Can a Christian be the church by himself?
Previously, we looked at Matthew 18:19-20, which we discovered cannot be used to define church as a minimum gathering of 2 or 3 people. So what is church? It is defined not as the physical gathering of people in a particular location, but as the spiritual gathering by God of all believers into Jesus Christ (See the discussion here).
So, it seems possible for a person to be the church all by himself.
However, I do not think a person can be the church all by himself when he is alone.
Confused?
Since the church is a spiritual gathering, and we do not “go to church” but the church goes with us, then wherever we go, there goes the church. However, one of the primary functions and purposes of the church is to be the hands, feet, and voice of Jesus in the world, which is impossible when you are all by yourself.
There must be other people around to you and I to be the hands, feet, and voice of Jesus to.
So, we cannot go rogue. We cannot be Lone Ranger Christians. We cannot isolate ourselves from other people and be the church all by ourself in the woods.
Isolation from other believers is never wise, and is actually quite dangerous. Though theologically, you are still “in church” even when you are not physically with other believers, this does not mean that you can properly function as the church when you fail to gather physically with other believers.
While the church is with you wherever you go, the church is not just Jesus and me. All believers around the world and throughout time are the church, and in order to function as the church, we must seek opportunities to gather together.
A lot of this is elaborated further by Paul in 1 Corinthians 11, and his discussion of spiritual gifts and the Body of Christ, which we will look at later.
But for now, what do you think? Can a lone Christian be the church, but not function as the church? What about the Chinese Christian pastor in a solitary prison cell?
So, I’m gonna get grammatical again. 🙂
The word “ekklesia” (“church”) is a collective, like the English words crowd or team. One person can’t be a crowd or team, because by definition the terms refer to more than one individual (when referring to people). In the same way, one person cannot be called “ekklesia” (“church”).
Now, one person alone can be a child of God. But, I think, God’s creates and then re-creates his children for intimate relationships with him and with others. While there may be certain instances where that kind of relationship with others is not possible, that should be the exception, not the rule.
Unfortunately, I’ve heard from too many disciples of Jesus who honestly desire and seek intimate relationships with others, but are turned away for various reasons. Most of the reasons are organizational, institutional, or even doctrinal in nature, but are not based on their mutual relationships with God through Jesus Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
-Alan
Alan,
I agree with you that ekklesia is a collective, or gathering. I just don’t think it always refers to a physical collective or gathering. It can also be a spiritual gathering of all believers into Jesus Christ. The entry for ekklesia (under kaleo) in TDNT really emphasizes this. For example, here are a few quotes:
“The decisive point is not that someone or something assembles; it is who or what assembles. The explicit or implicit addition “of God” or “of the Lord” tells us who assembles, or who causes men to assemble” (III:505).
The article says that the assembly is qualitative, not quantitative. “Size is of no account. It is in being when God gathers His own.”
“Each community, however small, represents the total community” (III:506).
“The decisive point is fellowship with Christ. Epigrammatically, a single individual could be — and would have to be — the ekklesia if he has fellowship with Christ. Only on this basis do we have a fellowship of men with one another as brothers. In face of all sociological attempts to understand the question of the church, it must be considered that in Paul, in his disciples, and then in the Fourth Evangelist, ecclesiology is simply Christology and vice versa” (III:512).
I’m not saying we have to agree with KL Schmidt who researched and wrote that article, but to me, his arguments are fairly persuasive.
Jeremy,
If I understand him correctly, then I agree. However, I think he’s shifting categories, because he’s using the term ekklesia in two different ways.
1) ekklesia can be used in the spiritual/eschatological sense of God gathering/assembling his people out of the world. However, in this sense, no believer is ever alone, because they are part of that spiritual/eschatological gathering. Physically, the believer may be alone, but the usage is not physical.
2) ekklesia can be used to refer to an actual gathering/assembly of people. In this case, again, the person who is part of the ekklesia is not alone, since in this usage the term refers to more than one person.
It sounds like Schmidt may be shifting categories between those two usages of the term ekklesia. What do you think?
-Alan
Alan,
In his article, he goes into great detail about the various types of physical gatherings that were common in NT times, and then he also talks about the spiritual/non-physical types of gatherings. After this, he basically asks, “Of which type is the NT ekklesia?” and concludes that is primarily the spiritual/non-physical type of gathering. He even goes into detail on the various places in Scripture which seem to refer to only a physical gathering (e.g., “the ekklesia in Rome”), and shows how even there, the physical gathering is representative of the entire spiritual gathering.
I probably need to wade through it a little slower, but it is a challenging article.
We understand church as all followers of Jesus, past and present. We think it is important to gather with other believers, but this may happen in many ways.
When I hear the idea of gathering with other believers discussed, it is almost always defined as gathering in a certain way, such as going to a building at a certain time and engaging in or observing certain activities. I have participated in this type of activity in the past and have noticed that in many groups, most people do not know each other and accordingly have no way of knowing if the other people present are believers.
Sitting on a cushy chair listening to songs that use the name Jesus and listening to a speaker make a speech that may or may not have anything to do with Jesus by themselves don’t necessarily constitute a gathering of believers. For us, we gather to discuss Scripture, to encourage each other, to hear each others stories of where we saw Jesus working, to work alongside each other as we serve the community in Jesus’ name Then we each depart to follow Jesus in our everyday day lives, to find opportunities daily to love our neighbors.
My wife and I recently made a couple of trips to the winter homeless shelter to deliver clothing, blankets and other items to help homeless people make it through what was probably the most dangerous two nights of the year, considering the cold, rain and sleet. While we were there, we talked to some of the people. We encouraged them and they encouraged us. We told them we brought the items to show Jesus’ love. They told us how Jesus was helping them and taking care of them. No songs, no announcements and no sermons. But we met with other believers. The church met. If you will, we “did church”.
