Who, or what, is the Church? I hope to not so much definitively answer the question, as much as to address it. There is, among modern Christians a tendency to ignore the idea of the Church. Church is a place to go to see other Christians. To see the Church as an “entity” is to the modern evangelical mind something very Roman Catholic. But the Church is an entity. The Bible tells me so. And she will prevail against the gates of hell.

The first question in what, or who, is the Church is, what, or who, are Christians? There is a simple answer to this, and it is not about a personal relationship. Christians are those who have received a baptism in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Some might say Christians are those who have a good relationship with, or really love Jesus. But that is too ambiguous and subjective. Others say that Christians are the elect. I’m a little more comfortable with this, but again, how can you know? You can’t. But I can answer both of those with baptism. If you are elect, you will love Jesus and want to have a good relationship with Him. If you love Him, you will keep His commandments. One of which is, be baptized.  But what if someone is neither elect, nor loves Jesus, but is baptized? Then he is one of the seeds that took root, but not deeply, and died, or was choked by weeds. God will root him out, either through the normal activities of the faithful Church, or on Judgement Day. But, if someone is baptized and in good standing with the church, I have no choice but to treat him as a brother, encouraging him in love.

So the Church, perhaps, is a collection of baptized Christians. But that can’t be all, because when I have my Christian buddies over, we are not the church. We are members of the church, meeting outside the church. The church is, as Paul tells us, the body of Christ. We, being baptized Christians, are members of that body. Like little fingers and pinky toes. The church extends in time both ways. It is both historical and teleological. But while all Christians are part of the historical church, and we pray for the future church, we are in the present church. The messy one with real people. Being members of a body naturally means having a hierarchy. The pinky toes are not in charge. They are in submission. It is through this submission that we learn to lead, which is to say, to serve. Essentially, the simple answer is that Christians are covenantally bound to the God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and to one another. There is a lot tied up with that; fellowship, accountability, putting up with strange people, compromising opinions that are held as beliefs, dealing with other people, obeying elders, making vows and keeping them, loving one another.  

So, the church is, through time, a group of people, repentant, believing, and covenantally bound by baptism to God and one another, submitting to the hierarchy of authority put in place by God, and extending the hand of fellowship to those who would repent, believe, and be baptized. The church, as the body of Christ, teaches us, feeds us, and gives us rest. It is not possible, where the church is present, to be bound to Christ, and to be at odds with His body, the church.