More than forty years ago, Los Angeles experienced a terrible earthquake, one of the worst in the city’s history, I remember because, just before the earthquake, he had taken a friend to the airport to catch a flight to Los Angeles, where he was a pastor. The earthquake affected his church. Then he told me that at first everything seemed to go well with the construction of the sanctuary, however, although there was no visible damage of any magnitude, a subsequent inspection revealed that the foundations of the church had moved so much that they had to close. the church and rebuild the sanctuary because it was no longer safe. To any inattennt observer, it seemed that the sanctuary was stable. However, in reality, it was not suitable for use and had to be demolished and rebuilt on a solid basis.
In Psalm 11. 3, David asks the following question: “Now, having been destroyed the foundations, what can the righteous do?”David draws an analogy from the physical realm to describe a particular spiritual concern he had. because a building involves the end of the whole building, the failure of God’s people to maintain the foundation of truth indicates a disaster for their spiritual health and well-being.
- We can apply this idea to the church.
- If the foundation of the church falters.
- Can the church survive?No.
- But what is the foundation of the church?Responding correctly to this question will help us protect the foundation and preserve God’s truth.
Have I taught several times on this subject? The foundation of the church?In my years of ministry. I have often pointed out that although the author of the phrase “The only foundation of the Church is Jesus Christ, our Lord?”, His heart was in the right place when He wrote his hymn, the verse itself is a channel of misinformation. With regard to the foundation of the Church, Scripture really speaks of Jesus as a foundation: “Why can no one lay a different foundation than the one who was laid, which is Jesus Christ?(1 Corinthians 3:11). However, that is not all the New Testament says about the foundation of the church. Paul says in Ephesians 2:20 that Jesus is in fact “the cornerstone. “Jesus is called the foundation because he is the key element of the whole foundation. other stones in this foundation.
So what’s the rest of the motive? The foundation, Paul tells us, consists of prophets and apostles (Ephesians 2:18-21). In Revelation 21, we read the magnificent view of the New Jerusalem, the heavenly city that descends from above. Verse 14 tells us that “the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on these were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. “Even heavenly Jerusalem is based on the foundation of the apostles.
Historically, the Christian Church is, in essence, apostolic. The term apostle comes from the Greek word apostolos, which means “the envoy”. In ancient Greek culture, an apostle was above all a messenger, ambassador, or emissary, but he was not just a messenger. He was an emissary authorized by the king to represent him in his absence, and had the authority of the king.
The first Apostle of the New Testament was, in fact, Jesus, because he had been sent by his Father into the world. We have the most complete picture of what it means to be an Apostle as we look at what Jesus says in the New Testament. Jesus said, “I do nothing for myself, but do I speak as the Father taught me?(John 8. 28). Christ said to his disciples, “For I spoke not for myself, but for the Father, who sent me, prescribed what to say and what to say?(12,49). He said, “Has all authority been given to me in heaven and on earth?(Matthew 28. 18). Jesus received the authority of God the Father to speak in the name of the Father and proclaim the Word of His Father, so that Jesus’ teaching has the authority of God.
The Apostles spoke with Christ’s transferred authority to proclaim his teachings; The Apostles taught with the authority of Jesus, who in turn taught with God’s authority; therefore, as the father of the Church Irénée argued a long time ago, to reject apostolic authority is to reject the authority of Jesus and, in the end, to reject the authority of Jesus is to reject the authority of God.
This concept of apostolic authority is of vital importance to the Christian faith. But how to recognize apostolic authority? By submission to the apostolic tradition. In 1 Corinthians 15:3, Paul tells us, “First I gave them what I received too,” and uses the word paradosis, which is the Greek term we translated as “tradition. “Paradosis literally means “a gift, a transfer,” and that’s what the New Testament is. It is the apostolic tradition that the Church has received. The church received it from the Apostles, who received it from Christ, who received it from God. Is that why when we reject the apostles’ teaching?the Apostolic Tradition of the New Testament?
By: R. C. Sproul. © Ligonier Ministries. Website: ligonier. org. Translated with permission. The source:? The unique foundation of the Church.
Original: The only foundation of the church, © Faithful Ministry. Website: MinisterioFiel. com. br. All rights reserved. Translation: Camila Rebeca Teixeira. Review: André Alosio Oliveira da Silva.