His Church
Introduction
“And no man putteth new wine into old bottles;
else the new wine doth burst the bottles,
and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred;
but new wine must be put into new bottles.”
[Mark 2:22]
Bottles in the above quotation is referring to the old leather type,
otherwise known as wineskins. These were once used to produce and store wine
in. The science is simple – the freshly trodden grape juice is mixed with a
little yeast and poured into the new wineskin. The fermentation process
takes its course producing gasses that expand the supple container. Put this
new wine into a skin which has been used before and both the contents and
its container are wasted. The spiritual principle here can firstly be
applied to the individual’s need of being made into a completely new
creation in Christ in order to be a fit vessel for God’s life within.
However, the life of Christ is not only placed in individual human hearts,
but God has also chosen to manifest His presence in this world through the
Body of people which is known as His Church. It should not be surprising
then to see that, along with the many other revelations of Scripture, God’s
Word contains an abundance of references to the nature and order of the
container of His own precious life.
The following study is an overview of the ‘outward shell’ of church-life
based upon the New Testament teachings. There are many profound and deeply
spiritual ways that one could approach the subject of His Church, the very
life-blood of Christ, the new wine, runs through this company, but here the
focus is mainly upon the ‘wineskin’. This study follows a simple progression
of thought seeking to answer, from Scripture, some basic questions on the
pattern for the New Testament Church. This is a Bible study and as such is
ideally intended to be read in order and digested slowly. Search the
Scriptures to see whether these things be so. It may be helpful to start by
reading Appendix 1 – ‘Inspiration of Scripture’. Everything within this
study is based upon the premise that God has preserved in His Word a pattern
for all churches in all places at all times.
IMPORTANT NOTE
In the New Testament the Church is revealed in two ways:
- The One, ‘Universal Church’ (meaning worldwide). The specific biblical
term for this is really the One Body: “There is one body …” (Eph. 4:4); “For
by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body …” (1 Cor. 12:13). In this
study it is referred to as: Church (capital ‘C’), The Church & The Universal
Church.
- The ‘local churches’ That is the separate gatherings of God’s people in
various locations around the world. These are referred to as: church (small
‘c’), the churches, local church, also as congregation or assembly. These
terms are all used interchangeably simply for variety.
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