What’s most important in church life is not getting all our ecclesiological ducks in a row. It’s the glad worship of Jesus, the thrill of the soul in Jesus. Knowing and enjoying him is the surpassing value, not being a healthy church. Brothers, you can get your ecclesiology almost right, and get Christianity just about all wrong, if Jesus himself isn’t your church’s supreme treasure.

Indulge me, if you would, in a Christological reading of Genesis 2:

The Lord God said, “It is not good that the [Christ] should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” . . . So the Lord God caused a deep sleep [like death] to fall upon the man, and [he pierced his side and] took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into [the church] and brought her to the [Christ]. . . . Therefore [the Christ] shall . . . hold fast to his [church], and they shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2:18–24)

Of course, that’s not yet how Genesis 2 reads. But Paul does quote from Genesis 2 in Ephesians 5, then says, “This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church” (Ephesians 5:32).

The mystery of marriage remained an enigma for thousands of years. Why did God design the world and us with male and female so basic and central? Now, with the coming of Jesus and the making of his church, that mystery has been revealed. Temporal marriage is patterned on God’s eternal plan to make a bride for his Son, bring her to him, and make them one.

Elsewhere, the church is Christ’s body, his flock, God’s temple, branches of the vine, and more. But of them all, none is more profound than his bride.

Jesus is the paradigmatic Groom; the church is his bride, the “helper fit for him” by the Father’s design (Genesis 2:18). The church complements him, corresponds to him, like man and wife. They share in human nature: He leads and provides for and protects her, and she (in life-giving relationship with him) gladly takes her cues from him. And so, Christology leads to ecclesiology, though study of the bride can shed light on her groom as well.

But my assignment is to ask, “How does Christology lead to ecclesiology, and how might that make some on-the-ground differences in our churches?”

Christology from Chalcedon

First, we need a definition — and thank God, when it comes to Christology, we have a Definition. I’ll provide some key Scriptures as we go, but let’s start with the hard-fought, time-tested Definition of Chalcedon from 451:

We, then, following the holy Fathers, all with one consent, teach people to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man, of a reasoning soul and body; consubstantial with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to the manhood; in all things like unto us, without sin; begotten before all ages of the Father according to the Godhead, and in these latter days, for us and for our salvation, born of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, according to the manhood; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son, and only begotten God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ; as the prophets from the beginning declared concerning him, and the Lord Jesus Christ himself has taught us, and the Creed of the holy Fathers has handed down to us.

So if, like streams into a lake, Christology pours into the doctrine of the church and its practices, how does Christology impact our churches? I have five Christological currents that shed light on ecclesiology, and with each I’ll offer some practical counsel or questions for evaluation.

1. Plurality: Healthy Churches Are Led by Teams

We begin here, not because it’s most important, but because this is a room of pastors and aspiring pastors, and this is fundamental to practical pastoral ministry.

Chalcedon emphasizes the oneness of Jesus’s person:

• “One and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ”
• “One Person and one Subsistence”
• “One and the same Son, and only begotten God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ”

The church has one Lord (Ephesians 4:5), one “great shepherd of the sheep” (Hebrews 13:20), one “Shepherd and Overseer of your souls” (1 Peter 2:25), one groom — and that oneness in Jesus corresponds to plurality in local church leadership. There is nothing in the New Testament about a singular pope in Rome, nor is there anything about a singular pastor as pope in his own church.

Christ’s plan for his church includes flanking his own singular universal headship of the church with a plurality of elders in local churches. In other words, he calls his undershepherds to teamwork. As his apostles from the beginning were plural, so too are the pastor-elders. Even in rural settings, where the idea of a team of pastors may seem unrealistic, we still have the New Testament’s stubborn ideal of plurality. Twice Peter addresses the plural elders in 1 Peter 5:1–5; local church elders are plural in Acts (Acts 14:23; 20:17); so too in the Pastoral Epistles (1 Timothy 4:14; 5:17; Titus 1:5); and in James 5:14.

Practically, if you don’t yet have a team, I don’t assume you’re in sin (unless you don’t want a team). Make it a priority to pray for and disciple men toward leading with you as peers. And if you do have a team, don’t take it for granted! Rehearse what a precious gift it is to have brothers in the work of leadership. The times we need a team most are the times when a team can seem the least convenient to our flesh.

And whether you already have a team or not, brothers, we all need to remember we’re not the groom. We are first and foremost sheep (Luke 10:20), and we need fellow undershepherds in our modest office as pastors, however briefly we serve in the role.

Brothers, let’s delight to have Jesus as your church’s hero, not you. Let’s delight to personally decrease in our little fiefdoms by adding and celebrating peers. Let’s pray and plan and invest ourselves to raise up fellow elders (2 Timothy 2:2), and work toward and sustain a healthy team. It takes work, and it’s worth it.

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