1. The Church:
As Christ is the central element in the life of the believer, all believers have this element in common and are so united with each other (Ro 12:5). This is the basis of the Pauline doctrine of the church. The use of the word "church" to denote the whole body of believers is not attained until the later Epistles (Col 1:18; Php 3:6; Eph 1:22, etc.)--before that time the word is in the plural when describing more than a local congregation (2Th 1:4; 1Co 7:17; Ro 16:16, etc.)--but the idea is present from the first. Indeed, the only terms in Judaism that were at all adequate were "the nation" or "Israel." Paul uses the latter term (Ga 6:16) and quite constantly expresses himself in a manner that suggests the Old Testament figures for the nation (e.g. compare Eph 5:25 with Ho 2:19 f), and time was needed in order to give ekklesia (properly "assembly") the new content.
The church is composed of all who have professed faith in Christ and the salvation of its members Paul takes generally for granted (1Th 1:4; Ro 1:7; 1Co 1:8, etc.), even in the case of the incestuous person of 1Co 5:5 (compare 1Co 3:15; 11:32). To be sure, 1Co 5:11-13 makes it clear that the excommunication of grave sinners had been found necessary, and one may doubt if Paul had much hope for the "false brethren" of 2Co 11:26; Ga 2:4 (compare 1Co 3:17, etc.). But on the whole Paul's optimism has little doubt that every member of the church is in right relations with God. These members, through their union with Christ, form a corporate, social organism of the greatest possible solidarity (1Co 12:26, etc.) and have the maximum of responsibility toward one another (Ro 14:15; 1Co 8:11; 2Co 8:13-15; Ga 6:2; Eph 4:25; Col 1:24, etc.). They are utterly distinct from the world around them (2Co 6:14-18; 1Co 5:12, etc.), although in constant intercourse with it (1Co 5:10; 10:27, etc.). It was even desirable, in the conditions of the times, that the church should have her own courts like Jews in Gentilecities (1Co 6:5 f). The right of the church to discipline her members is taken for granted (1Co 5:1-13; 2Co 2:5-11). According to Ac 14:23 Paul made his own appointments of church officers, but the Epistles as a whole would suggest that this practice did not extend beyond Asia Minor. For further details see CHURCH GOVERNMENT; MINISTRY. A general obedience to Paul's own authority is presupposed throughout.
The church is, of course, the object of Christ's sanctifying power (Eph 5:25-30) and is so intimately united with Him as to be spoken of as His "body" (1Co 12:27; Col 1:18; Eph 1:23, etc.), or as the "complement" of Christ, the extension of His personality into the world (Eph 1:22 f). As such, its members have not only their duty toward one another, but also the responsibility of carrying Christ's message into the world (Php 2:15 f, and presupposed everywhere). And to God shall "be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all generations forever and ever" (Eph 3:21).
2. The Sacraments:
As the union with Christ's death is something more than a subjective impression made on the mind by the fact of that death, the references to the union with the death accomplished in baptism in Ro 6:1-7 and Col 2:11 f are not explained by supposing them to describe a mere dramatic ceremony. That Paul was really influenced by the mystery-religion concepts has not been made out. But his readers certainly were so influenced and tended to conceive very materialistic views of the Christian sacraments (1Co 10:5; 15:29). And historic exegesis is bound to construe Paul's language in the way in which he knew his readers would be certain to understand it, and no ordinary Gentile reader of Paul's day would have seen a purely "symbolic" meaning in either of the baptismal passages. Philo would have done so, but not the class of men with whom Paul had to deal. Similarly, with regard to the Lord's Supper, in 1Co 10:20 Paul teaches that through participation in a sacral meal it is possible to be brought into objective relations with demons of whom one is wholly ignorant. In this light it is hard to avoid the conclusion that through participation in the Lord's Supper the believer is objectively brought into communion with the Lord (1Co 10:16), a communion that will react for evil on the believer if he approach it in an unworthy manner (1Co 11:29-32): i.e. the union with Christ that is the center of Paul's theology he teaches to be established normally through baptism. And in the Lord's Supper this union is further strengthened. That faith on the part of the believer is an indispensable prerequisite for the efficacy of the sacraments need not be said.
See, further, GOD; PAROUSIA; PRAYER; PREDESTINATION; PROPITIATION, etc.
LITERATURE.
See under PAUL.
Burton Scott Easton