Weapons of War – 6
Is that all there is to it?
“Can it really be so simple?” That is the feeling we have about the church. She has been given a mission of global conquest. As Rudolf Schnackenburg has explained, “Through the Church, Christ wins increasingly his dominion over all things and draws them ever more powerfully and completely beneath himself as head… the Church’s mission is necessary and willed by Christ to bring the world of men and with this the whole of creation under his rule.” One cannot conceive of a more astounding project. And yet, as we examine the tools the church has been given to accomplish this mission, we are prompted to ask, “Is that all there is to it?” Surely there has to be more to the church’s arsenal of weapons for world conquest than worship, baptism and the Lord’s supper, church discipline, preaching the gospel, teaching, prayer and service. Surely God expects the church to be doing more in the real world than that! We are inclined to think that God has provided us with a sharp rock for a construction project that requires power tools. We seem to have been given muzzle-loaders in a war that demands nuclear capability. The church is a mystery.
Though she is an “institution,” she is more than an institution. She is the assembly of the Father, body of Christ, the temple of the Spirit. Because the church is a mystery, she is grasped only by faith.
Likewise, the church undertakes her mission, and fulfills her mission, only by faith. In ways that we cannot fully understand, the mere presence of the church affects the world for good or ill. In mysterious ways, the public worship and feast of the assembly of God bring nearer the consummation of the kingdom of God. In ways that go beyond human comprehension, the preaching of the gospel has creative power. If we cannot understand precisely how this takes place, it is not because it does not take place. It is because the church, even in her mission of world conquest, is required to walk by faith, not by sight.
Peter J. Leithart, The Kingdom and the Power, p. 193-194.
[I should note after my posts on baptism and quoting Jordan and Leithart either side of them, that they do practice infant baptism, and present a compelling case for it.] WEPOW
