The New Testament Church

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mag. Claudia R. Wintoch

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Acts: The Church in Revival

Dr Dave Ryser

 

 

 

 

 

 

World Revival School of Ministry

Summer Trimester 2002

 

Content

 

 

1. Introduction

 

2. Defining Ekklēsia

 

3. Church Life

 

            3.1. Worship

            3.2. Preaching & Teaching

            3.3. Signs & Wonders

            3.4. Service

            3.5. Evangelism

            3.6. Prayer

 

4. Church Government

 

            4.1. Elders

            4.2. Deacons

            4.3. Five-Fold Ministry

 

5. Conclusion

 

6. Bibliography

 

 

 


1. Introduction

 

2000 years after Jesus walked on the earth, 2000 years after Pentecost and the birth of the church, 2000 years of so-called growth, experience, development and maturing, the church today looks very different from the one in the pages of the New Testament. Jesus admonished us to judge a tree by its fruit, and the fruit we see today suggests that the church has not gone the direction the Lord would have wanted her to go. Even more, the head, Jesus Christ, is attached to a body that is sick and powerless and a disgrace for its head, every part being only interested in itself (at least in the Western church). Giles (1995:19) puts it so well:

“Modern Western culture is thoroughly individualistic, and theologians have all too often read the New Testament in the light of their own cultural experience. They have imagined Jesus and Paul … calling on people to make a personal and individual response of faith, and suggested that the church is where they will get help in living out their Christian life. This church is, of course, the local church as a voluntary association. The wider church is of no interest, because it in no way helps the individual.”

 

Jesus gave His followers a clear command, promising for a fact the signs that would follow them[1]. Do we see the church delivering people from demons? Do we see the church at large speak in new tongues? Do we see the church walking in divine protection from harm? Does the church bring healing to the sick and dying?

It is embarrassing to admit that our answer to every one of these questions can only be no. The church has largely failed to fulfill its commission and purpose for being, and it is only God’s grace that it still exists to this day. If we desire to become the church the Lord intended for the advancement of His kingdom on the earth, we had better return to studying the church in the New Testament and become the beautiful bride without spot or wrinkle He will be coming back for.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the activities and functions of the New Testament church and their interplay, as well as its governmental structure, in order for us to examine the church today and see where we have fallen short of the Lord’s blueprint, and make the necessary adjustments.

 

2. Defining Ekklēsia

 

The Greek word translated church most of the time[2] is εκκλησια (ekklēsia [3]), which occurs 114 times in the New Testament[4]. It consists of two Greek words, ek (meaning out)  and kaleō (meaning to call); it literally means “called out” and describes the church as those who are called out of darkness and into His kingdom. However, its original meaning in classical Greek was simply assembly, as the Greek citizens gathered together, and it ceased to exist when they went home. We see an example of that use even in the New Testament in Acts 19, when the citizens of Ephesus came together to defend their goddess Artemis. In Acts 7:38 it is used to describe the gathering of Israel at Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. The Hebrew word translated ekklēsia by the translators of the Septuagint was qahal[5], which was also used of any kind of gathering. In the New Testament, the word ekklēsia takes on more and more the meaning of the believers gathering together, and later also of the body of believers even when they were not gathered, for example when Paul addresses the believers of a city.

The difficulty with defining the church, or ekklēsia, is that the church today has many different ideas as to what the church is supposed to be: an institution based on Peter (the first pope) and his successors (Jesus was not calling Peter the rock on which He would build His church), the literal body of Christ on earth (Scripture stating He is presently in heaven), the people of God (which primarily denotes Israel), a social organization (which disregards Christ’s work on the cross), a congregation (yet the church is not only a local gathering of believers) and the Christian community, which is maybe the best description. There has been a movement towards “communio ecclesiology”[6], which has been understood as “the primary concept to capture the essence of the church idea” (Giles 1995:15)[7]. It consists of the three concepts community, participation and the Eucharist[8]. Giles (1995:18) summarizes:

“The strength of this definition of the concept of the church is that it reflects the basic corporate thought of the Bible, which is given new direction and new dimension through the ministry, death, and resurrection of Christ. It is a reminder that God’s work in history, as it is presented in the biblical drama, involves the gathering together of a people who are united to him and to each other.”

