THE NATURE OF THE CHURCH

PETER DUANE BAUGH

pic poetry has no place in Baptist history. This in contrast to the

claim of Roy Mason that John Milton, author of Paradise Lost, was a
Baptist.1 John Milton, in reality, rejected the diety of Jesus Christ,

identifying him instead, as the first created being.2 This doctrinal view calls into
question Miltons very salvation itself, completely condemning whatever baptism he
may have received. If Milton was a Baptist, he was such a Baptist as Harry Emerson
Fosdick or Henry Vedder, that is, an apostate Baptist. Whatever the case, Mason fails
to include the details about Milton's Christology when he makes his claims.

Of course, the purpose of this article does not lie in disputing every particular
of every claim made by Mason in his error-filled book, The Church That Jesus Built.
The book is not entirely void of redeeming qualities. His claims to Baptist perpetuity
are good. The chief problem of his book, and one, quite frankly, as unscholarly as his
claim that Milton was a Baptist, is his denial of the doctrine of the Universal or
Spiritual Church.

It should be recognized early in this article that Mason's Baptist-bride theology

has successfully achieved an influence of epidemic proportions. It is taught by
numerous Baptist institutions of higher learning. As a result, many good, Godly men,
innocently accepting the doctrine taught wherever they trained for the ministry, have
mistakenly embraced the views set forth by Mason. The purpose of this work lies not
in any effort to attack or degrade such men. Undoubtedly, they take their position
with the best of intentions, sincerely desiring to align themselves with Gods Word
and Gods truth. The whole contention rather, is that denial of the Spiritual Church
has its roots in poor scholarship, both in relation to the Greek language and our

Baptist history, and that Mason's Baptist-bride theology is entirely devoid of merit,
either Scriptural, linguistic, historic, logical or otherwise.

Moreover, an additional concern relates to the authority of our preserved,

Authorized Version of the Scripture, its clarity, accuracy, and sufficiency for those
church members who know nothing of Greek, having never studied that language.
Can they rightly understand the mind of God on this important subject, having only a
King James Bible? Or must they learn Greek in order to truly grasp their Bible
doctrine?

Neo-orthodox theologian Karl Barth taught that the word ecclesia referred to a
localized assembly rather than a universal spiritual body. In his Credo he wrote,
Ecclesia is a gathering assembled by a summons It derives from the stem to which,
e.g., the Latin terms circa, circum, circare, circulus, etc. also belong. It thus denotes
a definite, restricted, and to this extent emphatic place.3 This is the view advanced
by Roy Mason in The Church That Jesus Built, and the view held by numerous
independent Baptists today. This view is usually described in terms something like
this: The word ecclesia means a called-out assembly. The Universal Church has
never assembled. Therefore it does not exist.

It intrigues me that no one ever says, Lets read our preserved Authorized
Version in English and see what it teaches. Instead, the constant appeal is made to
the Greek language, a language which few truly understand and which fewer have the

genuine credentials to debate over. The definitive and most authoritative translation
in the English language, the Bible which has provided the standard for Englishspeaking Christians, backed by the scholarship of brilliant minds such as Lancelot
Andrews and John Reynolds is completely by-passed. The unspoken message then is
that the King James Version of Scripture is ultimately either inaccurate or
insufficient, and that the lay-people in our churches cannot properly know Gods
mind on the doctrine of the church because they cannot read Greek.

I. ECCLESIA IN THE GREEK LANGUAGE

A. THE ETYMOLOGY OF ECCLESIA
However, lest we ourselves be charged with poor scholarship, let us begin with
the Greek language. The Greek word ecclesia comes from the Greek verb kaleo,
which means, I call,4 or I am calling.5 Compounded with the preposition ek which
means, from out of, out from, from,6 it means, a calling out.7 As may be plainly
seen, the word assembly is not in the etymology of the Greek word ecclesia.

B. THE CULTURAL USAGE OF ECCLESIA

How then does the word assembly end up in the definition of ecclesia? The
answer lies in its common cultural usage. Mason sets this forth early on in The Church
That Jesus Built. On page 28, he cites Dr. George W. McDaniel as writing, Both with
the Greeks and the Jews, the word denoted an assembly of the people Among the
4

Greeks ecclesia was the assembly of the citizens of a free city-state gathered by a
herald blaring a horn through the streets of the town.8 Dr. Jesse B. Thomas is also
quoted as saying, It was the organized assembly of the authorized voters of the local
community to transact business of common concern. It corresponded to the town
meeting of New England of later days.9 Next, Liddell and Scotts Greek lexicon is
called to testify, and defines ecclesia as: An assembly of citizens summoned by the
crier, the legislative assembly.10 Finally, Dr. B. H. Carroll takes the witness stand,
writing, The primary meaning is: An organized assembly, where members have been
properly called out from private homes for business to attend public affairs. 11 To
these we could add the definition given in Thayers Greek-English lexicon of the New
Testament: A gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public
place; an assembly.12

We see then that defining ecclesia as a called out assembly develops out of a
prior knowledge of its common, cultural usage during the first century. The leading
linguistic authorities acknowledge that in those days, it was commonly understood to
refer to an assembled body of citizens and related to the transaction of government
business. This fact is well known.

