BETHLEHEM COLLEGE & SEMINARY

TOWARD A BAPTIST ECCLESIOLOGY: A THEOLOGICAL EXERCISE

SUBMITTED TO MATT CRUTCHMER IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF

THEO 6530, CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 3: CHURCH AND ESCHATOLOGY

INSTRUCTOR MATT CRUTCHMER

BY AARON JAMESON

MAY 3, 2013

CONTENTS

I.INTRODUCTION……………………………………...........................................................…………..1

! What Is the Church? (The Ontological Question)! ! ! ! ! 1

! What Does the Church Do? (The Functional Question)! ! ! ! 2

! Thesis!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 2

II.THE THEOLOGICAL TRICKLE DOWN FROM THEOLOGY PROPER.....…………3

III.TOWARD A BAPTIST ECCLESIOLOGY........................….....…….....……..………………….7

! On Ordinances (Or Sacraments?)! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 7

! On Polity! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 9

! On Missions and the Christian Life! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 11

IV.CONCLUSION........................................................................….....…….....……..……………….12

APPENDIX: MINI WORD STUDY: EKKLHSIA............….....…….....……..…………………….13

BIBLIOGRAPHY.......................................................................….....…….....……..………………….17

RESOURCES FOR FURTHER RESEARCH………………………………………………………………18

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TOWARD A BAPTIST ECCLESIOLOGY: A THEOLOGICAL EXERCISE

I.INTRODUCTION

What Is the Church? (The Ontological Question)

A proper ecclesiology, let alone a distinctively baptist ecclesiology, must approach the topic

biblically from the ontological question, namely, “What is the essence of the church?” It’s

not the building in which people gather; it’s not merely a social group gathered around

common ideals or goals; nor is it to be identified primarily with what people do. Rather, the

church is a specific assembly of people,—past, present, and future—whom God the Father

elected and predestined to be redeemed and atoned for by his Son, Jesus, and effectively

regenerated by the Holy Spirit for worship and witness in the world. I will explain this

“theological trickle-down” below. Gregg Allison defines the church as “the people of God

who have been saved through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ and have been

incorporated into his body through baptism with the Holy Spirit.”1 Thus, it is proper to

refer to this assembly with the feminine pronoun “she,” because the church is the Bride of

Christ (Eph 5:25-27; Rev 21:2, 9; 22:17). Still, the Bride of Christ, the church, has a purpose

and a function in God’s ultimate plan of cosmic redemption.

1

1 Gregg R. Allison, Sojourners and Strangers: The Doctrine of the Church (Foundations of Evangelical Theology Series; Wheaton, Ill: Crossway, 2012), 61.

What Does the Church Do? (The Functional Question)

With a correct view of the “who-ness” of the church, we move to the functional question,

namely, “What does the church do?” The answer must stem from the ontological question;

too many models of church are purely pragmatic without ever taking into account the

essence of the church to begin with.2 If the church is the ascended Body of Christ, defined

as being within and participating in the very communion of the immanent Trinity,3 then the

church’s function will be quite different. In fact, all theology and practice will be

subordinated to ecclesiology in that model, because the church as an institution is the only

source of salvation. However, if ecclesiology is subordinated to Theology Proper, and its

functions are derived from its ontology, then it will look quite different. In addition to

preaching the Word of God, especially the gospel, and administering the sacraments or

ordinances (baptism and the Lord’s Supper), the church serves Christ in ministry in many

sundry ways. She evangelizes to the lost, gives aid to the poor, encourages the weak, exhorts

the doubting, disciples/trains her members, and exercises gifts of the Spirit for the

edification of the Body. All of these fit under the main heading of worship (in a broad sense),

but can also be delineated as witness to the world. Yet these acts all take on a particularly

baptist flavor based on a distinctively baptist ecclesiology (more on this below).

Thesis

In this paper, I argue that a distinctively baptist ecclesiology follows from one’s view of the

immanent Trinity (ad intra) and God’s acts in his economy of redemption. The Father elects

the church, the Son redeems his Bride, and the Spirit applies her redemption and preserves

her until the end. Then, I argue theologically and biblically for a thoroughly regenerate

church membership that practices believer baptism and church discipline, appoints pastor/

elders (hence using a plural-elder-ruled, congregational model), and sends its members out

on mission. A baptist ecclesiology is, and ought to be, fully and consistently trinitarian.

2

2 Robert N. Nash, Jr., An 8-Track Church in a CD World: The Modern Church in a Postmodern World (Macon, Ga: Smyth & Helwys, 1997). Nash’s entire approach is pragmatic, and rarely theological, exegetical or philosophical.

3 This is essentially the “communion ecclesiology’s” position as set forth by many authors, including Henri de Lubac, Catholicism: A Study of Dogma in Relation to the Corporate Destiny of Mankind (London: Burns, Oates and Washbourne, 1950); J. Zizioulas, Being as Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church (New York: St Vladimir’s Press, 1985); Vatican II, Lumen Gentium; et al.