That’s what I’m talking about! The church is the people of God who follow Jesus (or act as Jesus) to the world.
A christian that is a lone ranger can get a lot done without the influence of tradition and grow faster at first but isolation is something Satan likes too because its easier to pick people off and there comes a point where you need others to see the things you cant see about yourself and guide you with the experience they have instead of relying of only what you know and can find online or someplace else on subjects the bible isnt deep on
Right. Isolation is dangerous. I think that as we follow Jesus, He will naturally lead us into relationships with other people.
I think a single individual Christian can be the church on his own. It is possible that can be done. Because it is written in 1 John that each of us has fellowship with the Father and the Son because of the Holy Spirit indwelling within us. Jesus promised His disciples that a comforter will come and not to leave Jerusalem until the Spirit comes to equip them for the ministry. Jesus knew, I think, the church will get persecuted and scattered. Christians were going to be put into prison, driven out of synagogues, and thrown out of cities. That’s why Jesus said, “I will not leave you as orphans.”
If you read Acts 8, you read of Saul of Tarsus persecuting the church and scattering them abroad and then we see the only scriptural reference of Phillip’s ministry. It was quoted in scripture that Phillip went into cities in Samaria preaching the word and healing people. Because the Lord was with him. Many did become believers and gave Phillip encouragement I’m sure. Of course, the word of Phillip’s ministry reached Peter and John and they journeyed to Samaria. Ironically, this was the same region that Peter and John called fire and brimstone to rain on them during Jesus’ ministry. They eventually met with Phillip to strengthen the Lord’s work by laying hands on people to receive the Holy Spirit. This shows that no matter how solitary a believer, the Lord will bring fellowship of brothers into our lives somehow. But, Peter confronted a sorcerer because of his greed for more power. That’s why I understand why Simon tried purchasing the Holy Spirit with money. Then, the Spirit called Phillip to go south and he met the Ethiopian eunuch and preached the gospel to him and baptized him. Phillip was vanishing and taken up to another city and he alone visited other cities until he came to Caesarea. The scriptures did not say he went with other disciples to the Eunuch and so on. I concluded he was humanely alone but spiritually he was strengthened by God to minister to the cities he went to.
This illustrates that the Lord meets our needs everywhere we go even as far as fellowship and encouragement. In my spiritual journey with the Lord, I testify that I experienced the same encouragement as well. When I stopped assembling in a local church building, I did encounter brothers at work and public places. So, I have seen and experienced that Christ never is just relegated to a local church fellowship alone. As Paul the Apostle said, Christ is above all, through all, and in all. Even the Lone Ranger had friends that helped him on his journey. So the good news for lone ranger Christians out there is, you are not ultimately alone because Jesus is Lord of ALL.
A single individual can’t be the church except under unique circumstances such as being stranded on a island or some such place where there is no one else. The true church is referred to as a body with each member being part of the body; with each member being given at least one spiritual gift for the purpose of ministering to the body. There are too many verse that pertain to the interaction of the members of the church. If you live in area where there is no Bible believing church you can start a home church.
Craig, Doesn’t it depend on what the purpose of the church is ? If the purpose is to play a game according to some sort of set of rules found in various instruction verses, then is that it ? or is the purpose of the church for mutual support and building up.
I know places where Christians gather together and all they do is go through the routine of a set formula, they play the game; songs, sermon, money on the plate, cup coffee, small talk , with little evidence of mutual edification.( I have been there )
If a person helps their neighbour with support and concern is that not, in a sense, being the church in the world.
I guess we can find verses to “prove” anything. The famous painter Matisse said ” Exactitude is not truth “. it sounds silly but maybe it is a bit of wisdom to think on, in my mind it is similar to the teaching of the theologian Francis Schaeffer who said that the universal is not merely the sum of all the particulars.
Is the truth of the bible, just the sum of all the exact verses?
Is the church just the sum of all the correct parts exactly fitted into place?.
The more I read the bible, the more I find that the universal, Christ, is so much greater than all the little bits and pieces that we try to stitch together into an exact and neat package that conforms to the right verses.
As I read Jeremy Myers blogs I think that is the vision that he has.
First of all I understand the exasperation with the institutional church (i.e. churchianity), but to present the idea of the individual as the church is to go from one extreme of error to another. Second of all what have I said that would warrant the “we can find verses to prove anything” statement? The Bible is extremely clear that the church is the body of Christ, we (believers) are members of the body and that we have all been given spiritual gifts by God for the building up of the body and ministering one to another so that we can go out into the world as ambassadors for Christ. One would have to be spiritually blind to read through Acts and the epistles, especially Paul’s to see that the believers meet to together. If you don’t like the way church is being done then start your own church with like minded believers.
You seem to have missed my point, which is certainly not about personal preferences.
I like your explanation. I think this is an old thread but I am going through these comments because of what’s going on right now with Covid and churches being banned from opening. Thank you.
Hi, Craig
Thank you for your feedback and let me add on to say you’re right. Not one single individual on the entire planet can be the church all by himself. Not in the absolute sense. If I say, “I am the whole church on earth and nobody else is” I’m more likely got a drug addiction and an ego problem. But I like to clarify that an individual believer in Christ is still part of the church. Jesus has always taught throughout His ministry two commandments which sum up the Law and the Prophets by bringing the hearers to the heart of the Law with “Love the Lord your God with all your heart,soul, mind, and strength.”. “And love your neighbor as yourself.”Yes, there’s still interaction within the universal body of Christ but that edification and interaction isn’t solely legislated in any local synagogue system. Jesus said “Where two or three are gathered in my name, that’s where I am.”. Jesus is teaching that he is everywhere to everyone who call on His name.
I believe this.