Is the Church is coextensive with the redeemed throughout all ages, or is it a New Testament entity? Did it begin suddenly or slowly develop out of Israel? These questions have dramatic implication for one’s theology, including the nature and timing of the rapture.

When did the Church Begin?

Jesus begins to speak of the Church after His rejection by the Jewish leaders (see Matt. 12). He says in the future tense, “I will build my Church,” in Matthew 16:18.[1] Just before His ascension as recorded in Acts, He told His disciples, “for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” A few verses later these words are fulfilled by the advent of the Holy Spirit, Who came “suddenly” on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:2). In Acts 10, Gentiles in Cornelius’s house hear Peter’s preaching, and they “received the Holy Spirit just as” Peter and the Jewish believers had. In Acts 11, Peter explains this event to the church in Jerusalem, saying, “the Holy Spirit fell upon them, as upon us at the beginning” (Acts 11:15-17). Peter calls the day of Pentecost the beginning of the Church. As Ryrie notes, for the apostle Paul, this act of the Holy Spirit baptizing just is the formation of the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13). “Since the church is the body of Christ (Col. 1:18), the church could not have begun until Pentecost.”[2]

The Foundation of the Church

Paul likens the Church to a building in Ephesians 2:19-22. In the metaphor, Jesus is the chief cornerstone, and the apostles form part of the foundation. Cornerstones are laid first, since they determine the lines of the foundation, and foundations are laid before the rest of the building. This building begins with Jesus and the apostles. Consequently, the Church could not exist before Jesus and the apostles any more than a building could exist before its foundation. 

Christ’s Ascension Necessary for the Church’s Formation

The Church could not have been formed until after the resurrection and ascension of Christ. God gave Jesus to be head over the Church only after God raised Him from the dead and seated Him at God’s right hand in the heavenly places (Eph. 1:20-23). Paul describes the Church as Jew and Gentile made alive together with Christ, God raising them both up together, to be seated together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:4-6). Such a description could only be of a reality after Christ’s ascension.

The Church is formed by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who could only have been sent by Christ after He ascended to the Father.

the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 

John 14:17-20

John says earlier in his gospel, “this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified,” (John 7:39). Speaking of His going to the Father, Jesus said, “It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you,” (John 16:7).

The body of its Head who is in heaven, Jew and Gentile together seated in the heavenlies, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, Christ in them, and they in Christ—these are the essential characteristics of the Church. The gifts that allow the Church to function are also given because of Christ’s ascended position in heaven. In 1 Corinthians chapter 12, Paul describes the Spirit distributing to each member of Christ’s body various gifts for the functioning of the body. In Ephesians 4:7-10 Paul associates these gifts of the Spirit with Christ’s ascension.

An Assembly from the Scattered

John says that Jesus would die for the nation, “and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad,” (John 11:52). Salvation is an individual matter. All the redeemed are saved in the same way: by grace through faith in God, because of Christ’s atoning death. “All men are saved alike, but all men are not assembled alike. Now ‘church’ means assembly.”[3] John contrasts the nation (Israel) with the scattered individuals and their gathering together. While scattered, they were children of God (and most were part of the nation). If the Church (the assembly) existed before Christ, then they were assembled, not scattered. How could Christ come to gather the scattered if they were already assembled? The Nation, Israel, is a different thing. One could be an Israelite and not a child of God, or a child of God and an Israelite but an individual among the scattered. But after Christ came, He gathered in one the children of God. The Church is not a continuation of Israel, which existed long before, and it is more than a mental category of “the saved individuals in this era,” but a real unity assembled by the Lord Jesus after His death, resurrection, and ascension.

The next part in this series will examine the term mystery as it applies to the Church.

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[1] All Bible quotations are from NKJV unless otherwise noted.

[2] Ryrie, Dispensationalism, 147.

[3] Darby, “Law” in Collected Writings, 14.