PEOPLE OF GOD AND CHURCH

God and the creation

If it is to have the correct perspective, a document regarding the ministry of the church must begin by underlining the greatness, sovereignty and allencompassing work of God. God, who has created heaven and earth, the invisible as well as the visible, is the one who alone restores his creation and liberates humankind from sin and death. The Father establishes his kingdom on earth through his Son Jesus Christ, who was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification (Rom 4:25), and through the renewing power of the Holy Spirit. God’s redeeming will to love concerns the whole world. He compels the darkness to pass away and makes the true light to shine over the earth (1 Jn 2:8), where the forces of evil and destruction operate and wherever life is constantly threatened by death.

The perspective of the Bible is theocentric. The apostle Paul epitomizes this in the following words: ‘‘O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements and how inscrutable his ways! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counsellor?’ ‘Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?’ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory for ever. Amen (Rom 11:3336; Cf Psalm 139; Is 40:12ff; Job 41:2).

The three prepositions from , through and to denote the allencompassing cosmic work of the Trinity. All of reality is the object of God’s care. We profess the Father from whom are all things and for whom we exist (1 Cor 8:6). Christ as partaker in the fullness of God is the ruler of all and reconciles all things (Eph 1:2223; Col 1:1520). The Holy Spirit is the Giver of life to all creation. The Spirit gives life to plants and animals as well as to man’s spirit, soul and body. The Spirit leads the created home to the Creator.

God is therefore hidden, inscrutable, sovereign and allencompassing. God acts according to his own will and with the power of love. In the Lord’s prayer the Church prays that God’s will be done, that the kingdom shall come, the allencompassing realm. God acts through all creation for reconciliation, redemption, renewal and unity. In his incomprehensible grace God chooses what is weak and insignificant (1 Cor 1:2630; Jn 15:16). Through God’s actions the Church is holy and the ministry of the Church has a great part to play in God’s plan for his creation (Cf 1 Pet 1:1325).

God and gospel

Jesus said: The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel (Mark 1:15).

The gospel is about God’s love and God’s kingdom. That is why it is called gospel, which means good news . In the New Testament this word is often used to denote the whole of God’s work of salvation in Christ (Rom 1:15). The gospel tells us about the death of Jesus as the atonement for the sin of the world and about his resurrection as God’s decisive intervention for the final salvation of the world (1 Cor 15:111). Victory over the forces of evil and death, forgiveness of sins, new fellowship with God and new life in freedom and love will be given to each and everyone who receives it in faith, through the gospel of God.

In the gospel is included faith in God as the Father and the Creator. It proclaims a people of God which is renewed through the deeds of Christ. The gospel promises the presence of God through the Spirit, transmitted in the Word and in the sacraments. The Spirit shall in accord with the will of God create and sustain faith in the risen Christ among those who hear the gospel. The task of the Spirit, then, is to call people to faith, and to sanctify, comfort, renew, and equip them for their task in the world. Faith is not a human achievement.

Men and women are created in the image of God. When they receive the gospel, they are born of God, liberated, and regenerated. They are transformed and their thoughts are renewed, so that they can determine what is God’s will, what is good and perfect and acceptable to God (Rom 12:2). Barriers are torn down, the old has passed away, the new has come (2 Cor 5:17). There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female. All are one in Christ Jesus (Gal 3:28). The whole creation is eagerly expecting that this new that has become reality shall also reach its fulfillment so that God may be everything to every one (1 Cor 15:28). Even creation shall be set free from its bondage to decay (Rom 8:1921).

The Church – the People of God

Through Christ and the Spirit, the Father calls all human beings to be his own people on earth. He elected Israel to be his own people. Through Jesus Christ and his reconciliation he established a new people of God. This is what the gospel of God testifies. The good news about God’s mercy in Jesus Christ gathers all those who believe and are baptized into one people of God, a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare his wonderful deeds (1 Pet 2:9).

The God, whom this people confesses to be their God, is active in the midst of our reality, creating and liberating. Liberation through salvation is an ongoing process, which God himself, according to his promise, will bring to final victory (Phil 1:6). Faith in God is a faith in Godfortheworld. The renewed people of God live in the world, in expectation of the final fulfillment of that victory which Christ has already won.

God’s people belong to the Lord. In the language of the New Testament this is expressed with the word kyriake, which means belonging to the Lord . From this comes the the Swedish word kyrka, which has corresponding counterparts in several other languages (kirke, kirk, kerk, Kirche, church). The people of God are also known by the Greek word ekklesía, which means congregation in both a local and a universal sense and which is used in a number of other languages (église, iglesia, igreja). Both these words converge in the Greek expression kyriake ekklesía which accordingly means the Lord’s Church and congregation. It belongs to the Lord Christ and no one else.

This Church is the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church which we acknowledge in the creed. The Church is the fellowship with the living Lord and all the faithful throughout all ages . For the individual person, fellowship in this Church finds expression in the local congregation, in whose worship fellowship with Christ and all the faithful of all times becomes visible and tangible. There, when people gather in confession and prayer, thanksgiving and praise, the Church takes shape.