 

3. Church Life

 

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles (Acts 2:42-43).

 

As established in the previous chapters, the church was not a collection of many individuals who all believed in the Messiah, but a community of believers who shared their very lives with each other. Community was a very important aspect of the Jewish culture; the people of Israel were all one, belonging to one God, and the law of Moses laid down rules for their successful relating to their brothers and sisters. On the day of Pentecost God’s presence moved from the Temple into Jesus’ followers, which drew them even closer to each other. They had lived with Jesus for three years, had had communion and fellowship with Him, eating, sleeping, talking, ministering and traveling with Him day in day out, learning about His kingdom and being equipped to advance His kingdom even after His departure. Jesus showed His disciples by demonstration and education what His ekklēsia was supposed to look like. In the book of Acts we see the beginnings of His church, which is deeply rooted in Judaism and its Messiah, which places the good of all over the individual’s comfort, shares their possessions instead of guarding them, preaches the kingdom with boldness instead of adapting to the world, and moves in powerful signs and wonders instead of rationalizing their absence – thereby having little in common with the (Western) church today.

The believers in Acts met together frequently, having meals together in each others’ houses, praying together, worshiping together – the book of Psalms being their hymnal, partaking of communion together, reading the Word and listening to the apostles’ teaching. They shared their possessions and freely gave to those in need, selling what they had to provide for the Jewish believers who had come from other parts of the empire for the Feast but stayed after the day of Pentecost.

 

3.1. Worship

As we see for example in Acts 3, the believers in Yeshua continued going to the Temple to worship God, and to proclaim the Messiah to their fellow Jews. Worship played a very vital part in the life of the church: “They were first of all a community of worship and praise ... In that spirit the church carried forward all of its other activities.” (Williams 1996:III-88f). When the man at the Gate Beautiful was healed, the natural response was to go inside the Temple and praise God. In Acts 16, Paul and Silas sang praises to the Lord in prison, which led to their deliverance. Several people in the New Testament are specifically called “worshipers of God”, e.g. Lydia in Acts 15, Titius Justus in Acts 18, the first ones certainly being Simeon and Anna in Luke 2.

 

3.2. Preaching & Teaching

The preaching of the word of God was crucial in two ways: to build up and mature the young believers and to explain to the not-yet believers the signs they were seeing. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ (Acts 5:42). The multitudes in every city saw the wondrous signs the disciples were doing, which required them to speak up and preach the gospel. It was that proclamation, after the demonstration, that the Holy Spirit used to lead people into the kingdom of God. However, we often end there; yet the apostles knew the significance and importance of ongoing teaching and discipleship to mature the young believers and lead them into all truth, devoting themselves to teaching (see Acts 2:42 above). “Both the rich indwelling of Christ’s word and the anointing of the Holy Spirit make a fellowship of believers into a community of those who can truly teach one another.” (Williams 1996:113). Teaching the word of God was and is very necessary to “satisfy deep spiritual hunger … to offset and counteract false doctrines” and it is “essential as a guide to daily living” (Williams 1996:116f).

 

3.3. Signs & Wonders

The mighty deeds of God expressed in signs and wonders often preceded the powerful proclamation of the word. In fact, the disciples expected the Lord to show up wherever they went, doing what Jesus had commanded them to do – healing the sick, casting out demons, cleansing lepers and raising the dead. It was a normal part of their Christian life. Paul even had to help them not to go overboard in his first letter to the Corinthian church, which gives us an insight into the spiritual gifts in operation in Corinth. Today, the church is proud not to have those problems any more, maintaining “decency and order”; however, it is also powerless and in direct disobedience to the commission Jesus gave His followers.

 

3.4. Service

The New Testament church deeply cared for its members, meeting their needs as well as they could, directing “its activities into ways and deeds of personal caring because that is the gospel” (Champion 1951:110). One great example is found in Acts 6, where we learn about food distribution to widows. Another example is Acts 11, where the believers in Antioch send relief to the Christians in Jerusalem:

“To care for others in spite of racial and cultural differences, was the natural thing for a Christian church to do; but the fact that a Gentile church so young in faith as the church in Antioch should have responded so wholeheartedly to the need of others, shows how clearly the truth was grasped that caring for one’s fellow men is an integral part of the gospel.” (Champion 1951:111).

