The Church Of God

by Prasher, C, Lindsay | Category: Key Truths From Corinthians | Jan 1983

Guided by the Holy Spirit, Paul addressed his letters to "the church of God which is in Corinth", as seen in the opening verses of each epistle. The key truths which are to be discussed in this series were for the benefit of this group of people described as the church of God, and hence it is important to be clear on the characteristics of this group.

Firstly Paul says they were "sanctified in Christ Jesus", which means they were set apart in a special relationship with Christ Jesus. This is amplified in 1 Cor. 6:11: "ye were sanctified... ye were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus". A change had taken place from their former way of life at the time of their acceptance of the Lord Jesus as saviour, that is at the time of their "receiving the word" as expressed in Acts 2:41.

Further, 1 Cor. 1:14-17 shows clearly that all these people had been baptized (Paul is thankful that it was not he personally who had performed the baptizing, lest any should put his name on a higher plane than that of Christ.) They had obeyed the commandment of the Lord as expressed in Matt. 28:19 and as given effect by the apostles in Acts 2:41.

Again, the church of God in Corinth was a well-defined entity, so much so that there was an outside and an inside. Paul had to instruct the church to put outside a certain man who was behaving sinfully, with the object of causing him to repent that he might again find his place inside, which did happen, as recorded in the second letter. The principle of adding to their number, as outlined in Acts 2:41, was clearly practised by the Corinthian church.

Another feature of this group of people was their steadfast adherence to the teaching of the apostle Paul. They recognized he obtained his authoritative wisdom directly from God (see 1 Cor. 11:2) as Paul also expressed in his writing to the churches of God in the Roman province of Galatia (Gal. 1:12). Now what God revealed to Paul in Arabia was completely in harmony with that which the twelve apostles were taught by Christ, both in His life and during the forty days after His resurrection. God is always consistent in His revelation for any one dispensation of time, and hence "the apostles' teaching" became respected as "the faith", that is the body of teaching which was reliable as from God Himself. The Corinthian church continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching, as expressed in Acts 2:42.

Paul took pains to encourage the church to maintain unity and togetherness. For example, there was no point in a man S speaking in tongues if the whole church could not understand what was being said (1 Cor. 14:5-6).

Again, any one of their number who had a complaint against another should not go to court over it, but should resolve it within the church itself (I Cor. 6:5, 6). On the positive side, any member such as those of the house of Stephanas, who refreshed the spirits of his fellows, should be acknowledged and encouraged (I Cor. 16:18). Many similar examples could be cited which showed that the church of God in Corinth was being urged to continue steadfastly in fellowship (Acts 2:42) and to proceed harmoniously together in conformity with the divinely appointed rules.

One very important God-centred exercise of the church was the breaking of the bread. For this the whole church came together. It was not a ceremony which could be performed by a part of the church, in the sense that one part could do it one day and another part another day. They had to be assembled as a representative whole (1 Cor. 11:18): they were "in congregation" or "in ecclesia" as the original Greek has it. The Corinthians were failing in some aspects of their conduct. For example, Paul had to encourage them to wait one for the other, so that they could perform the breaking of bread all together (1 Cor. 11:33). Again, some were making the ceremony a man-centred occasion by satisfying their fleshly appetites (1 Cor. 11:17), and this had to be corrected. We are sure that, after Paul had pointed out these errors, they took heed 'and continued steadfastly in the breaking of bread (Acts. 2:42) to the Lord's pleasing.

Collective prayer and ministry were practised by the church, as is implied in 1 Cor. 11:4. The particular point being made by Paul in this passage is that, in church, the women should have their heads covered and that only the men, with uncovered heads, should speak the church's prayers, thanksgiving and praise. There was a large place for womens' prayers in respect to church activity, but this was not publicly in the church. So the Corinthian church continued steadfastly in the prayers in the manner ordained by the apostles (Acts 2:42).

Thus the church of God in Corinth held closely to the divine pattern outlined in Acts 2:41-42, where seven important principles of practice by the early disciples are summarized:

-received the word

-were baptized

-were added to the existing church

-continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching

-continued steadfastly in fellowship

-continued steadfastly in the breaking of bread

-continued steadfastly in the prayers

Now 1 Cor. 4:17 and 7:17 indicate that what the apostle taught in Corinth he taught in all the churches. Whatever was God's pattern for Corinth was also God's pattern for Philippi, for Ephesus, for Colossae and for Cenchrea. Hence ail the churches of God were bound into a whole, expressed as the house of God in 1 Timothy 3:15, or as a holy temple in the Lord in Ephesians 2:21. That this house or temple was conditional upon holding fast to the divine principles is made clear in Hebrews 3.6: "whose house are we if we hold fast".

And how could these principles be maintained both in an individual church and in the composite whole of all the churches? It was the practice of the apostles to appoint overseers in each church (Acts 14:23). That these overseers might meet together to resolve problems which affected the whole of the churches is shown by the example in Acts 15:6. Hence a unified elderhood bound together the churches most effectively and made them in reality a world-wide entity striving to be guided by the Holy Spirit who Himself was the directing power behind the apostles.

The apostles have long gone to higher service, but God has seen to it that we have in the New Testament a complete compendium of the divine pattern for a church of God and for the collective churches. This is being put into practice today by the churches of God in the Fellowship of His Son, and the key truths from Corinthians which will be expounded in the rest of the series of articles are to be seen against the backcloth of the divine pattern, summarized in this initial article.

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Apostolic teaching and practice constitute the sole authoritative basis to which we must revert for guidance in the prosecution of the work of the Lord in our own day. And apostolic teaching is comprehensive as well as authoritative. Its range includes the cardinal doctrines of the Faith, not only in relation to the Person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ, but also in regard to churches of God which were a vital and principal consequence of apostolic labours.

Many Christians fail to recognize the fact that the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, expressed in the teaching of the Apostles, defines clearly the basis of gathering for His disciples during the period initiated at Pentecost and extending to His second advent. This is an integral part of the Faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints and we have no sanction to treat it as of secondary importance. To go further and to suppose that we may dispense with the apostolic pattern in regard to corporate testimony and substitute for it some other, surely constitutes a grave departure from the Faith.

Extracted from "Churches of God in Apostolic Teaching" by T.M. Hyland

Prasher, C, Lindsay | Jan 1983
Key Truths From Corinthians