Adult Class: September-November 2006
The Church
Lesson 2
The Church As The People of God
From Old Testament times, God desired to have a people, a separated community of followers, who would put their faith and trust in Him and serve Him as God. Over and over, from Abraham (Genesis 17:8) to the captivity years we read God’s determination to have for Himself a dedicated community. In Ezekiel 37:23-28, this purpose is expressly linked to the Messianic Age. Earlier, Isaiah 49:5-6 revealed God’s resolve that His people should not be limited to the nation of Israel but that the Messianic Kingdom should include people from all nations.
It is these people, related to God in a covenant delivered through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, that constitute the people of God (1 Peter 2:9-10). We tend to think of “people” as a collection of individuals, but the Bible tends more toward the idea of a corporate group—as we might speak of “the American people.” This is the thought behind much of God’s Word as He teaches us about the aspects of being His people. See, for example Romans 9:22-26 as Paul adopts language from Hosea to discuss the idea of our being incorporated into the people of God.
Not all humans can be among the people of God. He has always made a distinction between those who are called to fulfill His will and those who are not. His Messiah came from Abraham through Isaac, not Ishmael or any of the other half-brothers of Isaac. From Isaac, God’s people are named through Jacob, not Esau. Later, God chose Solomon among the sons of David as a forerunner of the Christ. Now, God chooses His people through Jesus only (Romans 8:28-30).
The people of God are the “called out” (ekklesia), and the word is often translated “church” (see, for example, Acts 11:25-26), although a better translation would probably be “assembly” (as it is used in Acts 19:39, 41). The understanding must be held that the assembly is Christ’s assembly—His people gathered together.
Is the church the kingdom of God?
It is sometimes asserted that the church and the kingdom of God are identical. In fact, the kingdom of God includes everywhere that God reigns as king—both in heaven and on earth—and encompasses all times, including the Old Testament period. So, it is not precisely accurate to say that the church is the kingdom, but it is perfectly accurate to say that the church must be in the kingdom of God, that is, under His sovereign reign. Hebrews 12:23, 28 makes the link between the kingdom and the church explicit.
The kingdom of God is where God reigns as King. In one sense, that includes this world since He has ultimate authority and power over it. In another sense, His reign clearly does not extend to every human heart since so many will not submit to Him. What is certain is that every person who considers himself or herself to be a part of the people of God must have Christ as King, securely on the throne of that person’s life.
Implications of Being the People of God*
(1) The church must be separated from the conduct characteristic of the world. Since you are God’s people (2 Cor. 6:16), therefore you must live as God’s people (2 Cor. 6:17) in order truly to be God’s people (2 Cor. 6:18).27
(2) To be the people of God gives a sense of importance and purpose to life. On the other hand, the basis of that choice — the free grace of God in Christ — removes any basis for pride and contributes to a humble acknowledgment of dependence on God.
(3) The church can never be merely a free association of like-minded religious individuals.28 It is not a democracy. It is always dependent on and defined by the free choice and call of God. The church has corporate peoplehood. Any people (if it really is a people) has its own character. The church is a people whose character is determined by the call and choice of God and by the Christ in whom it is called. Persons sometimes try to make a congregation into their own image. Instead they need to be fashioned into the image of Christ.
(4) There are false (and potentially sinful) principles of unity around which people organize themselves. Persons find their sense of identity from citizenship in a nation, being of the same race, sharing a certain occupation or economic status, adhering to a particular political doctrine, participating in a certain social class, sharing the same level of educational attainment. The church is intended to transcend all of these bases of unity. True peoplehood is to be found in God through Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:11).
The political novelty which God brings into the world is a community of those who serve instead of ruling, who suffer instead of inflicting suffering, whose fellowship crosses social lines instead of reinforcing them. This new Christian community in which the walls are broken down not by human idealism or democratic legalism but by the work of Christ is not only a vehicle of the gospel or fruit of the gospel; it is good news. It is not merely the agent of mission or the constituency of a mission agency. This is the mission.29
27. Hans Kung, The Church (London: Bums & Oates, 1968), p. 122.
28. Hans Kung, The Church (London: Bums & Oates, 1968), p. 126.
29. John Howard Yoder, “A People in the World: Theological Interpretation,” in James Leo Garrett, Jr., The Concept of the Believers’ Church (Scottdale, Penn.: Herald, 1969), p. 274.
*This entire section is taken from Everett Ferguson’s The Church of Christ: A Biblical Ecclesiology for Today (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdman’s, 1996) 90-91.