A USE YOUR BIBLE CORRESPONDENCE COURSE (David D. Bonner) LESSON 7 THE NATURE AND UNITY OF THE CHURCH A. BELOW ARE A NUMBER OF THINGS GOD'S PEOPLE (the church) ARE SAID TO BE: 1. God's people are said to be the church. The word "church" is translated from the Greek word "ekklesia" which means "called out." The word was used a long time before Christ by the Greeks to mean any called out assembly, See Lesson 5, A, 2, to see the two ways the word church is used (local and universal). a. How many churches did Jesus say He'd build? (Matt 16:18) b. What is the church built upon? (Matt 16:18; 1 Cor 3:11) c. Who is the Head of the church? (Eph 5:23) d. Is Christ the Head of something which is non-essential? If yes, does that make Christ non-essential? e. What are those in the church referred to as? (1 Cor 14:33; Rom 1:7; 1 Cor 1:2; Phil 1:1) f. What are saints said to be? (1 Cor 1:2) g. Sanctified means set apart or made holy. The lesson or nature of the church taught by the word church is that God's people are called out of sin and are set apart for God and His use. h. What was the church bought with? (Acts 20:28) 2. The church is said to be the body of Christ. This is, no doubt, a comparison of God's people with a human body. a. What is the church said to be? (Col 1:18,24; Eph 1:22-23) 1
b. How many bodies are there? (Eph 4:4; 1 Cor 12:20; Rom 12:4) c. How many heads are there? (Col 1:18) d. How many churches are there? (according to the Bible) e. If a body had two heads, or if one head had many bodies, what would it be said to be? (NOTE: Many teach the church has two heads and some teach Christ has many bodies or churches. Can either position be right? f. How does one get into the body? (1 Cor 12:13) g. Who are the members of the body? (1 Cor 12:13,20,27; Eph 5:30) h. Are all members of the body important? (1 Cor 12:15-22) Why? I. What is Christ the Saviour of? (Eph 5:23) j. Does one have to be in the church to be saved? (LESSON: God's people are the body over which Christ is Head and the body must take all orders from that Head. The Head wants each member to work.) 3. The church is the bride of Christ. a. Who is the Lamb of God? (John 1:29) b. Who is the bridegroom? (Rev 21:9) c. How is Christ over the church? (Eph 5:23) d. Why will a young man who loves his parents one day leave them of his own accord? (Eph 5:31) e. Why is it a great mystery for one to leave the world of sin for Christ (to be a part of the bride of Christ)? (Eph 5:32) (LESSON: Relationship of submission to Christ. This figure shows the relationship is one of love. 4. The church is the house (family) of God. 2
a. What is the church of God said to be? (1 Tim 3:15) b. What is a man's house? (Acts 16:31; 1 Cor 16:15) c. How does one get into a family? d. How does one get into God's family? (John 3:3-5) e. Why is the process of becoming a Christian called the new birth? (Rom 6:4) f. How different is one after conversion to Christ? (Col 3:9-10) g. Who is the Father in the family? (Col 3:17) h. Who are the children? (1 John 3:1-2) I. If God has any children outside of His family (the church), are they legitimate? j. Can one, then, be a child of God and not be in God's family which is the church? k. How important does this make being in the church? l. Whom will the Father listen to? (Matt 6:9; 1 Pet 3:12) m. Whom will the Lord not listen to? (1 Pet 3:12; John 9:31) n. What are the children to each other? (2 Pet 3:15; Acts 21:7) o. Whom are saints especially interested in? (Gal 6:10) (LESSON: The closeness of those in God's family to God the Father and to each other.) p. What will the children of God do for each other? (1 John 3:17) 3
q. Who else will God's children help? (Gal 6:10) (Matt 22:39; 7:12) (Matt 5:44; Rom 12:20) 5. The church is the kingdom. a. What did Paul say he was in? (Col 1:13) b. Who is King? (Rev 17:14) c. What is the law? (Gal 6:2) d. Who are the citizens? (Eph 2:19) e. How wide is the territory? (Matt 28:19; 1 Thes 1:8) f. How much authority does a king have? g. How much authority does Jesus have? (Matt 28:18) h. How much authority does this leave for a church council, preacher, creed, book, or anything or anyone else? I. What does Colossians 3:17 teach in respect to authority? (LESSON: The authority of Christ is absolute and the church must bow to it.) 6. The church is the temple of God. a. Who is the foundation of the temple? (1 Cor 3:11) b. Who are the stones in the temple? (1 Pet 2:5) c. Who is the chief corner stone? (Eph 2:20) d. How serious is it to destroy (by corrupting) God's temple or church? (1 Cor 3:16-17) e. What kind of a foundation is Jesus? (1 Cor 10:4) (LESSON: Shows the solid foundation of God's people.) B. UNITY 1. For what did Jesus pray? (John 17:20-21) 4
2. What did Paul condemn? (1 Cor 1:10) 3. What is division a sign of? (1 Cor 3:3-4) 4. How can two who differ come to have unity? 5. What did Jude command? (Jude 3) 6. What did Paul do? (Acts 17:1-3) (Acts 17:17) 7. Should we do the same today? 8. What was Paul always ready to do? (Phil 1:16) 9. After Jesus had public discussions with the Pharisees and the Sadducees, did they want to have any more discussions? (Matt 22:46) 10. Who are the ones today who refuse discussions religiously? 11. What did Apollos do? (Acts 18:28) 12. Where did he do it? (Acts 18:28) 13. Did Paul even withstand those in the church who were wrong? Gal 2:11) Who was wrong in practice whom Paul had to withstand? (Gal 2:11) 14. Did Paul just withstand Peter privately or before all? (Gal 2:14) 15. Are we to do the same thing today? C. GOD'S PLAN FOR UNITY. Ephesians 4:4-6. 1. There is body. What is the body? (Eph 1:22-23) 5
2. There is spirit. What is the Spirit's sword? (Eph 6:17) 3. There is hope. What is this hope? (Tit 1:2; 3:7) 4. There is Lord. Who is the Lord? (Rev 17:14) 5. There is faith. What are Christians to do regarding the faith? (Jude 3) (Rom 16:26) 6. There is baptism. What is the purpose of that baptism? (Acts 2:38) (Acts 22:16) (1 Cor 12:13; Gal 3:27) 7. There is God. What are we to do in respect to God? (Matt 4:10) Material formatted and typed by: Richie Thetford 6