II.THE THEOLOGICAL TRICKLE DOWN FROM THEOLOGY PROPER

God, in his essence, is three in one—what the church has called a Trinity, and each member

of the Trinity has specific roles. Within the Trinity (ad intra), God the Father is self-existent

and completely unbegotten, God the Son is eternally begotten of the Father, and the Spirit

proceeds from both the Father and the Son as the perfect embodiment of love, joy, and hope

that exists between them in perfection and completeness. Nevertheless, out of the triune

God’s perfect fullness, the

Father wills that—ex nihilo—there should come into being a creaturely counterpart [the church] to the fellowship of love which is the inner life of the Holy Trinity. This purpose is put into effect by God the Son [Col. 1:16,….who] is both maker and remaker [i.e., redeemer] of creatures, calling them into being [Heb. 1:1-3] and calling them back into being [after the Fall of Adam & Eve]….And the divine purpose is perfected in the Spirit. The Spirit completes creatures by sustaining them in life, directing their course so that they attain their end [without fail], which is the fellowship with the Father, through the Son and in the Spirit.4

Thus, John Webster ties the existence of the church to the work of the triune God in

history, namely, the history of redemption and especially in the gospel.5 John Hammett also

highlights the gospel as the sine qua non of the church.6

! Secondly, this redemption was purposed in an eternal covenant within the Trinity

before creation7, also called the covenant of redemption. In this covenant, the Father

appoints the eternally pre-existent Son as Messiah, and grants him authority to act on his

behalf as Head (vicegerency) to redeem a kingdom for himself, including a particular

3

4 John Webster, The Community of the Word: Toward an Evangelical Ecclesiology (ed. Mark Husbands and Daniel J. Treier; Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press, 2005), 75-6. Alan Sell gets this methodology for ecclesiology as well. He writes, “There is a constellation of doctrines which bear directly upon ecclesiology. No doubt the all-embracing, and Trinitarian, way of putting the point is to say that on the ground of the Son's finished work at the Cross [i.e., the gospel], the Father, by the Holy Spirit, graciously calls out one people for his praise and service [or worship and witness]….But I am immediately concerned with the matter of the Church, and in this connection the doctrines of election, regeneration, adoption, union with Christ and covenant clamor for attention” Alan P. F. Sell, John Calvin’s Ecclesiology: Ecumenical Perspectives (ed. Eduardus Van der Borght; Ecclesiological Investigations Vol. 10; London ; New York: T & T Clark, 2011), 145.

5 Webster begins his chapter, “The task of evangelical ecclesiology is to describe the relation between the gospel and the church,” The Community of the Word, 75.

6 John S. Hammett, Biblical Foundations for Baptist Churches: A Contemporary Ecclesiology (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2005), 66.

7 Eph 1:3-5; 2 Tim 1:9; Titus 1:1–2; 1 Pet 1:18–21; cf. Lk 22:28-30; Heb 1:1-2; Rev 13:8; 17:8.

assembly of sinners (the church) for the glory of the Godhead. The Spirit acts as witness to

this covenant, and secures its promises in the benefactors, namely, the church, the Bride of

Christ.8

! Third, this covenantal origin of the church is not an extension of the perfection of

God (in esse), but is rather a consequence of God’s nature, and the church is thus an act in

God’s economy (The Trinity ad extra). “And it is to say, second, that even in God’s uniting

himself to the communion of the saints and in his acting through the church, there is no

transgression of the boundary between the Holy One and his saints.”9 The Creator versus

creature distinction is never dissolved. This is also why Webster prefers the term

“fellowship,”10 rather than “participation,” for the church’s relationship with God.

! Fourth, this communion of saints (“holy ones”), elected, created, redeemed and

preserved solely by the unilateral grace of God, also has a peculiar place in space and time.

In fact, this “manifestation” of the gospel by God’s gracious, performative Word “generates

an assembly, a social space (we might even say: a polity and a culture),”11 and, I would add, a

mission. And I aim to show that this “polity” and “culture” is distinctively (credo-)baptist in

ecclesiology.

! Fifth, based on the essence of the church as the communion of saints, it follows that

every member of the church—past, present, and future—universal and local—is and will be

4

8 I am indebted largely to Jonathan Edwards here. Edwards writes, “The whole tenor of the gospel holds this forth: that the Son acts altogether freely, and as in his own right, in undertaking the great and difficult and self-abasing work of our redemption, and that he becomes obliged to the Father with respect to it by voluntary covenant engagements, and not by any establishment prior thereto; so that he merits infinitely of the Father in entering into and fulfilling these engagements”: Jonathan Edwards, The "Miscellanies," 833-1152 (WJE Online Vol. 20), Ed. Amy Plantinga Pauw <http://edwards.yale.edu/archive?path=aHR0cDovL2Vkd2FyZHMu eWFsZS5lZHUvY2dpLWJpbi9uZXdwaGlsby9nZXRvYmplY3QucGw/Yy4xOTozOjIyNy53amVv>, Accessed September 10, 2012. #1062, p. 436.

