Church

On this Page, I examine what constitutes the church. In doing so I identify the strategic shortcoming of church ministry since the first century AD and explain how to put it right. The problem is summed up in the title of this 8,000 word Essay:

The Carnal Captivity of the Church

1. ORIGINAL
2. INTELLECTUAL
3. INSTITUTIONAL
4. STRUGGLE
5. REVIVAL
6. BATTLE
7. FINAL

ORIGINAL

The ministry of the Church may be summed up thus: to continue the ministry of Jesus Christ. In essence, the ministry of Jesus Christ was to restore the blessing of a relationship of direct trust in God our Creator. In short, to reverse ‘The Fall from Grace’. Jesus addressed the problem of this ‘Fall’ in 3 ways: preaching, teaching, and healing. All 3 are vital:

1. preaching the kingdom of God – declaring God’s primacy and God’s reign in place of the rule of sin and Satan
2. teaching the ways of God so that human beings might un-learn the ways of their Fallen nature, and live as God intends
3. healing physical diseases and deliverying from demonic spirits which oppress people in spirit, soul and body

These 3 address our need for reformation and renovation in spirit, soul [mind and will ] and in our physical bodies. At the Fall the God ordained hierarchy of spirit, soul then body was subverted and overturned. We now witness the terrible impact of that evil revolution in human nature every day. The demands of the body now dictate to our wills and desires, while our spirits are enslaved to SELF. God would have us undo this disaster and restore us to proper health. Once our spirits are again placed under the leading of the Holy Spirit by being truly ‘born again’, we can begin to redetermine our thought patterns and habits, and thereby our speech and behaviour.  This process of reversing the effect of the Fall in our lives is a life long process which begins at conversion. It is called ‘sanctification’ and it is THE will of God for our lives. In Adam we are enslaved to sin and Satan, but in Christ we are made new and alive to God. This is the Gospel as explained by the apostle Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 15. We are called to live by God’s instructions, and not obey the instincts of the Adamic nature corrupted at the Fall.

‘The Fall’ is described in chapter 3 of the first book of the Bible, titled Genesis: “Beginnings”. There we find 4 progressive aspects of satanic destruction of humanity’s direct relationship with God:

1. doubt in God and in his Words
2. denial of God and his express Words
3. deviation from God and God’s life and ways
4. destruction of the direct relationship of trust in, and obedience to, God

Human existence now reflects the terrible impact of The Fall – the Fall from a place of blessing when we trust and obey God: witness the News reports every day of the week. Human beings are capable of the most appalling wickedness since their subjection to Satan, and their alienation from God and God’s blessing.

Jesus Christ came to destroy the works of the Evil One; to rectify the loss and damnation of the Fall from God’s grace. Jesus Christ came to right the wrong. Jesus lived the example he taught – Jesus was the ultimate prophet in that he embodied the message of reconcilation with God to reverse the Fall. That message is for us; that message is to be lived out by us as it was by Jesus; we too are to allow the Word of God to become flesh in us that the destruction brought on by the Fall might be reversed in our lives. That means recognising Biblical spiritual truth, and accepting that the teaching and example of Jesus Christ must be obeyed. We are to undo the effects of the Fall by living as God tells us to live –  living by his power, and by his grace. We are to refuse tempation from Satan and from our sinful, Fallen nature; instead, we are to trust and so obey God, consciously and systematically: we are to be sanctified. The fundamental theme of the apostles epistles is how to live for God by the grace already granted to each true believer. That means we must learn to defy the 4 deadly ” D “s outlined above. INSTEAD we are to

• Trust in God and in God’s Word and words
• Obey God and his Word and words
• Align our lives to God and to God’s ways, and so
• Live in the good of knowing the love and grace of God in our lives

No system of thought or religion will accomplish this vital spiritual work. Certainly no ecclesiastical organisation can achieve it: this work is not of human effort or human thinking, but of God by the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is all of God; only Jesus Christ sacrifice on the Cross can grant us pardon. Only by living IN CHRIST can we then avail ourselves of the new life which Christ alone has won and now makes available. The work of Christ was to make us his own, and the work and purpose of the Church is to continue that ministry according to his power and teaching – according to his example of death on the cross and resurrection thereafter. Death to self and resurrection in the power of Christ is the way into the kingdom of God, and death and resurrection is the way of life within the kingdom of God. By contrast, all religion and ecclesiasticism represent a potential snare and distraction from this essential spiritual truth.

The Church is charged to continue Christ’s ministry in the earth, by his power, example and teaching – and by no other means whatsoever. Moses was told to build the tabernacle exactly as God specified. And when human beings think they know better, the Biblical record shows that God’s judgement surely follows, sooner or later. Jesus Christ, however, did exactly as the Father required, and nothing else.

