The Great Commission, the Core of Our Ecclesiology (Part One)

The Great Commission, the Core of our Ecclesiology (Part One)

By Jay Wegter and Shane Haffey

The Great Commission mandate to make disciples is at the heart of biblical ecclesiology (Col 1:28-29).

The Great Commission is not only Christ’s mandate for world missions it is His authoritative pattern for the local church (Acts 14:21-22). “After they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, ‘Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God’” (Acts 14:21-22).

The overarching purpose of the church is “that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” (Eph 3:10). For the church to carry out this divine purpose, two essential demands are required: a) first is that the individual members are connected to Christ, in living union with Him (Rom 8:9-11), and second, b) God’s pattern for His church—of making disciple-making disciples must be taken seriously.ⁱ

The Body of Christ is uniquely composed for disciple-making, for its members have been given spiritual gifts that are complementary. Body life is defined as the edification of the members of the Body of Christ through the exercise of each believer’s spiritual gift(s). But a distortion of this divine template came early in church history. For, the Corinthian church was abusing this unique dynamic by showcasing certain gifts and discounting other gifts. Consequently, they were overturning the whole purpose of God. For in mutual edification through the exercise of gifts, God’s intent is to make the virtues of Christ through the supernatural community of the church a revealer to angels of ‘His manifold wisdom’ (Eph 3:10).ⁱⁱ

Discipleship is meant to be the byproduct of spiritual fellowship. As the ‘one another’s’ take place such as prayer, instruction, exhortation, warning, service, and sharing love meals together, spiritual growth is the natural byproduct. Critical to understanding the biblical doctrine of the church is grasping the fact that the Spirit is directly involved in the participation of each individual member. There is no scriptural basis to suggest that when the early church gathered the meetings were conducted solely by a pastoral staff. The evidence is to the contrary. Christian gatherings were oriented around the full participation of the members of the Body.ⁱⁱⁱ

Body life as described in Scripture is not a super-charged form of fellowship, it was the normative biblical ecclesiology of the early church.

Paul begins his exposition of life in the Body with a corrective, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware” (1 Cor 12:1). “And the eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’; or again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another” (1 Cor 12:21-25).

This supernatural ‘one-ness’ is not a unity achieved solely by holding to the same biblical doctrines, or the same confession of faith (1 Cor 1:10). No, Paul is clear, the one-ness or absence of division is to be gained by the Body edifying itself in love as each member exercises his or her gifts toward the other. This complementarity of gifts resulting in mutual edification includes the Body exercising a full range of gifts —both service gifts and verbal gifts (1 Pet 4:7-11).

The Body of Christ is the corporate expression of the grace, or virtues of Christ Himself (Eph 4:7-8ff.; 1 Jn 4:17).

The gifts of the Body at work make Christ’s character visible through the mutual edification of the saints. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn 13:34-35). “By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world” (1 Jn 4:17).

Christ’s character is made known by both the truth of the gospel, i.e. its proclamation, and by the members of Christ’s Body functioning with a harmony borne of spiritual fellowship. “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me” (Jn 17:20-23). Therefore, the doctrine of the church must not be reduced to personal taste, or to pragmatics, for the revelation of Christ’s character is at stake.

The fellowship of the members of the Body is proof of the divine power of Jesus, for God through the Son has formed a new humanity.

Believers have been granted a marvelously high calling because of their position in Christ, but also have been called to a lowly walk of preserving unity through sacrificial service. “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift” (Eph 4:1-7).

For the church to reveal Christ, she must live out her connection with Christ and her connection between the brethren (Eph 4:7-16). In our fellowship the Holy Spirit actualizes or makes visible our vital connection to Christ. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him” (Jn 14:18-21).

Out of this new humanity formed by union with Christ issues forth ‘deep’ supernatural community among Christ’s members. They love and care for one another, defer to one another, count the other as more important than self, they live to edify one another. “For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another” (Rom 12:4-5). “Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another” (Eph 4:25).

How has this central purpose of the church gathering corporately to manifest Christ slipped from our view?

The above question begs a second question. Is it biblical to regard the Sunday service as a ‘sacrifice unto God?’ Does God really need us to gather? Is it possible, according to what we find in the New Testament that Christian assemblies are not primarily for God, but instead are for the church of God?ⁱᵛ Yes, the latter is the case. But what do we see across the broad Evangelical landscape? Answer: Christian gatherings have evolved into something viewed as done for God rather than as something God does for His people. A willingness to face the reality of this inversion is inescapable if we are to return to a biblical ecclesiology. Consider that Scripture describes God’s Spirit as energizing dynamic fellowship unto the building up of the Body (1 Cor 12:4-11).

According to the Bible, church meetings are for Christ to showcase His ministry in His bodily absence through His corporate Body by means of His Spirit (see Rom 12; 1 Cor 12; Eph 4, etc.). If this sounds novel and foreign, it is because for generations the church has settled into unexamined cultural forms. Christ did not design the body to be nourished by one or two men who alone display Christ through their giftedness. For no individual man can demonstrate Christ’s perfections to Christ’s Body. Any attempt to arrange a Sunday gathering around one individual sermon is to suggest, albeit inadvertently, that Christ’s Body is best built up through a God appointed man or small group of men and women. This kind of thinking has become ubiquitous. However, it is in stark contrast to the Word of God. Christian gatherings are for mutual edification; to build up one another in Christ; to build strong Christian communities in which each individual member is an active participant in ministry.ᵛ

To fulfill the Great Commission, we must regard Christ’s command to ‘make disciples’ to be the overarching purpose of the life of the Body.

