Description
What does the Bible mean when it refers to 'the Church'? Who does the church belong to? And how should that impact a Christian's relationship with Christ?
For more videos like this, visit our channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/thirdmillvideos
To find out more about our content or view transcripts for this video, visit our website:
Website: https://thirdmill.org
Follow us on social media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThirdMillennium/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thirdmill/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thirdmill
Transcript:
In the Old Testament, [Israel] was God’s people. But in the New Testament, God’s people are most commonly called the [church]. Our modern term for “church” translates the Greek word [ekklesia] in Matthew. In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, ekklesia is a translation of the Hebrew word [qahal], which the Hebrew Old Testament typically used to refer to the [assembly] or congregation of the people of Israel. This shift in vocabulary — from the “assembly” of Israel to the Christian “church” — demonstrates that both Jesus and Matthew saw the Christian church as the continuation of the assembly of Israel.
Consider the use of the Hebrew word qahal or “assembly” in the Old Testament. The people of Israel are identified as the “assembly” in [Leviticus chapter 16 verse 33], [Numbers chapter 16 verse 47], [Judges chapter 20 verse 2], and [Psalm 22 verse 22]. In fact, the assembly of God’s people was so important in the Old Testament that it was one of the names the prophet Joel used to identify Israel when he foretold that God’s people would be restored in the last days.
In [Joel chapter 2 verse 16] he proclaimed: Gather the people, consecrate the assembly. In the Hebrew original of this verse, the word translated [“assembly”] is [qahal]. But in the Greek translation of the Septuagint, the word is [ekklesia] — the word commonly translated “church” in the New Testament.
Matthew used this same language when he reported these words from Jesus in [Matthew chapter 16 verse 18]: I will build my church.
Here Jesus echoed Joel’s prophecy when he said that he would build his church, meaning his qahal or his messianic assembly of the last days. Jesus’ words also made it clear that the church belonged to him. It didn’t belong to Peter. It didn’t belong to Israel. It wasn’t a democratic institution owned by its members. It was the Messiah’s church —
Rev. Michael Glodo
And so we’re not just followers of Jesus individually, but we are the embodiment of this new creation that Jesus has brought in by his resurrection from the dead and by his giving of the Spirit to us as his new temple, so that we are the presence of the kingdom of God in the church where people can find mercy and forgiveness, and they can find provision when they lack, and they can find companionship when they are lonely. So the church really is a foretaste of the new heavens and earth which will one day be visible throughout the whole creation. [Rev. Michaael Glodo]
The Gospel of Matthew uses familial language like [“father,”] [“son,”] and [“brother”] over 150 times to describe the relationship of God’s people to himself and to each other. The only other gospel writer to use familial language so frequently was John. But when John used it, he was typically talking about the relationship between Jesus and his heavenly Father. In contrast, when Matthew used it he was talking about the relationship between God and his people — he was talking about the [family of God]. And primarily, Matthew used this vocabulary to emphasize the care and protection that God shows for his children.
There is nothing more encouraging than to think about the fact that God has adopted us into his family. It’s a great thing to be forgiven, but as J. I. Packer says in his book Knowing God, it is also a great thing to be justified, but it is an even greater thing to be adopted into God’s family. To have God as our Father, really, is the pinnacle of God’s work in our lives. We’re not just forgiven by the judge, we’re adopted into God’s family, and he’s our Father, and we’re his children. [Dr. Erik Thoennes]
#BibleCurriculum #reformedtheology