And this is exactly where we must raise an objection. We notice that every
single scholar quoted above, most of them quoted by Mason himself, speaks of the
common cultural usage of the word ecclesia as referring to a political body. In each
definition cited, we find that the assembly is defined as one of a political nature

gathered together for political purposes. Liddell and Scott very specifically define it
as the legislative assembly. Kittels Theological Dictionary of the New Testament
quotes Peterson as writing that the secular ecclesia of antiquity is acknowledged to
be an institution of the city.13 One footnote in Kittels dictionary states very clearly
that Christians appropriated what was originally a political relationship. 14

Therefore, the effort made to eliminate the doctrine of the Spiritual Church
based upon the common cultural usage of the Greek word ecclesia falls to pieces
when we develop a fuller knowledge and understanding of how Greek culture actually
employed the term. Indeed it was a local assembly, but to deny the doctrine of the
Spiritual Church on those grounds, while seeking to support a local-church-only
position, is to base the whole argument upon a half-truth. This is either poor
scholarship or outright dishonesty. The Greek word ecclesia as used in the first
century did not have the idea of a religious assembly at all, but rather, of a political
gathering.

Kittels Theological Dictionary of the New Testament does raise the subject of
religious elements within the ecclesia. Specifically, it states that prayers were
offered before the assembly, and that each individual speaker15 afterwards also
offered prayer at the beginning of his speech. This, however, does not establish the
ecclesia as a religious body any more than a public prayer made before the House of
Representatives, Congress, or the Senate turns our national legislative branch into a
church. It will also be remembered that in those days there existed no such idea as

separation of church and state. This doctrine would not be given to the world until
the establishment of the United States Constitution, and was introduced through the
influence of Baptists in the state of Virginia who had strong ties with James Madison. 16
Therefore, the best defense that can be made of the local-church-only position on
the grounds that ecclesia must be interpreted as an assembly due to common
cultural usage during the time of the apostles is the fact that the Greeks employed a
state-church system and used the word ecclesia involving it, though only in the sense
of ceremonial prayers being offered in preface to a political meeting. It should be
noted that this state-church system is the same system that led to the condemnation
and execution of Socrates in Athens by the Athenian Court of Justice through the
charge of Meletus that Socrates was an atheist.17 It is the same church-state system
that persecuted Baptists and other dissenters from the first century onward. To deny
the doctrine of the Spiritual Church based upon the common cultural usage of the
Greek word ecclesia during the first century is to identify the local church with the
state-church marriage which Baptistic peoples such as the Donatists have resisted
since the time of the apostles.18

Is this political body the church that we are to understand Scripture to refer to?
Surely any genuine Baptist would dismiss this idea immediately as an absurdity and an
impossibility. Clearly, Scripture does not seek to introduce, establish or teach any
sort of political institution such as that taught and practiced by Roman Catholicism
and early Protestantism. But how then shall we interpret the usage of ecclesia?

C. THE HERMENEUTICS OF ECCLESIA

The question then becomes one of hermeneutics. We know the word. We
know its source. We know its etymology. We know its historic usage in the first
century. How shall we then interpret it in the context of our Bible?

1. HERMENEUTICAL HISTORY
Historically, two primary schools of biblical interpretation have existed just as
two families of manuscripts have existed. And just as the text issue is divided
between the Alexandrian text family and the Antiochan text family, 19 so interpretive
schools developed in relationship to these same two historic cities. From these two
sources developed the views of biblical interpretation that would develop into
allegorism and literalism respectively and influence the theology of the church for the
next several centuries.20

a. THE ALEXANDRIAN HERMENEUTIC

Out of Alexandria, Egypt, developed the allegorical method of interpretation.
It was at Alexandria that Clement set forth his theory which involved five possible
meanings in a Scriptural passage. Origen followed Clements example, but
established an approach that sought for four possible meanings to a passage. From
theologians and theories such as these sprang the allegorical system of Roman

Catholicism21 which obscured the clear light of Scriptural truth for the hundreds of
years that passed during the Dark Ages.

b. THE ANTIOCHENE HERMENEUTIC

In contrast to the Alexandrian school, which harbored doctrinal deviants such
as Clement and Origin, the school at Antioch enlisted in its ranks men such as Lucien,
Dorotheus, Diodorus, and Chrysostom. Its most capable and effective spokesman was
Theodore of Mopsuestia. In contrast to the elaborate and complex systems of
allegorism set forth at Alexandria, Egypt, the Antiochenes taught a simple and direct
reading of Scripture that understood passages in a literal sense.22 This great school
flourished until Roman Catholicism crushed it in the fifth century under the charge of
Nestorianism.23

Obviously, we reject the allegorism of Alexandria with all of its absurdities out
of hand. As with the text issue, we look instead to Antioch as the advocate of true
apostolic hermeneutics. We find there the hermeneutical approach taken by Baptists
in interpreting Scripture since the time of Christ.

