BIBLICAL FOUNDATION

OF THE CHURCH

PRELIMINARY
• For Christians, the foundation of the Church can be traced as early as the Old
Testament time, and vindicated in the person of Jesus Christ in the New Testament.
• It is then imperative to take a brief survey of the humble beginning of Israel as a
people, and their religious experiences that ushered the fulfillment of God’s promise of
salvation in the person of Jesus Christ, and a discussion on the theological debate
whether or not Jesus intended to found a church.
 COVENANT BETWEEN YAHWEH AND
ABRAHAM

• The account of Torah speak about the covenant between

God and Abraham. Etymologically, the word covenant is
derived from the Hebrew word, berit, which refers to an
agreement, or a legal contract between kins.
• When such concept is applied to Yahweh and Abraham, it is understood to be more than a legal contract
or agreement because it is looked upon a basic relationship between these two covenant partners. It is a
sacred, irrevocable pact initiated by Yahweh based on the following reciprocal conditions, namely:
 COVENANT BETWEEN YAHWEH AND ABRAHAM
• When such concept is applied to Yahweh and Abraham, it is understood to be more than a legal
contract or agreement because it is looked upon a basic relationship between these two covenant
partners. It is a sacred, irrevocable pact initiated by Yahweh based on the following reciprocal
conditions, namely:
• Yahweh shall give Abraham the land of Canaan (Gen. 12:7, …)
• The Promise of countless descendancts (Gen. 15:5 …)
• The assurance of Yahweh’s protection (Gen. 12: 2-3 …)
• Liberation of the Hebrew as narrated in the book of Exodus
• Abraham and his descendants shall worship, and keep Yahweh as their only God.
 WHAT MOTIVATED YAHWEH TO FORM
THE COVENANT?
• Yahweh, out of his gratuitous, overflowing love,
reached out to Abraham, and to all of Israel, and even
intended for the people a share of his divine life in
paradise from the very start of his creation. Catholic
tradition calls it grace – God’s self-offering of Himself
to man, God’s gift of Himself to man.
 COVENANT RENEWED AND LAWS GIVEN

• But the promise were put to the test. In the Book of Exodus, the new pharaoh turned
the Israelites into slaves and treated them with cruelty and oppression.
• …Yahweh heard the cry of his people, and remain true to his word.
• Moses – the liberator who led Israel to a land flowing with milk and honey- Canaan.
• Exo. 20 – renewal of the covenant. God directly entered into an agreement with Israel
… and Israel pledged its worship and loyalty to Yahweh alone. Thus giving them: The
Decalogue.
• Qahal Yahweh – an organized worshipping assembly of Yahweh
 VIOLATION OF THE COVENANT AND ITS
CONSEQUENCES
Despite God’s goodness, the Israelites succumbed to their own failures and unfaithfulness.
• Pagan worship (El, Baal, Asherah, Anat and Astarte)
• King’s order of killing prophets and killing of kings
But their violation and disobedience were paid with terrible consequences
• Separation of kingdoms (North and South)
• Imposition of Heavy Taxes and Forced labor
• Invasion, gradual decadence of Israel as a nation and exile.
 GREAT MESSIANIC EXPECTATION

• When everything that Israel could do was to turn their back on Yahweh and grieve in
guilt for the price of their violation, Yahweh never gave up on them. In Hosea 11: 8-
9a, he revealed his great compassion, and love for Israel:
How could I give you up, O Ephraim, or deliver you up, O Israel?
How could I treat you like Admah or make you like Zeboiim? My heart
is overwhelmed, my pity is stirred. I will not give vent to my blazing
anger, I will not destroy Ephraim again, for I am God and not man.
 GREAT MESSIANIC EXPECTATION

• Who would have ever thought that such God

eradicated the punishment for violating the
condition of the covenant, and recoiled in his
compassion for love of his covenant partner,
Israel, who had fallen into sin.
 GREAT MESSIANIC EXPECTATION

