3. The characteristics of the Christian church.
1. The Church is invisible (ecclesia invisibilis est) because the constitutive factor of the church, faith in the heart, is invisible to men and known to God alone.1482) Therefore, when asked about the visible coming of the kingdom of God on earth, Christ answers Luke 17:20-21: "The kingdom of God does not come with outward signs" (μετά παρατηρήσεως, with or under observation, so that it might be seen with eyes); "neither will it be said, Behold, here or there it is! For behold, the kingdom of God is within you."1483) All those who declare the church to be completely visible (Romans) or half visible (newer Lutherans), are changing the Christian concept of the church. They do not let the church be the congregation of the faithful, but make it wholly or partly an external institution (externa politia), in which believing men play a more or less essential or insignificant role. Recent Lutherans also address two sides of the church, a "visible and invisible side." Word and sacrament are said to be the visible side of the church. But in this way the marks of the Church (notae ecclesiae) are confused with the Church itself. Between the Church and the means of grace there is indeed a necessary connection. The Church is generated by the means of grace, and she also lives by the means of grace alone. But the means of grace are therefore no more the Church itself or a part of the Church than, for example, air and food are man himself or a part of man, although man cannot live without air and food. Notae ecclesiae, on the other hand, are rightly called Word and Sacrament. As wheat is found where it is sown, so the Church is found where and only where God's Word is proclaimed. God's Word is called the seed of the Kingdom and has the promise that it shall bear fruit.1484) Through the notae ecclesiae, however, the church
1482) 1 Kings 8:39; Acts 1:24.
1483) Παρατήρησις only here in the New Testament. Election: observatio, μετά παρατηρήσεως, i. e., ita, ut oculis possit observari. The verb παρατηρεΐν meaning "to observe" is found more often, Mark. 3:2; Luke 6:7; 14:1; 20:20; Acts 9:24. Against the version of εντός υμών — "among you," "in your midst," Nösgen on this passage rightly remarks that it is contrary to the context, because what is among us or in our midst can also fall under sensual perception. Therefore "εντός υμών is to be grasped 'inwardly in you' (Luther, Calvin, Olshausen, Godet, Keil)."
1484) Is. 55:10 ff.
472 > The Christian Church. [English ed. ~ 409-410]
itself, the congregation of believers, does not become visible, because the constitutive factor, faith, remains invisible. On the one hand, it is God's will that we consider everyone who confesses the gospel with his mouth and does not withdraw the confession of his mouth by an ungodly walk to be a Christian according to love. On the other hand, it would be an encroachment on God's prerogative if we wanted to see the heart's opinion of the individual. The Scripture expressly warns against this.1485) Even if we were able to identify the individual members of the church by person and name, we would still not see the church, because only the old man in the Christians falls under the sense of sight, but the new man lives in this life deeply hidden in God.1486) Only on the Last Day will the members of the Christian Church be distinguished from the non-members by their outward appearance.1487) The halo on the images of the saints is painted there according to love.1488) The Romans, as we know, want the church to be as visible as the Kingdom of France and the Republic of Venice.1489) They ridicule an invisible Christian church as a Platonic idea, a mere thought thing, etc. To this derision must be opposed the truth that, according to the Scriptures, this invisible congregation of believers is the most powerful reality on earth, behind which stands the εγνω Κύριος τους δντας αντον,1490) which the gates of hell shall not prevail against,1491) which is the center of divine interest until the Last Day,1492) and to whom it is the Father's good pleasure to give the eternal kingdom.1493) On the other hand, the visible Roman church as the church of Christ is pure
1485) 1 Cor. 4:5.<w:t>1486) Col. 3:3; 2 Cor. 5:4.
1487) Col. 3:4; 1 John 3:2.
1488) Luther (IX, 702): "Therefore, in the holy Christian faith, we rightly confess that we believe in a holy church. For she is invisible, dwelling in the Spirit in a place where no one can approach; therefore her holiness cannot be seen." Calov, Systema VIII, 264: Coetus, in quo est ecclesia, videri quidem ac dignosci et indice digito demonstrari potest, in quo sc. Verbum docetur et sacramenta dispensantur iuxta Christi mandatum; sed coetus ille, qui proprie est ecclesia, h. e., communio fidelium et sanctorum, non est visibilis nec demonstrari potest. [Google]
1489) Bellarmin, lib. 3, De eccl., c. 2: Ecclesia est coetus hominum ita visibilis et palpabilis, ut est coetus populi Romani vel regnum Galliae aut respublica Venetorum. [Google] Cf. antithesis in Quenstedt II, 1640.
1490) 2 Tim. 2:19.<w:t>1491) Matt. 16:18.
1492) Rom. 8:28; Matt. 24:22-24.<w:t>1493) Luke 12:32.
