Why the Church?

MEMORY SELECTION: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” —Matthew 16:24

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Matthew 16:13-26

THE answer that Peter gave to the question asked by Jesus, “But whom say ye that I am?” (vs. 15) was a profound statement of truth: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (vs. 16) The word Christ is from the Greek word “Christos,” which means anointed. This is equivalent to the Hebrew word “mashiyach,” which means Messiah.

In effect, then, Peter was saying that Jesus was the long-promised Messiah who was prophesied to be Israel’s deliverer. Messiah applies to one who is anointed with oil, and the word has its root in the practice of Israel of anointing the priests and kings selected by God who were to serve the nation.

The ingredients of the oil used for this purpose were described in God’s instructions (Exod. 30:22-25), and this oil was used throughout the Old Testament to picture the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon the servants whom God selected for a particular purpose.

The prophecy concerning Jesus in Isaiah 61 reads in part: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. …”—vss. 1,2

It was this depth of meaning that was behind Peter’s answer to our Lord’s question, and the spiritual understanding of this profound truth of God’s Word is what prompted Jesus to say, “Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. 16:17) Jesus was a stumbling block to the Jews, and their eyes were blinded, except as individuals were enlightened by the Heavenly Father.—Matt. 13:14-17; Heb. 9:15

In the 18th verse of Matthew, the 16th chapter, Jesus said, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

The word Peter is from the Greek word “Petros,” which means a piece of rock or a small stone, but the word rock in the text is from the Greek word “petra,” which means a mass of rock. “Petra” is feminine in gender and therefore could not apply to Peter, but rather to Peter’s confession that Jesus was the Christ. Then, continuing, Jesus said that upon this profound truth—that he was the Christ, or the Anointed, or the Messiah—he would build his church.

How could this massive foundation stone of truth be related to the church? As we know, the word church is from the Greek word “ekklesia” and means a calling out, or a called-out class. In the 24th and 25th verses of Matthew 16, Jesus lays down the terms of becoming one of this called-out class: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” In other words, those of the called-out class are invited to a sacrificial life, walking in the footsteps of Jesus.—Rom. 6:3-5; 12:1,2

The Apostle Paul states that this arrangement of God’s is a great mystery, “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. … For the body is not one member, but many.”—I Cor. 12:12,14

And so the statement of Jesus, that upon this great truth—that he was the Messiah—he would build his church, has been in the process of being fulfilled all down through the Gospel Age, for this is “the acceptable year of the Lord” for those who aspire to be members of the body of Christ. Christ, or the Messiah, then, is composed of Jesus the Head and the church his body. It is this greater Messiah that will be the Mediator of the New Covenant, through which blessings will flow during the kingdom reign of Christ and his church.

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