So must the Church…

Jesus gave clear instructions to the apostles in the Great Commision recorded in Matthew 28 and in Mark 16. That commission was given living embodiment and example by the apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost, described in chapter 2 of the book of Acts. Human beings were told explicitly that they are condemned sinners in the eyes of God; that Jesus Christ alone is the all sufficient sacrifice to atone for an individuals sins; that for individuals to avail themselves of the benefits of this pardon from eternal destruction and of eternal life in Christ, they must REPENT their life of disobedience to God, and they must be BAPTISED by full immersion in water. Such were the preconditions for a person to receive the vital power of the Holy Spirit to live as God commands. Without the Holy Spirit it is impossible to live this new life in Christ because we just default to our own ideas and human effort – we default to our inherited sinful nature.

Chapter 2 of Acts of the Apostles also tells us what these new disciples of Jesus Christ then did. They continued steadfastly in

• the apostles teaching – not Jewish tradition, nor intellectualism, nor ecclesiasticism nor in any other form of thought or practice
• fellowship – they primarily kept company with others who had this new life in Christ for mutual encouragement and growth
• breaking of bread – an act of obedience to Jesus Christ’s command; an act which reminds every believer of the essential and vital example of death and resurrection in Christ
• prayers – living in the place of total dependence on God, constantly referring to God in our difficulties and needs, eternally grateful for what Christ has done at the cross for us, knowing that we depend utterly and totally on God to live this new life in Christ

This was the identity and practice of the first century powerhouse of Christianity which resulted in a revolution across the globe.

But this is not how the church looks or acts today. Why ?

The Carnal Captivity of the Church

INTELLECTUAL

Jesus identified his people as his body. We are intimately intertwined with Jesus as our head, and with other true believers as members of Christ’s body. This is spiritual truth and spiritual reality. The nature and meaning of this was explained in letters such as those to the Romans, the Corinthians, the Ephesians and the Colossians.

In Ephesians we read explicitly that we are seated with Christ in heavenly places far above all principality and power and authority. We are alongside the Son of God at the right hand of the Father. We are in a uniquely powerful position. We have access to God directly. We can petition God immediately. We are on intimate terms with God. Whatever may happen in the physical, material realm of this carnal existence on earth, the spiritual reality is that we are in heavenly places seated with Christ. That remains true whatever mortal persecution may arise – such can only kill the body, but never the soul.

The Christian lives spiritually in a unique and privileged place with God. So privileged that the realisation of this amazing truth is worth the loss of our earthly, mortal existence – a trivial existence by comparison with our eternal position in Christ. This explains why the early church was powerful, effective and fearless. The apostles spoke God’s truth, careless of the consequences to their mortal existence. The book of Acts attests their amazing witness, and the apostle Paul clearly lived this truth. Paul knew for himself the unassailable position of the truly repentant and baptised believer.

Which is why Paul was at pains in his letter to the Colossians to warn them against all thinking which could distract them from the truth of their position, privilege and power as baptised believers. That entire letter revolves around the unique position of the baptised believer in Christ. We are dead, buried with Christ, and risen with Christ. We are dead to sin, and alive to Christ, whatever our fallen human nature, the world or satan may contend.

In chapter 2 Paul identifies the main threat to this spiritual life: PHILOSOPHY. Philosophy systematises the thinking, the ideas and the logic of the fallen, sinful human heart. The philosophical system of thinking seeks to justify and to explain man’s denial of, and independence from, God. Note how Satan operated in Genesis chapter 3. Satan put doubt in the idea of God and God’s instructions. As that doubt began to take hold, Satan followed through with blatant denial of what God had said. Satan thus gained spiritual power over the first human beings, and placed them spiritually in the place of God’s condemnation. Because they bought the thought, they then acted on it. The result was the disaster humanity has lived with ever since: doubt in God’s morality, and doubt in God himself. So human beings live in a state of disobedience to God.

Only Jesus Christ can solve the problem of doubt and disobedience.

But we don’t believe in, ie obey, Jesus Christ.  We prefer to rely on our own sinful and fallen ideas and human effort. We doubt God, and trust to our own foolish ways – even when those ways are manifestly damaging.

Philosophy has poisoned Christian thinking and has accomplished the spiritual degradation of the church. This cancer debilitates the church.

Tertullian pointed out the problem of Philosophy in his day. But Christian thinkers have persisted in the paradigm of philosophy and its assumptions from the beginning. Works on theology tell us of the attempts by notable thinkers down the ages to explain Christian theology in terms of, for example, Aristotelian thinking. Theologians have approached the living spiritual Faith described in the Bible from the spiritually corrupt perspective, assumptions and paradigm of Greek thinkers. Precisely what the apostle Paul warned the Colossians to reject !

Philosophy claims for mere mortal man the place of God: mere mortals sit in judgement on God; they analyse God on their own fallen terms; they demand that God justify himself to us according to our fallen sinful terms; they reject God as God according to God’s own terms. But God’s terms are the only appropriate terms, the only proper preconception and paradigm. God’s terms are set out for us in the Bible – that humanly impossible collection of books patently provided and protected down the ages by God. The Biblical paradigm asserts God; it does not seek to justify God to fallen mankind ! Instead, the Bible shows us the spiritual reality of the human condition and the broken relationship with God. The Biblical record is self evidently true; The wisdom in its pages is astounding and apposite.

