Ecclesiology

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Ecclesiology

• BETA Course Jan 07

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What is it?

• From ekklesia - translated church or assembly
  
• The branch of theology concerned with the study
  of the church, including its purpose,
  ordinances, offices, and organization.

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Why Study it?

• Should I baptize my baby or dedicate her?
• Should I go to a Bible church or a Methodist
  church?
• Should I join that small group or not?
• Can my wife teach a Sunday School class?
• Am I missing out on Gods grace because I take
  communion at a Bible church rather than a
  Presbyterian church?
• Why do I wake up early on Sunday to go to church
  at all?
• Whats my purpose in life?

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History

• Ancient Period (100-600 AD)
• Very little doctrinal development
• But 2 Major Movements
• EXTERNAL UNITY
• Motivated by attacking heresies
• Led to
• centralized leadership in bishops who could claim
  apostolic succession
• doctrinal unity of the entire visible church
• no salvation outside of the visible church

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History

• Ancient Period (100-600 AD)
• Very little doctrinal development
• But 2 Major Movements
• INTERNAL PURITY
• Motivated by (1) emphasis on external unity and
  (2) increasing secularization
• Often led by those outside the unified church
  frustrated by increased secularization
• Characterized by a push for personal spiritual
  renewal

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History

• Medieval Period (600-1500 AD)
• Little doctrinal development
• But substantial growth of hierarchy
• RCC exercises almost absolute power headed under
  a singular pope
• RCC declares that salvation is impossible outside
  of it's walls for it is the conveyor of grace

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History

• Reformation (1500-1700 AD)
• Reformers recover apostle's doctrine, yet
  disagree on Eccles.
• Magisterial - church state united
• Radical - church state seperate

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History

• Last 300 years
• 2 competing movements
• Denominationalism
• Ecumenicalism

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Today?

• Ecclesiology still in infant stage
• Constant and rapid flux for the church
• Many difficult issues never addressed in the NT

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"Church"

• e)kklhsiva
• ek - "out"
• kaleo - "to call"

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"Church"

• e)kklhsiva
• a gathering or assembly of people
• Acts 738 (Israel in the wilderness) 1939 (the
  mob in Ephesus)
• the universal body of all church-age believers
  regardless of denomination or geographic location
  
• Gal 113 Eph 122 310
• A local congregation of professing Christians
• 1 Cor 12 (the church of God which is at
  Corinth) Gal 12 (the churches of Galatia)

The Universal Church
The Local Church
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Universal Church

• What is it?
• Ephesians 122-23
• And He put all things in subjection under His
  feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the
  church, which is His body, the fullness of Him
  who fills all in all.

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Universal Church

• What is it?
• The Universal Church is the Body of Christ, which
  is an organic entity where every believer is
  vitally connected to every other member, and all
  are under the authority of Christ, the head.

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Universal Church

• Who's in it?
• 1 Corinthians 1212-13
• For even as the body is one and yet has many
  members, and all the members of the body, though
  they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.
  For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one
  body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or
  free, and we were all made to drink of one
  Spirit.

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Universal Church

• Who's in it?
• Anyone who's been baptized by the Spirit
• The HS identifies the new believer w/ X's death,
  burial, and resurrection

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Universal Church

• When did it begin?
• Matthew 1618
• I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon
  this rock I will build My church and the gates
  of Hades will not overpower it."

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Universal Church

• When did it begin?
• John 737-39 - in light of 1 Cor 1213
• Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone is
  thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who
  believes in Me, as the Scripture said, From his
  innermost being will flow rivers of living
  water. But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom
  those who believed in Him were to receive for
  the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was
  not yet glorified.

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Universal Church

• When did it begin?
• Acts 14-5
• Gathering them together, He commanded them not to
  leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father
  had promised, Which, He said, you heard of
  from Me for John baptized with water, but you
  will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many
  days from now.

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Universal Church

• When did it begin?
• Acts 21-4 (compare to 1115-16)
• When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all
  together in one place. And suddenly there came
  from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind,
  and it filled the whole house where they were
  sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of
  fire distributing themselves, and they rested on
  each one of them. And they were all filled with
  the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other
  tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.

