Article January 26, 1924 Issue

Church Organization

BLISS KNAPP

In considering the subject of the Christian Church, one naturally turns to the inception of that Church as described in the teachings of Christ Jesus. Once when the great Master was endeavoring to lift the thought of his disciples above the contemplation of himself as the carpenter's son to the recognition of God's anointed one, he asked them, "Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?" The answer was apparently unsatisfactory: and he inquired again, "But whom say ye that I am?" Then Peter, in an outburst of spiritual illumination, exclaimed, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God"!

This acknowledgment of the Christ was the spiritual Rock upon which Jesus declared the Church of Christ should be built for time and eternity. To emphasize the holy character of this Church and the inviolability of its foundation, Jesus added, "And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Thus the initial unfoldment of the Church of Christ brought to light its real mission as the apprehension and demonstration of the Christ, Truth, which overcomes sin and hell.

Later, "the Revelation of Jesus Christ" was given through his angel to the beloved John, concerning the seven churches in Asia. In the revelation, John saw the seven candlesticks, which "are the seven churches," and in the midst of them "one like unto the Son of man," whom Peter had acknowledged as the Christ. The number seven is typical of completeness; and these symbolical candlesticks, typifying the full and complete illumination which Christ bestows upon his Church, indicate exactly what it is in the Church of Christ that makes the challenge to sin and hell effectual.

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