says somebody did the calling.
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.The first time: a promise in the future tense, about something worldwide.
If your brother sins against you, go and confront him privately. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, regard him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.The second time: a group close enough that you can go and tell it about a quarrel.
"Now," saith Christ, "this is that great truth upon which I will build my church. " 1. Take away this truth itself, and the universal church falls to the ground. If Christ be not the Son of God, Christianity is a cheat, and the church is a mere chimera; our preaching is vain, your faith is vain, and you are yet in your sins, 1 Cor. xv.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710Reformed
Matthew 16:18
Tell it to the church - See the notes at Mat 16:18. The church may here mean the whole assembly of believers, or it may mean those who are authorized to try such cases - the representatives of the church, or these who act for the church. In the Jewish synagogue there was a bench of elders before whom trials of this kind were brought. It was to be brought to the church in order that he might be admonished, entreated, and, if possible, reformed. This was, and is always to be, the first business in disciplining an offending brother.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, 1832-1869Reformed
Matthew 18:17
One Word, Two Directions
— follow each rail down — they start from the same word and end at the same PersonReaders argue about which of these two the Bible “really” means. It means both, and the writers move between them without apology — sometimes in the same paragraph.
One Greek word
ekklēsia
the people called out and gathered · used by Jesus twice, pointing two ways
the word itself →Everywhere, and every century
The gathering nobody can count, made of everyone who belongs to Christ — alive now, long dead, not yet born.
- Matthew 16:18
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
Jesus says He will build it. Nothing has been built yet — the whole thing is still future when He says it.
- Ephesians 1:22-23
And God put everything under His feet and made Him head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
It has one Head, and everything else in the universe is under His feet.
- Ephesians 4:4-6
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
One body — not one per city, and not one per century. One.
- Colossians 1:18
And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and firstborn from among the dead, so that in all things He may have preeminence.
The body has a Head, and the Head is a Person, not an office.
This town, these people
The gathering with an address, a membership you can be told something by, and a list of who is in it.
- Matthew 18:15-17
If your brother sins against you, go and confront him privately. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, regard him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
You can only tell something to a group you can find. This one has a door you can knock on.
- Acts 2:41-42
Those who embraced his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to the believers that day. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
A head count, a city, and four things they kept doing together.
- 1 Corinthians 12:25-27
so that there should be no division in the body, but that its members should have mutual concern for one another. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a member of it.
These people, who know each other well enough to suffer together.
- 1 Timothy 3:15
in case I am delayed, so that you will know how each one must conduct himself in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.
A household with house rules — Paul is writing so one man knows how to behave in it.
Where both rails end
“I will build Mychurch”
Neither rail cancels the other, and neither one is the point. The worldwide gathering and the one down your street have the same Head, the same Builder, and the same owner’s name on them.
The First Congregation
— Acts 2 — a head count, an address, and four things they kept doingLuke does not describe the first church with a definition. He describes it with a list. Three thousand people were added in a day, and then four habits held: the apostles’ teaching, life shared in common, meals together, and prayer. Everything the New Testament later says about how a church should work is a comment on that list.
Those who embraced his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to the believers that day. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. A sense of awe came over everyone, and the apostles performed many wonders and signs. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they shared with anyone who was in need. With one accord they continued to meet daily in the temple courts and to break bread from house to house, sharing their meals with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.Not a mood and not a movement — a number, a city, and four things done on purpose.
"And they continued steadfastly and with one accord in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship." Here are two virtues, perseverance and concord. "In the Apostles' doctrine," he says: for they again taught them; "and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayer." All in common, all with perseverance.
John Chrysostom· Homily on Acts 7, 407Church Father
Acts 2:42
They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine - They received it, retained it, and acted on its principles. And fellowship - Κοινωνιᾳ, community; meaning association for religious and spiritual purposes, The community of goods cannot be meant; for this is mentioned Act 2:44, Act 2:45, where it is said, they had all things common. And in breaking of bread - Whether this means the holy eucharist, or their common meals, it is difficult to say. The Syriac understands it of the former.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible, 1832Wesleyan
Acts 2:42
THE ARTWORK
Vladimirov paints the church’s first morning as a seated circle, not a crowd scene. Everyone is together in one room, everyone gets a flame, and nobody is standing in front. That is the picture Acts 2 gives and the reason this section is a list rather than a definition: the thing that began that day was a company of people, and it began with all of them.
