Hook, Line and Sinker

Back when I was a junior or senior in High School we had a Bible class teacher that was truly memorable (for me). He was confident, he was dynamic and he knew his Bible. I still remember one of the lessons he taught us.

First he went to Ephesians 1:22, “… and gave Him (Jesus) to be head over all things to the church which is his body…” Conclusion… the church is Christ’s body.

Then he went to Ephesians 4:4, “There is one body, one Spirit…”

Conclusion… the church is Christ’s body and there’s only one body. Therefore there is only one church… the Church of Christ.

Very powerful logic but there’s only one thing wrong with it… its dead wrong. Those verses don’t teach that. What my teacher failed to recognize is the church exists in a general or universal sense and it exists in a specific local sense.

Paul in his letter to the Ephesians was addressing the church in a general or universal sense. He was trying to illustrate that there couldn’t be one church for the Greek Christians and one church for the Jewish Christians but one broad universal church that was inclusive of all races and all nationalities.

I loved that teacher and still do (even though I have lost track of him) and I guess the learning point here is don’t be so enamored with a teachers personality and teaching style that you fail to judge his message critically because I swallowed that teaching hook, line and sinker and taught it myself. Of course I was only 17 or 18 years old at the time so I forgive myself.