What Church Do You Read About In The New Testament?

​By: Brian A. Yeager
​The question of our study would be answered in many different ways if you asked different individuals. Some think the church is a building. Some think the church is a collection of religious organizations/denominations. Some think the church is a mythical idea or a pipedream. Some think the church has come and gone. Some think the church is yet to come. On and on we could go. Yet, the word of God does not make this question difficult to answer, as do most confused people.
The church of Christ is the body of Christ (Ephesians 1:22-23). The church of Christ is the people who have been saved (Acts 2:47 and I Corinthians 12:12-27). The church of Christ is the spiritual city of God that includes all just men made perfect and the angels of Heaven as well (Hebrews 12:22-23).
The church of Christ was to be established by Jesus Christ Himself (Matthew 16:13-18). To fulfill the promise He made, He had to die and purchase the church with His own blood (Acts 20:28 and Ephesians 5:25). He did so. Thus, we whom are saved and are collectively called the church of Christ need to realize the heavy price that was paid for us.
The church of Christ is the house of Christ of which He is the head over (Hebrews 3:1-6). As His house, we are also known as the pillar and ground of the truth (I Timothy 3:15). This is a great responsibility that we have as the people of our Lord. The church of Christ is also known as the kingdom of Christ (Colossians 1:12-24, I Thessalonians 2:12, Hebrews 12:28, and Revelation 1:4-9).
The church of Christ is the only body of believers authorized by the Lord (Romans 12:4-5, Ephesians 4:4, and Colossians 3:15). The only plurality [“churches’] we read of in the Scriptures (Acts 9:31 and Romans 16:16) is that of separate local congregations. For example, in the Scriptures we read of churches [assemblies] in many cities (Acts 11:22, Acts 11:26, Romans 16:1-5, I Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:2, etc.).
The word translated “church” [ἐκκλησία] in Scriptures such as Matthew 16:18 means this: “a calling out, i. e. (concretely) a popular meeting, especially a religious congregation (Jewish synagogue, or Christian community of members on earth or saints in heaven or both):— assembly, church” (Strong’s # 1577). Since the word can be so broad, even describing a mob (Acts 19:32), we always have to concern ourselves with the context the word is used in. Many times it is used in speaking of the local assembly of Christians (I Corinthians 14:4; 5; 12; 19; 23; 28; 33; 34; 35, I Corinthians 16:1, Colossians 4:15-16, etc.). Other times it can be used to describe the people of God as a whole to include all saved individuals (Acts 2:47) as the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:23-32).
This brief study shows how simple it can be to understand what the church of Christ is. It is man the makes the simplicity of this subject difficult. We could have made this study much more in-depth and include multiple points to make it harder than need be. As I reread through this I do not see a need to write a second article on the matter. Thus, we will move on to address the authorized works of the local congregation of Christ in our next study. We need to understand such so that we can all be sure we are part of a congregation that is properly doing the work of the Lord’s church!