• On the other hand, Israel, reflecting its own history of sin and sacrilege
towards the sacred bond, started pray and hope for divine intervention,
for the “Deliverer” who would restore the unity and fidelity of Israel to
their God; for the “Savior” who would redeem the fallen race from sin;
for the “Anointed/Chosen One” who would restore the sacred covenant
between Yahweh and his people, and offer a lasting reign of peace,
prosperity and stability. Thus the expectation of a Savior, of a Messiah
was born!
 GREAT MESSIANIC EXPECTATION

• To this day, believers of Judaism awaits for the coming

of their Messiah. But for Christians, such expectation
was already realized and fulfilled in the life and person
of Jesus Christ; such broken covenant was fully
renewed by the passion, death and resurrection of
Jesus.
 RELEVANCE OF THE COVENANT

It is imperative to ground the discussion of the Church with the formation and
experiences of Israel as the covenant-partner of Yahweh based on the following related
points:
• That the nature of covenant remains an essential concept in understanding the
relationship between God and his people;
• That the idea of a religious assembly, Qahal Yahweh, is based, first and foremost, on
God’s gratuitous initiative to reach out to his people;
 RELEVANCE OF THE COVENANT

• That Israel, like any community of faith, has to freely respond on the basis of faith and
loyalty towards Yahweh aided by the commandments, precepts and traditions handed
unto them; and
• That God renews his covenant unto us through the life and person of Jesus Christ – the
ultimate realization and fulfillment of the long-awaited Messiah.
DID JESUS INTEND TO ESTABLISH A CHURCH?

We shall now turn our attention to the New Testament, and establish how Jesus
Christ founded the Church. But such is not an easy task because varying ideas on
whether or not Jesus intended to establish a Church, an institution that will carry his
message and proclaim the salvific act He had made for humanity invite every reader to
examine the grounds, merits and implications of these argument.
 HANS KUNG
• In this book, the Church, Hans Kung laid down arguments pertaining to the question on the foundation of
the Church:
• In the pre-Easter period, during his lifetime, Jesus did not found a Church.
• In the pre-Easter period, Jesus, by his preaching and ministry, laid the foundations for the emergence of a
post-resurrection Church.
• The Church has existed from the time of faith in the resurrection.
• The origins of the Church do not lie solely in the intention and the message of Jesus in the pre-Easter
period, but in the whole history of Jesus life and ministry: that is, in the entire action of God in Jesus Christ.
 IN THE PRE-EASTER PERIOD, DURING HIS
LIFETIME, JESUS DID NOT FOUND A CHURCH.
• Jesus never required his followers, and even his apostles to form an exclusive
community, or religious society.
• According to Kung, “the gospels do not report any public announcement by Jesus of
his intention to found a Church or a new covenant or any programmatic call to join a
community of the elect.” Instead, Jesus emphasized an “obedient acceptance of his
message of salvation and the immediate and radical submission of the individual to the
will of God.”
 IN THE PRE-EASTER PERIOD, JESUS, BY HIS PREACHING
AND MINISTRY, LAID THE FOUNDATIONS FOR THE
EMERGENCE OF A POST-RESURRECTION CHURCH.

• Jesus, however, in his message of the imminent reign of God confronted men and women to a
fundamental decision of “belief or unbelief, obedience or disobedience” which inevitably became
“divisive” in the sense that those who chose to believe and obey him became “decisively
distinguished from those who rejected it [Jesus’ message] as far as the coming reign of God is
concerned.”
 THE CHURCH HAS EXISTED FROM THE TIME OF FAITH
IN THE RESURRECTION.

• Kung explains: “As soon as men gathered together in faith in the resurrection of the crucified
Jesus of Nazareth and in expectation of the coming consummation of the reign of God and the
return of the risen Christ in glory, the Church came into existence.”
 THE ORIGINS OF THE CHURCH DO NOT LIE
SOLELY IN THE INTENTION AND THE MESSAGE OF
JESUS IN THE PRE-EASTER PERIOD, BUT IN THE
WHOLE HISTORY OF JESUS LIFE AND MINISTRY:
THAT IS, IN THE ENTIRE ACTION OF GOD IN JESUS
CHRIST.
• From Jesus’ birth to his death, from his resurrection to the event of sending the Holy Spirit, God
was so lovingly active in and through Jesus that “those who believed communally in the risen
Jesus … could claim to be the new eschatological people of God.