As previously stated, the Antiochenes taught the simple, literal approach. This
simple literalism did not, however, represent a simple-minded literalism. It
recognized realities of language such as hyperbole, idiom, poetry, and figures of

speech. Therefore, it divided literalistic interpretation of Scripture between the

plain-literal approach and the figurative-literal approach.24

c. The Hermeneutic of Christ

This is in keeping with the approach of Christ himself. Throughout the gospels,
we find examples of Christ often taking a figurative-literal approach in his teachings.
Examples of these are as follows:

I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this
bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I
will give for the life of the world. (John 6:51)25

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man,
and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and
drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. (John 6:53-55)26

Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the
Sadducees. (Matthew 16:6)27

10

 And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build
my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew
16:18)28

Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. (John 10:7) 29

I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in
and out, and find pasture. (John 10:9)30

I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
(John 10:11)31

I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. (John 15:1) 32

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the
same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man
abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered; and men gather
them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. (John 15:5-6)33
Feed my lambs. (John 21:15)34

Feed my sheep. (John 21:16)35

11

In every one of these passages, we find Christ employing a figurative-literal

sense rather than a plain-literal sense. In fact, at times, Christ even corrected those
who had interpreted his statements in a plain-literal sense.36 Therefore, the frequent
use of the figurative-literal method of hermeneutics employed by Christ confirms it as
a valid approach to understanding why the biblical use of the word ecclesia differs so
essentially and so radically from that commonly understood and used during the first
century.

d. THE APOSTOLIC HERMENEUTIC

The remainder of our New Testament only serves to confirm this truth.
Throughout its pages, we find this same hermeneutic employed, as Peter speaks of
the "milk of the Word"37 and of feeding "the flock of God."38 Most telling of all, we
find the word for "pastor," "poimen," employed by the Apostle Paul in an entirely
different sense than that of its ordinary cultural usage.39 Poimen in its literal sense
meant "shepherd." Figuratively, it also had reference to the supreme governmental
authority, and even, in some instances, to the pagan gods.40 Yet the Apostle Paul
appropriates this word entirely without either comment or explanation and
transforms it into an institutional title for the leader, not of a civil government, but
of the local church.

And perhaps nothing startles us more than the remarkable totality of Paul's
appropriation here. His seizure of this word, and its subsequent incorporation into

12

the Christian vocabulary have resulted in the radical transformation of its very
identity. The word has become an entirely different word, a word of startling new
dimensions, rich with a depth of spiritual meaning and implications entirely foreign to
its original "ordinary cultural usage." Its very relationship to humanity has changed.
Today when we use it or hear its English equivalent, "pastor," it is not the image of
the idyllic wandering herdsman that immediately floods our consciousness, but rather
that of a minister of the Gospel. Even when discussing the implications of poimen's
original meaning, it has become impossible to do so without reference to the
transformation that the word has undergone. That same original meaning merely
hovers in the background, the faded forerunner of what the word has now become,
pointing forward towards the servant of Christ in the local church and foreshadowing
his functions.

It is just the sort of transformation accomplished when the Lord Jesus Christ
seized the political term ecclesia. The identity of the word itself changed. When we
hear its English equivelant, "Church," no one thinks of the assembled body of Greek
citizens for the purpose of legislature. The word has become endued with new
spiritual life and implications, a new realm of meaning entirely alien to it before the
ministry of Jesus Christ, and which we cannot possibly hope to divorce from the
collective psyche of a world and a body of believers which now understand and use it
in this entirely different manner. As with poimen, we can no longer discuss it in its
pure original form apart from the acknowledgment that the word has undergone a
distinct change in its scope of meaning through its entire appropriation and

13

redefinition by Christianity, without viewing that original form like the mere shell of a
seed now both germinated and developed into something immeasurably more
beautiful than the rotting husk ever promised.

e. THE HISTORIC BAPTIST HERMENEUTIC

Moreover, Baptists have carried on this hermeneutical approach to
understanding church doctrine ever since. Baptists have always rejected the bizarre
efforts of Roman Catholicism and Protestantism to view the Lords Supper in anything
like a plain-literal way. Baptists have always taught the figurative-literal doctrine
that the bread and grape juice used in the Lords Supper only symbolize a Spiritual
truth. Therefore, we find justification, not only in the recorded words and teachings
of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, but also in Baptist churches and doctrine of
every century afterwards to believe that a figurative-literal approach to the doctrine
of the church and the Greek word ecclesia is a valid one, and that the childish theory
of Roy Mason, that seeks to subject ecclesia to the common cultural usage of the first
century, thereby defining the church as a political institution, may be reasonably
discarded as ridiculous and absurd.

Therefore, in summary of our discussion relating to the Greek language and

culture during the first century, we see and acknowledge that the figurative-literal
understanding of the Lords Supper always taught by Baptists throughout history in
every century since the time of Christ, may reasonably and justifiably be applied to
ecclesia. The New Testament does not establish the political body that ecclesia
14

would imply in its ordinary cultural usage. It sets forth the local church with its
earthly shepherd and water baptism as the visible manifestation of the spiritual truth
of the Heavenly Good Shepherd and the baptism of the Holy Ghost which takes place
at salvation.

II. THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH IN THE LIGHT OF BAPTIST HISTORY

However, this simple assertion alone does not suffice. If true, it ought to find
support historically in the teaching of other Baptists over the centuries. Let us now
examine what our Baptist forefathers believed about the doctrine of the Spiritual
Church. Let us begin with the most current evidence and progress towards the
weightier arguments.

