The Church: Visible and Invisible
Photo by Akira Hojo on Unsplash
This is part 2 of a 7-part series on the doctrine of the church. Read part 1.
This article was adapted from a sermon by Levi Bakerink, originally preached on July 2, 2023 at Christ the King Presbyterian Church. You can listen to that recording below.
“I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints…”
Introduction
That line comes from the Apostles’ Creed, one of the ecumenical creeds that we confess and believe. But what do we confess to believe when we say ‘the holy catholic church?’ What is the ‘communion of saints?’ Those questions are the concern of this article.
The word catholic here does not refer to the institution known as the Roman Catholic Church, but employs its more basic meaning—referring to the ‘universal’ church. There is one church, that is, one people of God, one communion of saints.
In the Apostles’ Creed, then, we confess to belong to the singular, universal church across all ages and locations. But when we dig deeper we realize that there are many ways that we use the word ‘church’ in our everyday vocabulary that do not always fit in with the creedal definition, or with the way Scripture uses the word ‘church’ for that matter.
For example, sometimes we use the word ‘church’ but we are only talking about the church building. “I’ll meet you at the church,” means “I’ll meet you at the building located at 1930 Virginia Ave.”
Other times we can use the word ‘church’ when we are talking about participating in corporate worship. “I’m going to church this morning,” means “I’m going to attend the worship service held at Christ the King.”
But these are not biblical ways of talking about the church. Now, the purpose of this article is not to police language. What I do hope to accomplish is to show how Scripture speaks of the church so we can better understand what the church is, and what it is not. That distinction impacts everything from how we understand church membership, to what we do on Sundays, and to who we are as a church family.
How, then, should we understand the church biblically? Put simply, there is only one people of God—that is, the church—understood in two different ways. This is Paul’s argument in Romans chapter 9, verses 1-8
9:1 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.
6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.
From this passage we see these two principles stated above. First, that there is only, and ever was, and ever will be, one people of God. In both the Old and New Testament, Israel and the Church, are one and the same people.
And second, that when we talk about this one people of God, we must distinguish between two characteristics or aspects: visible and invisible.
One People of God: The Redemptive History of Israel and the Church
When did the church begin? When did it start? In our New Members class at CTK, we make the point that the church did not begin in the New Testament period. It did not begin in the book of Acts. The church—the people of God—has existed from the very beginning.
Paul builds his case in Romans 9-11 on this foundational principle, that there is and ever was only one people of God. We should remind ourselves of the context of Romans 9. Often we talk about this chapter as a deciding factor in our understanding of the Reformed doctrine of predestination and God’s sovereignty over salvation. And that is true.
Notice the context that starts this chapter, however. Paul begins by describing the anguish he has in his own heart over his fellow Israelites who have not believed in the Messiah.
“I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.” He says about them. “For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh” (Romans 9:2-3).
These are the Israelites, his kinsmen according to the flesh. According to their physical descent, they are all children of Abraham. They are the people whom God chose, whom he brought out from the slavery of Egypt, to whom he gave the law, the sacrificial system. He made them his very own people. His own possession.
Paul summarizes the blessing of being an Israelite in verses 4-5:
“They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.”
They are blessed in many ways, even in the fact that Jesus Christ is one of them! There is only one problem. The Israelites rejected God’s Son, Jesus Christ. They murdered the Messiah. They crucified the Christ. They rejected him, and God’s salvation.
How can this be? Did God make a mistake in choosing them? Did he fail in his mission to save and redeem this people? Paul argues that he did not:
“But it is not as though the word of God has failed.” And here’s the interpretive key: “For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’ This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring” (Romans 9:6-8).
Notice Paul’s argument. God’s word did not fail; he did save his people. But the unfolding story of redemption reveals that his people are those who are descendants of Abraham by faith, not according to the flesh. It is the children of the promise, not the children of the flesh.
What is the promise? It was the promise given to Abraham, that God would use him to bring blessing to all the nations of the world. And he would do that through Abraham’s offspring, who was Christ.
Behind this wonderful promise of God’s blessing through the offspring of Abraham stands the promise given in Genesis 3:15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
This is the first proclamation of the gospel. We see how the promised offspring would crush the serpent’s head, which is the undoing of the curse and sting of sin and death. Yet it would come at a cost to the offspring. Christ would be crucified, but he would rise again.
It is in this context that God calls Abraham, promising to him an offspring, which was not a promise ultimately about Isaac, his son, but about the Son of God who would descend from him.
In Galatians 3:16 Paul makes this point clear: “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ who is Christ.”
Christ is the offspring of Abraham, and Christ is the one who crushes the serpent's head and accomplishes the redemption of his people. He fulfills the promise given to Abraham that through him all the nations would be blessed. Jew and Gentile. They are all the descendants of Abraham, by faith in Abraham’s offspring—Jesus Christ.
This is also why Paul will say at the end of Galatians 3 that “in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise” (Galatians 3:26-29).
This passage is not saying (as it is commonly but mistakenly suggested) that God’s grace obliterates any and every distinction between men and women, or between races. Rather, Paul argues, there is no longer a covenantal distinction between Jew or Greek. In faith, they are all descendants of Abraham. Everyone, regardless of race, sex, class, or any other distinction, has equal access and equal standing before God.
