Perseverence

The church is the true body of believers (I Cor 12:12) and Christ is the head (Col 1:18).  The church is the bride and Christ is the bridegroom (John 3:29). The church is a building and Christ is the cornerstone (Eph 2:20).  The church walks in love because Christ first loved the church and gave himself for it (Eph 5:2,25).

No matter how stringent a church membership process might be, there is no guarantee that each member of a local church is genuinely born again.  Pastors must be very careful to examine prospective members for a credible profession of faith but they cannot see the true condition of the heart.  This is why a distinction has been made between the visible and the invisible church. 

The visible church is made up of all those who have made credible professions of faith and are in good standing with a local assembly.  Because this process by necessity involves the acknowledgement of a profession of faith by finite men, it’s prone to error.  For this reason, the visible church is made up of both genuine Christians and non-Christians.  Pastors and genuine church members must be constantly vigilant and prayerful to wisely handle false teachings and teachers that will creep into the church and deal with them biblically in order to keep the church pure.

The invisible church, on the other hand, is the true church.  2 Timothy 2:19 say’s, “the Lord knows those who are his.”  It certainly should be visible but it’s only truly visible to God.  On the great day of judgment in the future God will divide the wheat from the weeds.  The wheat will be gathered into his barn and the weeds will be burned.  Those who have been truly born again will enter into glory and unbelievers will experience eternal damnation.

These ideas are directly related to the perseverance of the saints.  Those who have been truly born again will persevere in faith and repentance until the end.  These people would be considered the invisible church.  On the other hand, others have made professions of faith but they do not persevere in faith and repentance.  These people may be or have been members of the visible church but not the invisible church.

Pastors have the responsibility according to 1 Peter 5:1-2 to tend the flock of God that is under their charge.  Hebrews 13:17 speaks of the pastors responsibility to watch over the souls of the members of the church because he will give an account.  A steady diet of expository preaching and the proper exercise of church discipline will go a long way in purifying the church.  Acts 17:30-31 says, “the times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”  All those that the Father foreordained and the Son died for will be called to repentance by the Spirit and persevere until the end.