What is the Church According to Scripture

People identify the church as a building, but the building is not the church. The building is where the church gathers. The people are the church. People can gather anywhere. The questions we need to ask ourselves are these:

Is the gathering I attend healthy?
Is it pleasing to Jesus?
Do the people I gather with live the scriptures or simply live some form of religion?

Most people don't think about the health of the church gathering they attend. Most people don't think about their pastor being spiritually healthy or unhealthy. Most people would never think their pastor would lead them astray, but if we are serious about being disciples of Jesus, we need to really examine our gatherings against scripture.

Jesus speaks to seven churches in Revelation. He is not talking to a building but to the people. In five of the seven churches, Jesus is not pleased and rebukes them. This is very important to pay attention to and find out why Jesus is so angry at them. Now we will dive into what the church is according to scripture.

From Strong’s Lexicon: The Greek word for “church” is ekklēsia (1577) , which means an assembly, congregation, church; the Church, the whole body of Christian believers. an assembly of citizens regularly convened
From HELPS Word-studies: 1577 ekklēsía (from 1537 /ek, "out from and to" and 2564 /kaléō, "to call") – properly, people called out from the world and to God, the outcome being the Church (the mystical body of Christ) – i.e. the universal (total) body of believers whom God calls out from the world and into His eternal kingdom.
[The English word "church" comes from the Greek word kyriakos, "belonging to the Lord" (kyrios). 1577 /ekklēsía ("church") is the root of the terms "ecclesiology" and "ecclesiastical."]

In Matthew 16, Jesus says He will build his church on the revelation given to Peter.

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”
Matthew 16:13-19 NASB

Jesus tells Peter that what God revealed to him, He will build His church on. Jesus is not telling Peter that He is going to build His church on Peter. He is telling Peter and us that He is going to build His church on the understanding Peter declared, which is that He/Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

We must remove the thinking that the church is a building. The church is not a building, it is people who are set apart for God.

Church Function

Now we will look at how the church is to function according to scripture. We will start by looking at Acts and how the disciples lived. We see Peter talking to devout Jews in Acts 2 and 4. They heard the truth and were repenting and being baptized, we see how they started living their lives as disciples of Jesus.

Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Acts 2:37-47 NASB

And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them. And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all. For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles’ feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need.
Acts 4:32-35 NASB

We see the love they had for God and each other.
Jesus tells us this in John 13.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
John 13:34-35 NASB

This is not a suggestion. Scripture tells us how our lives are to look.

We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.
1 John 3:14-18 NASB

Everything the Lord ask of us is based off 2 commandments. These 2 commandments are to love. How to love though, must be according to scripture and from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith, not from feelings and emotions.
1 Timothy 1:5 NASB

And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 22:37-40 NASB

It comes down to this: if we love Jesus, we will lay down our lives for Him and His people.

“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you.
John 15:12-14 NASB

This love will cause you to die to your flesh in every way. This love will drive you to deal with sin in the body of Christ according to scripture. Loving God means you will desire to keep your life free from sin, and you will have a passion to fulfill His word. You will not want anyone in His body to practice sin because sin separates us from Him. We are going to look at how we are to expose sin. Jesus gives us directions in Matthew 18 on how to deal with sin that we see amongst believers. Beware that you must not be practicing sin yourself as you go to another believer. Look at Matthew 7:1-5 for what to do before you go and make judgments on someone else's life.

“Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
Matthew 7:1-5 NASB

After you have examined your life to ensure it is clean, then you are to walk out Matthew 18. It shows us how to handle sin in the body of Christ.

“If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”
Matthew 18:15-20 NASB

God takes sin very seriously, and He will not tolerate people who practice sin in His gatherings. 1 John tells us that His children do not practice sin. Here is a situation from Acts that shows us how serious lying to the Holy Spirit is.

But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and kept back some of the price for himself, with his wife’s full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came over all who heard of it. The young men got up and covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him. Now there elapsed an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter responded to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for such and such a price?” And she said, “Yes, that was the price.” Then Peter said to her, “Why is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out as well.” And immediately she fell at his feet and breathed her last, and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things.
Acts 5:1-11 NASB

We need to understand that Ananias and Sapphire were a part of this amazing body of believers who were living life being taught truth, yet chose to lie to the Holy Spirit. They would have known to live a life of obedience, but somehow they allowed sin to creep into their lives, and they acted on it. We need to deal with sin in the body. We can not control what others do, but we must do our part to follow the scripture. Ezekiel 2 and 3 warn people to speak the truth so that blood is not on our hands. 1 Corinthians 5 also tells us what to do if we have people who continue to practice sin in our lives.

It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father’s wife. You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst. For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present. In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler⁠—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves
1 Corinthians 5:1-13 NASB

Nowhere in scripture does it tell us to invite people who are practicing sin intentionally / or are non-believers into our gatherings. We are to share the Gospel with people who practice sin outside of gatherings/love feasts, and if they desire to repent and be a follower of Jesus, then we disciple them in the Word of God and bring them into gatherings. Jesus met with many people to preach the truth, but not everyone was in His inner circle. This is not how the cultural church works today. We need to examine the scripture and see how the people in scripture lived and imitate them, not our culture today.

Jesus addresses seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3. These churches are for us today to look at and examine. We need to ponder and examine what Jesus says to them for our own lives. There are a lot more scriptures on instructions for how the church is to gather. 1 and 2 Corinthians are good books to study about how the gatherings should function. Ephesians 4 tells us the purpose of the leaders in the body. Leadership is meant to help the body grow into spiritual maturity. Those in leadership are to be the greatest servants in the body.

Resources:

Strong’s Lexicon: Biblehub.com