What is the church?

What is the church? We're going to answer that question. Many people today understand the church as a building.

This is not a biblical understanding of the church. The word church comes from the Greek word ekklesia, which is defined as an assembly or called out ones.

The root meaning of church is not that of a building, but of people. It is ironic that when you ask people what church they attend, they usually identify with a building.

Romans 16 .5 says, Paul refers to the church in their house, not a church building, but a body of believers.

The church is the body of Christ, of which he is the head. Ephesians 1 .22 -23 says,

And God placed all things under his feet, and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

The body of Christ is made up of all believers in Jesus Christ from the day of Pentecost until Christ's return.

The body of Christ is comprised of two aspects, a universal church and a local church. Diving deeper, the universal church consists of all those who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

For we were all baptized by one spirit into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given the one spirit to drink.

This verse says that anyone who believes is part of the body of Christ and has received the spirit of Christ as evidence.

The universal church of God is all those who have received salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.

On a smaller scale, the local church is described in Galatians 1 .1 -2. Paul, an apostle, and all the brothers with me, to the churches in Galatia.

Here we see that in the province of Galatia there were many churches, what we call local churches.

A Baptist church, Lutheran church, etc. is not the church as in the universal church, but rather is a local church, a local body of believers.

The universal church is comprised of those who belong to Christ and who have trusted him for salvation.

These members of the universal church should seek fellowship and edification in a local church. In summary, the church is not a building or denomination.

According to the Bible, the church is the body of Christ and all those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.

Local churches are gatherings of people who claim the name of Christ. Members of a local church may or may not be members of the universal church depending on the genuineness of their faith.

The local church is where believers can fully apply the body principles of 1 Corinthians chapter 12, encouraging, teaching, and building one another up in the knowledge and grace of the

Lord Jesus Christ. That answers the question, what is the church? Research this question further on our website,

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