Despite the Bible’s self evident worth, the erroneous mindset of philosophy has instead reconfigured the paradigm of theological training down the centuries. Today’s Christian ministers are constrained by the nature and type of training which they have undergone.  But true Christian ministry articulates the spiritual truth of the Christian faith and relies on God to corroborate his Word, spiritually. True Christian ministry is spiritual, not theological; it operates according to the teaching of the New Testament and endeavours to communicate the reality of God for the purposes of God – as explained in passages like Ephesians chapter 4, verses 12 to 15. True Christian ministry is spiritual

• in inspiration
• in content
• in exercise
• in purpose

Philosophy and theology, on the other hand, are reflections of the problem itself, the Fallen sinful, rebellious nature inherited from Adam. The outcome is therefore merely intellectual. How can the possession of an academic degree engender spiritual life ?

Answer: It does not. Inevitably, such men then resort to carnal means to achieve the success of their churches: manipulation, organisation and control are evident down the ages in church hierarchies and church conduct. The church is diverted into being an organisation, operating according to this world’s ways and wisdom. It becomes ossified as an Institution, and ceases to function correctly as the vibrant spiritual organism which is the true Body of Christ.

INSTITUTIONAL

The corruption of the correct understanding of Christian spirituality by Greek Intellectualism was accompanied by religious INSTITUTIONALISM – Ecclesiasticism. The concept of church as the body of Christ functioning organically with spiritual gifts and spiritual ministries was soon challenged and progressively replaced by man-centred organisation and control.  Christ ceased to be the Head of his spiritual body in the mindset of men running the church. Instead the conception of spiritual authority was downgraded and corrupted to become an organisation with hierarchy, titles and patronage directed by mere men.  The Bishop of Rome was at first primus inter pares, then Pope. This Pope became a political power presuming the right to dictate to all other worldly monarchs. Christ was no longer seen and therefore treated as the head over all spiritual principalities and powers; instead, a human ‘Pope’ exercised a superstitious, religious dominion over the physical powers of kings and rulers in this world. The church moved from a spiritual, God reliant conception and practice to a carnal, worldly organisational mentality. In this corrupt paradigm, a man directs other men in a self perpetuating hierarchy which rewards its carnal adherents, punishing all political or spiritual Deviation from the Institution. Deviation from the Biblical God ceased to matter ! That apostasy has dominated the conception of church ever since, and has contaminated and polluted Protestant and Evangelical thinking and practice too.

Take, for example, John Calvin. One of the great Protestant Reformers of the 16th century. Calvin claimed for Christianity its Biblical Authority, against the false Ecclesiasticism of the Roman Church. Yet in his Institutes, Calvin makes a spurious and anti-Biblical argument in order to confine ministry and authority to a Pastor – a sort of mini Pope in each local parish. This flatly contradicts the teaching of the apostle Paul in Ephesians chapter 4. There the apostle describes four different ministries of the Word, and explains their purpose. However, to this day protestant churches continue this aberrant and spurious practice of local church government, and to this day the carnal fruit of such a conception is manifest in the machinations of ambitious men to control a carnally inspired organisation. By living and thinking this way, church ministers imprison the people of God within an apostate paradigm; they deny the power and presence of God; they continue with carnal methods and carnal ambitions; they even seek to placate the world and so forget God; they persist in failure, in carnality, in spiritual immaturity: in fact they do not understand what spiritual maturity actually looks like, or how it is achieved. How come ? Because they are themselves entrapped in thinking and behaviour which contradicts the Biblical teaching and the Biblical power of God.

This apostate mindset persists in the same error as the spurious excuse for the Papacy – which in turn reflects the original problem identified at the beginning: doubt; denial; deviation; destruction in place of Trust, Obedience, Alignment, and therefore Life in the Living Christ.

But by exposing the error, we can open the way to put matters right.

The claim for the original, all determining error about Papal Authority rests on a carnal, fallen interpretation of one passage. That passage in chapter 16 of Matthew’s Gospel records Christ’s charge to the apostle Peter and the Keys of the Kingdom. I cite from the 1599 Geneva Bible copyrighted 2006 by the publisher, Tolle Lege Press whose website address is at  https://tollelegepress.com/

” He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am ? Then Simon Peter answered, and said, Thou art that Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus answered, and said to him, Blessed art thou, Simon, the son of Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church: and the gates of hell shall not overcome it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind upon the earth, shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven.”

The Roman Catholic Church maintains that this scripture applies to the Papacy as the historic line of the Bishops of Rome since the apostle Peter. It is known as “Apostolic Succession”.

The Roman Church’s interpretation and application of this Scripture clearly reflects its understanding and perspective, both of which are carnal,  not spiritual;  and such an interpretation and application contradict the comprehensive conception of the Biblical Christian faith as described in the New Testament.

