What Is the Church (and Who’s in It)?

What is the church? For many, the word church conjures up images of steepled buildings, stodgy services, and stuffy men in collars. It is an object of mistrust for others, full of cruel hypocrites. For some, it’s a hobby that some people enjoy to little consequence—“all so harmless, so gentle, so proper.” For others still, it’s simply bizarre.

Historically and locally, the church has been all of these things at times. Yet behind all of the stylings, stereotypes, and stigmas is something more than human. It is an institution whose first members described it in terms not of meanness and monotony but of glorious, loving fellowship with God and people. The question of where we stand in relation to it has implications both for this life and forever.

So, what—and who—is the church?

God’s Church, Not Ours

The church is not a human invention; it is rather a divine institution. It’s not a voluntary association, like a Rotary Club, but a community of people God has called by His Spirit through the message of the Gospel.

Since before the time when God created the world, His purpose has always been “to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works” (Titus 2:14). This divine mission was at work thousands of years before Christ, when God called Abraham to be His particular servant and the progenitor of His people, Israel—with the aim, ultimately, of blessing all the nations (Gen. 12:1–3). The mission culminated when Christ suffered for the sins of all people, so that Jews and gentiles are both included in God’s family—equally under condemnation for sin, equally forgiven through the sacrificial death of Christ.

The result is a community of people who share together in God’s gift of forgiveness. In Jesus Christ, the apostle Paul tells us, all who believe are like a “structure” that is “joined together” and “grows into a holy temple in the Lord” and in which God has come to dwell (Eph 2:21–22).

Spiritual Union, Not External Attachment

Membership in this church is a matter not of external attachment but of spiritual union.

When he wrote to the church in the city of Ephesus, the apostle Paul described the Christians there as being “sealed with the Holy Spirit” when they “heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him” (Eph. 1:13). They were not people with common interests; they were people whom God came to inhabit once they had heard and believed the good news about Jesus Christ.

This good news is that although we are each in a dire predicament because of sin, facing the futility of our own lives, and, ultimately, the judgment of God, Jesus Christ has taken our place in God’s judgment. Jesus went willingly to the cross to pay for the sins of mankind so that if we entrust ourselves unreservedly to Him, all of the credit of His righteous life will accrue to our account before God, and He will take responsibility for all the debit of our sin.

The church is made up of people who are living this story and sharing together in its benefits. Each must come to Christ individually, but the Scriptures give no notion that one can be in Christ independently. To be in the church is to be adopted into God’s family, to be a citizen in God’s kingdom, to be a brick in God’s temple. It means participating in the mutual love, provision, and edification that is appropriate to God’s children.

Visible and Invisible

The church has a visible expression, since it is made up of people who live on the earth, who meet in buildings, who keep membership rolls, and so on. Yet the essence of the church is invisible, constituting God’s redeemed people at all times and places who are united to God by grace and through faith in Jesus.

This invisible church is what Jesus referred to when He said, “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18). The visible church has often seen (and will continue to see) setbacks—institutions languishing, leaders failing, buildings crumbling, statistics trending in what seems to be the wrong way. Yet the church as the body of God’s redeemed people is always prevailing in ways that, much like Christ’s victory on the cross, may seem like defeat to the human eye.

To be in the church is to be adopted into God’s family, to be a citizen in God’s kingdom, to be a brick in God’s temple.

Ultimately, the church belongs neither to any one person—pope, patriarch, or pastor—nor to any one group, nor even to one nation, language, or culture. The church belongs to Jesus Christ. We cannot live faithfully as God’s people without organizing ourselves in visible ways, yet we should not expect that even our good-faith efforts will always accomplish our own purposes in the world—much less that any person or group who lays claim to Christ will see unerring victory. “God is working His purpose out as year succeeds to year”—and we trust that He will not allow the gates of hell to prevail against His family as He leads them to His kingdom. When Paul wrote to the church in the city of Philippi, he was able to say, “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6).

Are You in the Church?

Not everyone is in the church, because not everyone has believed in the Gospel. Even among people who are members or regular attendees of local, visible church bodies, there are some who have never entrusted themselves to Christ and so cannot truly claim to be a part of God’s church.

To be a part of the church is to live in the hope of eternal life with God through faith in Jesus Christ. To be apart from the church is to be headed toward an eternity apart from God. It is absolutely critical to ask the question, “Am I in the church?”—and, if not, “How do I get in?”

No one enters Christ’s church as a result of something a religious professional does—whether a baptism, a confirmation, or whatever else. No one enters the church by tithing to a local congregation. No enters the church by simply saying a prayer. We enter the church when God brings us to the end of ourselves and our attempts to be acceptable to Him. Then we may cry out to Him in faith, “Lord Jesus Christ, I cast myself wholly upon Your mercy. I have nothing of my own merit to bring, and I am amazed that You would include me in Your company. Please be my Lord and Savior, and make me and keep me as a part of Your family.”

This article was adapted from the sermon “Who or What Is the Church?” by Alistair Begg.