The Biblical Church, Part I

Every Christian church is supposed to be a biblical church, founded on Christ and Scripture; but while most modern churches aim for biblical accuracy, they are also profoundly influenced by (1) their denominational heritages, (2) the men and women who govern each local congregation, (3) the needs of their people, and (4) the culture in which they find themselves. If every modern church suffers from this, where can we find the pure church, the church that Christ himself endorses, the biblical church, the model church?

Not surprisingly we find it in the New Testament. But wait! The New Testament epistles are generally written to churches with problems. We can interpolate Christ’s model by examining their problems, but does the New Testament anywhere depict the perfect church, the fresh church, the model for any church, and in our case, The Internet Church?

We see that church, in two places:

Its first occurrence is in Acts 2:42-47, the first church. More on that in my next post. Its second occurrence is in Christ’s letters to the churches in Revelation.

Of the seven churches Christ addresses there, only Smyrna (Revelation 2:8-11) escapes his criticism. His criticism of the other six concern either false doctrine or accurate doctrine inaccurately applied. This is not the only place in which the New Testament stresses the need for sound doctrine. I conclude from this that the church Christ wants teaches sound doctrine and urges its people to understand what it is and apply it in their lives.

All we can construe from the church at Smyrna is that it was about to experience a world of hurt. Christ urges its congregants to be faithful. If they are, they will overcome their trials and prove themselves in the process. This faithfulness to God (Christ) is a common theme in Scripture, faithfulness to Christ in spite of what you see going on around you. Peter tells us that this perseverance is a test of faith (I Peter 1:3-9 key verse 7. Note: James 5:7-11; Hebrews 10:19-39; James 1:13-18), not for God’s benefit because he already knows the truth about each of our benefit, but for us so we can know our faith is pure.