Tradition

Example

What is a church? I know that the first temptation is to begin looking for a theological definition. That is certainly important. But in this article I want to think about what defines a church for us, practically. Meaning, if someone from a non christian culture asked you, “What is a church?” How would you respond?

Most of us would respond based on our past experiences. If you have experienced a very formal church life like that of the high church Lutherians or Presbyterians then you would probably define church according to that experience. However, if you grew up in a small country baptist church the picture would be very different. Additionally, a person in an urban area attending a trendy megachurch would have another understanding of church. 

But shouldn’t we back up and instead of getting our understanding of the church from the examples we have experienced, look to the Bible for the basic definition for what the church should look like? In this post, I am not going to give that definition but rather the criteria I believe we should use to determine a truly Biblical and practical model for church life.

Explicit 

The first and most weighty part of the criteria should be the explicit teaching of the Bible. We should first go to those texts that directly tell us what the church is. From the Scriptures, we must understand that the church is not a physical building which has been devoted to God but rather its a spiritual building constructed from the living stones, which are the members of the new covenant (1 Peter 2:4-5). The church is not a fraternal organization but it is a fellowship meeting of faithful saints (Hebrews 10:19-25). The church is not a hierarchical governing organization, but it is a body made up of members with responsibility and accountability to one another (1 Corinthians 12). My point is simply that we must take the direct instructions from the Bible as the best authority on how we should behave in the assembly of believers (1 Timothy 3:14-15).

Implicit

The second way I think that we can determine what we should be doing in the meeting of the church is through the implications that we find in the Bible about the early church. There are at least three ways that we can apply this principle of implicit instruction.

1. The Biblical authors will imply the proper practice for us through the improper practices that they condemn or correct in the first century churches. When the Hebrew writer in the text cited above insists that they not neglect to meet together, we should understand that to be implicit instruction for us to guard against this same form of neglect.
2. The Biblical authors also give us implicit instruction through the things that they affirm that the early churches were doing. The Apostle Paul tells the Thessalonians that he does not need to teach them about loving one another for they have been taught by God. He goes on to keep on living as they are peacefully, gently, and diligently (1 Thessalonians 4:9-12).
3. Lastly, we can learn from the implicit instruction of the Apostles through their silence. When we see the actions, customs, or strategies implemented by the early church neither praised nor corrected in the scriptures then those things are at worst allowable and at best may be the most beneficial way to faithful accomplish the things taught and commanded explicitly. An example of this would be the early church practice of meeting in homes. The Scriptures do not command for the assembly to be in a home but some of the sharing and caring that the Lord intends for His church may be more easily accomplished in this more intimate setting (1 Corinthians 16:19-20).

Normative

The third way that I believe we can identify the practical means to be applied in the church in our time and culture is through distinguishing between those things which are normative versus the things that are extraordinary. In the book of Acts, there seem to be many things which happen through the miraculous working of God that are not normative for the church. Some of the habits of the early church were more necessary than strategic. So the event of Pentecost may not be something that we should expect to be a normative means of evangelism but Paul’s practice of going to the marketplace to reason with the people might be a normative pattern to be imitated even in our day. 

Even if we as believers end up with some disagreements about what the church meeting looks or sounds like, we should all be able to agree that our reasons for our opinions should not ultimately be our own preferences but rather scriptural premises. 

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