The correct way to interpret the Bible is via the Bible. Therefore, any scripture on any theme must be interpreted in the context of all other scriptures on that theme in the Bible. And primarily and globally, of course, the Bible must be seen as Christ centred – see Luke 24 and Hebrews 1.  On that basis, I say the following.

Let’s establish what actually happened here in the context of all Scripture and its correct interpretation.  Peter received a revelation about Jesus identity directly from God the Father; Peter then declared that revelation – that spiritual insight. So we are talking here about SPIRITUAL REVELATION AND DECLARATION OF CHRIST AS THE SON OF GOD. That is the true basis of an individual’s true faith in Christ; that is therefore also the basis of the existence of the collectivity of such individuals known as the church – which is the body of Christ. The rock upon which Christ – not Peter – will build his church is therefore the REVELATION and the DECLARATION of Jesus Christ as God.  I am a Christian because God gave me the spiritual revelation in his Word the Bible that Jesus Christ is God come in the flesh;  I then confessed that revelation of spiritual truth verbally to others and also physically when I was baptised by full immersion in water in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in conformity with Christ’s Commission to the apostles. I am not a Christian by virtue of applying to become a member of an organisation calling itself a church. I am a Christian because I have the living experience of God according to the teaching of Christ and his apostles in the New Testament.  True Christians have their faith as a gift from God and they know the experience of the Holy Spirit at work in their lives.

Satan cannot overcome Christ’s church because it is built on the spiritual reality of Jesus Christ – and the church belongs to Christ, it is part of Christ. Satan may operate with impunity amongst carnally minded human beings operating according to carnal inspiration and methods in carnal organisations which call themselves churches but which have received no such Revelation and Declaration of Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Satan may also operate successfully against Christians living carnally in disobedience to God –  sadly too often the case among true Christians today. But Satan cannot overcome the obedient believer without God’s express permission, given for an express purpose and for a set time [note Job and Peter].

In this passage from Matthew chapter 16, Peter represents the true church. In Peter’s declaration of Jesus as the Christ, we see two archetypes: the ministry of the church, and the nature of the church as the assembly of individuals who confess Christ out of personal revelation from God.

Firstly the archetypal ministry of the church: the preaching of God’s Word. Peter speaks out the truth about Christ as God.

The keys are the means by which the door into the kingdom is opened or locked shut. That door is Jesus Christ – the revelation and declaration of Jesus Christ as God come in the flesh to restore us to relationship with God, and deliver us from God’s wrath and eternal punishment. This is the spiritual issue; this is the spiritual reality; this is the fundamental spiritual question for every life. The power to make known to other human beings the living reality of a living Saviour. This was what happened at Pentecost.

At Pentecost God came by the Holy Spirit and anointed the Christ-centred preaching of Peter, using Peter’s preaching to convict sinful hearts of their sin such that they cried out asking what they should do.  At Pentecost, Peter handled the keys of the Kingdom. The door was opened and the hearers saw beyond that spiritual door the spiritual reality of Christ and his kingdom. However, they remained outside; they were not saved. Their cry asking what they should do was their application to pass through the door into the kingdom. So, how did they enter in ?

They entered into the kingdom by responding in obedience to what Peter then said to them:

” Amend your lives and be baptised every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins: and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.“

The account in Acts chapter 2 goes on to say that “they that gladly received his word were baptised, and the same day there were added … about three thousand souls …“

The act of baptising those 3000 was an act of loosing those souls from Satan into the kingdom of God. It was an act carried out in obedience to the preacher’s declaration as he opened the door to the kingdom in the Spirit anointed preaching of Christ. But it was not Peter who baptised the 3000 the day of Pentecost, but the assembled body of believers: the church. The church handled the keys: the church did the loosing; the church bound Satan’s power over the repentant candidates for membership. Peter had acted as a spokesman on behalf of the church assembled. But the church baptised.

Matthew 16 must be complemented by the passage on church discipline spoken by Jesus as recorded in Matthew 18. There Jesus talks about the church binding and loosing.

Now, during my decades of church experience, I have witnessed several instances of church discipline. None has met the biblical criteria ! Instead I have seen a single  Minister or the church leadership take upon themselves the authority to exclude a person from fellowship. Yet no single minister and no body of elders has any such right !  The appropriate procedure and exercise of such authority were clearly laid out by Jesus himself in chapter 18 of Matthew’s Gospel. 

In Matthew 18, Jesus made clear that binding and loosing on this matter belong to the church as a whole, duly assembled and acting as a court of enquiry; and doing so only after an unrepentant believer has previously been interviewed and advised – not just once, but twice in advance of any such formal assembly of enquiry. The entire church must agree before anyone bought by the precious blood of the Lamb of God may be treated as an outcast and disqualified from membership, either temporarily or permanently. In my experience, the gravity of Christ’s requirements and the privileged standing of the individual believer in God’s eyes have been belittled by men too carnally preoccupied themselves to take a sufficiently godly, Biblical and longsuffering approach.