A. BAPTIST AND ANABAPTIST CONFESSIONS SINCE THE REFORMATION

Midwestern Baptist College, founded by Dr. Tom Malone Sr., makes the
following statement on their website:

"The Church Spiritual includes the whole company of believers

regardless of name, age or country, and is known only to the eye of
God."41

15

The Constitution of Lickspring Baptist Church of Trafalgar, Indiana,

dated October 9, 1970 contains the following:

We believe that the church is the body and bride of Christ who is the
bridegroom and is a spiritual organism made up of all born-again
persons of this present age. Jesus Christ is the head of this organism.
Eph. 1:22-23, Eph. 5:25-27, I Cor. 12:12-14, II Cor. 11:2."42

The Report of the Committee on Statement of Baptist Faith and

Message adapted by the Southern Baptist Convention in 1962 states:

A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a local body of

baptized believers who are associated by covenant in the faith and
fellowship of the gospel, observing the two ordinances of Christ,
committed to his teaching, exercising his gifts, rights, and privileges
incited in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the
ends of the earth. This church is an autonomous body, operating
through democratic processes under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. In
such a congregation members are equally responsible. The Scriptural
offices are pastors and deacons. The New Testament speaks also of the
church as the body of Christ which includes all of the redeemed of all
the ages. Matt. 16:15-19; 18:15-20; Acts 2:41-42, 47; 5:11-14; 6:3-6;
13:1-3; 14:23, 27; 15:1-30; 16:5; 20:28; Rom. 1:7; I Cor. 1:2; 3:16; 5:4-

16

5; 7:17; 9:13-14; 12; Eph. 1:22-23; 2:19-22; 3:8-11, 21; 5:22- 32; Phil.
1:1; Col. 1:18; I Tim. 3:1-15; 4:14; I Peter 5:1-4; Rev. 2-3; 21:2-3.43

J. Dwight Pentecost, professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, published

the following in Things to Come in 1958:

"The true church is composed of all those in this age who have received
Jesus Christ as Saviour."44

Dr. John R. Rice, in his book, Twelve Tremendous Themes, first

published by Sword of the Lord Publishers in 1943 and reprinted by them
six times afterwards, made the following statement:

"The universal church, composed of all believers, the body and bride of
Christ, could not have been born at Pentecost because of its very
nature. First, that body of Christ is slowly building."45

Dr. Emery Bancroft, professor at Baptist Seminary of Clark Summit,

Pennsylvania published the following in Christian Theology in 1925:

"The church comprises all true Christian believers taken out of all
nations, tribes, and tongues and united with their living Head, Jesus
Christ, during the age from Pentecost to the Rapture."46

17

Charles Spurgeon, in his sermon entitled Regeneration said this:

"To see the kingdom of God on earth is to be a member of the mystical

church - it is to enjoy the liberty and privileges of the child of God."47

Charles Spurgeon, in his sermon, The Tabernacle of the Most High, made
the following statement:

"The church of God consisteth not of any one peculiar denomination of

men; the church of God consisteth of those whose names are written in
the book of God's eternal choice; the men who were purchased by Christ
upon the tree, the men who are called of God by his Holy Spirit and who
being quickened by that same Spirit, partake of the life of Christ, and
become members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. They are to
be found in every denomination among all sorts of Christians; some
stray ones where we little dreamed of them; here and there a member
of the church of God hidden in the midst of the darkness of accursed
Rome; now and then, as if by chance, a member of the church of Christ,
connected with no sect whatever, far away from all connection with his
brethren, having scarcely heard of their existence, yet still knowing
Christ, because the life of Christ is in him. Now this church of Christ,

18

the people of God throughout the world, by whatever name they may
be known, are in my text compared to a building in which God dwells."

The Compend of Christian Doctrines Held by Baptists, by W.W. Everts,

D.D., published in 1866 contains the following:

Q. (14) What is the church of Christ?

A. His 'calling' or following taken collectively, or any number of them
personally associated for his working and glory. I Cor. 1:2, Rev. 11:7;
Col. 1:18 - 24.48

The Abstract of Principles adapted by the Southern Baptist Theological

Seminary in 1858 contains the following:

The Lord Jesus is the Head of the Church, which is composed of all his
true disciples, and in Him is invested supremely all power for its
government. According to his commandment, Christians are to
associate themselves into particular societies or churches; and to each
of these churches he hath given needful authority for administering
that order, discipline and working which he hath appointed. The regular
officers of a Church are Bishops or Elders, and Deacons.49

19

The Treatise of the Faith and Practices of the Free Will Baptists, dated
at 1848, contains the following:

A Christian Church is an organized body of believers in Christ who

statedly assemble to worship God, and who sustain the ordinances of
the Gospel according to the Scriptures. Believers in Christ are admitted
to this church on giving evidence of faith in Christ, obtaining consent of
the body, being baptized, and receiving the right hand of fellowship.
The Church of God, or members of the body of Christ, is the whole body
of Christians throughout the world, and none but the regenerate are its
members.50

The Baptist theologian John Gill, in his Body of Practical Divinity made
the following statements:

"First, as a general assembly, called, 'The general assembly and church

of the firstborn, which are written in heaven,' (Heb. 12:23) and which
include all the elect of God, that have been, are, or shall be in the
world; and who will form the pure, holy, and undefiled Jerusalem
church state, in which none will be but those who are written in the
Lamb's book of life; and this consists of the redeemed of the Lamb, and
is the 'church' which Christ has 'purchased' with his blood; and who make
up his spouse, the 'church' he has 'loved,' and given himself for, to
wash, and cleanse, and present to himself a glorious church, without
spot or wrinkle; this is the 'body,' the church, of which Christ is the
'head;' and in which he is the sole officer, being Prophet, Priest, and
King of it; it being, not the seat of human government, as a particular
church is: and this church is but 'one,' though particular churches are
many: to this may be applied the words of Christ; 'My dove, my
undefiled, is but one,' (Song 6:9) and this is what sometimes is called by
divines, the 'invisible' church; not but that the whole number of God's
elect is visible to him, and known by him; 'The Lord knows them that
are his;' and the election of particular persons may be known by
themselves, by the grace bestowed upon them; and, in a judgment of
charity, may be concluded of others, that they are the chosen of God,
and written in the book of life: but all the particular persons, and the
number of them, were never yet seen and known; John had a sight of
them in a visionary way, and they will be all really and actually seen,