9 Webster, The Community of the Word, 92.

10 The Greek term koinwni/a is found 19 times in the NT (only 3x in the LXX: Lev 5:21; 3 Macc 4:6; Wis 8:18): Acts 2:42; Rom 15:26; 1 Cor 1:9; 10:16; 2 Cor 6:14; 8:4; 9:13; 13:13; Gal 2:9; Phil 1:5; 2:1; 3:10; Phlm 1:6; Heb 13:16; 1 John 1:3, 6–7. I categorize these occurrences into three broad categories: 1) fellowship or communion, 2) sharing of financial/material aid, and 3) participation in/partnership with someone/thing. The important point is that term never conveys a type of participation in something (like a marriage, 3 Macc 4:6; the gospel, Phil 1:5; the Spirit, Phil 2:1; or, the body of Christ, 1 Cor 10:16) so as to meld it ontologically with the other object or relationship. The distinctions between the two parties is never dissolved. See the Appendix for more on this.

11 Webster, The Community of the Word, 76.

justified, atoned for, united to Christ, and preserved until the Final Judgment. None will fall

away.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us [the saints, those faithful in Christ Jesus; see Eph 1:1) in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,…. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it,to the praise of his glory. (Eph 1:3–5, 13–14 ESV)

The triune God elects and ransoms a specific, particular assembly (church) “from every tribe

and language and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9) to be His Bride. She is “holy and blameless,”

pure and without blemish (Eph 5:27); however, she is only thus because she is united by faith

to her covenant Head, Jesus Christ, who offered himself on the cross as a lamb without

blemish or spot (1 Pet 1:19; cf. Heb 9:14). So Jesus’ death on the cross is the antitype to all

the OT sacrifices of lambs “without blemish,”12 especially the Passover Lamb (1 Cor 5:7; cf.

Mark 14:12; Luke 22:7).

! In short, this reasoning argues for a regenerate church membership over against a

view of the church that includes rebel and remnant, patterned after the OT community of

Israel. However, I arrive at this conclusion not only theologically (based on my view of

moderate discontinuity between the Abrahamic/Mosaic/Old Covenant and the New

Covenant, and stemming from theology proper), but also exegetically. In other words, I

believe the Bible teaches a “particular redemption” (aka limited atonement) of the saints.13

! However, in reality there are ungodly, false teachers and hypocrites “in” the church

now in this age. But this is due to man’s perspective (functionally) rather than God’s

perspective of the Bride of Christ (ontologically). Of course, there are wolves in sheep’s

clothing roaming around in the spatio/temporal church; there are weeds among the wheat.

But I would argue that this is a truth in practice rather than a truth in essence; the church in

5

12 Exod 12:5; Lev 4:32; 9:3; 14:10; 23:12; Num 6:14; Ezek 46:13. cf. Lev 22:19-21; Deut 17:1.

13 Some texts in favor of this view include Isa 53:8-12; Mk 10:45; 14:24; Jn 10:15; Rom. 5:15; 8:28-30; Heb 2:9-10; 9:28. And I would argue that many so-called problem texts for Limited Atonement are actually just emphasizing the non-exclusive nature of the atonement based on age, ethnicity, language, status or sex. See e.g. Rom 5:12-18; 1 Tim. 2:4; 2:6 with Titus 2:14; Heb 2:9; 1 Jn 2:2.

God’s eyes (in esse) does not include rebels, wolves, nor weeds. Hence the need for active

church discipline to strive to keep the local church consisting purely of regenerate members.

! Sixth, this brings in the eschatological nature of the church—the already-but-not-yet

nature of the Body, insofar as she is holy and blameless already, but not yet; she is sanctified

(positionally) already, but not yet wholly devoted in conduct and character. So even though

there are unregenerate church members (and also saints outside of the “institutional walls”

of the church) in practice now, does not mean the church is not completely holy. Rather,

holiness is a partial or provisional mark of a local church. It is holy to the degree that it is composed of those who have been made holy in status by union with Christ (justification) and are being made holy in their conduct by the indwelling Spirit (sanctification). Its holiness is obscured to the degree that unbelievers are present in it, and to the degree that unbelieving conduct [i.e., faithless, corrupt and like unto the rebellious world] is practiced, even by those who are holy in status.14

! Seventh, I’ve already mentioned that the church is a visible entity, existing in space

and time, even though she is born of the Spirit. And while this allows for calling the

universal church—past, present, and future—the “church,” it also gives full credence to

calling each local gathered assembly “the church,” not merely a part of the church.15 The

body of Christ is complete whether two or three are gathered or two- or three-thousand!

