Doctrine of the Church
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ANTH-200
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Religion
Date
Apr 3, 2024
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5
Uploaded by GrandFogChinchilla5
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Doctrine of the Church
Jackson Million
Essential Doctrinal Themes
Professor Jordan Muck
February 22, 2024
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Doctrinal Summary
The doctrine of the Church is that the church is the community of all true believers for all time
(Grudem 1999). There are a variety of concepts and practices that make up what the church is.
With this definition that means that the church can be visible and invisible, true or false, more
pure or less pure, and unified. The more negative aspects of a church come from the worldly
nature with some churches being false and some being less pure, however that is not all
churches. Churches can be seen as true or pure churches through their preaching of the word or
gospel message, the work of the Holy Spirit, and practices of the sacraments of baptism and the
Lord’s supper. Through the Holy Spirit we each have certain gifts or abilities that allow us to
serve others and to glorify God. The first sacrament, baptism, is a not saving public declaration
of one’s saving faith and trust in Jesus. The second sacrament, the Lord’s supper, is the taking of
bread and wine in remembrance of the sacrificial death that Christ performed for our salvation
and purity.
Personal Conclusions/Beliefs
Listed above are the specifics of what a church does and is more of a literal definition. For me
the church and all its characteristics listed above can be summed up in two words; edification
and evangelism. The first, edification, is the improvement of one’s self in wisdom, knowledge,
and in our case faith. We do this to glorify God as Ephesians 3:16 says, “According to the riches
of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner
being” (ESV 2001). Edification in the Church is taking part of the Lord’s supper as a way of
remembrance and strengthening of our faith. Baptism is one of the initial steps in edification. We
are strengthening our faith after publicly declaring it to the body of Christ, so that it glorifies God
through our obedience to his commands. Not only this but our using our gifts of the Spirit
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glorifies God and strengthens our faith. God has given us gifts and we should use our gifts to
serve one another, (1 Peter 4:10, ESV, 2001). Going further on that if God has given us these
gifts, so using the gifts that He has given us glorifies him because it was all intended for His
glory (Romans 11:36, ESV, 2001). By using the gifts and strengthening them we can glorify him
whether in the physical church service or in the community. Second Evangelism can take place
in the church through how we preach the gospel. A church should preach the gospel so that it can
edify current believers, but maybe even more importantly so it can reach those who are unsaved
and may not have accepted Christ. When we preach the gospel we are glorifying and increasing
thanksgiving, (2 Corinthians 4:15, ESV, 2001).
Alternative View
The alternative views listed in this section are the greatest in the section regarding the Lord’s
supper. There are three main practices and beliefs which are the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and
Protestant views. The first, Roman Catholic, view is that the elements of bread and wine in the
Lord’s supper are the actual body and blood of Christ. This is otherwise known as
transubstantiation (Transubstantiation: Theology, History, and Christian Unity 2019). This view
for me is incorrect because it would mean to crucify Christ over and over again, which would
take away from his one sacrifice on the Cross. The second is that the elements are not Christ’s
actual body, but rather He is present in, with, and under the elements (Grudem 1999). This view
still seems to put too much emphasis on the elements themselves, and takes away from Christ’s
own sacrifice. The final view is that the elements are symbolic to what Christ did on the cross.
The purpose is to be in awestruck remembrance of what Christ has done on the cross, not to
repeat the crucifixion of his body again and again.
Personal Application
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For my personal application to this doctrine I want to focus on the whole elements of the church.
For me here at Grace I am a student attempting to build up my knowledge in school. However I
can also use this very influential time in my life to edify my faith in the church I attended, but
also here in the body of believers that I am surrounded by. I can do this to glorify God. Later in
life in my career I plan on working in some state capacity. This will most likely move me around
the state at some point. I can use this doctrine when finding a new church. As discussed earlier
there are true or false churches, more pure or less pure churches, and unified churches. I can use
the characteristics of this doctrine to find a true, pure, and unified church that edifies and
evangelizes for the glory of God.
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References
Grudem, W. A. (2014).
Bible doctrine: Essential teachings of the Christian faith
. Zondervan.
Holy bible: English standard version
. (2001). . Crossway Bibles.
Salkeld, B. (2019).
Transubstantiation: Theology, history, and Christian Unity
. Baker Academic.