Introduction

J.I. Packer: “The Church is the supernatural society of God's redeemed and baptized people, looking back to Christ’s first coming with gratitude and onto his second coming with hope.”[1]

Jonathan Edwards: “The creation of the world seems to have been especially for this end, that the eternal Son of God might obtain a spouse towards whom he might fully exercise the infinite benevolence of his nature, and to whom he might, as it were, open and pour forth all that immense fountain of condescension, love, and grace that was in his heart, and that in this way God might be glorified.”[2]

Context

1. Authorship and Purpose
2. Why preach through the Apostles’ Creed?
3. Structure of the Sermon

1. The Church Is Tied Together in Jesus Christ ("The")

1. One in Christ [Ephesians 2:11–22, Colossians 1:18]
2. From the One Lord, Many [Ephesians 5:23]
3. Organic Unity, Not Organizational Unity [Ephesians 4:1–6]
4. Unity, Not Uniformity

Herman Bavinck: “It is [Jesus] who, continuing his mediatorial work in the state of exaltation, joins his churches together and builds them up from within himself as the head, gathers and governs it, always remains with it, is most intimately connected with it, and dwells in it by his Spirit.”^[3]

2. The Church Is Transformed by Jesus ("Holy") [Ephesians 2:11–22, 1 Peter 2:5]

1. Made Holy in Christ [Ephesians 1:4,1 Thessalonians 4:3, 2 Timothy 1:9, Ephesians 2:22, 5:25–27]
2. Maturing in Holiness [Ephesians 2:21, 1 Thessalonians 4:7, 1 Corinthians 1:2, 1 Peter 2:21, 3:16]
3. Manifesting Holiness Personally and Corporately [1 Corinthians 5:1–13]

3. The Church Is Transcendent because of Jesus Christ ("Universal" or catholic) [Ephesians 2:11–22, 1 Peter 2:5]

1. Everywhere [Revelation 5:9–10, Ephesians 2:11–22]
2. Every Class [1 Corinthians 1:26–31]
3. Every Period of Time [Acts 4:12]
4. Universal Catholic, Not Roman Catholic

Ignatius of Antioch: “wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.”^[4]

Irenaeus of Lyons: “For where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God; and where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church, and every kind of grace; but the Spirit is truth.^[5]

29th Article of the Belgic Confession: “. . . the pure doctrine of the gospel is preached therein; if it maintains the pure administration of the [ordinances] as instituted by Christ [baptism and the Lord’s Supper]; if church discipline is exercised in chastening of sin; in short, if all things are managed according to the pure Word of God, all things contrary thereto rejected, and Jesus Christ acknowledged as the only Head of the Church. Hereby the true Church may certainly be known, from which no man has a right to separate himself.”^[6]

4. The Church Is Taught about Jesus Christ ("Church") [Matthew 16:18, Ephesians 2:18–22]

1. Apostolic Foundation [Ephesians 2:20, John 17:20]
2. Apostolic Gospel [Galatians 1:6–9, 2 Timothy 1:8–14, Jude 3–4, 1 Timothy 3:15]

Herman Bavinck: “The truth is, there is not a word in Scripture about such an apostolic succession. Even as such it is no more a guarantee of purity of doctrine than the hereditary high-priestly office of Caiaphas validated the justice of his pronouncements and actions. For that reason Protestants were right in saying that not “the succession of places and persons” (successio locorum et personarum) but “the succession of doctrine” (successio doctrinae) is a distinguishing feature of the true church. If the latter is missing, the former can make no church into a true church; and if it is present, the former is of very minor significance.”^[7]

Conclusion

[1] J. I. Packer, Growing in Christ (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2007), 77.

[2] Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758), "The Church's Marriage to Her Sons, and to Her God," sermon preached September 19, 1746, at the installment of the Rev. Samuel Buel as pastor of the church and congregation at East Hampton on Long Island. (Works 25.187)

^[3] Herman Bavinck, John Bolt, and John Vriend, Reformed Dogmatics: Holy Spirit, Church, and New Creation, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008), 280–281.

^[4] Ignatius of Antioch, “The Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnæans,” in The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, vol. 1, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1885), 90.

^[5] Irenaeus of Lyons, “Irenæus against Heresies,” in The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, vol. 1, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1885), 458.

^[6] Historic Creeds and Confessions, electronic ed. (Oak Harbor: Lexham Press, 1997).

^[7] Herman Bavinck, John Bolt, and John Vriend, Reformed Dogmatics: Holy Spirit, Church, and New Creation, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008), 324.

To learn more about what Arlington Baptist Church believes, read our Statement of Faith.