The uniqueness of the Church, Or
Why are there so many denominations and churches?
(CONTINUATION)

The features of the Church

UNITY
is shown in its deepest meaning in the authentic realisation and representation of Christ's unique teaching in the Church, which is "the pillar and foundation of the truth" (1 Timothy 3:15). The teaching of the church is monolithic and has no contradictions. The unity exists not only in an intellectual level in the Church, and not only in laying the foundation of the right teaching, but it effects the lifestyle of the members of Christ as well (Philippians 1:27; 2:1-4; 1 Corinthians 10:17; Romans 12:16; 15:5-6; 1 Peter 3:8; Galatians 3:26-28 etc.):

Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. (1 Corinthians 1:10)

The Church is a "Holy Temple" (Ephesians 2:19-22) built on the foundation-stone of Jesus' teaching and following Him, and it is also a "spiritual house", which has its "living stones". They are those who are looking for the will of God in every area of their life (1 Peter 2:4-5).

Paul especially emphasises the power of the Holy Spirit which creates unity (1 Corinthians 12:12-13; Ephesians 4:3-6) that is not identical with uniformity:

If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. If they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body. (...) Now you are Christ's body, and individually members of it. (1 Corinthians 12:17-20.27)

An essential distinguishing mark of the Church is the unity of the Christians in life and teaching. The unity is a basic feature of the Church, because the other features would have no sense without it. There is one God to whom every Christian listens; there is one common teaching professed by everyone; there is one common aim to reach while we submit ourselves to the same God; there is one Saviour - and the other features of the Church necessarily follow from unity and they are easy to understand.

See our writing entitled "The unity of all Christians".

HOLINESS
is an other important feature of the Church (Titus 2:14; 1 Corinthians 1:2; Ephesians 1:4; 5:3-13; 1 Peter 1:14-16; 2:5; Romans 1:7; 12:1-2; 2 Corinthians 7:1 etc.):

For this is the will of God, your sanctification (...) For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. So, he who rejects {this} is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you. (1 Thessalonians 4:3.7-8

Do you not know that you are a temple of God and {that} the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are. (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)

But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR {God's} OWN POSSESSION... (1 Peter 2:9a)

Christ gave Himself for the Church, " so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless" (Ephesians 5:26-27). Those who reject sanctification will not see God (Hebrews 12:14). Only those will see Him, who strive for a holy life, the one who "purifies himself, just as he is pure" (1 John 3:3). The Church means the community of the saints. Anyone who wants to live in sin, does not belong to the Church (Matthew 18:15-18; 1 Corinthians 5:9-13; 1 John 3:5-10). God grants power to every Christian to overcome temptations and to live a life that pleases God (1 Corinthians 10:13; Romans 6:12-14; 8:2-10; 2 Peter 1:3). Every member of the Church is a saint (Philippians 1:1; 2 Corinthians 1:1; 1 Corinthians 1:2; Ephesians 1:1 etc.). Holiness is a condition for somebody to be called Christian. By the repentance to God everyone is born again and becomes a saint:

...and put on the new self, which in {the likeness of} God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. (Ephesians 4:24)

It is to be noted that the Bible contrast with the Catholic and Orthodox practice of veneration of the saints (Acts 10:25-26; 14:15; Revelation 19:10; Matthew 4:10). Nowhere in the Bible you can find passages about praying to the saints as to the ones who want to mediate for the people. On the contrary, there is one mediator (1 Timothy 2:5).

See our writing entitled "Fighting against Sin, Sanctification".

LOVE
cannot be missed, either. Without love neither unity, nor holiness can be realised in the Church (1 Peter 1:22-23; Philippians 2:2; Ephesians 4:16; Colossians 2:2; 3:14 etc.)

Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8)

The lack of love endangered the existence of the church in Ephesus. They could have fallen because of lack of repentance. (Revelation 2:4-5).

Christians obey Jesus' commandment (John 15:12-17) also in this item: we should love each other as Jesus loved his disciples (John 13:34). The love, as Jesus loved is not only a feeling, but a manifestation of God's will which is visible in deeds and in truth:

Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. (1 John 3:18-19a)

This love makes recognisable that we live in the truth, and makes clear the strong unity we have among us.

See our writing entitled "About Love"

VISIBILITY
is the consequence of unity and holiness of the church prompted by Love (1 Thessalonians 4:9-10; Hebrews 10:24; Romans 12:10; Ephesians 4.16; Philippians 2:2 etc.)

Already the chosen nation of the OT was visible and possible to distinguish from other nations (Isaiah 14:1-2; Deuteronomy 14:1-2; Exodus 19:5-6; Ezekiel 37:27-28 etc.):

For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. (Deuteronomy 7:6-7)

That is valid for the Christians too who shine like stars in the universe among the "crooked and depraved generation" (Philippians 2:15). That community had been visible from the beginning on (Acts 2:47; 5:13-14), and clearly differed from the unbelievers (1 Corinthians 6:14-16; 10:27; 6:1).

