LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2001, Page 79

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CONVENTION ESSAYS AND REACTIONS
1. Church Fellowship
in the New Testament
Introduction
As a parish pastor, there were times when the most precious article in the ecumenical creeds was “I believe in the
holy Christian church.” Those were the times when I knew
that I was not sufficient for the task of shepherding. Those
were times when, as far as I could see, the partnership of
pastor and people wasn’t particularly acting like “the holy
Christian church.” So, we just had to (1) believe in the
church as God’s gift, and (2) go on dealing with the realities of the situation before us.
That same balance is necessary when speaking of
“Church Fellowship in the New Testament.” There is the
gift and creation of God, and then there are groups of
flawed and imperfect people. We will look at both in this
essay. We pray God’s blessing upon us.

I. Church and Churches in the New
Testament: Desire for Fellowship
In order to study “Church Fellowship in the New Testament,” we must first realize that the term “church” refers to
two distinct (though related) things. This distinction is important not just because we are used to talking this way.
More importantly, it is the way the New Testament itself
uses the term “church.”
In the first place, the term “church” refers, as the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Augsburg Confession
all teach us, to “one holy Christian and apostolic church.” In
this sense, there is but one church on earth. This teaching
that there is one Christian church that includes all true believers in Christ comes directly from the promise of the
Lord Jesus Himself. In Matt. 16:18, Jesus responds to
Simon the fisherman and says, “You are Peter, and upon
this rock I will build My church and the gates of Hades
will not prevail against it.” Jesus Christ has one
church—He builds it, and He promises to sustain and protect it. Now—all honor and thanks be to the Lord of the
Church for this work and for including poor sinners such
as you and me in His Church—purely by His mercy. At
times in the New Testament, “church” refers to the one holy
Christian church.
More often, however, “church” in the New Testament
refers to groups of Christians in a particular place: “The
church in Corinth, in Thessalonica.” The apostle Paul
speaks of “all the churches” (1 Cor. 7:17), “all of Christ’s
churches” (Rom. 16:16), “God’s churches” (1 Cor. 11:16), and
“the churches of the saints” (1 Cor. 14:33). The important
thing to note here is that these New Testament churches
were very interested in each other, very committed to seeking and maintaining fellowship with each other. In Acts
11:20–26, for instance, we read:
20 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and
Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the
Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus. 21 And the hand
of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord. 22 And the news about them

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reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and
they sent Barnabas off to Antioch. 23 Then when he
had come and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced
and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to
remain true to the Lord; 24 for he was a good man, and
full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And considerable
numbers were brought to the Lord. 25 And he left for
Tarsus to look for Saul; 26 and when he had found him,
he brought him to Antioch. And it came about that for
an entire year they met with the church, and taught
considerable numbers; and the disciples were first
called Christians in Antioch.

Perhaps we are so used to reading the New Testament
epistles that we don’t even stop to think about the remarkable vision and perspective with which Christian churches
in the New Testament viewed one another. The apostle
Paul not only felt the concern for “all the churches” (2 Cor.
11:28) that he had “fathered” on his missionary journeys.
Paul was also committed to maintaining a strong relationship with the “mother church” in Jerusalem. He desired to
teach no other Gospel than what was taught and recognized by those who were apostles before him, as we read in
Galatians, chapter two:
1 Then after an interval of fourteen years I went up
again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along
also. 2 And it was because of a revelation that I went
up; and I submitted to them the gospel which I preach
among the Gentiles, but I did so in private to those who
were of reputation, for fear that I might be running, or
had run, in vain … those who were of reputation contributed nothing to me. 7 But on the contrary, seeing
that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised …
James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be
pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fel-

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