Does it matter when the Church began?
Why should we care?
As a participant in several Facebook Groups that discuss various doctrines, I suppose nothing should surprise me. Even so, nearly every day I get another surprise.
Here’s today’s surprise. A man named Michael from up in Alaska wrote:
“Don't believe the Lie that the Day of Pentecost is WHEN the Church Began, for Jesus Began the Church the first time He said, "Follow Me."
Jesus Always had the Church in mind when He taught His Disciples. No amount of reasoning will ever convince me that Jesus' Disciples are NOT the Church”
These surprises are just one of the reasons I decided to start the Ministry at Zero Degrees Substack.
Covenant Theologian D.A Carson disagrees with this young man when he says
“The church begins when the first human sinner is redeemed and joined with another redeemed human sinner—indeed, in the mind of God the church begins as far back as the death of the Lamb “who was slain from the creation of the world” (Article from the Gospel Coalition)
Who’s right?
Michael says the Church began when Jesus first said “Follow Me”. D.A. Carson says the Church began before the creation of the World and saw fulfillment in Adam and Eve. We should all be like the men of Berea, studying the Word to see if those things are so.
Contrary to Michael and D.A. Carson, the Church did not begin with Adam and Eve or the first disciple that followed Jesus.
Jesus Christ himself. In Matthew 16:18 Jesus tells us that the Church had not yet been born.
Matthew 16:18
(18) And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
The “rock” that Jesus was to build his Church upon was not Peter, the Pope, or a priestly line of succession. It was the truth Peter spoke when He said “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” – Matt 16:16 -
D.A. Carson and Michael must ignore the grammar used in the Words of Christ. “...on this rock I will build my Church” for their doctrine to hold water.
Be a Berean, and determine whether these things are so or not
Plain English tells us that it hasn’t happened yet. We can go back to the original language and determine if Christ spoke of the Church as being from time immemorial or the previous year or two.
A single verb, “oikodomeo” is translated as “I will build”. You can look it up in Strong’s Concordance as G3618.
“oikodomeo” is an action word meaning “to build a house”, “erect a building”, or metaphorically “to found”, or “to establish”. It’s a common phrase, and we find it used 39 times in the New Testament. Here it’s in the Future Active Indicative tense, 1st person, Singular.
Future – an event which has not yet occurred
Active – Jesus is the subject and doer of the action
Indicative – A simple statement of fact
First-person – the person speaking, in this case Jesus
Singular – One person or thing.
I’m not sure how it could be said more clearly.
Jesus said in Matthew 16:18 “I will build (in the future) my Church”
I’m not a Biblical genius, I’m getting this from the Blue Letter Bible App, using their Interlinear Tool. I’ve taken a few screenshots so you can do the same for yourself.
How to Use Blue Letter Bible to Parse a sentence or phrase
1. Go to
https://www.blueletterbible.org/
or download the free app for your phone through Google Play or the Apple Store
2. On the desktop site it looks like this. At the top of the page, a search takes you directly to Matthew 16:18.
3. Click on the green search icon. You’ll arrive at this.
Click on the Blue “Tools” button and it opens a menu. You want the first one, where it says “Interlinear”
4. Scroll down to the phrase “I will build” On this line click on the G3618 and get Strong’s definition. You can click on the Blue “Phrase” Button. It will bring up every time that phrase appears in the Bible.
Notice it gives you the Greek and English spellings as well. You can hear the word pronounced by clicking the “speaker” icon.
Finally, the last white button, where you see “V-FAI-1S” is the parsing tool. Click on it.
5. When you click on the white “parsing” button, you’ll get a screen with more clickable links that are pop-ups telling you what the tense means, or the part of speech, etc.
If the Church wasn’t built when Christ spoke these words, when was it first birthed?
Jesus came as God in the flesh. He then gave the Holy Spirit to dwell in human flesh.
Perhaps the most unique characteristic of the Church Age believer is that the Holy Spirit now dwells not only among men, but the Holy Spirit is in the Believer. If the Holy Spirit is in you, you are also in Christ, and in the Father.
John 17:20-24
(20) And I do not pray for these alone, but for those also who shall believe on Me through their word,
(21) that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me.
(22) And I have given them the glory which You have given Me, that they may be one, even as We are one,
(23) I in them, and You in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them as You have loved Me.
(24) Father, I desire that those whom You have given Me, that they may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me, for You have loved Me before the foundation of the world.
All the believers before Pentecost never had the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. The Holy Spirit had given inspiration to men, and even come upon men, but the Spirit did not dwell in men. It is unique to the present dispensation.
How one believes about the Church is foundational to beliefs about other doctrines. John Walvoord said your Ecclesiology (Doctrine of the Church) will determine your Eschatology (Doctrine of End Times). It may be only the beginning of what your Ecclesiology determines.
What’s Your Foundation?
Your Ecclesiology will likely determine whether you hold to Replacement Theology or not. There are several names that this goes by, including Supersessionism, and the most popular of the day, “Fulfillment Theology”. Just know that Covenant Theology is the umbrella over the heads of all these.
The day is coming that the Church will be raptured, and at least for a moment, the indwelling of the Spirit will no longer be with men. Correct me if I’m wrong. Are there any passages in Revelation, Daniel, Isaiah, or Zechariah indicating believers will be indwelt by the Holy Spirit during the Great Tribulation? I think the Holy Spirit indwelling the Church is the “he” that withholds the man of sin.
Now you know what 2 Thessalonians 2:6 means
“And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.”
I’ll let you parse that one on your own. The one that withholds cannot be the Church itself, because the word “withholdeth” is in the masculine.
Until the next time,
May God richly Bless you.
Pastor James Beane.
excellent post. I find the "Blue Letter Bible" a must go to every time I prepare a sermon or post. Now your last sentence about a word being masculine began to ring a bell in my mind about an assignment I did at college. Im not going to say anymore as I want to get the facts right. Yes well said. Robert
I am Pentecostal in Experience, Apostolic in Doctrine, which makes my Escatology the same as the Apostles. Preterist. 70 AD was the end of the old covenant. They overlapped in what Jesus called “This Generation” You said, Correct me if I’m wrong…. Tempting but I would only say this. The Bjj in blue is not a book of 7 dispensations, it is a book of 2 covenants old and new. The Bible was written for us not to us… give that some thought. “Reverend” is a term reserved for Jesus Himself… a better title if you desire one is Pastor.
You are a gifted writer.