Biblical Foundations
Monday, February 17, 2014
2:39 PM
The New Testament reveals a dual understanding of Church.  The first understanding of the Church comes in what we know of local communities of believers.  The Greek words ekklesia (Church), koinonia (communion), a meeting of believers (sunagogen, used of Christian gathering in James 2:2; episunagoge, only in Hebrew 10:25) are used to refer to local gatherings of believers. The second understanding of the idea of Church is of the more holistic body of believers in Jesus Christ. Throughout our study of Ecumenism, we will use the term "congregation" to refer to the local church.  This is not to suggest that it a local congregation is any less of a church or that we should all go change the signs in front of our building.  But, for the sake of clarity, the local church is the congregation.  When we speak of "the Church" in general we mean the whole body of believers. 
The Local Congregation in the New Testament
The earliest followers of Jesus Christ consisted of a band of Disciples.  We might identify layers of this community.  Jesus seemed to have three followers who were closest to him.  He seemed to have a core set of three followers in Peter, James and John (Witness to the healing of Jairus's daughter: Mark 5:37;  The Transfiguration:  Matthew 17:1-9, Mark 9:2-10, Luke 9:28-36; Prayer in Gethsemane: Matthew 26:37, Mark 14:33).  The Gospels speak of "The Twelve" (Matthew 10:1-5; Matthew 10:17; Mark 3:16; 4:10; 6:6-13; John 6:67-71; 20:24; 1 Corinthians 15:5).  The Gospels also speak of "the Disciples" which seems to be a larger group than the Twelve (Matthew 14:15ff; Mark 10:13ff;).  Jesus commissioned the "Seventy" (Luke 10:1-12).  This community of believers supported Jesus's work, formed an identifiable group of believers, and received instruction specific to them from Jesus.  However, they would not rightly be called a church in that sense.
Jesus is recorded as using the word "church" two times in the Gospel of Matthew.  We will not, in this study, engage in trying to parse the difference between the words of the Historical Jesus and additions or modifications that might have been made by later writers.  It is assumed that the New Testament writers were and in some sense still are organic documents that developed over time and reflect the shape of that development.  In Matthew 16:18, the sense of his use is the whole church.  But in Matthew 18:15-20, Jesus gave instructions about dealing with conflict within "the ekklesia" in this context the local congregation is in view.  The other reference has been interpreted as a reference to the whole church and will be discussed in the next section.  
The local congregation appears to have been characterized by several common elements.  First, it appears that baptism was the common entrance rite that placed someone within the community of the congregation (Acts 9:17-19).  Local congregations gathered, perhaps weekly, for a time of breaking the bread (1 Corinthinans 10:14-22; 11:17-34).  The book of Acts portrays the Disciples as at least initially continuing prayer and worship practices consistent with the Jewish faith.  It's possible that a widespread commemoration of the Lord's Supper began to be observed on the first day of the week within the time covered by the writing of the New Testament (Acts 20:7).  It seems that the local congregation also had particular concerns for one another's physical well-being (Acts 9:36-43; James 3:14), financial well-being (1 John 3:11-17).  Above all the local congregation was characterized by a devotion to one another's holiness and spiritual well-being (Romans 15:1; Colossians 3:12-17; Hebrews 10:24-25; James 5:16, 19-20; 1 Peter 4:10). The four-fold description of the earliest Disciples in Acts 2:42 seems to point to the nature of the weekly gatherings--the congregation met for the Apostles' Teaching, the Breaking of Bread, Fellowship and Prayer.  
The local communities of faith seemed to have at least some recognized structure.  The term Elder or Bishop is used in Acts 20:28; Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:7; 1 Peter 2:25.  In each of these passages the term used describes someone who had responsibilities within the Congregation.  Today, the word Bishop suggests someone with pastoral responsibility for a set of congregations or diocese.  Conversely, the term "deacon" which today almost exclusively refers to a role within a local congregation seems to have referred to those who served across several churches Phoebe (Romans 16:1), Paul and Apollos (1 Corinthians 3:5) and Paul (2 Corinthians 6:4; Philippians 1:1).  This is not the place to try to delineate the organization of local congregations in the New Testament except to say that within the New Testament we see that local congregations were organized as distinct faith communities.  
Finally, the New Testament portrayal of the local congregation shows evidence of disunity.  Both the Church in Rome (Romans 14) and the Church in Corinth (1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1) debated over whether it was permissible to eat meat sacrificed to idols.  Two lay leaders, Euodia and Syntyche had created division in the Church in Philippi (Philippians 4:2).  Local congregations debated over the degree to which non-Jewish converts to Christianity needed to follow the cultural patterns of Judaism.  The church addressed by James seemed to be one divided sharply on the basis of class (James 2:1-13).  
The local congregation was a recognized creation by God.  It stemmed from both the local character of diaspora, synagogue Judaism and the intimate communal nature of Jesus's ministry.  The local congregation was the locus of teaching, baptism, and Eucharist but, the concerns of the local congregation stretched to other aspects of health and well-being.  It contained a structure.  And in all of this shared life together, it is not surprising that divisions within local congregations emerged.  The writers of the New Testament show a particular concern for the local congregation to maintain unity.  
The Universal Church in the New Testament
We have already made reference to one of the two statements about the Church attributed to Jesus.  The earlier reference comes in Matthew 16:18.  Jesus indicated that he would build his "Church" upon Peter OR upon Peter's confession of faith.  Whether Christians believe that Jesus was making a reference to the actual person of Peter or legitimating the power of any of his successors or referring to Peter's confession of faith is shaped largely by which side of a division they land.  However, either interpretative stance assumes that Jesus spoke in some way of the whole Church.    
A biblical understanding of ecumenism begins with a biblical understanding of the church
The word "Church" in the New Testament can mean both a local congregation and the whole body of believers in Christ.
The only two uses of ekklesiai by Jesus recorded in the Gospels seem to address this two natures.
Matthew 18:17--speaks of handling a disagreement between believers and discusses the final step being the involvement of the "Church." 
Matthew 16:18--Jesus indicates that he will build his "Church" upon Peter OR upon Peter's confession of faith. (*For the purposes of this study, I will not try to make the distinction between Jesus's actual, historical words, and additions which are/were additions by the gospel writers or their sources.  Exegetically I assume that all four gospels are shaped by cultural and historical factors)
Historical Development
The Book of Acts is our best record of the development of the early church
The ministry of Jesus and the band of followers called the Disciples would not rightly be called a church however, it set the stage for the formation of the church
Key features of early congregations
Developed quickly--possibly influenced by the Jewish practice of gathering in synagogues.
Identified as 
Disciples, 
"Christians" in Antioch (Acts 11:26)
The Way
Widespread use of the word koinnoia  (community) indicates that the Christians felt the need to gather together.  
Baptism the key entrance rite of the early church (Acts 19:1-5 being the exception)
Breaking bread 
Initially in addition to the normal worship patterns of Judaism.
They seemed to have developed offices within the Church
Bishops or Elders (Acts 20:28; Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:7; 1 Peter 2:25)
Deacons
Apostles
Initial understandings of the whole church
Colossians -- 1:18, Jesus is the head of the body, the church,  
Revelation -- the Seven Churches
Ephesians 4
John 17