The word and the sacraments are the special marks of the Church. When it gathers to receive them, the congregation becomes a Christian congregation, a visible part of the holy Church which is God’s people. In the Large Cathechism, Martin Luther writes that the Church is the mother who feeds and nourishes every Christian through the Word of God, which the Holy Spirit reveals and enhances and through which he enlightens and kindles people’s hearts, in order that they may understand and receive it, keep it and abide with it .

Besides the Word and the sacraments, the Church has a number of other marks, which in different ways relate to the fellowship in worship. Martin Luther states that the holy Christian people have at least seven external marks. The first is that the word of God there is preached, believed, confessed and lived . The second and the third are baptism and the sacrament of the altar, when these are correctly administered according to Christ’s command and received in faith. The fourth is penance, the forgiveness of sins for the sake of Christ, the fifth is the calling and ordination of special servants for the gospel. The sixth mark is prayer, praise and thanksgiving. The seventh is the cross or the willingness to suffer for the sake of the gospel.

When people are baptized, they are united with Christ and the people of God. They are set with Christ and the Church, against evil in the world.

The Church – the body of Christ

The nature of the Church is illustrated in several biblical images. One could mention the field where the servants plant and water but where God gives the growth, the noble olive tree whose grafted branches share in the rich sap, the vineyard to which the owner finally sends his own son as a servant, the flock which is tended by the Good Shepherd. Sometimes the perspectives of the image are shifted in order to reveal more closely the vital links between Christ and his Church; the grain of wheat in the field which dies in order to give life to many, the stem of the vine in the vineyard with the branches which cannot carry the expected fruit on their own. An important image is the Church as the body of Christ. This is emphasized particularly in the writings of Paul.

Both unity and diversity belong to the conditions of life in the body of Christ. Unity does not mean the same as uniformity. The diversity is made up of members with different and coordinated functions. Through baptism in the name of the Trinity we are united with Christ in the life of the new faith: we have all been baptized in order to belong to one and the same body. Belonging to the same body of Christ, we are each and everyone members who, in our differences, exist for one another (Rom 6:311; 12:48; 1 Cor 10:16f). The many have a share in and contribute individually to the unity in the fellowship (Greek koinonía) of the Church of Christ, which is also a fellowship in the Spirit, with the Father and the Son. Therefore we proclaim and confess the apostolic faith in the Church as the communion of saints (Lat. communio sanctorum) – fellowship among the holy who share the holy gifts. In the Church the believers share the same baptism into Christ and partake in the same Lord’s Supper. Each one individually contributes to the unity when their personal gifts are taken into use. The fellowship expresses itself as a mutual serving (Greek diakonía).

Just as unity in diversity is constitutional, serving is a vital necessity for the Church as the body of Christ. The Son of God himself came as servant of the merciful Father, not in order to be served but to serve a divided humanity which longs for wholeness and fellowship. The Master stressed that it was the task of each disciple, with himself as example, to be servant of others. Baptized into him, we are called to follow him, day by day, and to carry the cross – the sign of love, reconciliation and hope – in the midst of the world.

The Church – the temple of the Spirit

In the New Testament promises are given of a perfect world with a new temple of God, which is filled with God’s presence and where all the saints live in reverence, adoration and praise.

But the perfect comes only with consummation. As long as time exists, the Spirit continues to build an edifice, which grows into a holy temple in the Lord. Christ himself is the cornerstone with which everything stands or falls (Matt 21:42; Acts 4:11; Eph 2:2022; 1 Cor 3:1011). The temple of the body of Christ, which was destroyed in death and raised again in three days, is filled with the Spirit (Jn 2:1922). For centuries people all over the world have, through baptism and faith, been embodied as living stones into a spiritual edifice for God, and this will continue as long as time exists.

The Spirit performs among, in and through people the work of erecting the temple, which is the Christian congregation and the Church. The Spirit, as the Lord and Giver of Life, calls forth, renews and deepens the life of faith. The Spirit, as the Helper, teaches, guides and strengthens those faithful to Christ, supports them in their weakness, elicits their prayers and intercedes for them before the Father. The Spirit teaches divided people to struggle against evil and exhorts them to keep to and do that which is good. The Spirit will enable them to serve and help one another, each one with his/her gift of grace (chárisma). In the temple of the Spirit they are fashioned to offer that reverence, adoration and praise, which in deed, word and way of life here in the world glorifies the Father through the Son.

The temple of the Spirit and worship belong together. Worship is at the heart of all that has to do with the fellowship of the Church. It is the source of vigorous and undaunted faith and willingness to serve and witness. Human beings are embodied in the temple of the Spirit as living stones and remain therein by keeping to God, his word and sacraments.

Through the word and the sacramental acts of the gospel the people of God is gathered and equipped for service in and for the world. This is where the members in the body of Christ are made ready for life. The gospel of Jesus Christ as the Saviour of the world and our Lord is the mystery which constitutes the Church as a Church.