Greetings!
What is the church that we love so dearly? By what do we recognize it? How can we best describe that which nourishes us so deeply? What can we tell others about it?
John Calvin wrote:
Wherever we see the Word of God purely preached and heard, and the sacraments administered according to Christ's institution, there, it is not to be doubted, a church of God exists. For his promise cannot fail: "Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them." . . .
If it has the ministry of the Word and honors it, if it has the administration of the sacraments, it deserves without doubt to be held and considered a church. For it is certain that such things are not without fruit.
[Institutes of the Christian Religion (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1960), Book IV, Chap. 1, sect. 9, pp. 1023-24]
So let us gladly and confidently fulfill our callings of preaching and hearing the Word, and let us thankfully administer and receive the sacraments. Thus are we gathered into, and received by, the church of our Lord Jesus Christ and so brought into the promised presence of the Lord himself.
For further reading, see:
Topic 34. The Unity and Purity of the Church
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Grace and Peace,
Dr. James C. Goodloe IV, Executive Director
Foundation for Reformed Theology
4103 Monument Avenue
Richmond, Virginia 23230
Better Preaching, Teaching, and Pastoral Care
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