It can be a fun hobby to build a model, but constructing real airplanes, bridges or other structures is a serious undertaking. Foundations, building materials, construction joints and many other factors go into the success or failure of the project.

The Lord Jesus declared Himself to be in the construction business when He said, “I will build My church” (Mt. 16:18 NKJV). Since He is a perfect builder, we can be certain that whatever He builds will not fail. Moreover, as Christians we should have more than a passing interest in this subject because we actually are the building! Therefore it is very worthwhile to consider this divine construction project.

What Is The Church?
By itself, the term Christ used for “church” in Matthew 16 is a rather ordinary word. It’s the Greek word ekklēsía (pronounced “ek-klay-SEE-ah”), which simply means “the called-out ones.” It might refer to any group of people who had been gathered together for some specific purpose. This very general sense of the word appears in the book of Acts on two different occasions. Acts 7:38 mentions “the congregation [ekklēsía] in the wilderness,” where some translations even use the word “church” instead of “congregation.” ¹ There, the context refers to God’s Old Testament people, the nation of Israel. The Lord had called them out of Egypt and brought them to Himself, first in the wilderness and later in the Promised Land.¹ Then, in Acts 19, the word is used three times (vv.32,39,41) in relation to an unruly mob in Ephesus. Enraged by Paul’s preaching, the people of that city crowded together to defend their goddess Diana (or Artemis), shouting for hours – but “the assembly [ekklēsía] was confused, and most of them did not know why they had come together” (v.32).

These references show that the Greek word ekklēsía, now translated in the Bible as “church,” did not in itself have spiritual significance. However, in more than 100 other New Testament references the word clearly refers to a collective gathering of Christian believers. How did this usage develop? For an answer we can turn back to the Lord’s words in Matthew 16:18. His emphasis was not so much on the word “church” but on the word “My.” “I will build My church,” He said. That is what gives character to this building. If we are Christians, then we are included in that Church, the Church which is His.

It is important to notice the future tense in the Lord’s statement. It shows that His Church did not yet exist at the time He was speaking about it. His work of building had not yet begun. The “church in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38 KJV) is a reference to the nation of Israel, as mentioned above; but that gathering of people is not the same as this New Testament construction – a point which is very significant. Israel had received earthly promises, and God will yet keep those promises to the nation. But the Church of the New Testament has received heavenly blessings and has a heavenly hope. God has been and will be faithful to both Israel and the Church, but they are two different entities. Knowing this fact will help us avoid many misunderstandings as we read the Scriptures.

The Lord did indeed begin to build the Church as He promised. This took place on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit united the disciples of the Lord Jesus into one new entity. Paul explained that event in 1 Corinthians 12:13 this way: “By one Spirit we were all baptized into one body,” meaning the body of Christ, the Church. It is helpful to realize that Paul was not yet converted on the day of Pentecost, but the word “we” indicates he included himself among those who were joined together by the spiritual baptism of that day. This shows that the baptism at Pentecost was a one-time event, yet all who have believed since then are brought into the value of the Spirit’s work. Therefore, all who are saved in this era are linked together by the Holy Spirit as part of the Church (Acts 2:47, 4:4, 5:11).

Notes On The Word “Church”
As we read more in the New Testament about this new entity, we will notice that sometimes the word “church” is related to a specific location. For instance, the book of Acts mentions a church at Jerusalem, a church at Antioch, a church at Caesarea, and a church at Ephesus. Often there are plural references to “churches” in various areas where Paul and others evangelized and taught. However, at other times the word “church” refers to one worldwide entity consisting of every true Christian. For example, Christ is “head over all things to the church,” and He “loved the church and gave Himself for her” (Eph. 1:22, 5:25) – statements which are certainly true of all believers collectively, not just one local gathering.

To help make that distinction, some English writers use the word “church” to refer to local believers in a specific place but then capitalize the word “Church” when referring to the worldwide aspect. That is how the word “Church” is used in this article. Other writers, though, along with nearly all English Bible translations, do not make this distinction, and there are no rules to say it must be done a certain way. The context is generally clear enough to make the meaning and usage plain.

At this point it may also be good to mention that some Bible translations do not use the word “church” at all. William Tyndale, the first person to translate the Bible into English, chose the word “congregation.” Several other translators since then have used the word “assembly.” One of them, J. N. Darby, explained that the term “assembly” was intended to retain a somewhat technical meaning from the days of the Greek republic, when it meant a gathering of people who had rights of citizenship.² Whichever word is used, it is important to realize that the current idea of a “church” might seem to emphasize the building where people meet, but the word really refers to the people themselves, the ekklēsía, “the called-out ones.”

