The Church appears guided by a self-widening ministryapostles and prophets.
Of a primitive hierarchical ministry there is no record or tradition. And there is no provision for all time. The provision of a permanent and universal organisation of the Church was, in fact, wholly alien from the thought of the first age. The vision was closed by the Coming. At the close of it the Lord was to come Himself.
The Church in the Epistle to the Ephesians.
The word ejkklhsiva occurs in the Gospels in two places only (Matt. 16:18; 18:17): in the former place in the sense of the universal Church ( kai; ejpi; tauvth/ th'/ pevtra/ oijkodomhvsw mou th;n ejkklhsivan ), and in the latter of a special Church ( eja;n de; parakouvsh/ aujtw'n, eijpo;n th'/ ejkklhsiva/, eja;n de; kai; th'" ejkklhsiva" parakouvsh/, e[stw soi w{sper oJ ejqniko;" kai; oJ telwvnh" ).
Both senses are found in the Acts. In the Apocalypse, as also in St James (Eph. 5:14) and in 3 Jo. 6, 9, 10, the word is used in the special sense only.
In the Epistles of St Paul both senses are found. In the Epistle to the Ephesians the Christian Societythe Churchis a commonwealth, but it is more than a commonwealth.
The Church is a spiritual buildingthe temple of the Spirit. The Church is a living organismthe Body of Christ. The Church is the Bride of Christ.
The word
ejkklhsiva
is used nine times in the Epistle to the Ephesians. But of these instances six occur in one and the same context in the fifth chapter, and the nine occurrences of the word are thus practically reducible to four.
(1) Eph. 1:22 f. kai; aujto;n e[dwken kefalh;n uJpe;r pavnta th'/ ejkklhsiva/, h{ti" ejsti;n to; sw'ma aujtou', to; plhvrwma tou' ta; pavnta ejn pa'sin plhroumevnou .
Not only was Christ Himself exalted to the heavens: ( a ) He is invested with universal sovereignty (cf. Matt. 27:28 ejdovqh moi pa'sa ejxousiva ejn oujranw'/ kai; ejpi; th'" gh'" ).
( b ) He is even now Head of His Church on earth:
Head over all things to the Church, which is His bodyand
(
c
) He has already exercised His sovereignty by the gift of His quickening grace.
So in the parallel passage, Col. 1:18: kai; aujtov" ejstin hJ kefalh; tou' swvmato", th'" ejkklhsiva" (cf. vs. 24), i.e. (as Lightfoot paraphrases) not only does He hold this position of absolute priority and sovereignty over the Universethe natural creationHe stands also in the same relation to the Churchthe new spiritual creation. He is its head, and it is His body.
The Creator of the World is also the Head of the Church the head , the inspiring, ruling, guiding, combining, sustaining power, the mainspring of its activity and the centre of its unity, and the seat of its life.
The image (of Christ as the Head) occurs in a different yet cognate application in 1 Cor. 11:3 panto;" ajndro;" hJ kefalh; oJ cristov" ejstin, kefalh; de; t. cristou' oJ qeov" .
Moreover the relations of the Church to Christ are (as Lightfoot points out)