The Church Is Invisible, Yet Visible
We can give the following definition: The invisible church is the church as God sees it.
Both Martin Luther and John Calvin were eager to affirm this invisible aspect of the church over against the Roman Catholic teaching that the church was the one visible organization that had descended from the apostles in an unbroken line of succession (through the bishops of the church). The Roman Catholic Church had argued that only in the visible organization of the Roman Church could we find the one true church, the only true church. Even today such a view is held by the Roman Catholic Church. In their “Pastoral Statement for Catholics on Biblical Fundamentalism” issued March 25, 1987, the (United States) National Conference of Catholic Bishops Ad Hoc Committee on Biblical Fundamentalism criticized evangelical Christianity (which it called “biblical fundamentalism”) primarily because it took people away from the one true church:
The basic characteristic of biblical fundamentalism is that it eliminates from Christianity the church as the Lord Jesus founded it … There is no mention of the historic, authoritative church in continuity with Peter and the other apostles … A study of the New Testament … demonstrates the importance of belonging to the church started by Jesus Christ. Christ chose Peter and the other apostles as foundations of his church … Peter and the other apostles have been succeeded by the bishop of Rome and the other bishops, and … the flock of Christ still has, under Christ, a universal shepherd.5
In response to that kind of teaching both Luther and Calvin disagreed. They said that the Roman Catholic Church had the outward form, the organization, but it was just a shell. Calvin argued that just as Caiaphas (the high priest at the time of Christ) was descended from Aaron but was no true priest, so the Roman Catholic bishops had “descended” from the apostles in a line of succession but they were not true bishops in Christ’s church. Because they had departed from the true preaching of the gospel, their visible organization was not the true church. Calvin said, “This pretense of succession is vain unless their descendants conserve safe and uncorrupted the truth of Christ which they have received at their fathers’ hands, and abide in it … See what value this succession has, unless it also include a true and uninterrupted emulation on the part of the successors!”6
On the other hand, the true church of Christ certainly has a visible aspect as well. We may use the following definition: The visible church is the church as Christians on earth see it. In this sense the visible church includes all who profess faith in Christ and give evidence of that faith in their lives.7
In this definition we do not say that the visible church is the church as any person in the world (such as an unbeliever or someone who held heretical teachings) might see it, but we mean to speak of the church as it is perceived by those who are genuine believers and have an understanding of the difference between believers and unbelievers.
When Paul writes his epistles he writes to the visible church in each community: “To the church of God which is at Corinth” (1 Cor. 1:2); “To the church of the Thessalonians” (1 Thess. 1:1); “To Philemon … and Apphia … and Archippus … and the church in your house” (Philem. 1–2). Paul certainly realized that there were unbelievers in some of those churches, some who had made a profession of faith that was not genuine, who appeared to be Christians but would eventually fall away. Yet neither Paul nor anyone else could tell with certainty who those people were. Paul simply wrote to the entire church that met together in any one place. In this sense, we could say today that the visible church is the group of people who come together each week to worship as a church and profess faith in Christ.
The visible church throughout the world will always include some unbelievers, and individual congregations will usually include some unbelievers, because we cannot see hearts as God sees them. Paul speaks of “Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth” and who “are upsetting the faith of some” (2 Tim. 2:17–18). But he is confident that “The Lord knows those who are his” (2 Tim. 2:19). Paul says with sorrow, “Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica” (2 Tim. 4:10).
Similarly, Paul warns the Ephesian elders that after his departure “fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them” (Acts 20:29–30). Jesus himself warned, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits” (Matt. 7:15–16). Realizing this distinction between the church invisible and the church visible, Augustine said of the visible church, “Many sheep are without and many wolves are within.”8
When we recognize that there are unbelievers in the visible church, there is a danger that we may become overly suspicious. We may begin to doubt the salvation of many true believers and thereby bring great confusion into the church. Calvin warned against this danger by saying that we must make a “charitable judgment” whereby we recognize as members of the church all who “by confession of faith, by example of life, and by partaking of the sacraments, profess the same God and Christ with us.”9 We should not try to exclude people from the fellowship of the church until they by public sin bring discipline upon themselves. On the other hand, of course, the church should not tolerate in its membership “public unbelievers” who by profession or life clearly proclaim themselves to be outside the true church.
Grudem, W. A. (2004). Systematic theology: an introduction to biblical doctrine (pp. 855–857). Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House.
