CHAPTER III

THE LOCAL CHURCH


The words of Christ, "I will build my church; and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16: 18), convey a deeper meaning
than the simple preaching of the kingdom. As we have already shown,
the one specific personal act by virtue of which Christ became the
founder of the church was his atonement on Calvary, where the church
was "purchased with his own blood" (Acts 20: 28). The church, then,
as an institution, resulted from the atonement. Paul, describing the
union of Jews and Gentiles in one body, the church, declares that it
was effected "by the cross" (Eph. 2: 16).

There was power in redemption. It brought into the lives of believers
forces that could not but unite them in social compact. It threw them
together in living sympathy and united their hearts firmly in the
strong bonds of brotherly love. Their outward organic union as a
church was the natural and inevitable result of this inward life and
love.

[Sidenote: Local church defined]

By the impartation of spiritual life to believers and by the agency of
the Holy Spirit operating in the apostles as special agents appointed