(See Matt. 18:2016). Because of this, the congregation collectively, as the body of Christ, joins

itself together by a “church covenant” and discerns the mind of Christ together in prayerful

church meetings. Or, at the very least, is queried by the ruling elders (coming from within

each particular body) for input on matters pertaining to the whole church (like discipline).

In the plural-elder-led model the congregation has the “final say” in pertinent all-church

6

14 Hammett, Biblical Foundations for Baptist Churches, 57. Cf. Heb 12:22-23 (holy now), and Eph 5:25-27 (not yet).

15 This is why I am skeptical of multi-site churches that hold to “one church on multiple locations” terminology. It’s confusing and misleading. Every site is rightly called a local church over against the arguments for it–theological or exegetical. Other uniting factors lead these local churches to be more of “an association on multiple sites” instead. Contra Allison, Sojourners and Strangers, 310-17.

16 It’s interesting to note that this verse appears in a context of church discipline. It’s also one of only three times that Jesus used the word ejkklhsi/a (Matt. 16:18; 18:17 [2x]).

matters; in the elder-ruled model the congregation’s voice carries a lot of weight, but does

not have the final say.17

! Eighth, and lastly, as the Father sends the Son eternally within the Godhead (ad

intra)18 and also in his economy of grace in redemption (ad extra), so the church, as his Bride,

is sent on mission to preach the gospel to all nations, to baptize professing believers, and to

celebrate the Lord’s Supper together. “Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the

Father has sent me, even so I am sending you’ ” (John 20:21).19

III.TOWARD A BAPTIST ECCLESIOLOGY

On Ordinances (Or Sacraments?)

Historically, Protestants have recognized two ordinances—baptism and the Lord’s Supper—

and rightly called them so because they were both “ordained” by the Lord Jesus for the

church to practice as rites in the new covenant community.20 Baptism is the rite of initiation

into the new covenant community based on a credible profession of faith, and the Supper is

the rite by which the church continually remembers the gospel and preaches the gospel until

Christ’s return.21 However, the term ordinance was also used in opposition to “sacrament”

because Anabaptists, in particular, wanted to remove any notion of a “means of grace,” from

the rite.

! Regarding baptism, Baptists, historically, have been divided on whether baptism is

sacramental in any way. Is the rite of baptism a means of grace at all or is it merely an

7

17 Because of space limitations for this paper, I won’t delve into biblical justification for both sides, but I will say that I find the latter (elder-ruled) to be the most biblical. I find there to be a paucity of biblical texts that would advocate for a congregational-ruled model, though it’s not unbiblical. Allison only briefly mentions this option, but doesn’t give justification for the elder-ruled, congregational model (as opposed to being fully presbyterian); see Sojourners and Strangers, 294-5.

18 Jn. 6:57; 5:26; cf. 3:17.

19 See also Mt 10:16; Lk 10:3; Jn 17:18; 13:20; Acts 1:8.

20 Mt 28:18-20 (for baptism); Mt 26:26-29; Mk 14:22-25; Lk 22:14-20.

21 1 Cor 11:23-26. See Acts 2:38; 22:16; Titus 3:5 for pointing toward baptism as washing our sins away—a baptist sacramental understanding of baptism as an initiatory rite that also confers grace, yet not apart from the word preached nor the Holy Spirit’s monergism of regeneration.

outward act of obedience to scriptural command? I will argue for the former. But does this

accord with baptist ecclesiology and is it necessary for salvation?22 Anthony R. Cross proves

that ever since the 16th century (i.e., Baptists’ beginnings) there has been a minority of

baptists keen on a sacramental understanding of baptism.23 In the nineteenth century, Cross

(citing Briggs) notes:

John Briggs comments that 'All too many Baptist apologists were at once too protestant, too rational, too didactic and too individualistic. Sacraments smacked of magic; by contrast, post-Enlightenment Baptists saw believer's baptism as the mental response to the revelation of truth, undertaken with free volition by rational men and women.' 24

Cross continues, "An impoverished theology of baptism led to discomfort with the

relationship of the Holy Spirit to the rite….But for a minority of Baptists, only a

sacramental interpretation of baptism could adequately accord with New Testament

teaching."25 Lastly, baptism is to be practiced in the corporate setting because it is not only

an individual initiatory rite, but also an initiation into a particular corporate body, a covenant

community, and that being a purely (credo-baptist) regenerate community.26

! The second sacrament is the Lord’s Supper, or communion. The “breaking of

bread” (Acts 2:42) and the drinking of the cup are to be seen in a strictly covenantal context,

specifically the New Covenant. The Passover meal was a time for Israel to remember God’s

judgment on Egypt and his gracious deliverance in passing over all the houses covered by the

8

22 On whether baptism is necessary for salvation, Allison (along with Ardel Caneday) makes an important distinction between baptism as an instrumental means of grace and the only efficient means of grace or pardon. Baptism, therefore, is not necessary for salvation, but is still biblically commanded (Mt 28:19) and should not be separated from repentance and faith (Mk 16:16; Jn 3:5; 1 Pet 3:21). See Allison, Sojourners and Strangers, 357-60.

