Part 4
The Law of the Church

After indicating the kingdom aspect of the church, Jesus then spoke of the work of His apostles in binding and loosing. In this expression He referred to the giving of divine law for the welfare of His people. The apostles would serve in very significant positions in this matter, as the Lord showed in His picture of them on thrones during the time of regeneration (being born again) in Matthew 19:28. The authoritative quality of their teaching is here underscored, even as it is in a passage like Acts 2:42, where their teaching was the guide of the early Christians.

Jesus did not mean that they would initiate law, but announce what heaven had decreed. That such is His meaning can be seen in the language employed: “whatever you bind on earth shall be, having been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be, having been loosed in heaven” (Marshall’s interlinear translation of the Nestle text). Observe that their role as apostles in binding and loosing did not come first, but after heaven’s decree. If such were the case, then God’s eternal plan would be subject to apostolic interpretation, but the opposite is the case. Peter, the apostle here addressed, and the other ones, as seen in Matthew 18:18, shared in the work of binding and loosing. There was no primacy for Peter or any other apostle, in spite of Catholic doctrine to the contrary! The privilege in the work of revelation granted to Peter in Matthew 16 was likewise given to the rest two chapters later.

In a practical sense, what does this concept mean to the church today? It places all in the church under authority to Christ in relation to apostolic teaching. What they taught was theirs by divine inspiration, as part of the process of revelation. Jesus made arrangement for the coming of the Spirit of truth to guide them, as earlier seen in this study. When they thus spoke, they were presenting the words of Christ, whether He personally spoke them while on earth or not. Because of this understanding, we then would make no difference between the words of Christ in red letters in some New Testaments and those of Christ in black, given to the apostles for delivery to earth. In fact, the entire New Testament could easily be printed in red letters for this reason.

This concept also means that the law of Christ relative to all matters addressed in the New Testament must be our authoritative guide. The following aspects of Christ’s plan illustrate the application of that plan to the church today:

1. Law of Entrance: The teaching of Jesus and His apostles relative to becoming Christians is not merely suggestive that we should think along these broad lines, but they constitute the way of passage into the kingdom of God. It is clearly the way of faith in Christ, repentance over sins, and baptism into Christ for the forgiveness of one’s sins (Mk. 16:15-16; Lk. 24:46-47; Acts 2:38). Only those who conform themselves to the will of the Father will thus enter the kingdom (Mt. 7:21). That this became divine law is seen in the uniform expectations of those who turned to Christ in the cases of conversion in the Book of Acts.

2. Law of Worship: What Jesus taught concerning collective worship in John 4:24 was later expanded in the various statements of Acts and the epistles (Acts 2:42; 1 Cor. 11; 14; Col. 3:16). Worship is not acceptable merely because of some attitude that the worshipper has; God has always prescribed acceptable worship.

3. Law of Organization: The New Testament pictures local-church organization and nothing more (Phil. 1:2; Acts 20:28; Tit. 1:5; 1 Pet. 5:1-4). The current practice of joining local churches together to work in different fields is unknown in the New Testament. Local churches always operated under local elders to do their work.

4. Law of Mission (Work): The mission of Christ to seek and save the lost became the passion of His people, as seen in the examples of congregations dispatching preachers to preach and supporting preachers ay home and at a distance. Local churches also edified saints to spiritual maturity and sometimes assisted with emergency needs among the saints. Modern concern with health projects, educational ventures, recreational programs, and social-action efforts is totally alien to the portrait found in the Scriptures.

5. Law of Life: Each Christian is individually related to Christ as his king and head. Matters of attitude, speech, and act come within this relationship. All that one does and is must conform to the example of Christ

The purpose of this brief presentation in this last section is not to provide exhaustive teaching/scriptures concerning these different matters of Christ’s law, but to illustrate how His law applies in various areas. It is clear that the local church (points 2-4) and the individual Christian (points 1 and 5) must submit to the will of the king. All purchased by His blood belong to Him and should glorify Him through lives of obedient service. In this way the church built by Jesus Christ will serve as His spiritual body to represent Him to the world.

By Bobby L. Graham

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