We know that the church belongs to Christ, created for us that we might serve Him as He desires. He established His church, accomplishing it by dying on the cross for those who He chose through the gospel. Jesus gifted to us our salvation, as He Himself paved the way to heaven through His own resurrection from the dead. Consider Paul’s words, “‘When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men. (Now this, ‘He ascended’ – what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)’” (Ephesians 4:9-10).
The Holy Spirit used the word church (ekklesia), referencing God’s people, in two basic ways in scripture. The first is referred to as the universal use of the word church. It is that to which Jesus refers when He promised in Matthew 16:18, “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” In this sense it refers to the relationship that each saved person has with Christ when He comes to Him in faith. “Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them … And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:41,47). Simply put: every person who has been saved in the past, is saved now in the present, or will be saved before the Lord comes again, — he or she is added to His church. This references our relationship with its privileges. There is no passage of scripture than activates this universal church in any way.
That is reserved for the second use of the word church, as it refers to local congregations. This can be seen both in the book of Acts and in the various epistles. The first congregation was established in Jerusalem. When the persecution arose against God’s people, we are told that the disciples who had been present from the beginning, “were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles” (Acts 8:1). Everywhere they went they preached the word, establishing new congregations throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria. Paul’s travels that are recorded by Luke in the book of Acts chronicle his efforts to establish churches and then to revisit them everywhere he went. In fact, most of his letters were written to individual congregations: Rome, Corinth, churches in Galatia, Ephesus, Phillipi, Colosse, Thessalonica.
These congregations consisted of all those who were in the universal church, who chose to work together in a single place. Our equivalent today would be the West Side church, 84th Street in Oklahoma City, the Woodmont congregation in south Fort Worth, the Old Granbury Road church in Granbury, etc., etc.
Jesus chose to equip these local congregations for the work He gave us to do together. A local congregation is a relationship as well, (a smaller group), but it is a group that Jesus intends to work together in His fields. In effect, in the local setting He has equipped, “the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12). Read the entire context: “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 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” (Ephesians 4:11-16).
Spiritual gifts equipped the saints for worship, witness and teaching until the text of scripture was completed (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:9-10).
The apostles were given the keys to the kingdom/church, establishing and propagating Christ’s will for all mankind (cf. John 17:6-19).
Prophets (inspired preachers) were given a gift to answer questions in the local churches. At this point, all scripture had not been delivered, and situations would arise where questions had to be answered by God (a good example of this is Acts 15, as Peter, Paul, Barnabas and James all declared to the church in Jerusalem how God determined to include the Gentile in His church).
Evangelists whose job was to preach and defend the church (see Timothy and Titus), pastors or elders (given oversight in the local church (cf. 1 Peter 5:2) and other teachers were given by God to equip the body!
All of these positions have been given to the church to prepare each of us for the work of ministry, and to protect man against error and apostasy. That we not be “tossed to and from by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men” (14). Praise be to God for His eternal wisdom!