How is this possible? Because there is only one people of God, forever and always. That is Paul’s point here in Galatians 3, and in the larger context of Romans 9-11. As Paul gets to Romans 11 he employs the language of the branches and the tree. The unbelieving Israelites are like branches that are cut off, and the believing Gentiles are grafted into the tree and are nourished from the same root.
But notice the language, there is only and ever was one tree. He does not chop down one tree and plant another; he does not replace his people. Rather, he fulfills and keeps his promises, by grafting in the outsider and making them into one people.
There is one people of God, Jew and Gentile, from all times. Much more could be said but let’s consider the second point now. There is one people of God in two different aspects: visible and invisible.
Two Different Senses: Visible and Invisible
When we talk about the Church, when we talk about God’s people, we need to keep this distinction in mind between the visible and invisible. What does this mean?
This distinction does not mean there are two different churches. We have just seen from Scripture that there is only, ever, one church—one people of God. We do, however, distinguish this one people in these two different senses, or aspects. There is the visible church, and the invisible church. We can define each briefly.
The invisible church consists of the whole number of God’s elect, across all time, in heaven and earth. The membership in the invisible church is known only to God.
The visible church consists of all those who profess faith in Christ, together with their children. With those preliminary definitions, we can highlight more areas of distinction.
In terms of membership they are different. Membership in the visible church is made by a credible profession of faith. But it is only by God’s eternal decree, through his election, predestination, and salvation that people are brought into the invisible church.
Because this is the case, the number of members within the visible church will fluctuate, as new members join, and as others leave for any number of reasons. But the number of God’s elect, the invisible church, is fixed by God and never changes.
The visible church exists in time, consisting of the present community of professing believers. The invisible church is made up of all believers, past, present, and future, who believe (or will believe in time) in Christ Jesus by the sovereign act of God’s grace.
Why is all this theology important? Is this not just splitting hairs over something trivial? This distinction is important because it helps us understand what Scripture teaches. This distinction is not an invention of any church tradition, but is a biblical category that Paul uses in our passage.
Paul says in Romans 9:6 that “not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel.” He makes the same point earlier in the letter, “For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter” (Romans 2:28-29).
Paul is making this distinction, that there is a group of people who can be part of the visible community of God, but not in the invisible, spiritual community. Within Israel there always existed those who had received the outward, physical sign of circumcision and were thus part of the visible community of faith. But inwardly did not have the spiritual circumcision of the heart.
In other words, the visible church is a mixed community, it is made up of believers and unbelievers. Whereas, the invisible church is only made up of those with true, saving faith, based upon God’s eternal decree.1
From these passages, and others, we learn this important distinction, that not all Israel is Israel. That not all who belong to the visible church belong to the invisible church. If we keep this distinction in mind, it will help us in many ways. This distinction, and how it impacts our understanding of Scripture and the church, will be the main focus of the articles in the rest of this series. There is not enough space in this article to discuss all the different takeaways and implications, but we can conclude with a few points of application.
First, this distinction between visible and invisible helps us understand Scripture. In the same way that we can mean different things when we use the word ‘church’ in different contexts, when the Bible uses the word church, we need to ask ourselves whether the visible or the invisible is in view. By doing so, this helps prevent errors in our biblical interpretation.
Second, it also helps us understand church membership. We consider it an unfortunate truth that not every single person who is a member of the visible church is truly a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. But this distinction helps us to realize that our job is not to determine who is a true believer, because only God can judge the heart. Rather, when we as the elders admit someone into membership in the visible church, we are saying that this person has made a credible profession of faith. That is what is given for us to judge. Church membership will be the topic of the next article in this series.
Third, it helps us understand the sacraments, which are given for the benefit of the visible church, in view of the true saving faith that belongs to the invisible church. We baptize infants because the covenant belongs to them. They are members of the visible church by birthright. And we pray that God, who alone judges the heart, will raise them up, through the ordinary use of his means, to true and saving faith.
Fourth, this distinction helps us understand why some, unfortunately, walk away from the faith they once professed. Apostasy is a terribly sad thing, and difficult to grapple with. This distinction, however, provides us with categories to understand apostasy better. When a person renounces his faith, he is renouncing his membership in the visible church of God and demonstrating that he never truly was a member of the invisible church, the elect.
Finally, to end on a personal and uplifting note, we must always remember that there is one people of God, forever. We make the distinction between the visible and the invisible, because it is a biblical category and it helps us understand what the church is, and helps us to read our Bibles.
But the church is God’s people. And if you have put your faith in Christ, and have given yourself to be a member of God’s church where the gospel is preached, the sacraments administered, and church discipline practiced faithfully (always beginning with the Word of God), then you can be certain of your salvation.
If you have put your faith in Christ, then you are a beloved son or daughter of God. You are his treasured possession. A people for himself. And not only are you united to Christ, but you are united to the communion of God’s saints, the universal church. Praise be to God!
1 See Jesus’ parable in Matthew 13:24-30 which also demonstrates the mixed nature of the visible church.