23 "This survey has shown that, contrary to widespread academic and popular belief, there has been a continuous sacramental understanding of baptism in English baptist thought from the early years of the seventeenth century to the present day." Anthony R. Cross, "Dispelling the Myth of English Baptist Baptismal Sacramentalism," BQ 38.8 (2000): 386.

24 Ibid., 379 (emphasis added). See also Anthony R. Cross, Baptist Sacramentalism (ed. Philip E. Thompson; Carlisle, Cumbria; Waynesboro, Ga.: Paternoster Press, 2003); and Philip E. Thompson, Toward Baptist Ecclesiology in Pneumatological Perspective, (PhD Thesis, Emory University, 1995).

25 Ibid.

26 Belyea masterfully makes this point. “So should we also see baptism not as that which makes a Christian but that in which believers confess in the midst of others the need for the filling of the Spirit who has brought the new birth, and the need to do so in the midst of those others if they are to serve in obedience” Gordon L. Belyea, Living Stones In a Spiritual House: The Priesthood Of the Saint in the Baptist Sanctorum Communio, (ThD Thesis, Wycliffe College of University of Toronto, 2012), 179.

blood of a lamb (Exod 12). In the upper room, when Jesus eats the Passover with his

disciples in Luke 22, he says that the bread signifies his body and the cup “that is poured out

for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20). But this new covenant rite is only

reserved for those who are part of the church (hence, a “closed communion”). For Baptists,

then, communion is rightly celebrated by all members who have joined themselves together

in covenantal membership and are joined together in fellowship by the Spirit through this

rite. To partake of this meal without being part of the new covenant community, the church,

(i.e., as an unbeliever) is to eat and drink judgment on oneself! (see 1 Cor 11:27-30).27

! However, one has to be careful to not separate the preaching of the Word and the

unilateral work of the Holy Spirit from this rite, thus introducing a means of grace view that

is ex opere operato. I agree with Horton that the “close bond between sign and signified in

Passover is carried over into the New Testament celebration of the Lord’s Supper.”28 Also,

Belyea reminds us that remembering the gospel (during the Lord’s Supper) is not merely an

individual act, but also a corporate one:

Objectively, while each remembers individually, we remember similar particular and concrete acts of God external to the individual: Christ’s sacrificial death, Resurrection, and future return. Thus our remembering must be corporate, even as we take the one bread and drink the cup as one (1 Co 10.16-17).29

On Polity

9

27 “This suggests that even those who receive Communion unworthily do in fact receive Christ, but as judge rather than as justifier, although in the immediate context temporal rather than eternal punishment is in view” Michael Horton, The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way (Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan, 2011), 799.

28 Ibid. Horton helpfully explains that the “church is not itself a means of grace, Martin Luther insisted, but the servant of the Word that created the church in the first place. Therefore, the sacraments have efficacy only in connection with the Word. Together with the Word, the sacraments promise God’s favor on account of Christ. They are a ‘visible Word,’ ‘a seal and confirmation of the Word and promise.’ Yet because God gives his promise—indeed, Christ himself [I would add “in the Holy Spirit”]—through these signs, they are not separated from the reality that they signify” in Michael Horton, The Christian Faith, 766 (emphasis added).

29 Belyea, Living Stones In a Spiritual House, 185. He continues, “It is perhaps here that the argument over closed or open communion should situate itself. In baptism we remember our calling into and being made members of the People of God in the Body of Christ, a necessary step to being able to remember corporately with thanksgiving the shared benefits of the acts of God in Christ and his ongoing remembrance of himself in the church, by which we are shown to be members of one body at the Table. To come to the Table without having first been gathered to the church in baptism and sustained in her discipleship is not so much forbidden as absurd” (Ibid., 185).

On matters of church governance, we must begin (as always) with the Trinity. The Father has

sent the Son to be the head of the church, his Bride, and thus has sole authority over her,

and his authority is one of love and sacrifice, while still calling for obedience and allegiance.

In fact, God has given marriage as a picture of what this relationship looks like (Eph 5:32-33).

“For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body,

and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit

in everything to their husbands” (Eph 5:23–24). Yet Christ has also appointed servant-

hearted men30 as pastors/elders/overseers31 to lead his Bride, the church, primarily through

Word and prayer, aided by deacons and deaconesses (see Acts 6; 1 Tim 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-9). But

this governance is stewardship in Christ by the Spirit. Edmund Clowney makes this point

clear:

Christ exercises his absolute authority on behalf of his body, the church. His rule over the church differs from his rule over the universe, for it is his saving rule: he frees his people from the power of the devil (Col. 1:13-14). All authority in the church belongs to Christ….The rule of Christ is made effective by his Spirit, through whom he illumines our understanding of his Word….32!

