Christ's Spotless Bride -- The Three Marks of the Church Defined (Part Five)
Calvin’s Pulpit in St. Peter’s, Geneva
The First Mark of the Church Is the Pure Preaching of the Word
According to Michael Horton, “the church is the creatura verbi or `creature of the Word,’” in the sense that the Holy Spirit working through the preached word (God’s living and active speech–Hebrews 4:12-13) brings the church into existence. This indicates that the church is “always on the receiving end of its existence.”[1]
Horton continues, the Word . . .
always achieves its purpose (Isa. 55:1– “everyone who thirsts”). The proclaimed word is not simply the sermon, but the faith that is announced, confessed, sung, and witnessed to by the church–by those called to special office but also by the whole body in its general office as prophets, priests, and kings in Christ. Even singing in church is a form of proclamation: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Col. 3:16; cf. Eph. 5:19). Nevertheless, it is especially in its official preaching that this Word is a verbum sacramentale (sacramental word).[2]
Reformed theologian Herman Bavinck offers a thorough and helpful summation of the Word as the primary, but not the only mark of the true church.
That the Reformation rightly sought the key mark of the church in the Word of God cannot be doubted on the basis of Scripture. Without the Word of God, after all, there would be no church (Prov. 29:18; Isa. 8:20; Jer. 8:9; Hos. 4:6). Christ gathers his church (Matt. 28:19), which is built on the teaching of the apostles and prophets, by Word and sacrament (Matt. 16:18; Eph. 2:20). By the Word he regenerates it (James 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23), engenders faith (Rom. 10:14; 1 Cor. 4:15), and cleanses and sanctifies [the church] (John 15:3; Eph. 5:26). And those who have thus been regenerated and renewed by the Word of God are called to confess Christ (Matt. 10:32; Rom. 10:9), to hear his voice (John 10:27), to keep his Word (John 8:31, 32; 14:23), to test the spirits (1 John 4:1), and to shun those who do not bring this doctrine (Gal. 1:8; Titus 3:10; 2 John 9). The Word is truly the soul of the church.[3] All ministry in the church is a ministry of the Word. God gives his Word to the church, and the church accepts, preserves, administers, and teaches it; it confesses it before God, before one another, and before the world in word and deed. In the one mark of the Word the others are included as further applications. Where God’s Word is rightly preached, there also the sacrament is purely administered, the truth of God is confessed in line with the intent of the Spirit, and people’s conduct is shaped accordingly.[4]
When we ask, “does the preaching of the gospel fit this description of the `pure’ word of God?” and answer “Yes,” there is very good biblical reason for doing so. The crucial background for an affirmative answer is that people are saved from the guilt and power of sin through hearing and believing the word of the gospel (the “pure” preaching of the word). Paul’s assertion in Romans 10:8-15 comes to mind.
The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
Other texts which make the same point include: John 8:31–32, when “Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, `If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” and John 8:47, when Jesus says, “Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.” The Word of God is central because it (and it alone) reveals saving truth.
Jesus’s announcement in Matthew 16:18-19 about the keys of the kingdom indicates that an organized body which doesn’t exercise these keys cannot be the church. Keys have an important function–they open gates. The keys of which our Lord is speaking open the gates of the kingdom of heaven. If people enter the kingdom through hearing and believing the word of the gospel, this must be a necessary mark of the church. And since the church possesses the keys, there is a necessary connection between the preached word and church membership and discipline (discussed below)
The Great Commission of Matthew 28:19-20 makes a similar point–a body that doesn’t make disciples cannot be a church. If people do not become disciples except through the word of the gospel, proclaiming it must be a necessary mark of the church and “teaching” is one of the ways by which disciples are made.
Rather than identifying this mark simply as preaching the gospel (in a narrow technical sense), might we say ministering the Word is more generally, and/or even a general submission to the Word of God? “Yes” to both. Scripture never envisions the acceptability of preaching the gospel without the Law of God, either as a prelude to the gospel (guilt) or as a consequence of it (a life of gratitude). The Heidelberg Catechism distinguishes between the Word and the gospel, i.e., (Q 25 Q 65) in this way for this very reason.