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Universal Church

• When did it begin?
• Answer -- the day of Pentecost following Christ's
  ascension

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Universal Church

• When will it end?
• 1 Thessalonians 416-17
• For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven
  with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and
  with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ
  will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain
  will be caught up together with them in the
  clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we
  shall always be with the Lord.

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Universal Church

• Church Kingdom of God
• "kingdom of God" God's sovereign rule
• Many forms
• heavenly kingdom
• theocratic rule in Exodus
• Davidic kingdom in Israel

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Universal Church

• Church Kingdom of God
• "kingdom of God" God's sovereign rule
• Many forms
• Similarly, the church is a manifestation of the
  kingdom of God on earth.

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Universal Church

• Church Israel
• Is the church Israel?
• Were believers in the OT members of the church?
• NO
• Mt 1618 1 Cor 1213 John 7
• Eph 34-6 - church a "mystery"

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Universal Church

• Church Israel
• Is the church Israel?
• Ephesians 34-6
• when you read you can understand my insight
  into the mystery of Christ, which in other
  generations was not made known to the sons of
  men, as it has now been revealed to His holy
  apostles and prophets in the Spirit to be
  specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and
  fellow members of the body

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Universal Church

• Church Israel
• Has the church replaced Israel?
• Does it take Israel's place in the OT covenants?

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Universal Church

• Church Israel
• Has the church replaced Israel?
• Romans 93-5
• For I could wish that I myself were accursed,
  separated from Christ for the sake of my
  brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who
  are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as
  sons, and the glory and the covenants and the
  giving of the Law and the temple service and the
  promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is
  the Christ according to the flesh, who is over
  all, God blessed forever. Amen.

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Universal Church

• Church Israel
• Has the church replaced Israel?
• Romans 1125-26,29
• For I do not want you, brethren, to be
  uninformed of this mysteryso that you will not
  be wise in your own estimationthat a partial
  hardening has happened to Israel until the
  fullness of the Gentiles has come in and so all
  Israel will be saved for the gifts and the
  calling of God are irrevocable.

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Universal Church

• So why did God create it?
• Ephesians 38-11
• To me, the very least of all saints, this grace
  was given, to preach to the Gentiles the
  unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to
  light what is the administration of the mystery
  which for ages has been hidden in God who created
  all things so that the manifold wisdom of God
  might now be made known through the church to the
  rulers and the authorities in the heavenly
  places. This was in accordance with the eternal
  purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our
  Lord,

So the church is a preordained part of God's
eternal plan to display His glory on earth
through human representation!
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Universal Church

• Finally, a definition
• "the spiritual, organic body indwelt by the Holy
  Spirit of which Christ is the head and all
  believers from Pentecost to the rapture are
  members"

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Universal Church

• Biblical Metaphors
• The Body of Christ
• - direction from the HEAD
• - unity of all believers
• - diversity of gifts and functions

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Universal Church

• Biblical Metaphors
• Temple of the Holy Spirit
• Ephesians 219-22
• So then you are no longer strangers and aliens,
  but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and
  are of Gods household, having been built on the
  foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ
  Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the
  whole building, being fitted together, is growing
  into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also
  are being built together into a dwelling of God
  in the Spirit.

- significance of our lives and actions
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Universal Church

• Biblical Metaphors
• A Kingdom of Priests
• 1 Peter 29
• But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a
  holy nation, a people for Gods own possession,
  so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him
  who has called you out of darkness into His
  marvelous light

- direct access of each believer to God
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Universal Church

• Biblical Metaphors
• The Bride of Christ
• Ephesians 531-32
• For this reason a man shall leave his father and
  mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the
  two shall become one flesh. This mystery is
  great but I am speaking with reference to Christ
  and the church.

- intimacy with Christ
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Universal Church

• Biblical Metaphors
• Vine and Branches
• John 155
• I am the vine, you are the branches he who
  abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit,
  for apart from Me you can do nothing.