Thus this “stewardship” by the pastors is derivative from Christ,33 characterized by love and

humility (1 Pet 5:1-11), and exercised in the power of the Holy Spirit.

! Yet, whether one argues for an elder-led model or an elder-ruled model, the

congregation is still the main body which discerns the mind of Christ together on pertinent

10

30 Stephen Holmes argues (unconvincingly in my opinion) that Baptists cannot be complementarian and also consistent in their theology and ecclesiology. He leans on the priesthood of all believers as including the teaching and leading roles, and also points to spurious texts for support of egalitarianism. He writes, “A theological account of church life that suggests normative male authority in the local congregation simply cannot be accepted by Baptists, therefore: it denies our fundamental polity”: Holmes, Baptists Theology, 118. His logic is shaky and his exegesis is even worse.

31 I take the NT terms episkopos and presbyteros as synonymous, like many have in the Christian tradition (not to mention Arius, the Waldensians, John Wycliffe, the Reformers [incl. Calvin and Luther], Theodoret, Chrysostom, Epiphanius, Bavinck etc.). See Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, vol 4 (John Bolt, Gen. ed., Trans. John Vriend. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008), 358ff.; Allison, Sojourners and Strangers, 260.

32 Edmund P. Clowney, The Church (Contours of Christian theology; Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press, 1995), 202.

33 John Webster makes it clear that this stewardship or governance by men is not due to some sort of resignation of authority on Christ’s part after his ascension. He cautions that “Without an operative theology of the present action and speech of Jesus Christ (which means also, without an operative pneumatology) human acts of ministry threaten to assume his [i.e., Christ’s] role” quoted in Allison, Sojourners and Strangers, 252.

matters (like church discipline, budget items etc.). But congregationalism is more of a

baptist distinction because of the baptist emphasis on one’s individual faith and the primacy

of the local church. The two go hand in hand, as Holmes notes. “God’s call [to salvation]

comes to individuals, it is true, but the call is to become a part of a community of faith.

Baptism is ordinarily accompanied by reception into membership of a particular local

church, immersion into the gathered community is the inevitable result of immersion into

the water.”34 35

On Missions and the Christian Life

As I briefly stated above, the pattern for missions in the Christian life is set eternally in the

Godhead with the mission of the Son from the Father (Jn 6:57; 5:26; cf. 3:17), both ad intra

and ad extra in the economy of salvation and redemption. Yet this mission of the Son is not

mere example for us, but is also how the Trinity operates in the Christian. The Father elects,

the Son redeems, and the Spirit (sent from the Father and the Son) then sends each

Christian to do his will, to carry out the missio Dei in order to accomplish the Father’s plan

of salvation for the world.36

! Is there a sense in which a distinctly baptist view of the church has distinct

implications for mission and the Christian life? Maybe. The sacraments tend toward an

evangelistic tone in many Baptist circles; there are often pleas to accept Jesus as one’s

personal Savior even before the bread and the cup pass, or to respond in faith to the

testimonies given during a baptism ceremony. In this sense, baptist ecclesiology has a unique

mark on missions and the Christian life. Lennart Johnsson lists three “principles” for

Baptists that drive their convictions: 1) Biblical authority, 2) Congregational autonomy, and

3) individual freedom. This freedom entails freedom of thought/conscience; freedom of

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34 Holmes, Baptist Theology, 95.

35 I think Horton’s qualifier is needed: "...as much as a biblical form of government supports the faithful ministry of the Word, sacrament, and discipline, it does not ensure it," that is, a particular polity against all the rest isn’t therefore unbiblical. "Nor does disagreement concerning polity invalidate an authentic ministry" (Horton, The Christian Faith, 876).

36 Holmes is wary of Augustine’s view of the Trinity here. He advocates for Karl Barth’s view more that “at the heart of the gospel is a daring belief that God determines to be God with and for human beings (and, we would now want to add, the rest of creation). God can be described as missionary in that, in sovereign freedom; God determines not just to be sent, but to send” Baptist Theology, 149.

religion in the nation-state; and, freedom of speech.37 As a corollary, Johnsson mentions that

pietism and aiming for a pure church can be part of the Baptist’s witness to the world that

redemption for sin and sanctification are available in Christ already in this life (but-not-yet

fully until the age to come). In this sense, a regenerate church membership (which is a

baptistic ecclesiological distinction), coupled with active church discipline, is a witness to

the world of the holiness of God and the glory of God.

IV.CONCLUSION

In conclusion, I have argued that a distinctively Baptist ecclesiology, trickling down from

theology proper and the inner life of the Trinity, will effect a robust view of the sacraments

as a means of grace, a regenerate church membership (enabling active church discipline),

and will hold forth a winsome witness to the world. The controversial “headship” and

submissive roles between the Father and the Son (not meaning any difference in eternality,

omnipotence, or essence) derive a proper headship with Christ and his bride, as well as

derivatively for husbands and their wives. This argues for a male-only eldership/pastorate

who lead and serve the church in humility and servant-hearted joy. This theological exercise

toward a baptist ecclesiology is only a taste of all the possible implications that stem from

our personal, trinitarian God.

