(If we consider) the question: What exactly is the Church? There is nothing like going to Scripture for the answers to our questions, so let's look at a few New Testament definitions.
Here are some verses to guide our thinking. 'I am not praying for the world, but for those you have give me, for they are yours.' (John 17:9). 'All believers were together and had everything in common.' (Acts 2:44). 'All believers were one in heart and mind' (Acts 4:32). 'God... showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself' (Acts 15:14) '...all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ' (1 Cor 1:2) '...the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven' (Heb 12:23). '...a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praised of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light (1 Peter 2:9)
The Bible does more than define the Church, however; it also describes it. 'The Church' is mentioned more than a hundred times in the New Testament, and is portrayed by many different images. The Bible does not say anything about images in the Church, but it abounds with images of the Church. It is pictured, for example, as a body, a temple, a bride, a mother, a family, a fold, salt, a loaf, a garden, a pillar, an army, a colony and a city. Paul's favourite figure of the Church, and no doubt the most powerful, is that of a body, and in the New Testament no one but he uses it. The Christian Church is a great Body made up of a lot of little people who must all function properly if the Body is to be kept healthy and its work done.