 

Unity, hospitality, encouragement and compassion, expressed in practical ways, were all important traits of the New Testament church.

 

3.5. Evangelism

Today’s concept of evangelism would have been totally foreign to the New Testament church. Having found the Messiah and received His Holy Spirit, it was natural for the believers to go and share the good news, obeying the command of their Lord. On their missionary journeys, they usually went into the synagogues, to their fellow Jews, and explained the gospel to them, in a way that would make sense to them. The disciples did not cease proclaiming the truth, oblivious to persecution and beatings that resulted, even feeling honored to suffer for their Lord.

 

3.6. Prayer

Prayer was the most essential ingredient that carried all the deeds of the young church. Through prayer they stayed in communion with God, listening to the Holy Spirit, receiving direction, being empowered and releasing the Lord’s power. Great examples for the way prayer changed situations are Acts 4[9], Acts 12 when earnest prayer led to Peter’s divine deliverance from prison and Acts 13 when Barnabas and Saul were chosen and empowered for their ministry.

 

4. Church Government

 

Jesus had many disciples, but He chose twelve to be His inner circle who He would train and equip in a special way. All of those twelve had equal status, none of them being singled out as extra-special[10]. After Jesus’ ascension and the empowerment of the church at Pentecost, it was those twelve who naturally stepped up as leaders. They became the leaders of the young church, giving themselves to the ministry of the Word (see Acts 6), overseeing the growing church and establishing the Lord’s will where new rules were necessary (see Acts 15). They were “accorded a certain pre-eminence in the counsels and leadership of the community” (Flew 1956:131). When the need arose, they appointed other anointed men of God to fill the need and take on a new task, as seen in Acts 6, when seven men were appointed to see to the distribution of food to the Hellenistic Jewish widows. The only other recurring authoritative function we see in the book of Acts is that of a prophet, who would warn and encourage, as for example Agabus (Acts 11, 21).

As time elapsed, the church and its government became more and more institutionalized, as man strived to find order, hierarchy and organization. That beginning institutionalization is even visible when comparing the book of Acts with later epistles. The following pages discuss different leadership roles mentioned in the New Testament.

 

4.1. Elders

The description “elder” originally referred to the older men, but “came to be used in an official sense to designate those with experience, and worthy of respect” (Turner 1951:55). The first mention of elders (πρεσβύτερος – presbuteros)[11] is found in Acts 11, in connection with the church in Jerusalem. Clarke (1962:56) observes that “God’s word knows nothing of the appointment of elders by ecclesiastical authorities, of election by congregations or by existing elders”, as is often the case today. Instead, those planting the churches appointed elders, as seen with Paul and Barnabas in Acts 14:23, who were given authority in a local congregation, but weren’t set over them but among them: Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers (επίσκοπος – episkopos)[12]. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood (Acts 20:28). As stated here, they were to be shepherds (which is the definition of pastor) and teachers in the local congregation, as seen in 1.Timothy 5:17: The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. Clarke (1962:59) summarizes that “the duties of elders are primarily connected with the spiritual welfare of the assembly”.

However, we observe that there was never one single elder over a congregation. Williams (1996:III-218) states that “for a church to be without elders, or to allow one elder, the pastor, to assume the eldership to himself is out of order”.

The terms elder, bishop, overseer and pastor all refer to the same role. Dargan (Turner 1951:56) states: “It is not a little curious that the word which we most commonly use to describe the leader in the church is the one which the New Testament least used.”

 

4.2. Deacons

In Philippians 1:1 Paul and Timothy address specifically the overseers (επίσκοπος) and deacons (διάκονος – diakonos)[13] in Philippi. Deacons (meaning servant) are “auxiliary persons who serve in various practical matters” (Williams 1996:III-218). Strong’s concordance ably defines a deacon as “one who executes the command of another”, therefore serving under the authority of the local elders. Paul lays down character qualifications in 1.Timothy 3, after those for overseers.