Body life or spiritual fellowship involves translating vertical fellowship with the Lord into horizontal fellowship with the brethrenᵛⁱ (1 Cor 1:9-10). That is the precise aim of meeting for fellowship in our gatherings. Christ’s Body is supplied with all it needs for life, health, growth, and unity as it holds fast to its Head (Col 2:19). The Colossian church had strayed from Christ as their only source of spiritual life. Notice how the apostle identifies their problem and urges the divine solution. “. . .and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God” (Col 2:19).

Regarding the translation of the vertical to the horizontal, Christ is building His church and commands us to build with Him. “Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification” (Rom 15:1-2). This is only possible if close relationships are pursued for the purpose of mutual spiritual nurture.

Christ’s Body is the context for the believer’s sanctification and maturity; our fellow believers are the divinely appointed agents of our change. This reality is central in a biblical ecclesiology.

God’s grace flows through social bonds in the Body of Christ which is why its members ought to form close relationships with their brethren. “Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal 6:2). “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near” (Heb 10:23-25).

In our age of consumerism and individualism, it will require a massive biblical shift in our thinking to begin seeing ourselves as the Lord’s chief agents of change. “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever as a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Col 3:12-16).

The communal nature of the church manifested in the mutuality of its members helps us understand the church’s function (1 Cor 12:12-28).

The church is a community of people who are committed to doing spiritual good to one another. That’s biblical ecclesiology in action, not a bare statement or theory. “Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil 2:1-5; 1 Thess 4:9-12).

The life of the church is defined by the true nature of the church—a group of individuals who have life in Christ in common who live to edify one another. “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh, I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions. Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col 1:24-27). ‘Christ in you’ becomes visible through mutual edification—biblical ecclesiology champions this ethic and therefore makes spectatorship unthinkable.

Each believer is a ‘temple’ of the Lord individually (1 Cor 6:19), and collectively, or corporately (Eph 2:19-22; 1 Pet 2:9).

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Pet 2:9). Thus, as a member of a royal and holy priesthood, the believer cannot truly offer up sacrifices to God without also serving his fellow brother and building up the community in so doing. Therefore, can you see why the priesthood of the believer is an indispensable pillar in biblical ecclesiology? “Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased” (Heb 13:15-16).

This fits with Paul’s overall goal, to regard these gatherings as they were designed by Christ—for the purpose of “building up.” Ironically, these meetings were to be orderly for the very purpose of garnering full participation! For it is with full participation that the church will be “built up” which is exactly what Paul wants to occur as he states that goal of mutual edification four times in 1 Corinthians chapter 14. Building one another up is the goal of full participation.

Not only this, but Paul suggests that it is a powerful experience of unified full participation that causes the unbeliever, should he darken the doors, to see the manifest work of God. For to witness the Body edifying itself calls the outsider’s own unbelief into account bringing about personal conviction. “If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds? But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you” (1 Cor 14:24-25) (italics added for emphasis).

Never once does Paul suggest that there be anything less than full, (male led) participation when the church gathers for edification. This is strikingly unfamiliar and countercultural when we compare how church gatherings today are dominated by one designated preacher. Yet, this concept of complete participation by the members of Christ’s Body is in harmony with every New Testament epistle. According to Paul, an orderly gathering would look more like a smaller gathering of families sitting in a horse-shoe seating arrangement or perhaps seated randomly on the floor. As attendees would speak, each discourse went from a few minutes to perhaps a quarter of an hour. Then another would weigh in and yet another. How can that be done within large assemblies? The important aspect was that there was full participation from the Body wherein each was sharing, learning, and discerning. Thus, the variegated gifts, including knowledge, wisdom, and discernment were brought to bear on the Body. What an invigorating thought!ᵛⁱⁱ

To fulfill the Great Commission, the local church must practice intentional Body life with a view to nurturing disciples to maturity.

Scripture is clear, deliberate, utterly intentional Body life is how we are to do church. The aim of making obedient disciples is central to fulfilling the Great Commission. Christ’s pattern for the Body has a very specific purpose: “. . .until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ” (Eph 4:13). Mutual edification has the great goal of spiritual maturity—this is the beating heart of biblical ecclesiology—it is how we are to do church (Col 1:28-29). Spiritual growth takes place in the context of a growing corporate knowledge of Christ. “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love” (Eph 4:14-16).

Intentional Body life means that the church builds itself up in love as each individual part of the Body makes the Body grow with a growth from God. Out of the corporate knowledge of Christ flows fruitfulness and spiritual maturity (Eph 4:12-13). “. . . and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God” (Col 2:19). “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God” (Phil 1:9-10).

The church is a Body with Christ as its Head and life source. Under the direction of their Head the members of the Body are to operate in an interdependent manner—mingling their gifts in mutual edification (Rom 12:3-5; 1Cor 12:20-28). “For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established; that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine” (Rom 1:11-12).

The ministries of Body life exist in order build up and nurture disciples to maturity. Ecclesiology must reflect that end. “We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone” (1 Thess 5:14). “Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God” (Rom 15:5-7).

End Notes:

i Charles E. Jefferson, The Building of the Church, (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1913).
ii Ibid.
iii Tom Wadsworth on the content of the early church, “Has the Church got Worship wrong?”
https://cr101radio.com/podcast/has-the-church-got-worship-wrong-tom-wadsworth
iv Ibid.
v Ibid.
vi John MacArthur, The Doctrine of the Church
vii Tom Wadsworth