Ecclesia vs Church Part 2: The historical roots of the Ecclesia

Read part 1: Ecclesia vs Church

This is my ongoing look at Emil Brunner's prophetic discussion of ecclesiology in his little classic entitled The Misunderstanding of the Church. In this blog, we will look at chapter 2 entitled The Historical Origin of the Ecclesia.

Brunner's principle thesis is that the Ecclesia of the New Testament is something other than and has little in common with the institution of the Church that has emerged out of it. To more fully appreciate that, we need to better understand the historical foundations of the Ecclesia. The first step is to look at its relationship to and distinction from God's people as revealed in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, God chooses a people to act as the supporting character in His divine drama of redemption. They become known as Israel. In short, Israel is "the covenant-people of the covenant-God." This, too, can be said of the Ecclesia. Brunner writes:

It would seem, therefore, that according to the purpose of God the Ecclesia was to be identified with the elect people of the Old Covenant. And yet the fellowship founded by Jesus realized that it was something wholly new, namely, the fellowship of those who through Jesus Christ share in the New Covenant and the new aeon. . . through the present fulfillment of what had been previously merely promised, not simply a new [mode of dispensation] but an utterly new dimension of salvation has been vouchsafed, namely, life in the Holy Spirit, concerning which the Gospel of St. John roundly declares "for the Holy Spirit was not yet given". When Paul affirms: "if any man is in Christ he is a new creature" he is alluding to a new mode of existence not yet known to the believers of the old covenant.

This new existence, Brunner observes, leads to three observable facts in the New Testament Ecclesia.

1. The ceremonial and cultic laws of Judaism are no longer valid for the Ecclesia. This becomes particularly important in regard to the issue of circumcision as Christianity spreads among the Gentiles.
   
2. There is clear distinction between membership of a nation or race and membership of a community of believers. The newly baptized Gentiles are as fully citizens of the Kingdom of God as are those who were circumcised.
   
3. The Ecclesia no longer stands under the jurisdiction of or subordinate to a theocratic government. The Ecclesia renounces "the fusion of Christ's rule with the law of the state."
   

This last point is particularly interesting as we consider the current state of the Church within our culture. Especially, within the United States, Christianity is straining under the weight of the accumulated negative perception of society gathered over years of misguided efforts to establish a modern day theocracy. The Kingdom of God will never be equated with a secular government. The Ecclesia understood this and it informed how it related with the world around it.

I believe the emerging church movement is, in part, contributable to a renewed awareness of this life in the Holy Spirit and a reformation of the role of the Church as a delivery agent for the Kingdom of God in contradistinction to the laws-based pursuit of a Christian society. What do you think?

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