The People Of God

The People Of God

We have now completed a first step in our survey of the whole range of ecclesiological imagery in the New Testament. Some thirty metaphors and pictures have thus far come under scrutiny. Of course, it is hazardous to term any one of them as marginal, and many readers will want to upgrade their favorites. Our classification, we repeat, is both rough and tentative. It would be quite wrong to suggest that the analogies of the bride or cup, for example, carry the same measure of significance as the metaphors of salt or fish net. Surely there are vast differences in the degree of vitality. The classification is based on two factors: the infrequency of appearance in the NT and the dearth of evidence that a particular analogy exerted wide power during the NT period to stimulate and to dominate the self-image of the church. The power of the figures hitherto treated did not, in our judgment, extend far beyond the specific passages in which they were found. This is not to imply that these figures were in themselves insignificant, but rather that we can, at least for our immediate purpose, concentrate upon more decisive forms of description. In so doing, we will often recall into the discussion the contributions made by images that we have provisionally classified as minor.

We turn, therefore, to configurations of images that should be regarded as major and decisive. We now have to handle large clusters of analogies, none of which can be dealt with in isolation. By the word “Major” we express the conviction that each configuration so dominates at least a broad sector of early Christian thought that to ignore it would produce a serious distortion.

Though we will be dealing with whole constellations, there is, of course, grave danger of faulty evaluation in the scheme of selection itself. The fact that more than fifty separate figures are involved makes a classification of some sort imperative. But any particular scheme of classification is bound to be somewhat arbitrary and artificial because it will force specific images into affiliations that may contradict their original connotations. We must, therefore, in the choice of categories, seek to adopt a logic at least not too remote from the logic of the new testament. Accordingly, we will distinguish three constellations according to their basic function of indicating the context within which the Christian community is reviewed.

1.         Images that gravitate around the conception of the church as the people of God. (This Chapter). The basic function in this case is to relate the contemporary Christian generation  to the that historic community whose origin stemmed from god’ covenant promises and whose pilgrimage had been sustained by God’s call.

2.         Images the gravitate around the activity of God in creating a new humanity to which was attributed a genuinely cosmic beginning, vocation, and destiny. (Chapter 4) the basic function of this galaxy is to set the life of the Christian society within the context of  God’s eternal glory and life, and therefore within the context of redemption of the world.

Images that gravitate around the conception of the church as a fellowship of saints and slaves whose  life together is characterized by a unique kind of mutuality in gift and in vocation. (chapter 5) the function of these images is to express the interdependence of men within this fellowship.

The separation of these three categories remains provisional and at best imperfect, because many of the specific images serve all three major functions. We will find that it is difficult to restrict any image to a single function. The validity of our classification will be tested most effectively during the very process of analysis. So we turn to the first.