The other archetype which Peter represents, then, is the nature of the church and its identity as the assembly of individual confessors of Christ – true members of the body of Christ. According to the New Testament of the Bible, no-one is a Christian who has not personally received and declared the spiritual truth of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God. This is what Paul confirms in chapter 10, verses 9 to 11 of Romans.

The New Testament truth is, then, that the body of Christ, as directed by its head Jesus Christ is the actual possessor of the keys of the kingdom. A body comprises a full range of parts, functioning together, at the direction of the brain which is located in the head. An arm does not replace or act in the place of the Head !  No single part of a body can function alone without all the other parts, and without the direction and co-ordination of the brain in the Head … But all this requires a living and active faith in God’s truth in the Bible; it requires obedience and trust; it requires a willingness to wait upon God; it requires a living relationship with God, and a proper, spiritual understanding of what church actually is.

It is, then, the church duly assembled as a spiritual body and  operating under Christ’s commands which possesses the keys of the kingdom and which alone may use them. Let’s be clear. Peter preached, but the collective body of believers in Christ did the baptising. Any individual believer may take steps to help an aberrrant member of the body to realign themselves with their source of life in Christ; and it is the assembly of believers which has the power to discipline, exclude or confirm. No leader or group of leaders is entitled to usurp the authority which belongs to Christ in the midst of Christs assembled people. Any such usurpation is clearly carnal and betrays the mentality and preoccupations of the Institutional mindset; it does not express the love and grace of God manifested by body, the church  duly concerned for grace, truth and sanctity.

STRUGGLE

Down the ages, there has always been a tendency within the living body of Christ to express the same faith and practice of the early church with which is it spiritually united in eternity. And down the ages we also witness the asphyxiating and paralysing counter influences of Intellectualism and Institutionalism: the chloroform of philosophy and the straightjacket of ecclesiasticism. This Struggle has marked and characterised the entire history of the Christian church. The living faith has reasserted itself with varying degrees of success at different periods of history; but it has never completely displaced the false paradigm and practice of Intellectualism and Institutionalism. Let’s look briefly at that historical struggle because it explains our predicament today in the 21st century.

Let’s just note one or two significant examples of this spiritual tension in history. The obvious one is the Reformation of the 16th century, a reaction against the most outrageous excesses of Roman apostasy, of which the Borgia Papacy was a symptom. Such corruption resulted from centuries of intellectualism and ecclesiasticism in the Roman Catholic Church. A spiritual and moral reaction became inevitable; and the spiritual and moral reaction known as the Reformation was  characterised by the reassertion of Biblical thinking and Biblical practice. The contrast was staggering, and left a permanent mark and breach among organised churches, henceforward divided between Roman Catholic and Protestant.

The Reformation went some way towards the living reality of the Biblically described faith, but by no means all the way. Further pressures toward Biblical thinking and practice were yet to appear in subsequent movements in the following centuries. Among such I would mention the Awakenings and Revivals in different places and times: the Evangelical Awakening in 18th century England is an obvious one, as is the revivalist movement in the Anglosphere in the next century. The 1790s witnessed a spurt of start-up missionary societies in Britain, for example William Carey and the Baptist Missionary Society. The late 19th century saw a sudden upsurge in missionary activity emanating from college campuses in the United States. These movements had a significant impact on the spread of Christian faith, and represent reassertions of New Testament type faith in Jesus Christ . They were characterised by Biblical thinking, concern for the Gospel, for the Great Commission of Christ, and the willingness of believers to give up self to serve their Saviour and Lord. Such vital and inspired movements contrast dramatically with the inertia and reticence of intellectuals and ecclesiastical organisations. Such renewal often therefore found expression outside traditional structures.

But even renewed and new organisations runs the risk over time of constraining and curtailing the life which they exist to house and serve. The great Calvinist preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon became famous as an example of powerful ministry emerging during the revival in 19th century England. Spurgeon famously founded a college to encourage existing preachers to be even better – candidates were only taken who had already begun to exercise a gifting from God. Funds were not asked for, but came via simply trusting in God. Students did not go there to be made preachers, but to be better equipped to bring spiritual life to others.

Today however, Spurgeon’s College awards academic degrees and has a ‘successful’ but controversial American preacher as Chancellor – a titular head usually associated with academic institutions, not with Bible Colleges. Today, in contrast to Spurgeon’s founding tenets,  Spurgeon’s College unashamedly asks for money. I note also that Its website makes this proud boast:

Higher Education (HE) in the UK is heavily regulated by Government and to become the first theological college to achieve the awarding and validating powers of a university is a remarkable achievement and testimony to the exceptional quality of education delivered by the College.