The Growing Church
It is amazing to think that this Church is actually being built by the Lord Himself. It is something completely new. The first followers of Christ had all grown up in Jewish homes, but soon Samaritans were added (Acts 8:5-25). Previously the Jews would have “no dealings with Samaritans” (Jn. 4:9), but now they were joined together. Not long after that, Gentiles were added to the Church as well. It was previously unheard of for a Jewish person even to keep company with Gentiles (Acts 10:28). However, while speaking to the Roman centurion Cornelius, the apostle Peter and others with him saw with their own eyes that Gentiles could also believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

The beautiful events of Cornelius’s conversion in Acts 10 are reviewed in detail in Acts 11:1-18, showing that this was a very significant moment. By the end of that passage, all were rejoicing that “God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life” (v.18). We can scarcely understand today how remarkable this was. The idea that God would be able to unite Jews and Gentiles into one entity was something which had never been revealed before. Paul called it a “mystery … which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men … that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel” (Eph. 3:3-6). In fact, this mystery is actually a testimony to angelic beings so that “the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places” (v.10).³

What a privilege it is for Christians to be part of God’s building in this way! May the Lord help us live according to that high calling. It’s surely possible for us to deny the practical reality of this new organic unity of all believers by treating some Christians differently than others. If we do so, we are literally undermining the display of God’s divine wisdom. This explains why Peter’s later behavior, when he started eating with Jewish believers but not Gentiles, was so serious (Gal. 2:11-14). We should not allow aspects such as economic status, ethnicity, language and culture to taint the way we act towards other believers.

Growing Together
In any building project there should be progress and growth. It is the same way in the Church. Two chapters in Ephesians speak about this, and it is very interesting to consider them together. In chapter 2, we read about the Church as a temple. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone, the reference point for the entire structure, “in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord” (Eph. 2:21). The following verse adds that, as this holy temple, the Church is “a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” In Old Testament times God’s dwelling place was a literal temple, but now He resides within the Church (1 Cor. 3:16).

Then the Church is pictured as the body of Christ. Ephesians 4 emphasizes this aspect. Christ is the Head, “from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love” (4:16). As a body, the Church is united through the direction and nourishment of our Head: Christ.

At least two valuable points link these passages together. First, both a temple and a body are growing. A temple grows layer by layer, stone by stone; and Christians are those living stones of God’s temple (1 Pet. 2:5). A body grows differently. It is complete at birth, yet year by year that body continues to increase in size; and Christians are individually members of Christ’s body (1 Cor. 12:27). In each case, although the process of growth is different, the desire for growth is essential. A building that never grows beyond the foundation is not useful. A body that never grows beyond infancy is not healthy.

The Lord is surely building His Church in the global sense, so it is appropriate for us to desire that it grow locally as well. In Acts 9:31 we are told that all of the local churches in existence at that time “had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.” They were growing both spiritually and numerically. This is a wonderful, biblical goal for every local assembly of Christians. Perhaps some care only about attendance numbers and are inattentive to the spiritual needs of individual believers. Perhaps others are so focused on teaching spiritual truths that they are careless as to the necessity of evangelism and numerical growth. Both of these errors fail to account for the Lord’s intentions that His Church should grow.

A second link between the temple and the body is found in the fact that both are tightly interconnected. Looking back at chapters 2 and 4 of Ephesians, we read that the building is “fitted together” (2:21) and the body is “joined … together” (4:16). In fact, those expressions are different translations of the identical term in the Greek text. Despite the fact that buildings and bodies are formed differently, God describes them in similar fashion: close-jointed parts functioning effectively and harmoniously together.

What a grand design God has arranged! All believers retain their individuality, yet every one of us contributes something essential to the whole. Your active participation among the local gathering of believers where God has placed you is the practical fulfillment of this design. Most importantly, we have a collective identity in Christ. He is our Cornerstone, and He is our Head. He is building His Church, and He knows exactly where you are in that building.

ENDNOTES
1. As an English word, the term “church” traces its meaning to the idea of “the Lord’s house.” The Greek word kyriakós (“belonging to the Lord”) was used in the New Testament for the Lord’s Supper and the Lord’s Day. That word kyriakós is the root of Kirche in German and circe in Old English, which eventually took on the English spelling of “church” as it is today.
2. Source: Preface to Various Testaments by J. N. Darby; STEM Publishing.
3. The “principalities” and “powers” of Ephesians 6:12 are certainly demonic, and therefore some interpret the beings of Ephesians 3:10 the same way. Others feel that the Ephesians 3 reference is to God’s angelic messengers. Either way, the wisdom of God is made plain to these spirit beings in a very unique way through the Church.

By Stephen Campbell