There are two great aspects of the Church of God as presented in Scripture. First of all, there is the true thing in its relation to Christ as His body—that which is united to Christ by the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven—"the assembly, which is His body" (Eph. 1:22-23 JnD). Second, we see the Church in its relation to God as His dwelling place on earth, the assembly, or house of God. Of this last, two aspects come out very distinctly in Scripture: that which Christ builds, and that which man builds.
The word "church," or properly "assembly," is used of both the body of Christ and the house of God. That is, if you look into heaven, you find Christ gone up there, and the assembly is His body, as seen in Ephesians 1. If you look below, here on earth, the house (that is, those who profess Christianity) is "the assembly of the living God" (1 Tim. 3:1515But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. (1 Timothy 3:15) JND). They are two distinct thoughts and are never confused.
Most of the confusion of Christendom at the present time has come in by the mixing up of these two things. There is also the body of Christ as in I Corinthians 12, seen on earth and composed of those who are here, and these only, maintained in power and unity by the Holy Spirit on earth. And Christians on earth were treated practically, as gathered together in any place, as "the body of Christ" in that place, as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular" (1 Cor. 12:2727Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. (1 Corinthians 12:27)).
F.G. Patterson