Joseph Vladimirov, Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles — public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
One Body, One Household, One Building
— the pictures the letters use — and each one is doing a jobThe letters almost never define the church. They picture it, and the pictures are chosen carefully. A body says the parts are not optional and not interchangeable. A household says you belong by birth and adoption, not by application. A building says somebody laid a foundation before you arrived, and somebody is holding the corner.
The body is a unit, though it is composed of many parts. And although its parts are many, they all form one body. So it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given one Spirit to drink. For the body does not consist of one part, but of many.Many parts, one body — and one Spirit put you into it.
Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone. In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord. And in Him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God in His Spirit.Not visitors, not guests: members of the household, built on a foundation.
As a prisoner in the Lord, then, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling you have received: with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, and with diligence to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.Seven things counted as one — body, Spirit, hope, Lord, faith, baptism, God — and a command to work at keeping the unity.
in case I am delayed, so that you will know how each one must conduct himself in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.A household with house rules — and a job: holding the truth up.
Observe here, The church is compared to a city, and every converted sinner is free of it. It is also compared to a house, and every converted sinner is one of the domestics, one of the family, a servant and a child in God's house.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710Reformed
Ephesians 2:19
The apostles and prophets are the foundation of that building. They may be so called in a secondary sense, Christ himself being the primary foundation; but we are rather to understand it of the doctrine delivered by the prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles of the New. It follows, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710Reformed
Ephesians 2:20
The image of a building is appropriate also to the Jew-Christians; as the temple at Jerusalem was the stronghold of Judaism; as Diana's temple, of paganism. foundation of the apostles, &c.--that is, upon their ministry and living example (compare Mt 16:18). Christ Himself, the only true Foundation, was the grand subject of their ministry, and spring of their life.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871Reformed
Ephesians 2:20
On whom all the building fitly framed together - The whole fabric of the universal church rises up like a great pile of living materials. Into an holy temple in the Lord - Dedicated to Christ, and inhabited by him, in which he displays his presence, and is worshipped and glorified. What is the temple of Diana of the Ephesians, whom ye formerly worshipped, to this?
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, 1755Wesleyan
Ephesians 2:20
What the body picture is actually arguing for1 Corinthians 12 · Ephesians 4
Paul reaches for the body when a church is pulling itself apart. The argument is not that everyone is the same; it is that the differences are the design. An eye that wants to be a hand has misunderstood the eye.
And the outcome he is after is stated plainly: no division, and the parts caring for each other. When one part hurts, all of them do.
Whether Jews or gentiles - Who are at the greatest distance from each other by nature. Whether slaves or freemen - Who are at the greatest distance by law and custom. We have all drank of one Spirit - In that cup, received by faith, we all imbibed one Spirit, who first inspired, and still preserves, the life of God in our souls.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, 1755Wesleyan
1 Corinthians 12:13
Note, All who have the spirit of Christ, without difference, are the members of Christ, whether Jew or Gentile, bond or free; and none but such. And all the members of Christ make up one body; the members many, but the body one. They are one body, because they have one principle of life; all are quickened and animated by the same Spirit.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710Reformed
1 Corinthians 12:13
“The pillar and ground of the truth”1 Timothy 3:15
A pillar holds something up so it can be seen; a base keeps it from falling over. Paul’s picture gives the church a job in the world rather than a status over it — the truth is not made here, it is held up here.
"That thou mayest know," he says, "how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." Not like that Jewish house. For it is this that maintains the faith and the preaching of the Word. For the truth is the pillar and the ground of the Church.
John Chrysostom· Homily on 1 Timothy 11, 407Church Father
1 Timothy 3:15
That thou mayest know how to behave - This is the scope of the epistle. In the house of God - Who is the master of the family. Which is - As if he had said, By the house of God, I mean the church.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, 1755Wesleyan
1 Timothy 3:15
The words underneath
ekklēsia
“church”
An everyday civic word before it was a Bible word: the citizens of a Greek town, summoned out of their houses to meet and decide something.
sōma
“body”
Paul's favourite picture. A body is not a club you join; it is a thing you are a living part of, and parts do not work on their own.
koinōnia
“fellowship”
Sharing in something together — a partnership, not a coffee hour. It is one of the four things the first congregation kept doing.
themelios
“foundation”
What a building is set on. Ephesians 2:20 says the church has one, and names who laid it and who holds the corner.
What He Said He Would Build It On
— the one line in Matthew 16 that Christians have read three ways“Upon this rock I will build My church.” Which rock? Peter himself, the confession Peter had just made, or Christ, the one being confessed? Careful readers have landed in all three places, and this page is not the place that argues it out — that argument has a page of its own, with each reading carried at full strength.
