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true Christian believers, all expecting their salvation in Jesus Christ, being washed by His blood,
sanctified and sealed by the Holy Spirit.”[Art. XXVII.] The Second Helvetic Confession expresses
the same truth by saying that the Church is “a company of the faithful, called and gathered out
of the world; a communion of all saints, that is, of them who truly know and rightly worship and
serve the true God, in Jesus Christ the Saviour, by the word of the Holy Spirit, and who by faith
are partakers of all those good graces which are freely offered through Christ.”[Chap. XVII.] And
the Westminster Confession, defining the Church from the point of view of election, says: “The
catholic or universal Church, which is invisible, consists of the whole number of the elect, that
have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ the head thereof; and is the spouse,
the body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.”[Chap. XXV.] The Church universal, that is, the
Church as it exists in the plan of God, and as it is realized only in the course of the ages, was
conceived as consisting of the whole body of the elect, who are in course of time called unto
life eternal. But the Church as it actually exists on earth was regarded as the community of the
saints. And it was not only the invisible Church that was so regarded, but the visible Church as
well. These are not two Churches but one, and therefore have but a single essence. The one as
well as the other is essentially the communio sanctorum, but the invisible Church is the Church
as God sees it, a Church which contains only believers, while the visible Church is the Church as
man sees it, consisting of those who profess Jesus Christ with their children and therefore
adjudged to be the community of the saints. This may and always does contain some who are
not yet regenerated — there may be chaff among the wheat —, but may not tolerate public
unbelievers and wicked persons. Paul addresses his Epistles to empirical churches, and does not
hesitate to address them as “saints,” but also insists on the necessity of putting away the
wicked and those who give offense from among them, I Cor. 5; II Thess. 3:6,14: Tit. 3:10. The
Church forms a spiritual unity of which Christ is the divine Head. It is animated by one Spirit, the
Spirit of Christ; it professes one faith, shares one hope, and serves one King. It is the citadel of
the truth and God’s agency in communicating to believers all spiritual blessings. As the body of
Christ it is destined to reflect the glory of God as manifested in the work of redemption. The
Church in its ideal sense, the Church as God intends it to be and as it will once become, is an
object of faith rather than of knowledge. Hence the confession: “I believe one holy catholic
Church.”
B. THE MANY-SIDED CHARACTER OF THE CHURCH.
In speaking of the Church several distinctions come into consideration.
1. THAT OF A MILITANT AND A TRIUMPHANT CHURCH.
The Church in the present dispensation
is a militant Church, that is, she is called unto, and is actually engaged in, a holy warfare. This, of
course, does not mean that she must spend her strength in self-destroying internecine