20

when the new Jerusalem shall descend from God out of heaven, as a
bride adorned for her husband; which will be at the second coming
of Christ, and not before; till that time comes, this church will be
invisible. It is sometimes distinguished into the church 'triumphant and
militant,' the whole family named of God in heaven and earth. The
church triumphant consists of the saints in glory, whom Christ has taken
to himself, to be with him where he is; and this is continually
increasing. The church militant consists of persons in the present state,
which is said to be, 'as an army with banners,' (Song 6:4) this is made up
of such who become volunteers in the day of Christ's power; who put on
the whole armour of God, and fight the good fight of faith; and in this
state it will continue to the end of the world.
There is another sense in which the church may be said to be 'catholic,'
or 'general,' as it may consist of such in any age, and in each of the
parts of the world, who have true faith in Christ, and hold to him the
head, and are baptized by one Spirit into one body; have one Spirit, one
Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all, and are
called in one hope of their calling: and this takes in, not only such who
make a visible profession of Christ: but all such who
are truly partakers of his grace; though they have not made an open
profession of him in a formal manner; and this is the church which
Polycarp called, 'the whole catholic church throughout the world': and
Irenaeus, 'The church scattered throughout the whole world to the ends
of the earth:' and Origen, 'The church of God under heaven:' and this is
the church built on Christ the rock, against which the gates of hell shall
never prevail; such a church Christ has always had and will have; and
which may be, when there is no visible congregated church, or
a particular church gathered according to gospel order; and of this the
apostle seems to speak, when he says, 'Unto him be glory in the church,
by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end' (Eph. 3:21)."51

The Philadelphia Confession of 1742 contains the following:

The catholic or universal church, which, with respect to the work of

the Spirit and truth of grace, may be called invisible, consists of the
whole number of the elect that have been, are, or shall be gathered
into one, under Christ, the head thereof; and is the spouse, the body,
the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.52

21

The London Baptist Confession of Faith signed by Hanserd Knollys,

pastor of the Broken Wharf Baptist Church, William Kiffen, pastor of the
Devonshiresquare Baptist Church, and John Harris, pastor of Joiners Hall
Baptist Church, all major figures in Baptist history, as part of a greater
body of over 100 Baptist pastors who all signed the Confession,
representing the doctrinal view of the church held by over 100
autonomous Baptist churches contains the following:

The Catholic or universal church, which (with respect to the internal

work of the Spirit and truth of grace) may be called invisible, consists
of the whole number of

the elect, that have been one, or shall be

gathered into one, under Christ, the head thereof; and is the
source, the body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. (Hebrews
12:23; Colossians 1:18; Ephesians 1:10, 22, 23; Ephesians 5:23, 27,
32)53

The 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith weighs heavily in this discussion.
It represents not the views of a single church or individual but rather that of over 100
Baptist churches of its day. Moreover, the Preface states that it also represents the
same doctrinal views espoused in a previous London confession set forth by seven
autonomous congregations in the year 1643. 54 Combined with the Short Confession of
Faith of 1610, and Benjamin Keachs Catechism of 1677, it reveals that in the
seventeenth century, when Baptists still suffered persecution at the hands of the

22

various state churches, a belief in the doctrine of the Spiritual Church was widespread
among Baptists. Therefore, there can be no dispute that the doctrine of the Spiritual
Church has long-standing roots deep in Baptist heritage and has been shared by
Baptists of different varieties century after century.

The Catechism of Benjamin Keach, a major figure in Baptist history,

contains the following:
Q. 105. What is the visible church?
A. The visible church is the organized society of professing believers, in
all ages and places, wherein the Gospel is truly preached and the
ordinances of Baptism and the Lords Supper rightly administered. (Acts
2:42; 20:7; Acts 7:38; Eph. 4:11,12)
Q. 106. What is the invisible church?
A. The invisible church is the whole number of the elect, that have
been, are, or shall be gathered into one under Christ the head. (Eph.
1:10; 1:22, 23; John 10:16; 11:52)55

John Bunyan, in his work, Christian Behaviour, wrote the following:

"Take heed that thou do not neglect family duties among them thyself,
as, reading the word and prayer; if thou hast one in thy family that is
gracious, take encouragement; nay, if thou art alone, yet know that
thou hast both liberty to go to God through Christ, and also art at that
time in a capacity of having the universal church join with thee for the
whole number of those that shall be saved."56

23

In The Martyr's Mirror, published in 1660, Anabaptist historian

Thieleman J. van Braght included the following in his affirmation of the
Apostle's Creed:

"I believe in a holy general Christian Church, the communion of

saints."57

The Propositions and Conclusions Concerning True Christian Religion,

published no later than 1614 contains the following:

"That the visible church is a mystical figure outwardly of the true,

spiritual invisible church, which consisteth of the spirits of the just and
perfect men only, that is of the regenerate (Rev. i. 20, compared with
Rev. xxi. 2, 23, 27."58

The Short Confession of Faith signed by John Smyth and others in 1610
contains the following:

Such faithful, righteous people, scattered in several parts of the

world, being the true congregation of God, or the Church of Christ,
whom he saved, and for whom he gave himself, that he might sanctify
them, ye whom he hath cleansed by the washing of water in the word of
life: of all such is Jesus the Head, the Shepherd, the Leader, the Lord,

