ARTICLE XIII

OF THE CHURCH

The visible Church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men in which the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments duly administered according to Christ's ordinance, in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same.

I. THE ORIGIN

This Article was composed by the English Reformers in 1553. It was doubtless suggested by Article VII of the Augsburg Confession, in which the Church is defined in nearly the same language. It has remained practically unchanged. Wesley omitted a single paragraph from the English Article.

II. THE AIM

The English Reformers were in the midst of bitter controversies; England had severed her connection with Rome, and it was necessary that she should offer her own definition of the Church, in opposition to the claim of the Roman hierarchy that no valid Church could exist without connection with the Church of Rome.

As

John Wesley arranged in 1784 that the Methodist societies in North America should be organized into a distinct and independent Church. He adopted this Article as his own definition of a true and valid Church. he used precisely the language used by the English Reformers he placed the newly formed Methodist Episcopal Church upon the same plane as that upon which they had placed the Anglican Church, not arrogating to itself any superiority or disparaging the claims of any other, but

filling its own place as "a congregation of faithful men in which the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments duly administered," forming part of the universal Church of Jesus Christ.

III. THE EXPOSITION

The visible Church of Christ.

The word "church" means simply an assembly or congregation, and must have some other word joined to it to determine its nature; as, the Church of God, the Church of Christ. The derivation of the word is given by Dr. Adam Clarke as follows: "In primitive times, before Christians had any stated buildings, they worshiped in private houses. . . . As these houses were dedicated to the worship of God, each was termed kuriou oikos, the 'house of the Lord'; which word, in process of time, became contracted into kuriouk, and kuriake; and hence the kirk of our northern neighbors, and kirik of our Saxon ancestors, from which, by corruption, changing the hard Saxon c into ch, we have made the word 'church.' "1

This word has many significations. In the New Testament it denotes that one mystical body of which Christ is the head, and in the unity of which all saints, whether in heaven or on earth, are necessarily included as constituent parts. This Church is called mystical or invisible because the change wrought, and the grace which gave its individuals a claim to be members of this blessed society, were not objects of sense, and could not be judged of by men, and because many of its members are now in heaven. The word is also used in the Scriptures to designate a Christian society in some particular place, as "the church in Ephesus." It was sometimes used of a few

1 Christian Theology, p. 249.

believers whose meeting place was some private house. So we read of Priscilla and Aquila and "the church that is in their house" (Rom. 16. 5), and of Philemon and the church in his house. The Church fathers used it of any body of believers associated together and participating with their pastors in the institution and ordinances of Jesus Christ. In this sense they speak of the church of Rome, the church of Antioch, and the church of Alexandria. They used it frequently, also, in the sense of the universal body of believers. So Irenæus speaks of "the church dispersed through the whole world to the ends of the earth." Origen calls it "the church of God under heaven," and Polycarp, when seized by his murderers, prayed for "the catholic church throughout the world."1

The use of the word for the building in which Christians worship was not in use until the time of Origen, in the third century. The word is not used in the Scriptures in the singular number as representing all the churches in any one country, or those adhering to any one system of doctrines or form of government, as the Church of Rome or the Church of England; neither was it so used with much frequency by the early Church fathers. Lord King says: "I find the word 'church' once used by Cyprian for a collection of many particular churches, who mentions in the singular number 'the church of God in Africa and Numidia.' Else I do not remember that ever I met with it in this sense, in any writings, either of this or the rest of the fathers."2

That Jesus intended to found a church in the sense of a visible society cannot be doubted. He gave his disciples instruction and training to this end, and specially endowed the apostles as an equipment for their work. He gave them a special commission: "Go ye therefore,

1 King, Primitive Church, p. 2.

Ibid., p. 4.

and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (Matt. 28. 19, 20). Thus, as a separate, visible body they were to teach all the doctrines of Christ, and by the sacrament of baptism admit others to fellowship with them. This fellowship was to be maintained by participating in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper with more or less frequency, to testify to their continued faith in the great distinguishing doctrine of Christianity, the redemption of the world by the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ. "This do in remembrance of me" (Luke 22. 19).

In a strict sense the Church of Christ consists of all who are vitally united to the Saviour by a living faith. All such are in communion with him, and from him derive all spiritual life and fruitfulness. "I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing" (John 15. 5). This body of believers is a visible Church, but it cannot be determined as to the vital union with Christ of each individual member; this must be left to Him who alone seeth the heart. This visible Church upon earth is the royal dwelling place of Christ, "an habitation of God through the Spirit" (Eph. 2. 22). It is spoken of as "the body of Christ," as "one body," of which Christ is the head.

In a larger sense the visible Church of Christ consists of all who have been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and who adhere to the doctrines of the New Testament. This includes the Churches of the various creeds and confessions, differing largely from one another, but holding fast to what is deemed the essential truth of the

gospel, and in spirit and conduct conforming to its principles. All the Confessions of Christendom concede that there is one visible Church of Jesus Christ on earth; but no one attains to the purity and perfection of the ideal state to which they all aspire. Neither can one be found which can make a just claim to be the one true Church to the exclusion of all the rest. They have all so much in common in this religious faith and life, and so much which distinguishes them from all other religious societies, as to justify us in considering them as one whole and calling them, in a wide sense, the Christian Church.)

The Church of Jesus Christ is a great moral and spiritual fact. It is important to distinguish between the visible existence of the Church (its body) and the idea of a Church which is above the change of mere forms, and which is ever struggling for a complete expression of its inner life. The Church was born of a miracle and by a miracle lives. "Founded upon the great miracle of redemption, it grows and is perpetuated by the ever-repeated miracle of conversion." It emerged from the malignity and hate attendant upon its birth, and has survived the repeated persecutions of the pagan world, ignorance and error, the misguided asceticism and fanaticism of the dark ages, and the strifes of its contending factions.) The bitter controversies of the fourth century did not destroy it. It was struggling to maintain its purity, and emerged from the conflict with a better understanding and a truer definition of Christian truth. Neither was it destroyed by the conflicts of the sixteenth century, but emerged purer and better. Much of the false unscriptural accumulation of the dark ages was burned away by the fires through which it passed. This visible organized

1 Pressense, Early Years of Christianity, p. 4.