Chapter 09 · Ecclesiology
Ecclesiology
The Doctrine of the Church
What Is the Church?
Grudem defines the church as "the community of all true believers for all time." The Greek word ekklesia, translated "church" in our Bibles, comes from a verb meaning to gather or assemble. It simply means a called-out community of people. The church is not a building, a denomination, or a Sunday program. It is the people of God, gathered around Christ.
Theologians distinguish between two senses of the church:
The Invisible Church: The totality of all true believers across all times and places, known only to God. Includes those who have died in faith and those not yet born.
The Visible Church: The local gathered community of professing believers in a specific place. This is the church as it can be seen and experienced in the world.
Similarly, the church is both Local (a particular congregation in a particular city) and Universal (the whole body of Christ across all nations and centuries).
Images of the Church in Scripture
The New Testament uses many rich metaphors to describe what the church is and how it functions. These are not competing images but complementary windows into the same reality:
Family: 1 Timothy 5:1–2; Ephesians 3:14; Matthew 12:49–50. The church is God's household, characterized by mutual care, interdependence, and love across generations.
Bride of Christ: Ephesians 5:32; 2 Corinthians 11:2. The church is in a covenant relationship with Christ, who loves her and gave Himself for her.
Body of Christ: 1 Corinthians 12:12–27. The church is an organism, each member a different part, essential to the whole, united under Christ as the head.
New Temple / Priests: 1 Peter 2:4–8; Hebrews 3:6. Believers together form the dwelling place of God, the place where His presence resides on earth.
Other images include: Branches (John 15:5), Olive Tree (Romans 11:17–24), Field of Crops (1 Corinthians 3:6–9), Building (1 Corinthians 3:9), Harvest (Matthew 13:1–30), and Pillar of Truth (1 Timothy 3:15).
Practices of the Early Church
"And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers... And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved."Acts 2:42–47 (ESV)
Acts 2 gives us a picture of the early church's essential practices: teaching, fellowship, the Lord's Supper (breaking of bread), prayer, generosity, and worship. These are not programs but the organic rhythms of a community formed by the gospel.
Sacraments and Ordinances
Baptist churches typically use the word ordinances rather than "sacraments," reflecting the belief that these practices are acts of obedience commanded by Christ (ordained by Him) rather than channels through which grace is automatically conveyed.
Baptism
In the New Testament, baptism was practiced after conversion, not before. The Greek word baptizo means "to plunge, dip, or immerse," which is why Baptists practice baptism by immersion. Baptism is rich with symbolic meaning: death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 6:3–4). It is a public declaration of faith and identification with Christ's death and resurrection.
Baptism is considered a minor doctrine, meaning Christians can disagree about the mode (immersion vs. sprinkling) or subjects (believers only vs. infants) without breaking fellowship. Baptists, however, hold strongly to believer's baptism by immersion as the most faithful representation of the New Testament pattern.
The Lord's Supper (Communion)
The Lord's Supper is practiced continually, as a regular remembrance of Christ's sacrifice. Three major positions exist among Christians:
Transubstantiation (Catholic): The bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Christ at consecration. The change is real, though the outward appearance does not change.
"In, With, and Under" (Lutheran): The elements do not become the body and blood, but Christ's body is truly, physically present with and within them.
Symbolic and Spiritual (Most Protestants and Baptists): The elements are purely symbolic of Christ's body and blood. Christ is spiritually present as believers partake, but the bread and cup do not physically become His body and blood.
Key Vocabulary
The branch of theology that studies the church: its nature, purpose, marks, government, and practices. From the Greek ekklesia (assembly) + logos (study).
Greek word translated "church" in the New Testament. From a verb meaning to call out or assemble. Refers to a community of people called out and gathered, not a building or institution.
The term used by Baptists for Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Preferred over "sacraments" to emphasize that these are acts of obedience to Christ's commands, not channels of automatic grace.
Greek verb meaning to plunge, dip, or immerse. The word used in the New Testament for baptism, which Baptists cite as supporting the practice of full immersion.
The Roman Catholic doctrine that the bread and wine in the Eucharist literally become the body and blood of Christ at consecration, even though their outward appearance does not change.
The Baptist conviction that baptism is properly administered only to those who have personally professed saving faith in Christ, not to infants. Based on the New Testament pattern of belief preceding baptism.
Key Scriptures
- Matthew 16:18
- Acts 2:42–47
- Romans 6:3–4
- 1 Corinthians 12:12–27
- Ephesians 4:11–16
- Ephesians 5:25–27
- 1 Peter 2:4–10
- Hebrews 10:24–25
Review Questions
- How does Grudem define the church? What does the Greek word ekklesia literally mean, and how does that shape our understanding?
- What is the difference between the invisible church and the visible church? Between the local church and the universal church?
- Choose three of the biblical images of the church and explain what each one teaches about the church's nature or purpose.
- Why do Baptists use the word "ordinances" instead of "sacraments"? What theological conviction does this word choice reflect?
- What does the Greek word baptizo mean, and how does this support the Baptist practice of baptism by immersion? Why is baptism considered a "minor doctrine"?
- Explain the three views of the Lord's Supper (transubstantiation, Lutheran, symbolic). Which view do most Baptists hold, and what is the reasoning behind it?