The Church in Light of the Trinity
What is the church? Is it a building? Is it a bride? Is it a body? Evidently it’s all of the above. Scripture gives us a myriad of pictures for how we might understand the gathering of believers (Eph. 2:21; 5:22-33, 1 Cor. 15:20-23).[1] Each picture offers a different perspective. But none of them describe the Church in her entirety.
Throughout history, the church has been understood largely by her marks and/or attributes. According to the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, the church is “one, holy, catholic and apostolic.” Others have described the church by her faithfulness to the Word, sacrament (read: ordinance), and discipline. By rightly proclaiming and handling the Word, administering the ordinances, and practicing church discipline, the church will remain a “true church.”[2]
While I agree with both of these understandings of the church, I would also like to propose that we understand the Church in regards to the Triune God. For this reason, I’ve appreciated the following definition of the church:
The church is the people of God who have been saved through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ and have been incorporated into his body through baptism with the Holy Spirit.[3]
I’m convinced that the best way we can understand the church is from an ontological approach. This means we should think about the church in regards to her attributes and characteristics, and how these orient us to the Triune God.[4]
Gregg Allison argues that the church, both universal and local, has seven attributes:[5]
(1) Doxological, or oriented to the glory of God;
(2) Logocentric, or centered on the incarnate Word of God, Jesus Christ, and the inspired Word of God, Scripture;
(3) Pneuma-dynamic, or created, gathered, gifted and empowered by the Holy Spirit;
(4) Covenantal;
(5) Confessional;
(6) Missional; and
(7) Eschatological.[6]
The first three reference the church’s origin and orientation, and the last four her function. I’d like to unpack the first three more in this article.
From my own experience, many churches don’t emphasize equally each member of the Trinity in their church practice.[7] They tend to focus on one in their practice or understanding of the church rather than all three. They may talk about the Spirit “filling” the service, or talk about Jesus as the head of the Church, but it often stops there. But as Edmund Clowney writes, “According to the Bible, the church is the people of God, the assembly and body of Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.”[8] For that reason, I’d like to offer a helpful balance in how the church should live in light of the Trinity.
Glorifying the Father
To begin, the church should be “doxological.” She should be oriented or focused toward the glory of God. We find in both the Old and New Testaments a specific “people of God” who are set aside for His own purposes. Ultimately, we know that those purposes include giving God ultimate glory.[9]
In a way, the church exists for the purpose of worship. Clowney writes, “To worship . . . is to gather in God’s ekklesia [church].”[10] After all, God the Father planned our redemption and promised to bring our dead bones to life (Ezek. 36-37). He promised to restore our hearts and lands to make us a bold witness among the nations.[11] Because of God’s great promises and wondrous sovereignty, we owe Him all glory, honor, and praise (Rom. 11:36). By pointing our worship and glory toward God, we respond to all the goodness and grace He has dispensed on us.
And yet, when the disciples asked to see the Father’s glory, Christ responded, “He that has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn. 14:9). These same disciples/apostles would need this understanding, since they would become the pillars of the New Testament church (cf. John 15:16, 2 Cor. 5:1-21, Eph. 2:20, 2 Pet. 1:1-2).
Centered on the Son
The church should be “logocentric,” or centered on the Word. Because the church is under Christ’s authority (Eph. 1:22; 5:23; 1 Cor. 11:3; Col. 1:18; 2:10), she is also centered on Christ (1 Cor. 1:1-9; Col. 1:15-23). As Christians we know of two “words”: (1) the Inspired Word, Scripture; and (2) the Incarnate Word, Christ. By centering on the Inspired Word, this doesn’t mean we diminish our focus on Christ. After all, we only know of Christ through His special revelation to us in the Bible. To be centered on Scripture is to be centered on our Savior.
When we study Scripture, specifically Paul’s writings, we see that Christ has and will have complete supremacy in the cosmos and the church. Christ is not only preeminent, but also central. The entire church is founded on Christ as her cornerstone (Eph. 2:20). The Gospel of our Savior is the prophetic message that brings the church to life and sends the church on mission. As Adam brought the curse upon humanity, Christ created a “new humanity” in Himself.[12] And we seek to boldly proclaim His message.
I’m often moved by the beautiful words of the old hymn, “The Sands of Time are Sinking”:
The bride eyes not her garment,
But her dear Bridegroom’s face;
I will not gaze at glory
But on my King of grace.
Not at the crown He giveth
But on His pierced hand;
The Lamb is all the glory
Of Emmanuel’s land.[13]
Christ is not only the center of our lives, but also the center of all of heaven and earth (Col. 1:20). If Christ is the central focus both of our own lives and of creation, then He must also be the center of our ecclesiology. This is more than a question of location. He is the center of our very being (Acts 17:28). But He has not left us on our own.
