CHAPTER III.
THE CHURCH UNIVERSAL
SECTION-MEMBERSHIP.
THE CHURCH UNIVERSAL IS THE WHOLE COMPANY OF THOSE WHO ARE SAVED BY CHRIST.Whether the term church is used in the Scriptures to denote the whole body of Christ’s disciples, is simply a question of fact. Were we to regard it as an etymological question, we might doubt whether a word, which always assures us of an assembly, could be used to denote a body that has never assembled on earth since the time of the first persecution, which scattered the disciples from Jerusalem. But some reason for such an application of the term may exist; and, if we ascertain the fact that it is so applied, the reason for this peculiar use will afterward become a proper subject of inquiry.
The following are examples in which the word is used with this wide signification: “Gave him to be the head over all things to the church.” “Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.” Let any one attempt to interpret these and similar passages, on the supposition that the term church always denotes a body of Christians assembling at one place as the church at Rome, at Corinth, or at Ephesus and he will become fully convinced, that the interpretation is inadmissible. In some of the passages the extension of the term to the whole body of believers, is perfectly apparent.
So begins the portion of J. L. Dagg’s fine book Manual Of Theology And Church Order.[1]
The problem, of course, is the first sentence of the opening paragraph: “Whether the term church is used in the
Scriptures to denote the whole body
of Christ’s disciples, is simply a question of fact.” It is not a
question of fact, but an erroneous conclusion reflecting Protestant
ecclesiology unsupported in Scripture. The rest of the chapter continues to reflect
an essentially Protestant understanding of the Church of Jesus Christ,
imagining it to be a universal, unassembled assembly.
“Don’t you believe every believer in Christ is a member of
the Church?” My answer is “Not yet.” A more complete explanation of the doctrine of
the Church is found in W. R. Downing’s The New Testament Church[2]
and my offering, The Church Of Jesus Christ: 28 Things Every Christian Ought
To Learn.[3]
It is a sad thing for Baptists to accept without serious scrutiny a Protestant
ecclesiology that can only be embraced
by violating the core meaning of the word ekklesia.
[1] J.
L. Dagg, Manual Of Theology And Church Order, New Edition,
(Harrisonburg, VA: Gano Books, 1982)
[2] W.
R. Downing, The New Testament Church, (Morgan Hill, CA: PIRS
Publications, Revised 2006)
[3] John
S. Waldrip, The Church of Jesus Christ: 28 Truths Every Christian Ought
To Learn, (Monrovia, CA: Classical Baptist Press, 2019)
