Fred G. Stevenson

“In relation to other matters, just when did Jesus form the church?”

      There seems to be a rather widespread idea among Baptists that the church of Jesus Christ had its beginning with the calling out of the twelve apostles. The account of this out-calling is given at Mark 3:13-19. This was far too late in the ministry of Jesus to be accounted as the beginning of the church.
      Let it be stated in beginning that much reliance is placed on the harmony of the gospels as this subject is discussed. A number of very capable men have devoted most of their lifetime to studying and arranging the four gospels in the order which occurred. Their opinion generally is that the books of Mark and John follow the time order almost without exception; whereas, Matthew and Luke follow a logical sequence without a great deal of regard to the chronological order in which the events took place.
      One result of this regrouping of the gospels it the conclusion that the apostles were chosen about two years after the beginning of the ministry of Jesus, rather than soon after the beginning of that ministry. The church had been in existence for almost two years before the apostles were set in it. A few high points in the ministry of Jesus are given as follows:
      He went from Galilee to Jordan and was baptized by John (Mark 1:9). He was driven into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit where He was tempted by Satan (Mark 1:12,13). He returned to Judaea for a short time and gathered several disciples (John 1:35-43). He returned to Galilee, where He attended the Marriage feast at Cana (John 2:1,2). He went to the Passover feast in Jerusalem as recorded in the second and third chapters of John.
      At the Passover observance, Jesus was opposed by the Jewish religious leaders because He cast the money changers out of the temple. He had meant to convince these very people that He was the Messiah of whom the prophets had spoken. The ones who should have received Jesus most readily raised the quibble of where He got the authority to cast the money changers out of the temple.
      After this incident, Jesus returned to Galilee, and during the next year He ministered to the common people of the Jews. There was also some hint that He would later give the gospel to people of other nations. This is, He saved the Samaritan woman and He healed the son of the nobleman in Capernaum. It is assumed this nobleman was of a nation other Israel.
      During this year, Jesus called the disciples Peter, Andrew, James, John and Matthew (Mark 1:16-20; Mark 2:13-17). He would make them fishers of men, but it does not appear they went on any preaching tours at this time.
      Jesus then went to the second Passover after the beginning of His ministry. At this time, He found the paralyzed man at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-16). He healed the man. This man aptly depicted the remnant of the nation of Israel as being prone and helpless politically, economically, and spiritually. He hoped the religious leaders would realize that He could and would heal them as a nation if they would only accept Him. But they raised the quibble that He healed the man of the Sabbath day. Thus, He was a great sinner according to them.
      He returned to Galilee heartbroken after this encounter in Jerusalem. At this time, He called and ordained the twelve apostles (Mark 3:13-19). He preached the sermon on the mount which was the great initiatory sermon to the church (though there had been a church for almost two years at the time); see Matthew, chapters 5, 6, and 7. Though this year He ministered to the masses of the people, and He performed many miracles which were intended to convince them that He was the Messiah who was to come to Israel.
      It appears that Jesus did not go to the third Passover of His ministry; rather, some believe He was away to the north on the border of the Gentiles, preaching the sermon on the bread of life while the feast was being kept in Jerusalem (John 6:22 - 7:1). Shortly after this, Jesus began to speak boldly about the church and the church age (Matthew 16:13 - 17:13).
      This has been outlined to show that Jesus had disciples long before He called the twelve apostles.
      The word “disciple” is used about 275 times in the gospels and Acts. Wherever it can be determined, the disciples of Jesus were baptized saved people who had committed themselves to walk after Him strictly according to the rules which He laid down. It is not believed that any other view can be successfully established. There is no universal, invisible church in the New Testament.
      The first time the followers of Jesus were designated as disciples is at John 2:1 where He and His disciples were called to the marriage celebration in Cana of Galilee. However, the first account of men’s following Him is told at John 1:35-51. Four of these were Andrew, Simon Peter, Philip, Nathanael, and one who is not named. Because John did not usually mention his own name, it is suggested this fifth disciple was John. This was soon after the baptism and the wilderness temptation of Jesus, and it was before the first Passover that He attended after the beginning of His ministry. I believe that all of these were men who had been saved, and they had been baptized by John the Baptist. They were fully prepared for church membership.
      At Matthew 18:15-20, Jesus lays down some rules that are to prevail in the church. Among other things, He says that where two or three of them are assembled in His name He will be in their midst. That is, it requires only two or three members to constitute a church. He also gives binding and loosing authority into the hands of such a group. This has to do with binding and loosing as to church membership.
      It should be noted that John the Baptist was far more strict in the demands he made of those who came to be his disciples than most preachers and churches are today. Let us note some details:

1. John preached repentance, and he baptized those whorepented (Matthew 3:1-6).

2. He refused those who did not give evidence of having repented (Matthew 3:7-9). He refused some though they were children of Abraham.

3. John demanded the rejection of the old manner of life and the embracing of a new manner of life. This was aimed especially at the Jewish religious leadership since they practiced a hypocritical, ceremonial type observance of the law of Moses (Luke 3:7-14).

4. At Mark 1:4, it is stated that John preached a baptism of repentance unto the taking away of sins. At Acts 2:38, Peter told the congregation of Jews that every one of them should repent and be baptized unto the remission of sins. The goal was that they might receive what the church had received on Pentecost, which was a special gift of the Holy Spirit. This was a gift to the church -- and to the church alone. So they must come out from where they were, be saved if they were not already saved, and be baptized to get into the church, where the gift of the Holy Spirit was. This is a good place to observe that if it is right to be a member of a scriptural church, it is wrong not to be.

As we think of the formation of the church, we should note its type in the building of the temple under the Old Testament economy. The account is given in the sixth chapter of First Kings. The materials were prepared with great exactitude back in the mountains of Lebanon. This typifies people who are saved, and who have committed themselves to walk according to the New Testament pattern. If we wish to go a little to the extreme in dealing with our types, we may say the materials were baptized in their being transported through the water to near Jerusalem. Then, each piece so exactly fitted into its place, “...that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building” (I Kings 6:7).
When the apostles were called, they were set in the church (I Corinthians 12:28), which already had been in existence almost two years.