 

4.3. Five-Fold Ministry

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up (Eph 4:11-12).

 

Much good and bad has been said about those five so-called offices, and their discussion certainly goes beyond the scope of this paper. The Lord appoints people to certain functions in the church – which have been overvalued by far – in order to achieve His purposes, build up the church and expand His kingdom. “The authority of anyone holding office in the Church is the authority of the Holy Spirit within that individual, and the evidence for the Holy Spirit is to be found first in personal holiness and devotion to Christ, and secondly in ability to perform effectively the service indicated by the office.” (Champion 1951:119).

 

5. Conclusion

 

The life of the early church – a community that deeply cared and shared, who was full of the power of the Holy Spirit and walked in the footsteps of Jesus – as well as early governmental roles in that church body have been discussed. When we compare those findings with today’s church, we will not find many similarities. Some, like Schweizer (1962:1a), argue that it should be that way: “Der Befund wäre missverstanden, wenn wir die neutestamentliche Gemeindeordnung in dem Sinn als Gesetz verstünden, dass wir sie nachzuahmen hätten.”[14] The early church, after all, was unique in its dispensation, with miracles, signs and wonders that ceased with the completion of the canon.[15]

Thankfully, there are many today who return to the basic truths of Scripture, striving for a more biblical view of the church and its functions and calling. It is time for His church to rise up, be healed and advance His kingdom with power, to be a light to the nations, to cause the unbelievers to question and restore honor to the King of kings. When the bride – His church – has made herself ready, pure, without spot or wrinkle, then will she, together with the Spirit, call for her eternal bridegroom, “Come!” (Revelation 22:17).

 


6. Bibliography

 

 

Champion, L. G., The Church of the New Testament, The Carey Kingsgate Press Ltd.: London 1951

 

Clarke, Arthur G., New Testament Church Principles, Loizeaux Brothers Inc.: New York 1962

 

Flew, R. Newton, Jesus and His Church. A Study of the Idea of the Ecclesia in the New Testament, The Epworth Press: London 1956

 

Giles, Kevin, What on Earth Is the Church?, InterVarsity Press: Downers Grove, IL, 1995

 

Groom, M. S., The New Testament Church, The Manney Company: Forth Worth, TX [no date]

 

Guy, Harold A., The Church in the New Testament, St. Martin’s Press: Bristol 1969

 

Johnson, Earl D., Leadership in the New Testament Church. A Practical Guide for Pastors, Pneuma Life Publishing: USA 1994

 

Schnackenburg, Rudolf, Die Kirche im Neuen Testament. Ihre Wirklichkeit und theologische Deutung, ihr Wesen und Geheimnis, Herder: Freiburg 1961

 

Schweizer, Eduard, Gemeinde und Gemeindeordnung im Neuen Testament, Zwingli Verlag: Zürich 1962

 

Turner, J. Clyde, The New Testament Doctrine of the Church, Convention Press: Nashville, TN 1951

 

Wagner, C. Peter, Acts of the Holy Spirit, Regal Books: Ventura, CA 2000

 

Williams, J. Rodman, Renewal Theology, Zondervan: Grand Rapids, MI 1996



[1] See Mark 16:15-18.

[2] There are five exceptions, four in Acts and one in Hebrews.

[3] Strong’s concordance number 1577.

[4] According to Williams 1996:III-15.

[5] It is also translated synagogue thirty-five times (Giles 1995:24).

[6] See Giles 1995:15

[7] The Greek word koinonia (equivalent to the Latin communio) is usually translated fellowship in the New Testament.

[8] See Giles 1995:17 for a more detailed description.

[9] Verse 31: After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken.

[10] Contrary to some denominations’ belief that Jesus placed His church into Peter’s hands.

[11] Strong’s concordance number 4245.

[12] Strong’s concordance number 1985.

[13] Strong’s concordance number 1249.

[14] Translation: “The findings would be misunderstood, if we understood the New Testament church structure in that sense as law, so that we would have to imitate it.”

[15] This ironic statement of mine reflects the opinion of a big part of the Western church today.