Freedom from Babylon
by Ty Andor
The true Christian church is the body of Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 12; Ephesians 5:29-30; Colossians 1:24). And yet, while it is constituted by the risen Lord, it is more often than not associated with other things. The most common referent of the term ‘church’ is denominational bodies. We know people who prefer to be Lutherans, Methodists, Episcopalians, Catholics, non-denominational, etc. who we say belong to different “churches.” And these “churches” have different sets of beliefs and practices that make them distinct from one another, even while they claim to worship the same Lord.
Which one is the truest or best “church” then? Answer: none of them. Not one of them can properly be called the “church” at all. For the true church is the body of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, not any institution, structure, or organization of this world. The body of Christ and his kingdom are simply not reducible to, or understandable in terms of, any thing within the kingdom of this world. It is a spiritual house, as Peter declares, “you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood” (I Peter 2:5).
Luther states it most beautifully in his Schmalkald Articles when he gives the church an image from Christ: “God be praised, a child seven years old knows what the Church is, namely, the holy believers and lambs who hear the voice of their Shepherd. For the children pray thus: I believe in one holy [catholic or] Christian Church. This holiness does not consist in albs, tonsures, long gowns, and other of their ceremonies devised by them beyond Holy Scripture, but in the Word of God and true faith.” This is the image of the true church Christ Jesus gave us, that we are like sheep hearing the voice of our Shepherd. In hearing his voice we become one with him, a part of his body, a living stone in the temple of God.
Another thing Luther knew about all this is what it meant to be freed from an institution of the world calling itself the church. For him it meant being kicked out, or excommunicated. In response, he used an image that put things in their proper biblical perspective. He called it a Babylonian captivity. A foreign power has taken the people who should be of God away from the place of their God, and put them under another lordship. This describes the way in which any person or group or institution that tries to teach “the church” is something other than the body of Christ, that tries to command something Christ Jesus has not commanded, or contradicts the teachings of Christ, has left or been cut off from the body of Christ that is the true Christian church. Just so, any “church” as an institution of the world may be carried off. And given the naturally corrupting tendencies of the world, it may be that every “church” of this world is bound to travel this same road in one way or another, at least to the extent it becomes focused on human things rather than divine things (Mark 8:33).
Another thing this means, is that those who leave or are kicked out of corrupt institutions are not really leaving anything, nor are they going anywhere. The body of Christ does not come and go; it is the Word of God which remains forever (Isaiah 40:8; I Peter 1:25). And if you are in Christ you are in the true Christian church, no matter where you are. It is indeed a tragedy when anyone is carried off to Babylon, whether it be an individual, a group of people, or an institution. But it is only by the power of God one may return. To him we make our appeal through prayer on behalf of those who have been taken captive, that he would lead them once again to the Truth, and protect us from the powers of the world, the devil, and the sinful self, which threaten to lead us away as well.
To whatever extent the things of this world function to communicate the presence of God in Jesus Christ they help to build up his body. But they are never to be confused with the real presence of the body of Jesus Christ in which we live by faith, and in the newness of life.
