Introduction to the Doctrine of the Church

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Ecclesiology is the study of the doctrine of the Church. The word “church” is used in a variety of ways and can therefore be confusing if people are thinking of it in a different sense. The invisible Church refers to true believers whereas the visible church refers to people claiming to be Christians but may or may not be true believers. The invisible Church is the Church as God sees it whereas the visible church is the church as man sees it. As Augustine points out, the visible church will always contain non-believers and there will always be true believers outside of the visible church. “For in the ineffable foreknowledge of God, many who seem to be outside are actually within, just as many who seem to be within are in reality outside.”[i]

But it is even more complicated than that. Some believe that the invisible Church consists of all true believers for all time whereas others believe that the invisible Church started at Pentecost and therefore only consists of believers since this time. The visible church can refer to a small gathering of Christians, a physical building, the organization that worships in the physical building, an entire denomination, all professed Christians in the world, and so forth. Frederick Mayer writes, “Ecclesiastical terminology may also become a barrier to a common understanding and may actually be the cause that two partners in a conversation talk past each other.”[ii]

[Next: Nature of the Church]

[i]        Alister McGrath, The Christian Theology Reader, Wiley-Blackwell, 2017: 404 (citing Augustine).

[ii]        Frederick Mayer, “The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel and the Terminology Visible and Invisible Church,” Concordia Theological Monthly, Vol. 25, no. 3, March 1954: 178.

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2 responses to “Introduction to the Doctrine of the Church”

  1. Ron Nelson Avatar
    Ron Nelson

    Interesting!

    [Guys, I find I am posting random questions, and thoughts about these questions, on Rich’s site. I just want to make clear that I am not trying to steer our conversations here or in person, and no one should feel obligated to address them or discuss them. With that disclaimer out of the way, feel free to comment either here, or in person.]

    I have had a question for a long time that Rich’s paragraphs above have brought to mind. Was (and is) Abel a part of the Church? Hebrews 11 tells us that he is righteous, that he “gained approval” through his faith, but that apart from us he should not be made perfect. Ch 12 tells us that he is also among a great cloud of witnesses watching us run our race here on earth. The implication is that he is watching from Heaven. 12:23 seems to indicate that he is among the “righteous men made perfect” in Heaven.

    The answer to the question of Abel has implications for all the “righteous” pre pentacost. They did not know Jesus in the same way as we do. Yet aren’t they saved also? If so, how are they saved? The best I have come up with is that they were/are approved by their faith (11:2). And their faith must consist of believing what God was pleased to reveal to them back then.

    And if these OT righteous are saved without complete knowledge of Jesus, what about those who have never heard of Jesus? This is another one of those “big questions” that I, and a bazzilion others I think, have grappled with.

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  2. Richard Avatar
    Richard

    Ron, these are deep thoughts. I always anchor this topic with, “Did Elijah and Moses go to Heaven when they died.” The Bible is clear (to me) that they did. The Reformed doctrine of grace holds that the means of salvation has always been the same since the Fall. This is necessarily true since God is eternal and unchangeable. The form has changed throughout history (in periods called dispensations), but OT saints were saved by faith in the same way that NT saints were saved by faith as are people today. Louis Berkhof writes, “It is essentially the same in all dispensations, though its form of administration changes … The Bible teaches that there is but a single gospel by which men can be saved. And because the gospel is nothing but the revelation of the covenant of grace, it follows that there is also but one covenant.” I tend to agree, and address this further in Section 7.6 of the book draft.

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