- our dependence on Christ
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Universal Church

• Biblical Metaphors
• Shepherd and Sheep
• 1 Peter 225
• For you were continually straying like sheep,
  but now you have returned to the Shepherd and
  Guardian of your souls.

- our dependence and our security
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Local Church

• Distinguish between Precepts Practice
• Precepts specific Biblical instruction
  governing church
• Practice Biblical record of what the church
  actually did

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Local Church

• Definition
• "an organized assembly of professing believers
  in a particular locality that exists to extend
  Gods kingdom on earth"

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Local Church

• Definition
• Only believers can actually belong to the local
  church
• It is a visible subset of the universal church
• It is actually a complete miniature version of
  X's body

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Local Church

• Why does the local church exist?
• 1. EXALT God
• Mathew 2236-40
• Teacher, which is the great commandment in the
  Law? And He said to him, You shall love the
  Lord your God with all your heart, and with all
  your soul, and with all your mind. This is the
  great and foremost commandment. The second is
  like it, You shall love your neighbor as
  yourself. On these two commandments depend the
  whole Law and the Prophets.

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Local Church

• Why does the local church exist?
• 1. EXALT God
• 2. EDIFY believers
• Matthew 2818-20
• And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying,
  All authority has been given to Me in heaven and
  on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all
  the nations, baptizing them in the name of the
  Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching
  them to observe all that I commanded you and lo,
  I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

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Local Church

• Why does the local church exist?
• 1. EXALT God
• 2. EDIFY believers
• Colossians 128
• We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and
  teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we
  may present every man complete in Christ.

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Local Church

• Why does the local church exist?
• 1. EXALT God
• 2. EDIFY believers
• 3. EVANGELIZE the lost
• Matthew 2818-20
• Go therefore and make disciples of all the
  nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
  and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to
  observe all that I commanded you and lo, I am
  with you always, even to the end of the age.

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Local Church

• Why does the local church exist?
• 1. EXALT God
• 2. EDIFY believers
• 3. EVANGELIZE the lost
• Philippians 214-15
• Do all things without grumbling or disputing so
  that you will prove yourselves to be blameless
  and innocent, children of God above reproach in
  the midst of a crooked and perverse generation,
  among whom you appear as lights in the world,

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Local Church

• Why does the local church exist?
• 1. EXALT God
• 2. EDIFY believers
• 3. EVANGELIZE the lost
• 4. ??Reinstitute the political kingdom of God on
  earth??
• Augustine, Roman Catholicism, Luther, Calvin,
  Puritans and Pilgrims

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Local Church

• Why does the local church exist?
• 4. ??Reinstitute the political kingdom of God on
  earth??
• BUT
• Church is not Israel
• Eph 6 -- our struggle is not against humans or
  human institutions
• Rev 20 -- Christ will reinstate the political
  kingdom after the Trib

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Local Church

• Why does the local church exist?
• 1. EXALT God
• 2. EDIFY believers
• 3. EVANGELIZE the lost

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Local Church

• Who's responsible to accomplish the mission?
• ALL Believers are responsible to participate in
  ALL 3 E's
• ALL are called to leadership
• Raising up next generation leaders
• To reach our world for Christ

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Local Church

• Who's responsible to accomplish the mission?
• ALL Believers are responsible to participate in
  ALL 3 E's
• ALL are called to leadership
• YET since we need order, God has given special
  positions

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Local Church

• Pope?
• RCC bases this on Mt 1618-19
• I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon
  this rock I will build My church and the gates
  of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you
  the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever
  you bind on earth shall have been bound in
  heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall
  have been loosed in heaven.

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Local Church

• Pope?
• RCC bases this on Mt 1618-19
• Historical Development
• Ancient church - heresy w/o NT prompts need for
  central authority
• Early Medieval church - collapse of Rome prompts
  greater power for church its leader
• Reformation - battle over doctrine prompts
  absolute interpretive authority in pope

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Local Church

• Pope?
• Protestant view of "rock" in 1618
• Petros small rock Peter
• Petra large rock Christ
• So Christ is the foundation of the church
• Verified in Eph 220, etc.

