In Matthew 16:18, Jesus promised to build His church. Peter had just confessed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16). Upon this bedrock foundational fact, Jesus made His promise. There can be no other foundation for the church than Jesus (1 Corinthians 3:11); therefore, any church that is founded on someone else has a faulty foundation and is headed for ultimate demise (Matthew 7:24-27; 15:13).
The promise Jesus made was, “I will build my church,” (Matthew 16:18). The singular form of the word church ought to be glaring to a religious world that hosts thousands of different churches. Ephesians 1:22-23 and Colossians 1:18 clearly show that the church is Christ’s body. Coupled with the plain statement of Ephesians 4:4, “There is one body,” it is clear that Jesus built only one church which is to be united in teaching and practice. Later in the same epistle, Jesus is called the “head of the church” and “the Savior of the body” (Ephesians 5:23). Christ is the one head over His one body, the church. No mention of different worldwide churches can be found in the pages of the New Testament. When a man is saved, God adds him to Christ’s one church (Acts 2:47).
However, one may be curious about the mention of “churches of Christ” in Romans 16:16. Does this indicate a multiplicity of churches? It must be understood that in the New Testament though there was only one worldwide church which was built by Christ, all of the members of this universal organization could not regularly meet in the same geographical location. Therefore, the word church in the New Testament many times refers to local congregations of which Christians in a given locale were a part. The church at Corinth, Ephesus, and Philippi are examples of this. The seven churches in Asia Minor, to whom the book of Revelation is addressed (Revelation 1:4) are also examples of local congregations. Each of these local congregations had elders, also known as bishops, (Acts 14:23; Philippians 1:1) who would watch for the souls of those members of the local congregation. Each member is to follow the example of the elders of the congregation as they shepherd the flock among them (Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:3).
The meeting of the local congregation on a regular basis was an important part of the church in the New Testament and is just as important today (Acts 20:7; Hebrews 10:24-25; James 2:2). Thus, sometimes the word church is used in the sense of the assembly (1 Corinthians 14:34-35). The phrase “come together” appears six times in this one section of scripture: 1 Corinthians 11:17-14:40. The inspired instructions and corrections given here to the first-century congregation at Corinth provide insight into what is to occur when the whole church comes together into one place (1 Corinthians 14:23). The Lord’s supper was to be observed (1 Corinthians 11:17-29), prayers were offered (1 Corinthians 14:15), psalms were sung and public teaching occurred (1 Corinthians 14:26). All this was to be done in an orderly manner (1 Corinthians 14:40). This assembly occurred on the first day of the week when Christians would also give of their means to support the work of the church (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:1-2).
The church is so important to Christ that He purchased it with His blood (Acts 20:28). Those that would please Christ would be added to His one church by obeying the Gospel (Acts 2:37-47), place membership at a local congregation where faithful elders can watch for their souls (Acts 20:28; Titus 1:5-9; 1 Peter 5:1-4), and faithfully attend the assemblies of the church for their own spiritual edification (1 Corinthians 14:4-5).
-Mark Day
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