"And I say unto thee, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my Church;" that is, on the faith of his confession. Hereby He signifies that many were now on the point of believing, and raises his spirit, and makes him a shepherd.
John Chrysostom· Homily on the Gospel of Matthew 54, 407Church Father
Matthew 16:18
On this rock - Alluding to his name, which signifies a rock, namely, the faith which thou hast now professed; I will build my Church - But perhaps when our Lord uttered these words, he pointed to himself, in like manner as when he said, Destroy this temple, John ii, 19; meaning the temple of his body.
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, 1755Wesleyan
Matthew 16:18
Even in the Greek it is imperfectly represented. In French, as WEBSTER and WILKINSON remark, it is perfect, Pierre--pierre. I will build my Church--not on the man Simon Bar-jona; but on him as the heavenly-taught confessor of a faith.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871Reformed
Matthew 16:18
What this page takes from the verse is the part nobody disputes: the builder is Christ, the thing built is His, and the building had not started yet when He said it.
Where Christians Differ, and Who Holds What
— two real questions, honestly disputed — the positions named, and no verdict stamped on the readerTwo questions about the church have divided sincere Christians for centuries: what the word chiefly points at, and who is meant to lead. Matthew Henry, writing in 1710, said the honest thing about the second one better than anyone since.
It is a thousand pities that this appointment of Christ, which was designed to end differences, and remove offences, should itself be so much a matter of debate, and occasion differences and offences, through the corruption of men's hearts. What church must be told--is the great question.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710Reformed
Matthew 18:17
Question one: when the Bible says “church”, what does it mean?
Chiefly the worldwide one
Every believer of every age, most of whom you will never meet. The local congregation is real, but it is a visible piece of something much larger.
Held by Matthew Henry (“one mystical body of Christ”), by Chrysostom, and across the Reformed and Anglican traditions.
Chiefly the local one
The assembly you can join, be counted in, and be told something by. On this reading Matthew 18:17 settles it: a quarrel cannot be told to an invisible body.
Held by Albert Barnes and Adam Clarke on Matthew 18:17, by John Gill, and across the Baptist and free-church traditions.
Both, and the writers move freely
One word, doing two jobs, with the context deciding each time — the reading the instrument above lays out.
Held by John Wesley and across the Anglican and Wesleyan-Pentecostal traditions, including the heritage this site stands in.
The Catholic church is one mystical body of Christ, and all good Christians make up but one body, incorporated by one charter, that of the gospel, animated by one Spirit, the same Holy Spirit who by his gifts and graces quickens, enlivens, and governs that body. If we belong to Christ, we are all actuated by one and the same Spirit, and therefore should be one.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710Reformed
Ephesians 4:4
Question two: who is meant to lead it?
Four answers, each with a long history and serious people in it. MannaFest names them and hands you the door; it does not tell you which one to pick.
Bishops, in a line of succession
Oversight belongs to bishops who stand in an unbroken succession from the apostles. Ignatius of Antioch is already writing this way early in the second century, and Cyprian in the third.
The Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Anglican traditions.
Chrysostom reads “tell it to the church” this way — as meaning those set over it:
That is, to those that are over the Church. Yet the Lord enjoins nothing of this sort to be observed towards those who are without the Church, such as He does in reproving a brother. Of those that are without He says. If any smite thee on the one cheek, offer to him the other also. (Mat. 5:39.) as Paul speaks, What have I to do to judge them that are without? (1 Cor. 5:12.) But brethren he bids us reprove, and turn away from.
John Chrysostom· Catena Aurea by Aquinas, 407Church Father
Matthew 18:17
A council of elders
No single man over a congregation: a plurality of elders leads together, with wider assemblies above them. John Calvin set this out in the Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book IV.
The Reformed and Presbyterian traditions.
The gathered members
The congregation itself is the final earthly court — which is exactly what Matthew 18:17 sounds like if you read it without a system in hand.
The Baptist and free-church traditions; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament.
The five gifts of Ephesians 4:11, still given
Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are not a first-century scaffold that came down; they are gifts Christ is still giving, and they build the rest of the body up.
Taught by Bill Hamon (Apostles, Prophets and the Coming Moves of God, 1997), Chuck Pierce, John Eckhardt (Moving in the Apostolic, 1999) and Harold R. Eberle. The gifts themselves have their own page.
And it was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for works of ministry and to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, as we mature to the full measure of the stature of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ Himself, who is the head. From Him the whole body, fitted and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love through the work of each individual part.The gifts are named, and so is the reason for them: so the body can be built up and grow.
