CHURCH
746
CHURCH
claimed the near approach of the Kingdom of God,
and of the Messianic Era. He bade all who would
share its blessings prepare themselves by penance.
His own mission, he said, was to prepare the way of
the Messias. To his disciples he indicated Jesus of
Nazareth as the Messias whose advent he had de-
clared (John, i, 29-31). From the very commence-
ment of His ministry Christ laid claim in an explicit
way to the Messianic dignity. In the synagogue
at Nazareth (Luke, iv, 21) He asserts that the
prophecies arc fulfilled in His person; He declares
that He is greater than Solomon (Luke, xi, 31), more
venerable than the Temple (Matt., xii, 6), Lord of the
sabbath (Luke, vi, 5). John, He says, is Elias, the
promised forerunner (Matt., xvii, 12); and to John's
messengers He vouchsafes the proofs of His Messianic
dignity which they request (Luke, vii, 22). He de-
mands implicit faith on the ground of His Divine
legation (John, vi, 29). His public entry into Jeru-
salem was the acceptance by the whole people of a
claim again and again reiterated before them. The
theme of His preaching throughout is the Kingdom
of God which He has come to establish. St. Mark,
describing the beginning of His ministry, says that He
came into Galilee saying, "The time is accomplished,
and the Kingdom of God is at hand". For the king-
dom which He was even then establishing in their
midst, the Law and the Prophets had been. He said,
but a preparation (Luke, xvi, 16; cf. Matt., iv, 23;
ix, 35; xiii, 17; xxi, 43; xxiv, 14; Mark, i, 14; Luke,
iv. 43; viii, 1; ix, 2, 60; xviii, 17).
When it is asked what is this kingdom of which Christ spoke, there can be but one answer. It is His Church, the society of those who accept His Divine legation, and admit His right to the obedience of faith which He claimed. His whole activity is directed to the establishment of such a society: He organizes it and appoints rulers over it, establishes rites and ceremonies in it, transfers to it the name which had hitherto designated the Jewish Church, and solemnly warns the Jews that the kingdom was no longer theirs, but had been taken from them and given to another people. The several steps taken by Christ in organizing the Church are traced by the Evangelists. He is represented as gathering numer- ous disciples, but as selecting twelve from their number to be His companions in an especial manner. These share His life. To them He reveals the more hidden parts of His doctrine (Matt., xiii, 11). He sends them as His deputies to preach the kingdom, and bestows on them the power to work miracles. All are bound to accept their message; and those who refuse to listen to them shall meet a fate more terrible than that of Sodom and Gomorrha (Matt., x, 1-15). The Sacred Writers speak of these twelve chosen disciples inamanner indicating that they are regarded as forming a corporate body. In several passages they are still termed "the twelve" even when the number, understood literally, would be inexact. The name is applied to them when they have been reduced to eleven by the defection of Judas, on an occasion when only ten of them were present, and again after the appointment of St. Paul has increased their number to thirteen (Luke, xxiv, 33; John, xx, 24; I Cor., xv. .">: Apoc, \\i, 14).
In ttiis constitution of the Apostolate Christ lays tin' foundation of His Church. But it is not till the action of official Judaism bad rendered it manifestly impossible to hope the Jewish Church would admit His claim, that He prescribes for the Church as a body indent of the synagogue and possessed of an administration of her own. After the breach had become definite. He calls the Apostles together and to them of the judicial action of the Church. distinguishing, in an unmistakable manner, between the private individual who undertakes the work of fraternal correction, and the ecclesiastical authority
empowered to pronounce a judicial sentence (Matt.,
xviii, 15-17). To the jurisdiction thus conferred He
attached a Divine sanction. A sentence thus pro-
nounced, He assured the Apostles, should be ratified
in heaven. A further step was the appointment of
St. Peter to be the chief of the Twelve. For this
position he had already been designated (Matt., xvi,
15 sqq.) on an occasion previous to that just men-
tioned: at Caesarea Philippi, Christ had declared him
to be the rock on which He would build His Church,
thus affirming that the continuance and increase of
the Church would rest on the office created in the
person of Peter. To him, moreover, were to be given
the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven — an expression
signifying the gift of plenary authority (Is., xxii, 22).
The promise thus made was fulfilled after the Resur-
rection, on the occasion narrated in John, xxi. Here
Christ employs a simile used on more than one occa-
sion by Himself to denote His own relation to the
members of His Church — that of the shepherd and
his flock. His solemn charge, "Feed my sheep",
constituted Peter the common shepherd of the whole
collective flock. (For a further consideration of the
Petrine texts see article Primacy.) To the twelve
Christ committed the charge of spreading the king-
dom among all nations, appointing the rite of bap-
tism as the one means of admission to a participation
in its privileges (Matt., xxviii, 19).
In the course of this article detailed consideration will be given to the principal characteristics of the Church. Christ's teaching on this point ma} r be briefly summarized here. It is to be a kingdom ruled in His absence by men (Matt., xviii. IS; John, xxi, 17). It is therefore a visible theocracy; and it will be substituted for the Jewish theocracy that has re- jected Him (Matt., xxi, 43). In it, until the day of judgment, the bad will be mingled with the good (Matt., xiii, 41). Its extent will be universal (Matt., xxviii. 19), and its duration to the end of time (Matt., xiii, 49); all powers that oppose it shall be crushed l Matt., xxi, 44). Moreover, it will be a supernatural kingdom of truth, in the world, though not of it (John, xviii. 36). It will be one and undivided, and this unit} - shall be a witness to all men that its founder came from God (John, xvii, 21).
It is to be noticed that certain recent critics contest the positions maintained in the preceding para- graphs. They deny alike that Christ claimed to be the Messias, and that the kingdom of which He spoke was His Church. Thus, as regards Christ's claim to Messianic dignity, they say that Christ does not de- clare Himself to be the Messias in His preaching: that He bids the possessed who proclaimed Him the Son of God be silent: that the people did not suspect His Messiahship, but formed various extravagant hypotheses as to his personality. It is manifestly impossible within the limits of this article to enter on a detailed discussion of these points. But, in the light of the testimony of the passages above cited, it will be seen that the position is entirely untenable. In reference to the Kingdom of God, many of the critics hold that the current Jewish conception was wholly esehatologieal, anil that Christ's references to it must one and all lie thus interpreted. This view renders inexplicable the numerous passages in which Christ speaks of the kingdom as present, and further involves a misconception as to the nature of Jewish expectations, which, as has been seen, together with esehatologieal traits, contained others of a different character. Harnaek (What is Christianity? p. 62) holds that in its inner meaning the kingdom as con- ceived by Christ is "a purely religious blessing, the inner link of the soul with the living God". Such an interpretation can in no possible way be reconciled with Christ's utterances on the subject. The whole tenor of his expressions is to lay stress on the con- cept of a theocratic society.
