The Church is not a building made with hands, but a people snatched from the fire and redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. The word in the New Testament Greek for Church is: “ekklesia” which translates “The Lord’s House.” So, believers “belonging to the Lord” assemble together as His corporate body members, -- “bone of His bone, flesh of His flesh.”
The purpose of the Church is to grow to mature manhood, “to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). The Church belongs to God because He has established it by the supernatural acts of coming to earth in the person of the Son via the virgin birth, purchasing a people by the substitutionary sacrifice of His Son, raising Him from the dead to provide eternal life, and sending forth the Holy Spirit to fill; to unite with the believers; and equip His saints for the work of ministering (Eph. 4:11). Since every member of the church is baptized in the Spirit, every member has one or more spiritual gifts to edify the others in the community of believers (I Cor. 12:4-13. Each are to serve to his own calling and unction from the Holy Spirit.
We are to gather together for the purpose of “edifying each other in love,” by reminding each other who we really are and how we are presented to God as “holy unblameable and unreprovable in His sight.”
There are eight New Testament symbols representing the relationship of Christ to His Church:
· The Shepherd and the sheep (John 10)
· The Vine and the branch (John 15)
· The Cornerstone or Foundation & the living stones (Eph. 2:20; I Peter 2:4)
· The High Priest & the kingdom of Priest (Heb. 5:1-10)
· The Head and the many membered body (Eph. 1:22)
· The Bridegroom to the bride (11 Cor. 11:2)
· The Firstborn among many brethren (Rom. 8:29)
· Master and slave (Rom. 6:18)