The Body of Christ: The Universal Church
“He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 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. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:15-19 ).
In Matthew 16:18 Jesus promised to build His church. In Mark 16:15-16 he instructed his disciples to teach all nations his word baptizing those that believe. On Pentecost following the ascension of Jesus those saved by obedient baptism were added by the Lord to the church Acts 2:37-47. To what church were they added by the Lord? Acts 2:47 simply states “the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” What is meant by “the church” in this verse? We understand there was a group of God’s children working together in the area of Jerusalem to teach the Gospel. Was this the church to which the Lord added the saved? Is this the church that Jesus promised to build? If this is the church Jesus built then I must be a part of that assembly. To better understand the phrase “the church” we must understand what church means.
