th 513

1. Chapter 70: The Origin of the Church
PPt by Mark E. Hardgrove, PhD, DMin

2.  Church, from the Greek ekklesia, “Those
called out.”
 Hebrew, qahal and edhah, often translated
ekklesia in the Greek OT.
 In the NT, ekklesia came to refer to an
assembly of believers, namely, followers of
Jesus.
 The word church is never used of a physical
structure in the NT.

3.  The Universal Church is the invisible body of
all believers.
 The Local Church is the visible manifestation
of the universal church in a given time and
location.
 The invisible church is made up of believers
already in heaven.
 The visible church is comprised of those yet
on earth.

4.  The church was not an afterthought of God,
but has been ordained from all eternity.
 “He chose us in him [Christ] before the
creation of the world to be holy and
blameless in his sight” (Eph. 1:4).

5.  OT predicts a coming time of Gentile blessing
(Isa. 11:10)
 OT foretells Abraham’s spiritual seed (Gen.
12:1-3; cf. Gal. 3:7-14)
 OT predicts the New Covenant (Jer. 31:31-33;
cf. Heb. 8:13; Isa. 49:6)

6.  The Church involved a mystery not known in OT times
(Eph. 3:1-3)
Ephesians 3:1-6 (American Standard Version)
1 I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus in behalf of you
Gentiles,-- 2 if so be that ye have heard of the dispensation
of that grace of God which was given me to you-ward; 3 how
that by revelation was made known unto me the mystery, as
I wrote before in few words, 4 whereby, when ye read, ye can
perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ; 5 which
in other generation was not made known unto the sons of
men, as it hath now been revealed unto his holy apostles and
prophets in the Spirit; 6 to wit, that the Gentiles are fellow-heirs,
and fellow-members of the body, and fellow-partakers
of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,

7. 1. It involved a “mystery,” once concealed,
now revealed.
2. Not revealed until the time of the NT
“apostles and prophets.”
3. This was after the OT, since it was not in
“other generations” before Paul.
4. Grammatically, apostles are prophets are
one class.

8. 5. “Apostles and prophets” were the church’s
foundation, the church began with them.
6. Christ is the chief cornerstone (Eph. 2:20),
and the building cannot exist until the
cornerstone is in place.
7. Ephesians 3:4-5 reveals that this “mystery”
did not exist before Christ’s time.

9.  Christ predicted the Church to be future in His
time: “I will build my church” (Matt. 16:17-18).
 Jesus called it “My Church.”
 The foundation was finished after Christ’s
time (Eph. 2:19-20).
 References to ekklesia in the LXX are not to
the church.
 The church began after Christ’s resurrection
(Acts 20:28).

10.  The church began at Pentecost
 Later references to the church growth imply
Pentecost as its origin (Acts 5:14).
 Peter points to Pentecost at the “beginning”
of the church (Acts 11:15).
 The gifts to operate the church, including
“apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and
teachers” (Eph. 4:11-12) were not given until
Pentecost.

11.  God’s eternality as a basis for the church’s
origin.
Since the church was predetermined from all
eternity, being chosen “before the foundation
of the world” (Eph. 1:4), God’s eternality is an
anchor of this doctrine (see also, Rom. 8:28-
29).

12.  God’s immutability as the basis for the
church’s origin
The church’s origin is also rooted in God’s
immutability, for if He could change His mind,
there would be no assurance that the church
He chose before time wouldn’t later be
discarded. He cannot deny Himself (2 Tim.
2:13)

13.  God’s omniscience as the basis for the
church’s origin
Scripture assures that God has infinite
knowledge, therefore, God knew who would
be saved before the world began (Eph. 1:11;
cf. Rom. 8:29). With unlimited, infallible
foreknowledge, God was able to
predetermine the nature and constituents of
His church before the world’s foundation.

14.  God’s omnibenevolence as the basis for the
church’s origin
At the root of the church’s existence is God’s
love, by which we were chosen in Christ
before the world began, that we should “be
holy and blameless before him in love.”

15.  God’s omnisapience as the basis for the
church’s origin.
By His omnisapienceGod knows the best
means to the end. The church, one of God’s
great mysteries, is dependent on God’s
infinite wisdom; without it, the mystery once
concealed and now revealed would not be
possible.