A Brief History Of The Church: Christian Discipleship Series, #22

By Peter M Newman

This short eBook surveys church history and reveals the purity and power of the church is directly related to the purity and power of the gospel that is preached and practiced. A prime example of this connection is the Protestant Reformation, which only restored half of the gospel. In practice, the Reformation restored the gospel of how "the righteous are saved by faith," but never restored the whole gospel of how "the righteous will live by faith." ­The result is most Christians do not know how to overcome sin and live by faith in Jesus Christ who indwells them by His Spirit. Yet this is the central purpose of Christ's death on the cross and the cornerstone of the New Covenant church. In addition to diagnosing the crux of the problem facing today's church, this book presents the remedy - a model of how the New Covenant church would work based on the complete gospel of Christ and Scriptural teaching on church life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Samuel House Ministries
• Release date: Nov 29, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393954941

Peter M Newman

Peter M Newman is a Bible teacher and the author of the groundbreaking book, The Meaning of the Cross, and its companion book, Unveiling The Bride - The New Covenant Church.  He has worked with both traditional churches and house churches in pastoring, preaching, teaching, and evangelism and served as editor of a Christian magazine.  He and his wife have been married forty-five years and have two grown children and five grandchildren.  

Book preview

THE DIVINE ROMANCE

Thus God’s plan of redemption is the unfolding love story of the divine romance between Christ and the church.  The Bible uses several terms to describe the church; for example, the city of God, the temple of the Spirit, and the body of Christ.  However, the bride of Christ may best describe the divine relationship God desires the church to have with His Son.  For just as a husband loves his wife, Christ loved the church and gave His life for her.  Just as Eve was created from Adam’s body to be his bride and glory, God created the church from Christ’s body to be His bride and glory.  And as Eve was created as Adam’s companion and helpmate to reign over the earth, God created the church to be Christ’s companion and co-regent to reign with Him in the age to come (Genesis 2:18-24; Revelation 19:6-7; 20:6).  As Paul revealed to the first century church, "I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin... and the two will become one flesh.  This mystery is great; but I am speaking about Christ and the church (2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:31-32).

JUST AS THERE WAS A betrothal period in Biblical times between the bride and the bridegroom until their wedding ceremony, so the church is now betrothed to Jesus Christ.  Through water baptism, new believers declare their betrothal to their bridegroom, Jesus Christ, and their union with His death, burial and resurrection.  According to Biblical custom, this betrothal is a binding commitment or covenant that can only be broken by infidelity.  And by Biblical tradition, the bride remains veiled until her marriage.  At the right time, after the second coming of Christ, the bride will be revealed, the wedding feast will take place and the eternal union of the Lamb of God and His bride will be consummated (Revelation 21:1-2, 9-10).

TWO KINDS OF LIFE

TWO KINDS OF CHURCH

HOWEVER, WE SEE TWO kinds of church today – the false church, which bears the image of the earthly (man) and the true church, which bears the image of the heavenly (Christ).  The Bible says, You have come to... the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem... the church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven (Hebrews 12:22-23).  We see from the Scriptures that the true church is the city of the living God, the new Jerusalem - the bride of Christ.  The Bible says, God placed all things under Christ’s feet and appointed Him to be head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all... just as the husband is head of the wife, Christ is also the head of the church... you are Christ’s body and individually members of it (Ephesians 1:22-23; 5:23; 1 Corinthians 12:27).  The primary difference that separates the true church, which is the body of Christ, from the false church is the kind of life it has.  In this regard, the New Testament describes two different kinds of life.  First, there is psychē or soul-life, from which we get the English word psychology.  This is the life Jesus described when He said, "Whoever finds his soul-life will lose it, but whoever loses his soul-life for My sake will find it (Matthew 10:39)."  What is our soul-life?  This is the life which springs from our natural personality (and its inherent attitudes, affections and abilities).  In other words, the person who loses (gives up) fulfilling his natural soul-life in this world will find eternal life in Christ, but the person who fulfills his natural soul-life in this world will lose eternal life.  As Jesus said, What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and yet loses or forfeits his very life? (Luke 9:25)

THE NEW TESTAMENT GREEK word used for eternal life is zoē.  Of the two kinds of life, psychē or soul-life originates from man, but only zoē-life originates from God and is divine.  This is the divine life Jesus