p. 6 | THE TRUE CHURCH

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, Cal. · May 31, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 22.

THE TRUE CHURCH.

How We May Find It.

THE method of Roman Catholics in finding the true church is (1) to take the testimony of the evangelists as mere men in regard to what Christ said about the church; (2) to assume that Christ's testimony as to the church applies to the Roman Catholic Church; and (3) to then take the testimony of the assumed church as the witness to the infallibility of the Scriptures, and her interpretations as the voice of the Scripture. In other words, the chief testimony which the Roman Catholic Church has to offer to support her own claim to the true church or to the veracity and inspiration of the Scriptures is her own dicta (see article of two weeks ago).

This is not God's method. His Word, written from 3,400 years to 1,900 years ago, is the chief witness as to the character, the marks, the history, of the true church; and that character, those marks, and that history written in the church itself, is the confirming witness: the two together constitute a testimony which can not be overthrown. So was the mission of Christ established; so must be established the mission of His church.

The Meaning of "Church."

The word rendered "church" in the New Testament comes from the Greek word, ekklesia, from the verb ekkaleo, defined by Liddell and Scott's Standard Greek Lexicon, "to call out or forth, to summon forth." Ekklesia is defined to mean, "An assembly of the citizens regularly summoned, the legislative assembly," opposed to a sullogos, a mere crowd or concourse, which might be "legal or riotous." The word ekklesia is used in the Scriptures to describe the congregation of Israel in the wilderness (Acts 7:38), the "assembly" at Ephesus (Acts 19:32, 39, 41), and the various congregations of Christians associating together, as well as the general body of Christians. In fact, the word "church," in both singular and plural, where it is used in the New Testament Scriptures, comes, with one exception, from the Greek word ekklesia, meaning "called out," "an assembly of citizens regularly summoned." The exception is Acts 19:37, rendered in the Revised Version "temples," its proper meaning. The Church of God or of Christ, is, therefore, composed of "those whom God has called out, citizens of His kingdom, regularly summoned."

The Head of the Church.

The Head of the church, the only Head, is Jesus Christ. This the Word declares again and again:—

"Which He [the Father] wrought in Christ, when He raised Him [Christ] from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the Head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all." Eph. 1:20-23.

"And He is the head of the body, the church; who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him should all the fulness dwell." Col. 1:18, 19.

There is none above Christ to the church. There is no intermediary between the Head and the body. The divine nerve force flows uninterrupted from the mind to every member.

Not only is Christ the Head of the church as a whole; He is the Head of each member, and is the Head of the whole church only because He is the Head of each member of the church. For says the apostle: "I would have you know, that the Head of every man is Christ." 1 Cor. 11:3.

The Lord is Spirit. His Word, His law, is spiritual. The church is His spiritual body, filled, actuated, controlled by His Spirit. There can be no wholly human head to a spiritual body. He only who is both God and man can connect man with God. He alone is the isthmus connecting heaven with the lost continent of earth. He is the ladder up which man must climb to heaven's heights. In the very nature of the case, Jesus Christ alone is the Head.

He would have every soul know the blessed truth that the divine life flows free from Himself to each member; that the Head is in direct connection with each member, however small or insignificant that member may be; that there is personal contact, personal communication, personal sympathy, between each Christian and his Lord. No cordon of ecclesiastical police can hold back the humble suppliant from approaching the great Head. No mitred priests in lordly pomp may bow that soul in the dust and demand confession of sin which should be told only to Jesus Christ. There are to be no human non-conductors between the great infinite Source of divine electricity and the souls who need its vivifying power; and will be none if they will by simple faith look to Him and ask. Anathemas may be thundered; martyr fires may be kindled; men may die for Christ's sake; but as sure as the Head was raised by the might of God "far above all principalities and powers," every member of the body will triumph, and triumph eternally with Him.

In this brief article we have two of the divine characteristics of the true church set forth: (1) She is composed of those whom God has "called out" of the assembly of heavenly, spiritual citizens, regularly summoned; and (2) her one, only Head, collectively and individually, is Jesus Christ.

We will pursue the study of the subject farther in our next.