Need I point out that the atheistic philosophical culture, values and paradigm of the officialdom which serves Her Majesty’s Government today are totally inappropriate for a spiritual and Biblical Christian education and ministry. How on earth can the philosophical inspiration and paradigm of today’s atheistic educational establishment minister life in Christ to the church or to the world ? How can thinking and practice steeped in the spiritual condition of the Fall possibly inspire the Body of Christ to bring the light of Jesus Christ into the world and dispel spiritual darkness ? Such is the continuing philosophical captivity of the church about which the apostle Paul warned so explicitly 2000 years ago in his letter to the Christians at Colosse.  Institutionalism with its titles and status according to this world’s values beguiles the very people called to be leaders and teachers of Christ’s church. If the teachers of the church are so captivated and misled, then what hope is there to free the body of Christ from its captivity to carnality and spiritual impotence ?

REVIVAL

The answer must lie in the revival and reassertion of Biblical truth and Biblical practice regarding Jesus Christ and the church – which is his body. We must revive and assert the Perspective and Priorities of God. Christians will have to realign their lives and their local assemblies with the priorities of God. Christians must consciously identify and reject the false thinking and practices which have tied and confined the church in carnality.

The spiritual and eternal perspective of God with its concomitant priorities has been revealed to us in the Gospel of John, chapter 17. There John records the intimate prayer of Jesus Christ before God the Father. In that prayer, I see three vital aspects of the spiritual truth with which we are concerned:

1. the object of the Church
2. the nature of the Church
3. the task of the Church

The object of the church is explicit – the glory and knowledge of God. The honour, the rule and reign, the pre-eminence and exaltation of God. This comes from the living awareness of God in our lives. Biblically and spiritually, such knowledge of God can only be found by living in submission to Christ.

The nature of the Church necessarily flows from the object of glorifying and knowing God: sanctity and harmony. Conscious separation unto God in knowing and working out God’s purity and God’s perfection in our lives. Such purity and perfection glorify God, and come only from knowing God’s presence and action in our lives. Ditto, harmony among believers. But harmony can only be achieved by a conscious pursuit of personal holiness, motivated and sustained by the personal conviction of the need to glorify and to know God above all else. Of this I am totally convinced, not just from 45 years of reading and hearing God’s word in the Bible; but from personal experience and struggle throughout those years.

Sanctity and Harmony, however, are the opposite of what we see dominating church life down the ages. Too often, we witness instead immorality, carnality and serious division. Immorality and division are the fruits of a church which fails to believe and act on the supreme object of glorifying and knowing God. That is the inevitable result of Intellectualism and Institutionalism, both of which exalt the thinking and practices of Fallen human beings.

It is against such that the church should speak and strive – it should Preach and Pray. This is the vital two fold task explicit in Jesus prayer to the Father in John chapter 17.

When Jesus spoke the charge of the keys to Peter as the archetype of the church as preacher and believer, Peter’s response exemplifies those two critical tasks: Preaching and Prayer. In declaring that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, Peter spoke out the truth which had been revealed to him by the Father. And that is what every preacher and Christian testimony should do: declare what God has shown them, and indeed done for them. Speak out spiritual inspiration from God. Speak from the living experience of God.

But Peter was also praying. He was speaking out of a heart touched by the reality of God and God’s truth. Peter spoke from the depths of his being. This was no rote rehearsal of religious liturgy – quite the reverse. This was real, it was personal and it was a heart felt outpouring of gratitude and adoration. This was worship – this was true prayer. Would that God would so move among his people as to solicit such true prayer from their hearts today !

Such should be the strategic conception of the church in its Object, in its Nature and in its Task.

A heart felt grasp of this conception of church would lead to a revival in the practice of church as described in the New Testament. Let’s recall that in chapters 16 and 18 of Matthews Gospel, Jesus laid out strategic truth about membership of the true church, his body: about entry into the church and about maintaining the purity of the church.

In the epistles, the apostles tell us more about how the spiritual body of Christ should conduct itself, spiritually. I have already mentioned 4 preaching ministries: they are the missionary, the preacher, the evangelist, and the (pastor)teacher. The purpose of those ministries described in Ephesians chapter 4 is to achieve one overall purpose: the maturity of the church.We are to grow up into Christ as our head, verse 15, and in so doing, we are to learn to function together as members of his body, at his behest, and in accordance with our different individual giftings from Christ, verse 16.

Such maturity will release the church from being preoccupied with  distractions, temptations, exploitation, and heresy to which spiritually immature Christians [‘children‘] are all too evidently prone.

The 4 ‘Word’ ministries are concerned with

1. the maturing of Christians
2. the work of ministry
3. the encouragement of the church

Those ministries are also identified in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12. These ‘Word’ ministries are primary ministries. Why? Because they exist to replace the Doubt, Denial, Deviation and Destruction from the Fall with Trust, Obedience, and Alignment with Life in Christ.

The other giftings listed in chapters 12 of Romans and 1Corinthians 12 are also vital and spiritual. But they must always operate  within the context and constraint of the Biblical priorities and pattern, identified in John 17:

1. the object,
2. the nature and
3. the task of the church

Charismatics emphasise spiritual gifts. Yet charismatics have often become apostate or heretical. Why ? Because they failed to challenge carnality; they failed to appreciate the strategic ministry of Christ’s church: reverse the Fall and glorify our Creator.

