The Church Part Two by Ps Michael Podhaczky

It was asked in an earlier blog, “What’s your understanding of the church?” We briefly saw what Jesus and what Paul had to say plus some of their perspectives. One of these perspectives was a theologically one, i.e. the church is not the Kingdom of God, but is part of the Kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is God’s rule over creation. Remarkably, the gospels never defined what the Kingdom of God is, however it would be helpful for us to try to understand the idea.

The idea of the Kingdom of God has two basic features. Firstly, that it is God as King who rules, reigns, has dominion and authority over this kingdom. While secondly it includes the dominion of His rule, i.e. His territory and His people. There are actually three interchangeable phrases used in Scripture in relation to these two features; the Kingdom of God (Mk 1:15), the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt 4:17), and the Kingdom of Christ (Eph 5:5), which fundamentally mean the same thing. Although, it is important to remember that, the Kingdom of God and Kingdom of Heaven are used interchangeably by Matthew, (Matt 19:23-24).

So, if that is the case and the church is not the Kingdom, rather within the sphere of Kingdom of God, then how can this help us understand the church? A useful example for this purpose was proposed by the theologian B.B. Warfield. He understood the church as part of the Kingdom of God and having distinct parts, which were nevertheless united to operate under God’s sovereignty. That is it is,

·         God’s people

·         God’s people in God’s place

·         God’s people in God’s place under God’s rule

·         God’s people in God’s place under God’s rule living God’s way[1]

This is a valuable positional and practical way of seeing the church. The church needs to be understood from God’s positional status shown in Gal 2:20 and as His practical outworking explained in Eph 5:2-5. It is helpful to read and live moving back and forward between these two sections of Scripture. This highlights the tension that God’s people are facing in God’s place under God’s rule endeavoring to live God’s way. Thus, this is life for the Christ-follower within Kingdom life, this side of heaven.

So, coming back to the opening question “What’s your understanding of the church?”

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[1] “Taken down from the Lecture on Theology given by Cole, G.” (1997) Melbourne, Ridley College.