In the beginning God purposed a people for Himself, as it is written, Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and cling to his wife, and they shall become one flesh (Genesis 2:24); and the Spirit testifies, This mystery is great, but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:32). To Jacob it was said, God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become an assembly of peoples (Genesis 28:3); and again, Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and an assembly of nations shall come from you (Genesis 35:11). Thus was the seed of promise appointed, that in the fullness of time Christ might say, I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it (Matthew 16:18). He loved her and gave Himself up for her (Ephesians 5:25), purchasing her with His own blood (Acts 20:28), that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present her to Himself glorious, holy, and without blemish (Ephesians 5:26–27). For He is the head of the body, the church (Colossians 1:18), and the church is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all (Ephesians 1:23).
Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20), no man can lay another foundation than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11). In Him the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord (Ephesians 2:21), in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:22). For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body (1 Corinthians 12:13), and from whom the whole body, being joined and held together by what every joint supplies, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love (Ephesians 4:16). Therefore we are living stones… being built up as a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:5), a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession (1 Peter 2:9).
And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers (Acts 2:42); for faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ (Romans 10:17). They sang psalms and hymns and spiritual songs (Ephesians 5:19), remembered the Lord in the supper (1 Corinthians 11:23–26), and walked in love, sharing with all who had need (Acts 4:34–35). For the church's mission remains as He commanded: Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations… teaching them to keep all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:19–20). Christ rules His church, giving shepherds to oversee and teach (Acts 20:28), deacons to serve (1 Timothy 3:8–10), and every saint a share in His work, for to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the profit of all (1 Corinthians 12:7). The true marks are the gospel of grace unmixed (Galatians 1:8–9), the ordinances kept in faith (1 Corinthians 11:2), and the discipline of holiness exercised in love (Matthew 18:15–17).
Yet not by our strength but by His promise she stands, for He who began a good work in you will complete it (Philippians 1:6), Faithful is He who calls you, who also will do it (1 Thessalonians 5:24), to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy (Jude 24). For the gates of Hades will not overpower it (Matthew 16:18), and she shall be presented to Him as a bride adorned for her husband (Revelation 21:2), Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9). Then shall we also be revealed with Him in glory (Colossians 3:4), for from Him and through Him and to Him are all things—to Him be the glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11:36).