Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:17-19)

The Church

Jesus made a promise that would change the world and usher in the most amazing family on earth. That promise was made when Peter confessed Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of the Living God. This promise was not an idle thought of last resort or something to substitute for a plan gone wrong. The promise Jesus made to build His church was ordained before time began. Long before the world was formed in its perfection, the perfection of the church of Christ Jesus was in the mind of the Father, His Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The church is the divine institution of God’s plan to save men. When the twelve apostles preached to the multitude gathered at Pentecost, three thousand souls were saved as God added them to the church. Luke writes extensively about the church promised by Jesus. There was a church in Jerusalem. Saul of Tarsus persecuted the church or, as it was known, the “Way.” There were many churches throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria. These were groups of the faithful of God assembling together to worship and praise the Lord.

Defining the matter of the church is simply the idea of a group of people called out for a special purpose or reason. The Greek derivation is EKKLESIA, from “out of” and “a calling.” How appropriate for Jesus to promise to build His “out of” and “a calling” to signify the group of saved souls. Luke signifies the saved are in the church or called out people of God. To be outside the church is to be lost. Jesus purchased the church with His blood. Paul talked about the church as a people called together in the same place. He described the church coming together to worship. This would be the public gathering of the saved to carry out the commands of God to worship in spirit and truth.

The church could mean a group of people in a certain place, a gathering of churches in an area, or the universal assembly of the saints. There were churches in the cities of Jerusalem, Rome, Corinth, Ephesus, Corinth, Thessalonica, Miletus, Cenchrea, and many other places. Sometimes, the scriptures refer to churches in areas such as the churches throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria. There were churches in Syria, Cilicia, among the Gentiles, churches of Christ, Galatia, and of Asia.

Jesus is head over all things to the church. This is in a universal sense of all believers found in the haven of salvation, the church. Jesus died for the church, representing all those who were first added to the church on the day of Pentecost; to all those through the centuries who were saved in the body of Christ, and all those who will be a part of the house of God until the Lord returns. The church is important because it is where the saved are. Many people view the church as unnecessary, but that is not the pattern of the New Testament. If the church is not important, why is Jesus the head? Why would the Lord give His blood for something that is not essential? Those in Christ are in the church. To not be in the church is to not be in Christ. Without the cleansing blood of Jesus, there is no salvation.

Paul’s letter to Ephesus is about the glory of the church. He explains how the church was in the mind of God before time. The relationships of the members one to another show the necessity of the church. A final note about the church is that Paul wrote there is only one church. The church is the body of Christ. Jesus is the head of the body, as He is the head of the church. There is only one body and one church. It is clear from the New Testament only one church existed. There was no diversity of churches with different names, patterns of worship, avenues of salvation, and varied forms of leadership. The New Testament is the pattern of the one true church. It makes a difference what church I belong to because Christ is only head of one church, and there is only one church that God adds the saved.