24

the King, and Master. Now although among these there may be mingled
a company of seeming holy ones, or hypocrites; yet nevertheless, they
are and remain only the righteous, true members of the body of Christ,
according to the spirit and the truth, the heirs of the promises, truly
saved from the hypocrites the dissemblers.59

In 1537, the influential Anabaptist leader, Menno Simons, wrote the

following:

"You see, worthy reader, all those who are thus born of God with
Christ, who thus conform their weak life to the Gospel, thus convert
themselves to follow the example of Christ, hear and believe His holy
Word, follow His commandments which He in plain words commanded us
in the holy Scriptures, these are the holy Christian Church which has
the promise; the true children of God, brothers and sisters of Christ."60

In 1526, during his imprisonment in Zurich for his Anabaptist convictions,

the influential Anabaptist leader, Balthasar Hubmaier wrote the
following:

"I also believe and confess one holy universal Christian church, that is, a
communion of saints and a brotherhood of many righteous and believing
men, who unanimously confess one Lord, one God, one faith, and one
baptism, which is gathered, established, and governed on earth by the
one living divine Word."61

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B. WALDENSIAN CONFESSIONS OF FAITH

At his martyrdom in 1558, the Waldensian pastor Giaffredo Varaglia

included the following statement in his testimony to the spectators:

"I want you to know that I believe in the Holy Catholic Church; I have
received mediation from no person, but lean soley on God's Word."62

The Third Waldensian Confession, dated at 1544 A. D. contains the

following:

We believe that there is one holy church, comprising the whole

assembly of the elect and faithful, that have existed from the beginning
of the world, or that shall be to the end thereof. Of this church the
Lord Jesus Christ is the head it is governed by his word and guided by
the Holy Spirit. In the church it behooves all Christians to have
fellowship. For her He [Christ] prays incessantly, and his prayer for it is
most acceptable to God, without which indeed there could be no
salvation.63

The Catechism of the Waldenses contains the following:

"As it is considered substantially, by the holy catholic church is meant
all the elect of God, from the beginning of the world to the end, by the
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grace of God through the merit of Christ, gathered together by the Holy
Spirit, and foreordained to eternal life; the number and names of whom
are known to him who has elected them: and in this church remain none
who are reprobate. But the church as it is considered according to the
truth of the ministry, is the company of the ministers of Christ,
together with the people committed to their charge, using
the ministry of faith, hope and charity."64

The Confession of Faith of the Waldenses, dated at 1120 A. D. contains

the following:

We believe and firmly maintain all that is contained in the twelve

articles of the symbol, commonly called the apostles creed, and we
regard as heretical whatever is inconsistent with the said twelve
articles.65

The significance of this declaration, made long before the Protestant

Reformation, may not be immediately apparent to those unfamiliar with
the Apostles Creed. The Apostles Creed corresponded basically to our
fundamentals of the faith, but was written in a creedal form. The
Received Form, dated at 390 A. D., reads as follows:

I believe in God the Father Almighty; and in Jesus Christ His only
(begotten) Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of
the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and
buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose from the dead; He

27

ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father
Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I
believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic Church; the communion of
saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the
life everlasting. Amen.66

We see therefore that the Waldensians of the twelfth century confessed a

belief in the Spiritual Church, a full four centuries before Martin Luthers appearance
at the Diet of Worms, and denounced a refutation of this doctrine as heretical. This
completely eliminates the idea that Martin Luther invented the doctrine of the
Spiritual Church, or that it developed out of any Protestant influences upon Baptists,
because, obviously, Protestantism itself did not exist. The Confession of the
Waldenses, dated at 1120 A. D., therefore establishes beyond any shadow of a doubt
that the doctrine of the Spiritual Church has longstanding roots in our Baptist
heritage.

C. THE PAULICIAN KEY OF TRUTH

However, we have testimony of even greater antiquity. The Key of
Truth, a Paulician document originating no later than the ninth century
includes no less than seventeen clear and unmistakable references to
the Spiritual Church. Their new converts were instructed as follows:

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"Ye shall believe in the holy apostles and in all who are the Universal
Catholic Church, and are not Latins, Greeks, or Armenians."67

III. THE AUTHORIZED VERSION AND THE CHURCH

Regardless of whatever view one may take on the Greek word ecclesia or
historic Baptist positions relating to the church, one fact is certain. The average
church member does not know much, if anything, about such materials, or the
discussions revolving around them. The average church member of an independent
Baptist Church knows little to nothing about the Greek language and little to nothing
about Baptist history. The average church member of an independent Baptist Church
has a King James Bible from which to read and to learn doctrine. The question then
becomes one of sufficiency. Is our Authorized Version sufficient to relate the doctrine
of the church without resorting to debates over a dead language? If it is, what does
our King James Bible say in plain, simple English?

Ephesians 4:4 says,

There is one body, and one Spirit even as ye are called in one hope of your
calling.68

29

What then is this one body? Ephesians 1:22-23 states,

And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all
things to the church, Which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.69

What do these passages say in plain, simple English to the average Englishspeaking church member who knows nothing of Greek? It says that There is one
body and that one body is the church. The only things that could complicate this
plain, simple truth in English are the demons of hell or the perverted minds of men
lifted up in arrogance and denominational pride, and the only way that they can do
that is by perverting a dead language and culture understood by few to make it serve
their ends or, like Roy Mason, by using a corrupted Bible such as the Revised Version,
because the Authorized Version supports the doctrine of the Spiritual Church.70

What else does the Authorized Version say to English-speaking readers? It says
that we are seated together with Christ in heavenly places.71 Notice the present
time state-of-being verb. This does not refer to a future event. It speaks of a
present spiritual reality. If we would insist upon an assembly, may we not find one
here, gathered together in one, with Christ?