Empowered by the Spirit
Clowney continues, “The church does not live with a fading memory of the presence of the Lord, but with the reality of his coming in the Spirit.”[14] The Spirit confirms the promises of the Father. He empowers and equips believers to be a church centered on Christ (1 Cor. 12:1-11). He illuminates our minds (1 Cor. 2:14-15) and produces His fruit in us (Gal. 5:22-23).[15] As Gregg Allison says, the church is “pneuma-dynamic”—Spirit empowered.
As the Spirit indwells within both the individual believer and the corporate church, we come to realize that the Spirit in His work enables it all. It is not of our own works (Eph. 2:9), but rather the Holy Spirit working in us. As one author writes, “The great resource in the building of Christ’s church is the gift of the Spirit.”[16] After all, Christ promised us one like Him that would allow His church to do “greater works” (John 14:12).
Conclusion
I pray that this article has expanded your understanding of the church. I have aimed to approach this subject primarily to see what Scripture says about the church. We must know what something is before we can know what it does. Once we come to realize the wondrous identity of the church, I hope it produces change in the way we partake in the church.
For a moment, think of how the church’s attributes are regularly expressed in the local body. Now consider how the Heidelberg Catechism answers the question, “What is my only comfort in life and in death?”:
That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own, but belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ, who with His precious blood has fully satisfied for all my sins, and redeemed me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me, that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must work together for my salvation. Wherefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me heartily willing and ready henceforth to live unto Him. (emphasis added)[17]
As we participate in our churches and seek to understand the community we have become a part of, let us remember to do so in light of the Trinity.[18] Let us remind ourselves and others of the glory we owe the Father. Let us learn to center the church, and their lives, on Christ the Son. And let us not forget that we are empowered to accomplish all of this through the indwelling of the Spirit.
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[1] For more, see Paul Sevier Minear, Images of the Church in the New Testament (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004).
[2] For more, see Richard D. Phillips, Philip G. Ryken, and Mark E. Dever, The Church: One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing 2004); Hezekiah Harvey, The Church: Its Polity and Ordinances (Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1879); Edmund P. Clowney, The Church (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1995); Mark Dever, The Church: The Gospel Made Visible (Nashville: B&H Publishing, 2012).
[3] Gregg R. Allison, Sojourners and Strangers: The Doctrine of the Church (Wheaton: Crossway, 2012), 29.
[4] This is contrasted against a functional approach, which understands the church in light of activities, roles, or ministries; and a teleological approach, which understands the church in terms of purpose or its goal. For clarification between these approaches, see Allison, 51.
[5] The universal (or “invisible”) church includes all believers in all space and time. The local (or “visible”) church includes all those in membership of a local congregation. While many argue the local simply makes up a portion of the universal church, I believe that explanation is incomplete. For a helpful analysis of the relationship between these two spheres, see Millard Erickson, Christian Theology, 2nd Edition (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1998), Part 11, chapters 49-53.
[6] Allison, 31.
[7] As Edmund Clowney writes, “The Reformed family of churches has emphasized the church as the people of God; the sacramental churches as the body of Christ. The Anabaptist churches as the disciples of Christ; and the Pentecostal churches as the fellowship of the Spirit” (The Church: Contours of Christian Theology [Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1995], 28).
[8] Ibid., 28.
[9] Mark Dever, The Church: The Gospel Made Visible (Wheaton: Crossway, 2012), 3-8.
[10] Clowney, 31.
[11] Ibid., 28.
[12] Ibid., 43.
[13] Samuel Rutherford and A.R. Cousin, The Sands of Time are Sinking, The Christian Treasury: 1857.
[14] Clowney, 50.
[15] I’ve noted in a previous essay that the study of the Holy Spirit, pneumatology, has largely been neglected in recent years. For good treatments on this subject, see Sinclair Ferguson, The Holy Spirit (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 1997); W.A. Criswell, The Holy Spirit in Today’s World (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976); John Stott, Baptism and Fullness: The Work of the Holy Spirit (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006); Thomas Oden, Systematic Theology, Vol. III: Life in the Spirit (New York: HarperCollins, 1994); Malcom Yarnell III, “The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit” in A Theology for the Church ed. Danny Akin (Nashville, B&H Academic, 2014); and Christopher Wright, Knowing the Holy Spirit Through the Old Testament (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2006).
[16] Clowney, 69.
[17] Heidelberg Catechism, Question 1.
[18] For two recent and accessible treatments toward Trinitiarian theology, see Fred Sanders, The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010); and Michael Reeves Delighting in the Trinity: An Introduction to the Christian Faith (Downers Grove, IVP Academic, 2012).
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