"1. Jesus Christ promised, or affirmed that He would build a church,
one which was to be His church (Matt. 16:18).

"2. That church was to stand forever (same text).

"3. The Lord added members to that church (Acts 2:47).

"4. Salvation made them members of the church (same text).

"5. The name of that church is, or was, the church of God (Acts 20:28,
and other texts).

"6. The church of God was visible in New Testament times (1 Cor. 1:2).

"7. The church was the body of Christ (Eph. 1:22, 23; Col. 1:24).

"8. The Spirit placed every saved one in this one body (1 Cor. 12:13;
Rom. 12:4, 5).

"9. Hence, it must have contained all the Christians.

"10. And, therefore, the apostolic church of true believers--the
spiritual body of Christ; and the church-members--the collective body
of worshippers, were identical. When you saw one, you saw the other."

"That is as far as we have gone, Mary. But we are not through the New
Testament yet. I was just counting, and there are about one hundred
texts in which the word 'church' occurs. But, it seems to me we have
learned a great deal. I can see plainly enough that there was only