By Robin Sam
ALL church denominations make the claim that they are the true church and the rest are at best inferior to them and at worst cultist in character. Ironically, even some cults make this claim.
On the day of the Lord, it will be evident to all as to which is the true church. But, before that, God has given us the Bible the only guidebook to find out for ourselves about what characteristics make a church, truly the body of Christ. The Bible, the New Testament, in particular throws light on this subject.
The church is not a building (Read Jeremiah 7). It is composed of a group of redeemed people. The church is one, it is holy, it is catholic (the literal meaning of the word is universal) and it is apostolic.
In addition to the above, I am listing out three characteristics of the true church.
1. The church is the body of the sanctified.
The word ‘sanctified’ means set apart or declared as holy. It is the same as consecrate. Anything sanctified or consecrated is for God’s use and purpose.
We are called and sanctified for holiness. Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:2, ‘ To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.’ Further in the same book, Paul says: ‘…you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God’ (1 Cor. 6:11).
We are called to obey the faith and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Apostle Peter throws light on this aspect of sanctification. ‘…elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ’ (1 Peter 1:2). Paul says in Romans 1:6-7, the sanctified are ‘called of Jesus Christ’, ‘beloved of God’, and ‘called to be saints.’
There are four distinctive passages in the Bible that list those who will not be part of the Kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9-10; Romans 1:29-30; Galatians 5:19-21; Revelation 21:8). The Scriptures tell us unholy men (and women) will not make it to heaven. Holiness is very important for a believer. The Bible shows us that without holiness no one will see God (Hebrews 12:14). He who is holy, let him continue to be holy (Rev. 22:11). Everyone who has this hope in Him (Christ) purifies himself just as He is pure (1 John 3:3).
2. The church is the gathering of the elect.
The Greek word for ‘elect’ is eklektos and means to be chosen for God’s purposes. Believers of Lord Jesus Christ are elected to be separate from the world and its ways. The Bible says we are not of the world. Jesus said: ‘I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world’ (John 17:14). And again in verse 16, Jesus said: ‘They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.’
But Jesus’ prayer for us is not that we will be taken out of the world but be kept from evil (read verse 15). From this verse it is quite clear that the Bible does not advocate an ascetic life for believers. Its message to the adherents of the faith is this: ‘Do not be of the world although you are in the world.’
This ‘separateness’ makes the world hate us. ‘If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you’ (John 15:19). Apostle Peter said the same thing in his epistle. ‘In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you’ (1 Peter 4:4).
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is such that it puts the believer at variance with his own family that does not believe or follow the Bible (Read Matthew 10:34-36).
We are called to be ‘not of the world’ because the fashion of the world passes away (1 Cor. 7:31). 1 John 2:17 also says the same truth but holds out a promise for the believer. ‘And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.’
We are called to love God, not the world. 1 John 2:15 says: ‘Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.’ (Also read James 4:4). The Bible asks us to ‘remember Lot’s wife’ (Luke 17:32). She is representative of someone who loved the world and its things. Achan’s love for material things proved to be dangerous not only for him but for his entire family, because they were co-conspirators (Joshua 7:19-21). The love for the world and its belongings made Ananias and Sapphira ‘lie unto their deaths’, we read in Acts 5:1-11.
We are called unto a higher calling (1 Peter 2:9).
3. The church is a group of people who have ceased from sin.
In 1 Peter 4:1-3, the apostle exhorts the church to cease from sin by suffering in the flesh. Jesus Christ suffered in the flesh in two ways. He suffered while He was alive and while He was on the cross.
Hebrews 4:15 explains suffering in the flesh as being tempted but not sinning. That’s the kind of suffering most of us are called to. Not all of us are called to be martyrs.
Hebrews 12:2-4 tells us how we can practically suffer and not sin. Verse 4 reminds us that in our striving against sin we have not resisted unto blood.
Verse 2 says Jesus Christ despised the shame. That should be our attitude too if we are to strive against sin. Romans 8:13 calls for destroying the works of the flesh by the spirit.
Our present sufferings are not comparable to the glory that will be revealed in us (Romans 8:18).2 Corinthians 4:17 reiterates the same truth.
Ceasing from sin means we will live above suspicion. Read Ephesians 5:3-4. There are sins that should not be named among us.
When a man in the church at Corinth committed fornication, Apostle Paul condemned it saying it was not so much as named among the Gentiles (1 Cor. 5:1).
Ceasing from sin means we will put to death anything that causes us to sin (Colossians 3:5-7). Jesus Christ advocated the same idea in Matthew 5:29.
Ceasing from sin means we will have no truck with the sinners. In 1 Corinthians 5:2, 5, and 7 Apostle Paul recommended casting out the fornicator in the church. But when he repented of his sins, Paul advocated reconciliation and taking him back into the church (2 Cor. 2:5-8).