We are talking about a church which preaches the whole counsel of God (as in Acts 20:27), rather than picking and choosing parts it likes while rejecting parts it doesn’t. The latter is a prime characteristic of false churches (what body claiming to be the church doesn’t appeal to at least some parts of Scripture?)—but as the Belgic Confession states in Article 29, the false church grants more authority to itself than to God’s Word.
This matter is greatly complicated by false church leaders and those churches with charismatic entrepreneurial leaders who often have little or no discernible content or doctrine associated with their “ministries.” In these cases, even though a Bible may be open, it is a mere prop, since the Word is not central to the life of a church, so this mark is not readily observable, or straightforward.
The Second Mark of the Church is the Proper Administration of the Sacraments
What about the proper administration of the sacraments? Herman Bavinck contends that alongside the Word, sacraments are a second “means of grace,” which he calls “a sign and seal attached to the Word, and therefore is valueless without the Word.” The sacraments do not “impart any grace that was not also bestowed by the Word, and therefore is valueless without the Word.” He concludes that “Reformed theology described the sacraments as visible, holy signs, and seals instituted by God,” in his Word.[5]
As the preached word is public, so too are the church’s sacraments. A church without the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, cannot be a true church. Yet, the proper administration of the sacraments (baptism and the Lord’s Supper) is a characteristic of the true church because this follows from its inseparable connection with the preaching of the Word. This is a good starting point, but may fall short of proving that they are an essential mark of the church.[6]
However, Matthew 28:19-20, seems to offer such proof–the church makes disciples not only by teaching but also by baptizing. A body that doesn’t baptize doesn’t make disciples, and thus cannot be a church. Failure to make disciples through baptism is an observable thing. The same thing holds true for the Lord’s Supper: Luke 22:19 (“And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, `This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me’”). Churches which do not celebrate the Lord’s Supper ignore Christ’s command.
Bolstering the preceding point is that the sacraments are crucial for defining the membership of the church. And without members, there’s no church. Why is there no church without membership? Again, the marks of the church are tied to the nature of the church. Edmund Clowney points out, “the lists of names in the book of Numbers give evidence of God’s concern to define membership in his people; God’s book of life is the archetype of the earthly register of his people (Exodus 32:32-33; Malachi 3:16). A prophetic psalm foresees the recording of Gentile names on the rolls of Zion (Ps 87:4-6).”[7]
Guy Prentiss Waters contends that there are four main arguments for church membership found in the New Testament—several of which have a connection to Word and sacrament. 1). Acts 2:47, where we read that the Lord added daily to the number being saved. The “spread of the Word” and the increasing number of believers being baptized is a pattern through the Book of Acts; 2). The New Testament presents commands that assume a defined body of believers with commitments and obligations to one another (1 Thessalonians 5:12-13; 1 Corinthians 11:17-34; Colossians 3:13); 3). Those New Testament texts discussing Christian growth indicate that believers are committed and bound to one another (i.e., Ephesians 4:16; Colossians 2:19); 4). The responsibility of elders is to take oversight and to give an account for their government of the church (cf. Hebrews 13:17).[8]
Why are the sacraments crucial for defining church membership? For one thing, in Acts, Luke indicates that baptism is the sign that marks entry or membership in the church: “The first total of three thousand is given in connection with baptism (Acts 2:41).” For another, “Baptism is recognized as the mark of membership in Christ’s community by those outside it.”[9]. I think it illustrative that terrorist groups such as ISIS identify who is a Christian by whether or not they have been baptized. Those pushing the so-called “New Atheism,” often seek to encourage professing Christians to renounce their baptism. Finally, Paul indicates that just as the one body is marked by one baptism (Ephesians 4:4-5), the Supper marks its ongoing unity/fellowship (1 Corinthians 10-11). For Christians not to eat together is to not belong to one another in the gospel (Galatians 2). We call the act described in Matthew 18:17 and 1 Corinthians 5:4-5 “excommunication” because we no longer allow that person to celebrate communion with us. The sacraments are an observable mark of the true church (Belgic Confession, Article 29), which is distinct, but certainly not independent, from the preaching of the Word.
