The Kingdom of God, Mentor Guide, MG02

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T H E K I N G D O M O F G O D

some ninety-six images he found on the Church, giving them the various classifications of minor images, the people of God, the new creation, the fellowship in faith, and the body of Christ. What one receives in looking at the revelation in the New Testament about the Church is the profound richness of the apostolic imagination in conceiving and classifying the Church. Among those listed by Minear are the salt of the earth, fighters against Satan, the sanctified slaves, friends, sons of God, household of God, a letter from Christ, branches of the Vine, the elect lady, the bride of Christ, exiles, ambassadors, a chosen race, the holy temple, priesthood, the new creation, members of Christ, and spiritual body. Such a rich enumeration of images demonstrate that the Apostles did not feel any need to restrict the Church’s definition according to a few images, or ratchet the Church’s meaning in a creedal box of meaning. The role that the Church plays in the world is as full and varied as the images which Jesus and the Apostles gave in regards to it. As a matter of fact, a dramatic amount of diverse understandings of the Church can come from a deliberate study of these images and their relationship to one another. We have found it helpful at the Institute, however, to embrace a fidelity and commitment to the creedal theology coming out of the Nicene Statement. This commitment, has made it useful for us to describe the role and nature of the Church through the classic categories given in the Nicene Creed, i.e., that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. Arising from the Council of Constantinople in 381 and reaffirmed at Ephesus (431) and Chalcedon (451), the Church has affirmed itself to be “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.” While we do not rigidly suggest that these are the only way to understand the nature of the Church, we do suggest that Christians throughout history have found these categories helpful and intriguing in gathering together the diverse and rich material in the New Testament on the Church. The image of the body is one of the most significant metaphors of the Church, offering rich understandings of the relationships of the various members of the body to one another, as well as differing groups and associations of the body to each other. The New Testament unequivocally asserts that Christians are one body in Christ containing many members who hold to different offices, gifts, and functions

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