Jesus And His Church - A Study Of The Idea Of The Ecclesia In The New Testament R. Newton Flew Author - new book

JESUS AND HIS CHURCH A STUDY OF THE IDEA OF THE ECCLESIA IN THE NEW TESTAMENT R. NEWTON FLEW THE ABINGDON PRESS NEW YORK CINCINNATI CHICAGO Copyright, 1938, by R. NEWTON FLEW All rights - reserved-no part of tills book may t be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, cxtxj t by a reviewer who wishes to uuoto brie I iKusnagtB in connection with a re view written for inclusion In magaxme or newspaper. JL 6 Printed in thft United States of America TO MY FIRST TEACHER IN THEOLOGY Quaerebamus inter nos cpud praescntem Vcritatem Saint Augustine, writing of his mother CONTENTS PREFACE 9 INTRODUCTION lg PART ONE THE TEACHING OF JESUS 1. THE Basileia AND THE Ecclesia .... 23 2, THE COMMUNITY OF THE INTERVAL ... 41 g. THE IDEA OF THE ECCLESIA IN THE MIND OF OUR LORD 48 i. The Nucleus of the New Israel ... 48 s. The Ethical Teaching of Jesus and the Power of the Spirit 58 3. The Conception of Messiahship and the Consequent Allegiance . . . . 72 4. The Message as Constitutive of the Com munity 80 5. The Mission of the New Community . .106 4, THE PROMISE TO PETER 123 PART TWO THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH 5, THE CHURCH AS THE ISRAEL OF GOD . . - 139 6 THE CHURCH IS THE COMPANY WHICH SHARES IN THE GIFT OF THE SPIRIT 145 7 THE CHURCH IS CONSTITUTED THROUGH ITS ALLE GIANCE . 160 8, THE MESSAGE OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH . . l68 9, THE MISSION OF THE ECCLISIA, ., . - 174 10. THE MINISTRY OF THE ECCLESIA . . 180 7 PART THREE THE UNITY OF THE APOSTOLIC TEACHING 11. THE TEACHING OF PAUT, 811 12. THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER 22 8 lg. THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS . . ., 2 1 14. THE APOCALYPSE 836 15, THE FOURTH GOSPEL 841 PART FOUR CONCLUSION CONCLUSION ., .... 857 INDEX OF SUBJECTS .867INDEX OF PROPER NAMES . . . . . INDEX OF NEW TESTAMENT REFERENCES, . PREFACE OIR, you wish to serve God and go to heaven Remem ber that you cannot serve Him alone. You must there fore find companions, or make them the Bible knows nothing of solitary religion. 1 This advice of an un named serious man to John Wesley was influential in the formation of the Holy Club in 1729. The rejec tion of mere individualism in religion ultimately leads to a doctrine of the nature of the Church. But is the idea of the Ecclesia to be found in the teaching of our Lord This is the problem handled in the present book, which is therefore offered as a contribution to the study of New Testament theology, The invitation to deliver the Pernley-Hartley Lecture for 1938 came to me with a request that the subject should be related to the task of the great ecumenical movements which are seeking to bring together the sepa rated communions of Christendom. The trustees thought it fitting that, in a year of world-wide commemoration of the conversion of the Wesleys, the eyes of Methodist students should be turned to the future, and to the rela tion of Christians to one another. As one of the three representatives of the Methodist Church who had been appointed to attend both the Oxford World Conference on Life and Work, and the Edinburgh World Confer ence on Faith and Order, I was naturally eager to respond to this request. For some years now I have been occu pied, both in private study and in public lectures, with the subject of The Idea of the Ecclesia in Christian The ology It had become clear that there was only one great Christian doctrine, that of the nature of the Church, which really divided the differentcommunions from one another It seemed to be the duty of a theological teacher Henry Moore Ufa of John Wesley 1824 1 i p. 162 Journal Stand ard ed, 1909, i, p. 469. PREFACE to prepare for the discussions on that subject, which are likely to take place in the near future between represen tatives of the various traditions...