Since every member of the church strives for a holy life (no exception), the Christian community can be clearly distinguished - even by unbelievers - from every other community (1 Peter 2:11-12). The words of Jesus allow no doubt:

You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty {again?} It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does {anyone} light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:13-16)

Jesus prayed for perfect unity, by that the Church is recognisable even for the unbelievers (John 17:21-23), and gave a new commandment to His followers, that they should love one another, and that would be the sign that they are his disciples. (John 13:35). The love is visible in deeds too, "for anyone, who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen" (1 John 4:20). The teaching of Paul is clear (and in accordance with the teaching of Jesus) also in this item: the visible unity of Christ's body is an external sign. "There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to one hope when you were called - one Lord, one faith, one baptism..." (Ephesians 4:4-6). The members of the Church are one through the same faith. That faith is not only an inward acceptance. The real interval change is demonstrated in life-style, moreover in coming to unity with other Christians. The statement of Paul, that the Church is "the pillar and foundation of the truth" turns to be completely absurd if we refer it to those denominations existing nowadays having rivalry and contradictions among themselves. Where can an honest but yet uninformed man who is searching, find that certain truth? Only the teaching of the church and the visible unity of its life can prove the statement of 1 Timothy 3:15.

See our writing entitled "The visible church".

APOSTOLITY
is another essential feature of the church. The apostles were the first of those, who proclaimed what they had seen, heard and listened to (1 John 1:1-3). The Church, based on the teaching of the apostles, proclaims the same that was proclaimed by the apostles in the beginning, therefore she does not accept a different teaching (Galatians 1:8-9). The Christians cling to the apostolic teaching (Acts 2:42; 2 Timothy 2:2; 3:14-17; Philippians 4:9) which is identical with that of Jesus, regarding every item. They do not follow human traditions that contradict the word of God:

...having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner {stone,} in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:20-22)

For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 3:11)

UNIQUENESS
is a self-evident consequence of the features listed up before (such as the UNITY, HOLINESS, LOVE, VISIBILITY, APOSTOLITY).

As there was only one chosen nation in the OT, the same is in the NT, too. There is one mediator in the NT:

For there is one God, {and} one mediator also between God and men, {the} man Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 2:5)

Jesus *said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." (John 14:6)

The truth is one; Christ revealed the truth that is represented by this church. The people can be saved by getting to know and following the truth. Already from that nature and aim of the church is obvious, that the Church is one in the closest sense of the word. But the indispensable unity of the Church is obviously and repeatedly asserted by the NT, too. The disciples of Jesus can bear fruit in one vine (John 15:1-8). A chief shepherd has only one flock (John 10:7-16; 1 Peter 2:25; 5:4). Christ can have only one bride (Revelation 19:7; 21:2.9-10; 22:17), and one body (Romans 12:4-5; 1 Corinthians 10:17; 12:20; Colossians 2:19; Ephesians 2:14.16; 4:15-16) which is the Church (Colossians 1:24):

For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself {being} the Savior of the body. (Ephesians 5:23)

For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you {as} a pure virgin. (2 Corinthians 11:2)

He is also head of the body, the church ... {There is} one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. (Colossians 1:18; Ephesians 4:4-6)

And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:22-23)

Paul, tight before his repentance, still persecuted the Church (Acts 8:3; 1 Corinthians 15:9; 1 Timothy 1:13). When Jesus appeared to him, He identified himself with that Church:

Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, ... As he was travelling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" And he said, "Who are You, Lord?" And He {said,} "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting." (Acts 9:1-5)

The unity is so intimate between Christ and his members that Paul speaks about the Church as the fullness of Christ. Moreover, in the letter to the Corinthians we can read about the Church as Christ:

For even as the body is one and {yet} has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:12-13)

There is no doubt that Jesus meant the actually existing Church, which was founded by Him on the earth; and so do the similes used to the Church (temple, body, bride etc.) refer to that in the NT, and do not symbolise only the ideal Church, as the Protestants assert.

God builds his Church not on an institution (e.g. today's Catholic or Orthodox Church) made by man but on his disciples, on his followers who devote their lives completely Him.

See our writing entitled "Orthodoxy".

UNIVERSALITY
comes from the consciousness of the mission as Jesus commanded:

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20)

"For God wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4).

Only in the Church can the real brotherly love come true among all countries and all nations that they may realise the aims of God:

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:11)

Summary

Although the church is not identical with heaven, only a preparation and a tool of that, yet represents its essential characters.

The sure, unmistakable notes and distinctive characteristics make the church easily recognisable for everybody and make it obviously distinct from every religious company - especially from those nowadays which claim to have a Christian origin and teaching.

The aim of redemption is the salvation of people. That is why Christ brought the truth to light that must be observed and obeyed by the people. It is self-evident that the Church that represents that truth on earth can be distinguished from everything else. There is no doubt, which one is the right Church. If it were not recognisable, the aim of redemption would have failed and the eternal designation would be the work of coincidence. By the help of these obvious signs, with open and sincere examination everybody can distinguish the right Church from the false one, the right community from those in delusion. These notes are the consequences of the essence of the Church; the natural features of that, and cannot be found elsewhere in NT - meaning than in the Church, the Body of Christ.

CONTINUATION - Different churches and denominations assessed on the base of NT' teaching