This article is a fuller development of a discussion raised in the series of articles derived from a five-part teaching series on the Nature of the Local Church given in Bermondsey Gospel Hall, the audio of which can be found here.
When Peter woke up on the day of Pentecost, he was the de facto leader of a small band of 120 disciples. These disciples had been following Jesus, but when he was crucified, buried, raised from the dead and ascended into heaven, they were left gathering day after day in a small room in Jerusalem. Praying and waiting. Waiting for the day that Christ had promised would come, when his Spirit would descend and his power would arrive, enabling them to be witnesses to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).
When Peter woke up on the day after Pentecost, he was at the head of a movement of thousands of former Jews, devoting themselves to his teaching and living in a radically different way to the society around them. The church had begun. While Pentecost is rightly remembered for the coming of the Spirit of God, being the person and power behind all that happened, it should also be remember for the creation of the church of God, the people resulting from all that happened.
Creation or Continuation?
Or should it? For if you say that Pentecost was the day the church was created in the hearing of some Christians, you might get a robust reaction. If you have found yourself making such a rudimentary mistake, it will be OK. You have but a few moments to save the relationship by stressing three important caveats.
1. Problem of Placement
First, there is no denying that there were ‘churches’ before Pentecost. However, they just weren’t ‘the church’. Strong’s Dictionary defines the Greek word translated as ‘church’ throughout the New Testament, ekklésia, as ‘an assembly’ or ‘a (religious) congregation’. Therefore, being a word that can be used in general to refer to a gathering of people for a religious purpose, it is unsurprising that it is used by Stephen in Acts 7:38 to describe Israel, ‘the congregation in the wilderness’. Indeed, it is used through the Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament, to refer to such a gathering. God’s people have always gathered together to worship him, and so in that general sense there has always been a church (gathering) of God. Yet, the church of God is more than just the placement of people together.
2. Previous Planning
Secondly, not only were there ‘churches’ (gatherings) in the Old Testament, but ‘the church’ had been planned long before Pentecost. During the ministry of Jesus, Matthew allows us to see that he was already preparing his followers to be the church. Not only does he provide them with the promise that he ‘will build his church’ (Matthew 16:18), but he grants them guidelines for the operation of the church by including it in the instructions for how to deal with a brother who has sinned against you (Matthew 18:17). Going back even further than that, ‘the church’ was predicted and prefigured, particularly by the prophets, throughout the Old Testament (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 35:22-32). And if that isn’t far enough, we can trace it all back to the purpose and plan of God in eternity past (Ephesians 1:4).
3. People of Promise
This leads to the third caveat, which is perhaps the most important. We must affirm that God had a people prior to Pentecost. God had a people of promise. By this, we not only mean that God chose Israel from the nations to be his people in the Old Testament. We also mean that within national Israel, there were those who trusted God for their salvation and were by that faith saved. This is what is often known as spiritual, rather than national, Israel (Romans 9:6). Men such as Abraham, Moses and David, and women such as Rahab and Ruth, were saved by their faith in God. Therefore, if we define the universal (in contrast to local) church to be the blood-bought bride of Christ (Acts 20:28; Ephesians 5:25), then we cannot fail to mention all of those saved through Christ prior to Pentecost. For it was not the blood of bulls and goats that took away the sins of the Old Testament saints (Hebrews 10:4). These men and women are our fathers and mothers in the faith (1 Corinthians 10:1), part of the same household (Hebrews 3:5-6) and being built up into one structure (Ephesians 2:11-22). Notice that this does not equate the nation of Israel and the church. Rather, it draws a connection between the faithful of Israel and the church. The church is neither a replacement nor a continuation of national Israel. It is a new people founded on a new covenant, it is international and not national, pure and not mixed (Hebrews 8:6-13). Even the connection between the church and the faithful Israelites of old is somewhat strained. Our Christian lives are noticeably different to theirs, given the coming of both Christ and the Holy Spirit. However, it cannot be denied that they trusted in the same Saviour as we did, despite not receiving the eternal city and heavenly country promised to them (Hebrews 11:13-16). In fact, they will only see the fulfilment of such promises, their perfection, because of the church (Hebrews 11:39). In this way, we can see a prototype of the church in the Old Testament, a group of faithful Israelites mixed in with the unfaithful Israelites, saved by the same faith in the same Saviour, and yet waiting for the revealing of us, the church.
Figure and Fulfilment
Therefore, having made the caveats of placement, planning and promise, what can we say about the church in Old Testament? Perhaps we can say that the church is present in the Old Testament in the same that Christ is present. There are numerous figures and types, predictions and prophecies. We can even say there are some appearances of it, in the shape of the faithful Israelites. However, just as we talk about Christ arriving in the manger in Bethlehem, we should generally point to the multitude in Jerusalem for the beginning of the church. It is in these moments that these eternal mysteries are fully and finally revealed. In this way we can see Pentecost as the 'creation' of the church.
ALEXANDER ARRELL