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37 Lennart Johnsson, Baptist Reconsideration of Baptism and Ecclesiology (Frankfurt am Main; New York: Peter Lang, 2000), 50.

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APPENDIX:MINI WORD STUDY: EKKLHSIA

I.Occurrences –A. Occurs 100x in the LXX, and always refers to the general “assembly” (Heb. qahal) of

the people of Israel.

(Deut 4:10; 9:10; 18:16; 23:2–4, 9; 31:30; Josh 8:35; Judg 20:2; 21:5, 8; 1 Sam 17:47; 19:20; 1 Kgs 8:14, 22, 55, 65; 1 Chr 13:2, 4; 28:2, 8; 29:1, 10, 20; 2 Chr 1:3, 5; 6:3, 12–13; 7:8; 10:3; 20:5, 14; 23:3; 28:14; 29:23, 28, 31–32; 30:2, 4, 13, 17, 23–25; Ezra 2:64; 10:1, 8, 12, 14; Neh 5:7, 13; 7:66; 8:2, 17; 13:1; Jdt 6:16, 21; 7:29; 14:6; 1 Macc 2:56; 3:13; 4:59; 5:16; 14:19; Ps 21:23, 26; 25:5, 12; 34:18; 39:10; 67:27; 88:6; 106:32; 149:1; Prov 5:14; Job 30:28; Sir 15:5; 21:17; 23:24; 24:2; 26:5; 31:11; 33:19; 38:33; 39:10; 44:15; 46:7; 50:13, 20; Sol 10:6; Mic 2:5; Joel 2:16; Lam 1:10).

1.A few summarizing points: 9x in Deuteronomy; 32x in 1-2 Chronicles (clearly the most!); 10x in Psalms; 13x in Sirach; only 2x in the “Book of the 12” (Micah and Joel 1x each).

2.In the LXX, ejkklesi/a is used to translate the Hebrew qahal, but NEVER 'edah. 'edah is usually translated sunagwgh/ in the LXX. Only James 2:2 uses “synagogue” to refer to the church in the NT. (Hammett, BF for BC, pp.26-27.)

3."In designating themselves ekklesia, the early Christians were taking a word already in use by Greek-speaking Jews to refer to the people of God in the Old Testament, and thus making a claim to some degree of historical connection to that earlier people; they were also using a word that reinforced the idea that the church is made up of those summoned or called by God." They wanted to refrain from using synagoge (translating ‘edah) in order to distance themselves from the distinctly Jewish law and temple religious system based on progeny and ethnic identity. (Hammett, 27).

B.Occurs 114x in the NT.

1.MATTHEW (3x)a)Matt 16:18; 18:17 (2x);

2.LUKE (23x)a)Acts 5:11; 7:38; 8:1, 3; 9:31; 11:22, 26; 12:1, 5; 13:1; 14:23, 27; 15:3–4, 22, 41; 16:5; 18:22;

19:32, 39–40; 20:17, 28; 3.PAUL (62x) (Underlines show how often it is used in the salutation.)

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a)Rom 16:1, 4–5, 16, 23; (5x)b)1 Cor 1:2; 4:17; 6:4; 7:17; 10:32; 11:16, 18, 22; 12:28; 14:4–5, 12, 19, 23, 28, 33–35; 15:9;

16:1, 19; (22x)c)2 Cor 1:1; 8:1, 18–19, 23–24; 11:8, 28; 12:13; (9x)d)Gal 1:2, 13, 22; (3x)e)Eph 1:22; 3:10, 21; 5:23–25, 27, 29, 32; (9x) f)Phil 3:6; 4:15; (2x)g)Col 1:18, 24; 4:15–16; (4x) h)1 Thess 1:1; 2:14; (2x)i) 2 Thess 1:1, 4; (2x)j) 1 Tim 3:5, 15; 5:16; (3x)k)Phlm 1:2; (1x)

4.Author to the Hebrews (2x)a)Heb 2:12; 12:23;

5. JAMES (1x)a)Jas 5:14;

6. JOHN (23x)a)3 John 1:6, 9–10; (3x; highest concentration per words by far, over 1%!) b)Rev 1:4, 11, 20–2:1; 2:7–8, 11–12, 17–18, 23, 29–3:1; 3:6–7, 13–14, 22; 22:16 (20x)

C.Summary: 3x in Matthew; 23x in Acts (the most! But only one more than 1 Cor); 62x in Paul (the most of any author); 2x in Hebrews; 1x in James; and 23x in John (interestingly, the same # of times as Luke uses it in Acts).