BATTLE

Every successful military Commander must be clear about his objectives, and communicate them effectively to subordinates. They in turn must understand and comply in order to achieve success on the field of battle. This is just as true of Jesus Christ and his body, the Church. So far, I have considered the aims, the roles and the importance of communication via the word ministries. Other giftings play a vital part too. For example, ‘words of knowledge’ and ‘a word of wisdom’ matter too; as do practical gifts like ‘organising’ [often rendered as governing, or ruling], giving and service. But all gifts and ministries must serve the strategic objectives of the living, Biblical faith. And, I repeat, they must do so in God’s way and in God’s time, just as any army must move according to the strategy, plan and timing of its Commander. Clearly, charismatic Christians have not always understand the basic strategy and context the Bible outlines. But at least they were aware of the possibility of spiritual gifts…

What I want to focus on now is how to conduct the battle in which each and every individual believer – and indeed church – is engaged. I have endeavoured to identify the battle and the war in which we are engaged. Now I consider what every soldier in battle must learn to do. How to engage and how to cope successfully in the spiritual battle in the heavenlies – a battle which plays out in the material world we see, but which is unseen and spiritual in origin.

Thankfully, we have the critical guidance of the apostle Paul in his epistles: in 2 Corinthians chapter 10, the unseen but all important spiritual battle; and in Ephesians chapter 6 how to wage the warfare, understanding our vital equipment. Now, every believer must come to understand these passages of scripture for themselves, asking God to give them both insight and the necessary relevant experience. But I want to make some brief, overall observations.

In 2 Corinthians 10, notice where the battle lies and that God’s power is on our side ! Notice the attitude of the apostle: his blunt truthfulness could too easily be mistaken for  self centred boasting – it is not. Notice in particular his clear cut military attitude toward any threat to his obedience to Christ: every thought must be taken captive to obey Christ. This is critical. It refers expressly to the spiritual battle lost at the Fall. At the Fall, Doubt was entertained and it was Doubt which engendered Defiance and Denial of God, then outright Disobedience; that in turn brought the curse of God and banishment from the place of direct relationship with God. The soldier of Christ is called to reverse the impact of the Fall on our human nature. We are to live in the good of the new nature of the risen Christ. And to live in Christ we must obey his thoughts and ideas. We are to resist and to reject the lusts of the flesh and the self centred, human exalting mindset of this Fallen world.

At this point let me raise the critical question of spiritual inspiration – what thoughts come from God and what thoughts come from our enemy. James chapter 3, verses 13 to 18 is vital here, as also is James chapter 4, verses 1 to 10 for the Christian who becomes a casualty on the spiritual battlefield. In fact the entirety of James short letter provides vital insight into spiritual warfare. James talks serious spiritual sense about the living relationship between the Christian and Christ. This may explain why some theologians have not only had problems understanding what James says, but have wondered why James letter is included in the Bible !

But let’s move onto the ‘armour’ of God in Ephesians chapter 6. The first vital comment is to observe that Paul’s instruction in chapter 6 comes after he has elaborated a range of basic Christian spiritual truth in previous chapters: Paul tells us about God and who we are in God; he speaks about prayer and about the critical Word ministries; about living in Christ and not in the flesh according to our former bad, selfish ways; about how therefore we should conduct our relationships – note he uses marriage to illustrate the relationship of Christ and his body, the church. Believers must firstly understand the basic spiritual truths and life style of their faith. That understanding must inform and direct their attitudes, behaviour and actions in their everyday lives. All this is foundational understanding and equipping to enable the Christian to stand successfully on the battlefield and wage the vital war – a war which is spiritual, not carnal or hostile to any other human being. 

Note firstly that Paul speaks of the vital importance of prayer. Even the apostle coveted the prayers of his brothers and sisters in order to preach the Gospel successfully ! As in 2 Corinthians 10, Paul reminds us of the context of our lives and our struggle: the spiritual forces of darkness are our enemy, to be dealt with by the spiritual means he advises here. People are never our true enemies, nor should they ever be treated as such. People are to be seen as the obects of God’s love and grace, whoever they may be …

One other critical observation before considering briefly the individual items of armour and their meaning. The attitude believers are to take in conducting this warfare. STAND ! Don’t run about in panic; don’t attack any one or anything. Just STAND. This mindset is a state of confidence and security which nothing should threaten or displace. Know that you are in Christ; you cannot be moved by any force or power ! You are aligned with Christ: stay that way; don’t be tempted to think or behave otherwise – don’t be tempted to align yourself with rebellion or with Satan.