What else does our King James Bible say to English-speaking readers? It says
that we are come to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are
written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made

30

perfect.72 Notice again the present-tense state-of-being verbs employed. If we

would insist upon an assembly, may we not find one here at the general assembly
and church of the firstborn, gathered together in one, with Christ?

IV. SOME OBJECTIONS ANSWERED

A. A PRETEXT FOR FORSAKING THE ASSEMBLY?
Some argue that if we accept the doctrine of the Spiritual Church, then people
have an excuse to neglect services at the local church.73 This is not true. It is an
unsubstantiated, weak and shallow argument, the argument of desperation. As stated
earlier, the New Testament gives us the local church with an earthly shepherd as a
symbolic representation of the Spiritual Church, the general assembly and church of
the firstborn with its Heavenly Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ. It gives us a balanced
equation, with the heavenly truth pictured by the earthly likeness. Throughout our
New Testament we find the Spiritual Church represented by earthly congregations
such as the Church at Rome, the Church at Corinth, the churches at Galatia, the
Church at Ephesus, the Church at Philippi, the Church at Colosse, the Church at
Smyrna, the Church at Pergamus, the Church at Babylon, the Church at Thyatira, the
Church at Sardis, the Church at Philadelphia, the Church at Laodicea, etc. Christians
were expected to gather together regularly for worship, instruction, communion, and
church business, as indicated by the epistles of our New Testament. Indeed, Hebrews
10:25 is both clear and authoritative. It states plainly,

31

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is;
but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

Careful study of this verse and its context will rule out any idea that it relates
to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, the Spiritual Church, but rather
to the local congregation.

B. A PRETEXT FOR ECUMENISM AND UNIVERSALISM?

Others object to the doctrine of the Spiritual Church on the grounds that it paves the
way for Ecumenism and Universalism.74 In response to this argument, we need only
consider that the word ecclesia means "a calling out." It demands division,
separation, defining the very essence of the Church in terms of Separatism, and
leaving no room whatsoever for the inclusive views of either Ecumenism or
Universalism. Simply put, the Church cannot "come out" and "move in" at the same
time. Bancroft stated it like this:
"It is not the aggregate of all the churches, constituted as they are at present of both
true and false professors, nor is it some particular church on earth, though some
churches have formed themselves into what they call a church of the whole, or a
catholic church; but it may be seen from the meaning of the word that if the church
should ever embrace all the world and become universal, it would cease to be a
church or called-out company."75

C. CONFUSING?
Perhaps someone would bring up Mason's claim that the doctrine of the
Spiritual Church is confusing.76 Masons argument on this point is dubious, at best.
But a simple answer may be given through the following illustration. Imagine a closeup photograph that is difficult to discern. One may distinguish some freckles, some
veins, some creases and wrinkles, and a few random hairs, but the actual subject of

32

the photograph remains unclear. Then the image zooms out to view the big picture.
Suddenly, the subject becomes quite clear and we realize that we have been looking
at a picture of a mans hand.

So it is with the body of Christ, the church. We may not recognize how
everything fits together from our limited perspective. But God, who sees the big
picture, recognizes the whole body distinctly as he has joined it together in one. 77
The fact that we cannot see the whole body as an organized organism does not mean
that the doctrine of the Spiritual Church as the body of Christ, as revealed by
inspiration in the book of Ephesians, teaches confusion, as Mason so dangerously
alleges.

CONCLUSION
The teaching that no Spiritual Church exists does not come from or agree with
the Word of God, Baptist history or any thorough and accurate Greek scholarship. It
comes from a half-truth interpretation of a Greek word which few know, and which
even fewer understand, or can debate over, and perhaps, worse than that, from a
spirit of denominational pride. It comes also from the use of corrupted versions of
Scripture based upon corrupted manuscripts by men like Roy Mason, who viewed our
Authorized Version of Scripture as an inferior translation. Therefore, to claim a
strong stand on the King James Bible, and then switch gears to the Greek language
and modern versions to defend a local-church-only position, is to confuse the

33

people of our congregations, which, generally, do not know Greek. Let us therefore,
relegate Roy Masons book, The Church That Jesus Built, to its rightful place in the
wastebasket, and let us build our theology on the preserved Word of God in our King
James Bible, on an accurate understanding of the Greek language, and on the
examples of our Baptist forefathers who have gone before.
NOTES

Roy Mason, The Church That Jesus Built, (Emmaus, PA: Challenge Press), 128.

M.H. Abrams and Stephen Greenblatt, The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 7th ed. (New York: W.W.
Norton & Co., 2001), 764-772.
3

Gerhard Kittle, ed., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. III., ed. and trans. Geoffrey W. Bromiley,
, by Karl Ludwig Schmidt, (Grand Rapids, MI: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1965), 531.
4

J. Gresham Machen, New Testament Greek for Beginners, (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1923), 262.

Ray Summers, Essentials of New Testament Greek (Greenwood, IN: privately printed, 2003), 148.

Ibid., 146.

James Strong, A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson
Publishers, 1990), 26.
8

Mason, 28.