473 > The Christian Church. [English ed. ~ 410]
fiction. Inasmuch as it is a Roman church, that is, subject not to Christ's but to the pope's word, and inasmuch as it bases the attainment of grace and salvation not only on Christ's merit but also on human merit, it is outside Christ's church both here on earth and in heaven.1495)
2. The Church is one (una ecclesia), Joh. 10:16: μία ποίμνη, because all members of the Church, despite all differences in earthly relationships, believe the same thing about God, namely, that God forgives them sin by grace, for Christ's sake, without works of the law. Scripture most emphatically rejects any difference with regard to the constitutive element of the church. It is Rom. 3:23-24: "There is no difference here (διαστολή), they are all at once (πάντες) sinners, and lack the glory which they ought to have in God, and are justified without merit (δωρεάν) by his grace, through the redemption that was made by Jesus Christ." All who do not have this faith, whether they do not believe in Christ at all,1496) or whether they want to supplement Christ's merit by their own works, are not inside but outside the Church. 1497) Omnes Christiani de evangelio consentiunt. Therefore Gal. 3:28: "Here is neither Jew nor Greek, here is neither bond nor free, here is neither male nor female; for ye are all at once one in Jesus Christ" (πάντες γάρ υμείς εις εστε εν Χριστώ Ιησού).
3. The Church is holy (sancta ecclesia), a) because all members possess the perfect righteousness of faith through faith in Christ (iustitia fidei imputata), Phil. 3:9: μή εχων έμήν δικαιοσύνην την εκ νόμου, άλλα την διά πίστεως Χριστού, την έκ ϑεού δικαιοσύνην επι τη πίστει; b) because all members by means of the same faith also possess a true, though imperfect, righteousness of life (iustitia vitae), Rom. 6:14: "Sin shall not be able to have dominion over you, because ye are not under the law, but under grace."
4. The Church is universal or catholic (ecclesia universalis sive catholica) because it embraces believers in Christ of all times, among all peoples and in all places. The Christian faith has never, in the course of time,
1494) Gal. 5:4; 3:10.
1495) Gal. 4:30. Cf. Luther against the visible church of the pope, St. L. XVIII, 1347 ff.
1496) 1 John 2:23; 5:12.<w:t xml:space="preserve"> 1497) Galatians 5:4; 3:10.
474 > The Christian Church. [English ed. ~ 411]
undergone any change in its content over time. It has always been faith in the forgiveness of sins through Christ's work of redemption. This is not, as is often claimed, a dogmatic construction of Luther and the old Lutheran teachers, but the doctrine of Christ's apostles and of Christ Himself. Peter Acts 10:43: "Of this [Christ] all the prophets testify, that through his name all who believe in him should receive forgiveness of sins." Christ John 8:56: "Abraham was glad that he should see my day, and he saw it and rejoiced." Paul proves justification, which is by faith, without works, from the Old Testament Scriptures1498) and calls all who believe the gospel in the New Testament until the Last Day, regardless of their racial differences, etc., Children of Abraham, oi εκ πίστεως, ουτοι νϊοι Αβραάμ,1499) even seed of Abraham, οπέρμα Αβραάμ1500) Luther (XII, 494 f.): "That we have forgiveness of sins not otherwise than for Christ's sake through faith has been the faith of the fathers and prophets and of all the saints from the beginning of the world, and afterward the doctrine and sermon of Christ and the apostles, which they were commanded to carry and spread throughout the world, and still to this day and to the end is the unanimous mind and attitude of the whole Christian church, who have all at one time believed, confessed, and contended for this article, that in this Lord Christ's name alone they might obtain and receive forgiveness of sins, and in this faith have been justified and saved in the sight of God."1501)
5. The church is apostolic (ecclesia apostolica) inasmuch as all its members believe in Christ until the Last Day through the word of the apostles, John 17:20: πιοτενσοντες διά λόγον αυτών εις εμέ, and hold fast to the word of the apostles, Acts 2:42: προσκαρτερονντες τή διδαχή των άποστόλων, facing all dissenting doctrine, Rom. 16:17: "Depart from the same," namely, from those "who cause division and offence apart from the doctrine (παρά τήν διδαχήν) which ye have learned." That the Romans and Episcopalians place the apostolic character of the Church
1498) Rom. 4 whole. Rom. 3:21-31.
1499) Gal. 3:6 ff.<w:t>1500) Gal. 3:29.
1501) Schleiermacher followers. Alexander Schweizer says quite correctly (Ref. Dogm. II, 114): "The universal nature of Christianity cannot be shown more vividly than when it already occurs according to its essence after the first sin." Only Schweizer also reinterprets Gen. 3:15.
475 > The Christian Church. [English ed. ~ 411-412]
in the episcopal succession has rightly been described as childishness, since, firstly, the Scripture knows no difference between bishops and teaching elders or pastors 1502) and, secondly, it means avoiding all teachers who teach a doctrine other than the apostolic one, regardless of whether they are called bishops, elders or otherwise.1503) This point is to be taken up again in the doctrine of the public ministry.
The proposition that outside the Church there is no salvation (extra ecclesiam salus nulla) is true of the Christian Church, false of the Church of the Pope. It is true of the Christian Church because only the men who believe the Gospel have God's grace and salvation.1504) It is false of the Pope's church, because this grace and salvation is also based on the law1505) and thus leaves its members under the curse of the law.1506)