The Invisible Church

Posted by Nathanael Szobody on

Jesus told the Samaritan woman that one day people would worship neither in Jerusalem nor on the mountain in Samaria, but that “the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.” If then the church does not consist in a place of worship, nor in outward forms, but in spirit and in truth, then we may truly speak of an ‘invisible church.

However, this Spirit is active; it is this Spirit which obeys the Word to create. This Truth is also incarnate, for he hung on the cross and rose from the dead to give life. So if the Church visible wants to excuse its divisions and its lack of faith in actions of love by saying that it is only the ‘invisible church’ dwelling within the visible church that matters, then it has unwittingly confessed its estrangement from the true church of Christ. If one is truly a part of the invisible, spiritual church, then one will seek to bring about the visible unity of that church. For the Father is seeking such people to worship him.

Nathanael Szobody

https://paradoxicalmusings.com/author/admin/

Husband, father, and working for Christ's kingdom in Chad.

Comments ( 2 )

  1. Emilie
    that's a rather frightening revelation for what we know as "the church". it's obvious we still add requirements to the Gospel - like attending church is a must, good works are a must, sharing the Gospel is a must, baptism is a must... all these things are outward signs, evidence of our faith. actions that result from our faith, not requirements for it... I hope I explained that sufficiently. how sad that we try so hard to make our church suitable to the world, to make it understandable. no non-Christians would be able to understand our visible church, invisible church drivel, so we stick to the visible church and our precious potlucks... things the world can understand. and in doing so, we are - as you put it - estranged from Christ.
  2. Nathanael
    true; we do pander to the world as if the church, which was meant to be the communion of believers, were an evangelistic program.

    it also depends on perspective; no, we don't have to attend church, do good works or be baptized even. where did we ever get the idea that those things were acts of man in the first place? the fellowship of the body is only an act of Christ as he unites us with him (ephesians 1, and 2, and 3...all of ephesians now that i think about it), good works are in fact what we are now free to do as a part of the life of christ, and baptism is an act and gift of God to man. if we're talking about communicating to the world we first have to realize what we have been given so that we may extend it to them.

    i like potlucks!

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