Note also that this is a picture of the all powerful, all conquering Roman soldier in the physical world. It is a physical illustration for a spiritual purpose. So, now to the specific items of armour:

1. Truth – live in it; think it; don’t entertain lies and half truths etc, especially any idea that God is not really there – HE IS ! Satan is a liar and killer, the author of the Fall of Humanity
2. Righteousness – live the godly life explained in the Bible
3. Gospel – live out the gospel and be prepared to explain it to others
4. Faith – Trust in God at all times in every circumstance; do as God requires not as SELF or OTHERS demand in defiance of God
5. Salvation – the baptised believer in Christ is saved eternally [John chapter 5, 24] and no power in heaven or earth can take that away
6. WORD OF GOD – Jesus Christ is the living Word of God and the Bible is the written record of God’s declaration of himself and his ways: think, speak and live this life in Christ by living according to the Bible !
7. Prayer in the Spirit – we rely on the Holy Spirit to live this life; to know about this life; to know when and how to move; our prayers to God must be in Christ’s Name i.e. in God’s Will and Purpose – and not inspired by Self or Satanic deception.

We are called, then, to OVERCOME in Christ by living in Christ, refusing to live any more according to the fallen, sinful nature inherited by every human being since the Fall recorded in Genesis chapter 3. Overcome spiritually in Christ, by Christ as the Bible teaches us. The Bible is a practical manual for living the Christian life. And that life concerns the present and the future, too.

We have considered the past because it explains our present spiritual struggle in the Christian life. But that life has an aim and future: a new heavens and earth, living in complete harmony with God and with others. That future lies beyond a Final Judgement of all rebellion and evil, and a vindication of all that is Good. That future provides a critical reference point for our thinking and behaviour. What is going to happen in the End, and what does that mean for us ?

FINAL

Eternal damnation awaits all those who persist in living in disobedience to God and in denial of the grace available in Jesus Christ. Jesus spoke explicitly about hell and eternal punishment. In the book of Revelation, John also records the existence of a lake of fire and brimstone into which all unbelievers will be cast forever, along with their spiritual master, the devil.

The church however is betrothed to the Son of God, Jesus Christ, with whom it will live in harmony ever after. Now, a word about imagery, metaphor and illustration. These are constantly used in the Bible to convey a meaning. Biblical imagery is not necessarily literal. Hell, fire and brimstone may or may not be literal. But all imagery is intended to convey critical spiritual truth in a way comprehensible to our feeble human minds. The image of a bride for Christ is powerful. Literal or not, it provides a powerful illustration of our spiritual condition and situation with Jesus Christ. To allow ourselves to be preoccupied with whether Biblical imagery is literal and therefore on a par with a fairy tale, is to miss the point. Such imagery illustrates powerful truth, and eternal spiritual suffering is not to be dismissed or mocked. It is real and it will be experienced by those arrogant enough to defy their Maker and reject the message of life eternal in Jesus Christ.

This stark eternal choice must inform all our thinking and behaviour. It must inform our preaching and teaching; it must inform our understanding of God –  who God is and what God will do. It reinforces the message of the Curse since the Fall:  that God must not be trifled with; God must be treated for who he is – our Master and our Maker. God is King of kings and Lord of lords – this is Strategic Truth. We need to believe it and to live it. When we start preaching such strategic truth as a priority, the church might begin to walk free from its carnal captivity and become the Minister of Christ which God commissioned it to be.

That ministry requires the preaching of repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ,  because of what Christ achieved at the cross for us. Faith is a gift of God, and such faith will save us at the Final Judgement – again John 5, 24. So, let us be clear about what Biblical faith actually is. Paul lists the achievements of the faithful, loyal servants of God in Hebrews chapter 11. And James defines how faith operates in chapter 2. True faith from God has an outworking in what we actually do. Remember, the wise person builds their life on the rock of Christs teaching, while the foolish does not. So, the Final Judgement will be about what we have done in this life: obeyed God, or denied God; served God, or remained enslaved to sin and to Satan.

Both faith and eternal life are free gifts of God. But those gifts from God are there to enable us to serve God, not remain in sin. In Romans 5 Paul tells us about the amazing grace of God which abounds to us. But in Romans 6 he makes clear that such grace and newness of life is to be lived out in holiness and obedience, not squandered in presumption, neglect and idleness. Ditto Colossians chapters 2 and 3.

Finally, let me point to the vital attitude we must adopt and exercise in the face of all the challenges with which life confronts us.  All challenges are there to cause us to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. That is why we are called to give thanks in all things, even in persecution and in the prospect of physical death.

Two scriptures, again from the1599 Geneva Bible, the first from Revelation chapter 12:

but they overcame him by that blood of that Lamb, and by that word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death

They did what ? They overcame …

and from Revelation chapter 21:

I am the Alpha and the Omega …… he that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be my son. But the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers …… and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death.

Who will inherit and be God’s child ? he that overcometh …

It’s a tall order, for sure. But let us remember Jesus said that what is impossible for man, is possible for God. And he also said, be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

In Christ we can overcome because it is all of God’s grace.

Hallelujah !

please note that historically the use of ‘he’ was often generic meaning ‘human being’ without intending any limitation to the male sex

and yes, the title of this essay does make allusion to Luther’s ‘Babylonian captivity of the Church’.