The Third Mark of the Church is Church Discipline
The question is not simply whether Scripture commands the church to practice discipline, or whether discipline is important for the well-being of the church. That couldn’t be clearer–it does (cf. Matthew 18:15-17; 1 Corinthians 5:1-5). The question is whether or not church discipline belongs alongside the preaching of the pure word of God and the proper sacraments as an observable mark of the true church. The other question associated with the notion of church discipline is whether or not such discipline is of the essence of the church or the well-being of the church—but that discussion will take us far afield from the matter under discussion here.
At least two considerations seem to indicate a positive answer (agreeing with Belgic Confession: Article 29). As noted, keys are essential for being the church (Matthew 16:18-19). But the keys include discipline. Keys lock (close) as well as open. The keys of the kingdom bind as well as loose (Matthew 16:19). Matthew 18:18, in context, leaves no doubt that discipline is a key.
Furthermore, how can discipline not be a mark if the proper administration of the sacraments is? Without discipline, there’s no way to maintain church membership rolls, and hence no way to know whom to baptize and who can receive the Lord’s Supper. Without discipline, the sacraments will usually be wrongly administered (as in 1 Corinthians 11:17-34).
The main purpose of church discipline is to safeguard the body of Christ. According to the Belgic Confession Article 32, The Order and Discipline of the Church,
We also believe that although it is useful and good for those who govern the churches to establish and set up a certain order among themselves for maintaining the body of the church, they ought always to guard against deviating from what Christ, our only Master, has ordained for us. Therefore we reject all human innovations and all laws imposed on us, in our worship of God, which bind and force our consciences in any way. So we accept only what is proper to maintain harmony and unity and to keep all in obedience to God. To that end excommunication, with all it involves, according to the Word of God, is required.
Likewise in the Westminster Confession of Faith (30:) Church Censures, we read that discipline is necessary . . .
1) for reclaiming and gaining offending brothers; 2) deterring others from such offenses; 3), purging leaven that might infect the whole lump; 4) vindicating the honor of Christ and the gospel; and 5) preventing the wrath of God.
The goal of church discipline for the church is the protection of its purity and witness. For the offender, however, the goal is his/her repentance and restoration. This remains the hope even after excommunication. It is clear from Matthew 18 that the process should end if the person repents. While the faithful church pursues discipline the reasons just mentioned, at the same time the church is to be a haven and hospital for repentant sinners.
Galatians 6:1-2 is also crucial here. “Spiritual people” (i.e., having the Holy Spirit–likely elders) should restore the person caught in any sin “in a spirit of gentleness,” with a “humility that keeps watch over oneself.” Rather than seeking to punish, we are seeking to protect the church and its reputation and restore the offending party.
If these marks are present, that body is like a true church with varying degrees of “trueness.” If the pure preaching of the gospel is absent, the sacraments are not administered according to the Word of God, and if church discipline is not practiced, then, you might cross that group or congregation off your list (when looking for a church), or even consider leaving your church if these things do not matter.
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[1] Michael Horton, “The Church,” in Michael Allen and Scott R. Swain, eds., Christian Dogmatics: Reformed Theology for the Catholic Church (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2016), 313.
[2] Horton, “The Church,” 314.
[3] “The saving doctrine of Christ is the soul of the church.” Calvin, Institutes, 4.12.1
[4] Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, 4.309.
[5] Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, 4.468-469.
[6] Berkhof, Systematic Theology, 578.
[7] Clowney, The Church, 104.
[8] Waters, How Jesus Runs the Church, 17-21.
[9] Clowney, The Church, 104.