The Local Church

Every word must have a meaning and when reading the Bible, we can’t take modern usage or our assumptions and read them back into the Bible. The word translated church meant in New Testament times, “a called assembly”. The English word church, defined by context, tells me the Lord’s churches are local bodies. Indeed, the use of the plural “churches” is enough to teach the local, not universal and invisible, church (e.g., “churches in Asia” or “churches in Galatia”). Almost 90% of the usage of the word church in the Bible refers explicitly to local churches.

Jesus started a local church with called, baptized disciples. For several years, there was only one church on Earth. One local assembly of believers. When you eventually get to more than one church in the book of Acts (cf. Acts 11:20-30; 13:1) you find separate, independent bodies, conducting business and acting as separate bodies. You have to travel a couple hundred years past the book of Revelation, and the 7 churches of Asia, to find a “universal invisible” church ever mentioned by men. The Lord started and still has local and visible churches.

Some use passages in Ephesians and Colossians to prove the existence of this universal invisible assembly, but there, Paul uses singular word “church” to talk about the institution of the church. I have a book called “The Theology of the Family.” Notice, the title, the family, in the singular. The book doesn’t suggest that we are all one big giant universal family, but the author used the singular to teach on the institution. In Ephesians, Paul likewise speaks of “the church” as an institution, but not one universal body. There are requirements, blessings, boundaries, duties, and responsibilities each local church has in common, if it is a church of Christ. Paul, speaking of the institution, speaks of these universal characteristics of every local church.

All application in Scripture concerning the church teaches the local church. The only way to obey the commands concerning the church, to fulfill one's duty in the church, to bless and be blessing in the church is through a local assembly. Church discipline, praying, preaching, baptizing, Lord’s Supper, giving, receiving -- all point to and applies only in a local body. Confusing and confounding the family of God, the kingdom of God, and the church of God has caused a great many people to accept false teaching about the church, about baptism, and about church government. The teaching on the church is important because Christ is glorified in his church. He died for his church. We serve him in his church. We should love what Jesus loved, and hold as important what Jesus views as important. Error never leads to edification and blessing, but it does lead to more error. It breaks down the necessity of Scriptural baptism, the reality of a Scriptural church, blurs the lines of Christian responsibility, diminishes the authority of the local church, and will always lifts up individuals to lord over men.