The two words the New Testament actually uses for a leaderActs 20 · 1 Timothy 3
Much of the argument above turns on two Greek words, and on one passage where they are used of the same men. In Acts 20 Paul sends for the elders of the church at Ephesus, and then tells those same men that the Holy Spirit made them overseers. Whatever else is disputed, in that chapter the two words name one group of people.
presbuteros
“elder”
An older man, and then an office. Sixty-five occurrences across the Bible — the ones that matter here are in Acts 20, not in 1 Timothy 3.
episkopos
“overseer”
Someone who watches over. Only five occurrences in the whole New Testament, which is remarkably few for a word later traditions built an office on.
From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. When they came to him, he said, “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I arrived in the province of Asia.Paul sends for the elders.
Keep watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood.And calls those same men overseers.
An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,The overseer's qualifications, in Paul's letter to Timothy.
The Church and Israel
— the boundary, stated plainly — and one thing the church never wasThe church did not replace Israel. MannaFest states that as a commitment and not a hypothesis: God has a plan for Israel, and the idea that the church took Israel’s place and inherited its promises is one the site rejects outright.
Paul’s own picture is a tree that was already standing. Branches were broken off and wild branches were grafted in — and a grafted branch does not own the root, it lives off it. The place to work that through is Romans 11, and it has its own page.
Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone. In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord. And in Him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God in His Spirit.No longer foreigners — fellow citizens, enrolled in a city that already had residents.
Perceive ye that it is not with the Jews simply, no, but with those saintly and great men, such as Abraham, and Moses, and Elias? It is for the self-same city with these we are enrolled, for that we declare ourselves. "For they that say such things," saith he, "make it manifest that they are seeking after a country of their own." No longer are we strangers from the saints, nor foreigners. For they who shall not attain to heavenly blessings, are foreigners. "For the Son," saith Christ, "abideth for ever." "And of the household," he continues, "of God." The very thing which they at the first had, by means of so many toils and troubles, hath been for you accomplished by the grace of God. Behold the hope of your calling.
John Chrysostom· Homily on Ephesians 6, 407Church Father
Ephesians 2:19
Read what Chrysostom is actually saying: Gentile believers are enrolled in the same city as Abraham, Moses and Elijah. Nobody has been evicted so that somebody else could move in.
How Christians have arranged the two — the readings, namedcovenantal · dispensational · and the ground they share
One reading sees a single people of God across both Testaments, with the church as Israel’s continuation and fulfilment rather than its replacement. Another sees Israel and the church as distinct, with promises made to Israel still owed to Israel and a future for the nation that has not happened yet.
Serious Christians hold each of those, and this page does not choose between them for you. What both readings above have in common — and the one thing this site does insist on — is that nobody is written out. Where a reading ends with Israel discarded, the site parts company with it.
Where It Points
— the church is not the point — the Head isEvery picture in this page has the same problem with being read on its own. A body needs a head. A building needs someone holding the corner. A household needs whoever the house belongs to. Take Christ out of the church and there is nothing left to describe — which is why the sentence He said in Matthew 16 has a possessive in it that most readers skate past. My church.
And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and firstborn from among the dead, so that in all things He may have preeminence.He is the head of the body — and first in everything.
And God put everything under His feet and made Him head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.Given as head over everything, to the church.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.What every member already is: chosen, priestly, His.
For everywhere He is first; above first; in the Church first, for He is the Head; in the Resurrection first.
John Chrysostom· Homily on Colossians 3, 407Church Father
Colossians 1:18
He is the head of the body - What the apostle has said in the two preceding verses refers to the Divine nature of Jesus Christ; he now proceeds to speak of his human nature, and to show how highly that is exalted beyond all created things, and how, in that, he is head of the Church - the author and dispenser of light, life, and salvation, to the Christian world; or, in other words, that from him, as the man in whom the fullness of the Godhead bodily dwelt, all the mercy and salvation of the Gospel system is to be received.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible, 1832Wesleyan
Colossians 1:18
Two more pictures worth knowing aboutColossians 1:24 · Revelation 1:20
Paul can speak of filling up what is still lacking of Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His body— the suffering of the church is not separate from His. And in Revelation, John sees seven lampstands, and is told they are seven churches: the church’s job in the world is to hold light, and a lampstand that stops doing that gets a letter about it.
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His body, which is the church.This is the mystery of the seven stars you saw in My right hand and of the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.