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Local Church

• Pope?
• Protestant view of "keys" in 1619
• Keys represent authority or influence to extend
  the gospel into previously unopened arenas
• Peter fulfilled this since he was the apostle who
  officially extended the church to Samaritans in
  Acts 8 and Gentiles in Acts 10

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Local Church

• Pope?
• Passages denying Peter Pope
• Acts 1513-21 James has more authority than
  Peter at Jerusalem Council
• Gal 211-14 Paul opposes rebukes Peters
  hypocrisy
• Overall - Peter NEVER claims higher status than
  the rest of the apostles.

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Local Church

• Elder - 3 key words
• presbuteros elder"
• emphasizes the office (place of an older man) and
  the persons maturity
• episkopos overseer, bishop
• emphasizes the function overseeing the
  congregation
• poimaen shepherd, pastor
• emphasizes the spiritual gift - shepherding the
  congregation

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Local Church

• Elder - duties
• 1 Peter 51-3
• Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your
  fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of
  Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is
  to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among
  you, exercising oversight not under compulsion,
  but voluntarily, according to the will of God
  and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness nor
  yet as lording it over those allotted to your
  charge, but proving to be examples to the flock.

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Local Church

• Elder - duties
• Acts 2028,35
• Be on guard for yourselves and for all the
  flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you
  overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He
  purchased with His own blood In everything I
  showed you that by working hard in this manner
  you must help the weak and remember the words of
  the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, It is more
  blessed to give than to receive.

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Local Church

• Elder - duties
• Titus 19
• holding fast the faithful word which is in
  accordance with the teaching, so that he will be
  able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to
  refute those who contradict.

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Local Church

• Elder - qualifications
• Titus 15-9 (1 Tim 31-7)
• appoint elders in every city as I directed you,
  namely, if any man is above reproach, the husband
  of one wife, having children who believe, not
  accused of dissipation or rebellion. For the
  overseer must be above reproach as Gods steward,
  not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted
  to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain,
  but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible,
  just, devout, self-controlled, holding fast the
  faithful word which is in accordance with the
  teaching

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Local Church

• Deacon
• From diakonia "to serve"
• Founded in Acts 6
• Now at this time while the disciples were
  increasing in number, a complaint arose on the
  part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native
  Hebrews, because their widows were being
  overlooked in the daily serving of food. So the
  twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples
  and said, It is not desirable for us to neglect
  the word of God in order to serve tables.
  Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven
  men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of
  wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task.
  But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to
  the ministry of the word.

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Local Church

• Deacon
• From diakonia "to serve"
• Founded in Acts 6
• They are the chief servants of the local church
  yet remain under the elders authority

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Local Church

• Deacon - qualifications
• 1 Tim 39-13 -- almost the same as for elders
• Why do we need to be so strict for elders
  deacons?
• They represent the body of Christ to the world
• They make major decisions that affect both now
  and eternity

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Local Church

• Deaconess??
• 1 Tim 311 - deaconess or deacons' wives
• Women must likewise be dignified, not malicious
  gossips, but temperate, faithful in all things.
• Rom 161 - deaconess or servant
• I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a
  servant of the church which is at Cenchrea

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Forms of Government
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Forms of Government
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Forms of Government
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Forms of Government
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Forms of Government
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Ordinances

• an ordinance an outward rite appointed by
  Christ to be administered by the local church as
  a visible sign of the saving truth of the
  gospel.
• How Many?
• RCC 7
• Protestants 2 (Baptism and Lords Supper)

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Ordinances

• Baptism Meaning
• A means of saving grace
• A sign and seal of the covenant
• A public testimony (GBC)

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Ordinances

• Baptism Mode
• Pouring
• Sprinkling
• Immersion (GBC)

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Ordinances

• Lords Supper Views
• Transubstantiation
• Consubstantiation
• Reformed
• Memorial (GBC)

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