The church of the New Testament is not the church of man, but rather the church of (belonging to) Christ, Matt. 16:18. Christ declared, "I will build my church." Christ valued the church, because Acts 20:28 says He paid for it with His own blood. Christ

is the head of His church, which is His body, according to Eph. 1:22-23 and Eph. 4:4-6. He purchased only ONE body, ONE church; of which He is the head. Clearly, according to 1 Pet. 2:4-10, the church that belongs to Christ is not a physical structure. In the Bible, the collective noun "church" refers to those who have been called. 2 Thess. 2:14 says that those who heed the call of the gospel are called out of darkness (which represents erroneous thinking) into His marvelous light (the truth). In the New Testament, the church of Christ is simply the body of Christ. The church of Christ was founded in A.D. 30; on the first Pentecost after Christ's resurrection, when a large crowd heard the gospel preached, believed, and obeyed the commands to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins, Acts 2:22-47. Men are called by God through His word, John 6:44-45, 63, and people are added to the church today in the same way that they were in the New Testament, when they gladly receive His word and are baptized, Acts 2:41, 47. The New Testament church had no human creed, nor sectarian confessions of faith. The acceptance of a single standard of authority the divine will as revealed in Jesus Christ allowed for unity, Col. 2:6-10. The will of Christ was revealed and confirmed by inspired men, who also recorded it in writing, according to Eph. 3:1-5, so that we would always be reminded of it after their passing (2 Pet. 1:16-21). As stated in 1 Pet. 4:11, the church that belongs to Christ must be content to speak when the Bible speaks and to be silent when the Bible is silent.Will you search the scriptures on a daily basis to see if these things are true? (Acts 17:11).

6 lessons