1. It seems odd that Luke would use this word 23x in Acts but not even once in his Gospel. Why is this? Is this an implicit theological statement that perhaps he didn’t view the church or “assembly” as existing in its fullest sense until after the Ascension of Jesus? I suggest this is the case. If so, why?

2.It is also interesting to note how the NT authors used “elect” (eklektoß, eklogh/, exele/xato) to refer to the church. The church was not a general assembly of people only generally in the “covenant community” (like in the OT); rather, the “church” of the NT was specifically the elected, called-out people of God, justified by the crosswork of Jesus and being preserved and filled (baptized) by the Holy Spirit. The NT church is a truly regenerate membership; it is the remnant of Israel, the true Israel of God.

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a)Gospels: It is used to refer to the church as those who are elected/predestined (Matt 22:1438; 24:22, 24, 31; Mark 13:20, 22, 27; Luke 18:7), to Christ as the Chosen One (Lk 23:35),

b)Acts: Paul is refered to by Jesus as his “chosen vessel” (Acts 9:15).c)Pauline Epistles: Of the church (Rom 8:33; 11:5, 7, 28; Col 3:12; 1 Thess 1:4; 2

Tim 2:10; Titus 1:1); of individuals (Jacob in Ro 9:11; Rufus in 16:13), and of angels (1 Tim 5:21).

d)Peter: Of the church (1 Pet 1:1; 2:9; 2 Pet 1:10), of Christ (1 Pet 2:4, 6)e)John: Only uses it 3x and always for the church (2 John 1:1, 13; Rev 17:14). (1)Note the 3 predicate nominatives used for the church in Rev. 17:14: “the

Lamb...is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful” [klhtoi\ kai\ eklektoi\ kai\ pistoi/] (Rev 17:14 ESV; emphasis added).

II.Theological Underpinnings –A.Paul speaks of the church as being “of God” (2 Cor. 1:1; see 1 Cor. 11:22; 2 Th. 1:4) and

gathered in a certain place, as “in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” and consisting of a certain people group (1 Th. 1:1; 2 Th. 1:1), or as both (1 Cor. 1:2; 1 Th. 2:14; cf. Heb. 12:23).

1.OF God

a)There are 10 references to the “church/es of God” in the NT (Acts 20:28; 1 Cor 1:2; 10:32; 11:16, 22; 15:9; 2 Cor 1:1; Gal 1:13; 1 Thess 2:14; 2 Thess 1:4). The only reference that is not Pauline (although it is still Paul’s speech to the Ephesian elders) is from Acts 20:28, where a textual variant reads “church of the Lord,” apparently to avoid a Trinitarian heresy (Patripassianism) implying that God (not Jesus specifically) shed his own blood to ransom His church.

b)Also, there are only 3 references in the plural (1 Cor. 11:16; 1 Th. 2:14; 2 Th. 1:4), introducing an important point about local bodies being a fully-formed church, the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ exists fully in every local, Word-centered, gospel-preaching, sacrament-observing congregation; in other words, it is not incomplete until the Last Day.

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38 This reference must be clarified: ejklektoi/ (a predicate nominative) is used in the context of the parable of the Wedding Feast, and in opposition to the “many [who] are called” (klhtoi/, also a Pred. Nom.). However, this “calling” in Matthew is more of the general call of the Gospel, rather than a special calling of God in election. Therefore, to contrast it with the “few [who] are chosen” is to say that many are invited, but only a few respond in faith (yet we know from other places in Scripture that those who do in fact respond in faith are the exact same group whom God has sovereignly elected from “before the foundation of the world” [Rev. 13:8; cf. 17:8]).

2.OF God / IN a place a)“To the church of God that is [in] Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole

of Achaia” (2 Cor. 1:1). [Note: this phrase is the exact same as the one in 1 Cor. 1:2, so I don’t know why the ESV translates it differently, namely, with “at Corinth.” The idea that Paul is expressing is that the church has its calling, election, and source from God, but is also gathered together locally and geographically (visibly) in a certain place. The literal meaning is somewhat more insightful “to the church of God, the one existing in Corinth” (1 Cor. 1:2; 2 Cor. 1:1).

b) See “church of God” used in 1 Cor 11:22; 2 Th. 1:4 (pl.).

3.IN God / made up OF a certain people groupa)“To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (1

Thess 1:1).b)“To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (2

Thess 1:1)

4.BOTH (OF God/IN God/IN a place)a)“To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be

saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours” (1 Cor. 1:2).

b)“For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews” (1 Thess 2:14).

c)From the opposite vantage point39: “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly [ejkklesi/aˆ] of the firstborn40 who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Heb 12:22–24).

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39 Meaning, not from God, but being brought to God. In other words, this is from the saint’s earthly vantage point, rather than from God’s vantage point.

40 I.e., those who share in the status of ‘heir’ with the Firstborn Son, Jesus (Heb. 1:6; cf. 1:14; 2:10; 9:15; 12:5-8).

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