Ibid.

10

Ibid.

11

Ibid.

Joseph H. Thayer, Thayers Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson
Publishers, 2002), 196.
12

13

Kittle, 514.

14

Ibid., 530.

15

Ibid., 514.

Manda Cooper, ed., This Day in Baptist History, When Church and State Marry, Justice Will Miscarry, by
David L. Cummins, (Greenville, SC: Bob Jones University Press, 1993), 15.
16

34

17

Plato, Euthyphro, Apology, Credo, trans. F.J. Church, Indianapolis, IN: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1956),
32.
18

William Jones, History of the Christian Church, vol. 1, (London, Ontario: Bethel Baptist Printing Ministry, 2003),
301.
19

David H. Sorenson, Touch Not the Unclean Thing, (Duluth, MN: Northstar Baptist Ministries, 2001), 40.

20

Bernard Ramm, Protestant Biblical Interpretation, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1970), 31, 32, 48-50.

21

Ibid., 31, 32.

22

Ibid, 49.

23

Ibid., 48.

24

Ibid., 49.

25

John 6:51 KJV.

26

John 6:53-55 KJV.

27

Matthew 16:6 KJV.

28

Matthew 16:18 KJV.

29

John 10:7 KJV.

30

John 10:9 KJV.

31

John 10:11 KJV.

32

John 15:1 KJV.

33

John 15:5-6 KJV.

34

John 21:15 KJV.

35

John 21:16 KJV.

36

Matthew 16; 6 - 12 KJV.

I Peter 2: 2 KJV.
38
I Peter 5: 2 KJV.
39
Ephesians 4: 11 KJV.
40
Gerhard Friedrich ed., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. VI., ed. and trans. Geoffrey W.
Bromiley, , , , by Joachim Jeremias, (Grand Rapids, MI: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Company, 1965), 485 - 487.
41
Midwestern Baptist College Statement of Faith http://www.midwesternbaptistcollege.net/content.cfm?id=2004
(accessed 5 September 2012).
42
Constitution of Lickspring Baptist Church, (Trafalgar, IN, 1970).
37

43

The Reformed Reader http://www.reformedreader.org/ccc/faithhand.htm (accessed 8 July 2009).

44

J. Dwight Pentecost, Things to Come (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1964), 199.

35

45

John R. Rice, Twelve Tremendous Themes, 7th ed. (Murfreesboro, TN: Sword of the Lord Publishers, 1943), 224 225.
46
Emery H. Bancroft, Christian Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976), 289.
47
Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, 2d ed. (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publisher's Marketing, 2011), 217.
48
The Reformed Reader http://www.reformedreader.org/ccc/ccd.htm (accessed 8 July 2009).
49

The Reformed Reader http://www.reformedreader.org/ccc/aop/english.htm (accessed 8 July 2009).

50

The Reformed Reader http://www.reformedreader.org/ccc/tfwb.htm (accessed 8 July 2009).

51

John Gill's Archive http://www.pbministries.org/books/gill/Practical_Divinity/Book_2/book2_01.htm (accessed 5

September 2012).
52
The Reformed Reader http://www.reformedreader.org/ccc/pc27.htm (accessed 8 July 2009).
53

The Reformed Reader http://www.reformedreader.org/ccc/1689lbc/english/1689econtents.htm (accessed 8 July

2009).
54

Ibid.

55

The Reformed Reader http://www.reformedreader.org/ccc/keachcat.htm (accessed 8 July 2009).

56

John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress and Other Select Works (Green Forest, AZ: Master Books, 2005), 777.
Theileman J. van Braght, ed., The Martyr's Mirror, 2d English ed. (Scottsdale, PA: Herald Press, 2009), 27.
58
The Reformed Reader http://www.reformedreader.org/ccc/acof1612.htm (accessed 5 September 2012).
59
The Reformed Reader http://www.reformedreader.org/ccc/scf1610.htm (accessed 8 July 2009).
57

60

J. C. Wenger, ed., The Complete Writings of Menno Simons (Scottsdale, PA: Herald Press, 1984), 89 - 94.
H. Wayne Pipkin and John H. Yoder, ed., Classics of the Radical Reformation: Balthasar Hubmaier (Scottsdale,
PA: Herald Press, 1989), 234 - 238.
62
Giorgio Tourn et al., You Are My Witnesses: The Waldensians Across 800 Years (Torino, Italy: Claudiana
Editrice, 1989), 84.
63
Jones, 38.
61

64

Jean Paul Perrin, History of the Old Albigensians Anterior to the Reformation (Philadelphia, Penn.: Griffith &
Simon, 1847), 216.
65
Jones, 35.
66

James Orr, Exposition of the Apostles Creed, by The Rev. James Dodds, D. D.
http://www.reformed.org/documents/apostles_creed_orr.html (accessed 26 July 2009).
67
68

Fred C. Conybeare, The Key of Truth (London: Clarendon Press, 1898), 94.
Ephesians 4:4 KJV.

69

Ephesians 1:22-23 KJV.

70

Mason, 39.

71

Ephesians 2:6 KJV.

72

Hebrews 12:23 KJV.

73

Robert J. Sargent, Landmarks of Baptist Doctrine (Oak Harbor, WA: Bible Baptist Church Publications, 2010),
IV: 569 - 570.
74
Ibid, 570.
75
Bancroft, 289.

36

76

Mason, 24-41.

77

Ephesians 4:1-16 KJV.

37