The Church is more than a "mere" instrument.

I read the following quote by Pastor Herschel Martindale in the Great Commission Leadership Institute materials.

"And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all things" (Ephesians 1:22-23, ESV). The Church is the body (instrument) of Jesus. Local churches are merely a representation of this universal body or Church. A body is merely an instrument or means by which the purpose of the head is accomplished."

Actually, the article on the whole is good. However, I disagree with the phrase "merely an instrument." I think what Pastor Martincale is saying is the Church is only a means or tool to accomplish the Great Commission and nothing more. It is hard to believe Pastor Martindale used Ephesians 1:22-23 as a defense for his assertion. Ephesians 1:22-23 is one of the passages in the New Testament which magnifies most what Christ has done for the Church and how Christ plans to use the Church not only here on earth but also in the whole of creation. Paul argues in Ephesians that the Church is not only the means, but it is also one of the main goals of His redemptive work. Here is Peter T. O'Brien commentary on Ephesians 1:22-23.

This still leaves the difficulty of how to interpret 'head' in relation to the body. Perhaps if the Old "Testament notions of 'head' are combined with Greek medical ideas regarding the function of the head in relation to the body and its members, then the head is to be understood as 'inspiring, ruling, guiding, combining, sustaining power, the mainspring of its activity, the centre of its unit, and the seat of its life'. Instead of separating Christ from his body, the head is shown to be 'the cohesive and enabling factor for the body'. Accordingly, "Ephesians (and Colossians) highlights the personal presence of a powerful one who strengthens the individual through the concept of Christ as "head"". This interpretation provides the best explanation for Ephesians 4:16 and Colossians 2:19) ('from it [the head] the whole body grows') and it consistent with the thought of the head 'nourishing' the body. (The Letter to the Ephesians, p. 148)

Again O'Brein on Ephesians 1:23,

The conclusions of our exegesis of v. 23, albeit tentative, may be rendered as follows: '[the church, which is Christ's body], the fulness of him [i.e., Christ] who fills all things in every way'. God has given Christ as head over all things for the church. His supremacy over the cosmos is seen to be for the benefit of his people. (ibid, pp. 151-152)

John Piper in a sermon on Ephesians 1 puts it this way:

"Christ fills the universe with his glory by showing the universe his body--how he chose her, how he destined her, how he came for her and taught her and suffered for her and died for her and rose for her and reigns for her, how he called her and justified her and cleansed her and kept her and will raise her and glorify her and satisfy her forever and ever with himself."

The Church glorifies Christ not through what the Church can do for Christ in fulfilling the Great Commission, but by what God does for the Church through Christ's work and the Holy Spirit's ministry. This interpretation does not alter the fact that we are God's instrument in progressing the Gospel, but the Church is so much more. Paul is using "the body" as analogy to communicate a specific message. Paul did not mean for the analogy to say the Church is "merely" an instrument. Another analogy that scripture uses is the Church is the "Bride of Christ." See the following passages:

For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:2 ESV)

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:25-27 ESV)

Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.(Revelation 19:7-9 ESV)

What difference does it make to assert that the Church is merely an instrument? First, it is just a bad interpretation of Ephesians 1. We lose sight of the glory what Christ has done, is doing, and will do for the Church by calling the Church just an instrument. Second, it is bad ecclesiology. If leaders of a local church view their church as just a mere instrument, wouldn't this eventually cause leaders to view the members of their congregation as mere instruments instead of being fellow heirs of the promises? Heirs who need to be loved, nurtured and trained up to be godly men and women in the house of God.

John Owen: How the Holy Spirit and Duty work together

John Owen addresses the age-old question is sanctification a work of the Holy Spirit or an effort of will. Owen would say both. Read it slowly and read it carefully. Owen wrote in the 17th century and his prose is prolix even for a Puritan; however, it is also very scriptural.

It is brutish ignorance in any to argue, from the effectual operations of the Spirit, that we may be slothful and negligent in our own duty. He who knows not God has promised to work in us, in a way of grace, what he requires from us in a way of duty, has either never read his Bible, or does not believe it; or never prayed, or never took notice of what he prayed for. He is a heathen, he has nothing of the Christian in him, who does not pray that God would work in him what he requires of him. This we know, that what God prescribes, we ought with all diligence and earnestness, as we value our souls and their eternal welfare, to comply with. And we know too, that whatever God has promised, that he himself will perform in us. It is our duty to believe that he will do so, and to fancy an inconsistency between these things, is to charge God foolishly.

If there be an opposition between these things, it is either because the nature of man is not meet to be commanded, or because it need not be assisted; both which suppositions are vain and false. The Holy Spirit so worketh in us, as that he worketh by us; and what he does in us, is done by us. Our duty is to apply ourselves to his commands; and it is his work to enable us to perform them.

He who can indulge sloth and negligence in himself, on account of the promised assistance of the Spirit, may look upon it as a certain evidence that he has no interest or concern it it. For where he affords his aids, he, in general, prepares the soul by diligence in duty. And as he works only in and by the faculties of our own minds, it is ridiculous, and implies a contradiction, for a man to say he will do nothing because the Spirit does all; for where he does nothing, the Spirit does nothing, except by the infusion of the first habit or principle of grace... (pp. 142-143), The Holy Spirit: His Gifts and Power by John Owen.

John Owen's Warning to Those Who Profess the Gospel

Owen was fighting a Deistic theology in his day that was creeping into the churches, so he issues a "woe" to the ministers who preach a gospel that minimizes the role of the Holy Spirit.

Woe to professors of the gospel, who are seduced to believe that all they have to do with God, consists in their attention to moral virtue. It is sottish ignorance and infidelity to suppose that under the gospel there is no communication between God and us but by laws, commands and promises on his part, and by obedience performed in our own strength on part.(p.139, The Holy Spirit: His Gifts and Power

John Owen: The Ministry of the Holy Spirit and the Church

John Owen argues for the essential ministry of the Holy Spirit in the building of Christ's Church from Acts 1:4-8.

And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:4-8, ESV)

On this promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit, John Owen argues that without the ministrations of the Holy Spirit there would be no church:

In this promise then the Lord Christ founded the church itself, and by it he builded it up. And this is the hinge whereon the whole weight of it doth turn and depend unto this day. Take it away, suppose it to cease as to actual accomplishment, and there will be an absolute end of the Church of Christ in this world. No dispensation of the Spirit, no Church. He that would utterly separate the Spirit from the word had as good burn his Bible. The bare letter of the New Testament will no more ingenerate faith and obedience in the souls of men, than the letter of the Old Testament does among the Jews (2 Cor. 3:6, 8). But blessed be God, who hath knit these things together towards his elect in the bond of an everlasting covenant (Isa 59:21). The kingdom of Christ is spiritual, and in the animating principles of it, invisible. If we fix our minds only on outward order, we lose the rise and power of the whole. It is not an outward visible ordination by men (though that be necessary by rule and precept), but Christ’s communication of his Spirit, that gives being, life, usefulness, and success to the ministry; and if any are so foolish as to expect strength and assistance in the work without him, or such success in their labours as shall find acceptance with God, they do but deceive their own souls and others. Let men therefore cast themselves into what order they please; institute what forms of government and religious worship they think proper; if the work of the Spirit be disowned or disclaimed, there is no church-state among them.(p. 135, The Holy Spirit: His Gifts and Power) by John Owen

John von Neumann and Play

In his book Prisoner's Dilemma, William Poundstone writes about the formation of Game Theory and the genius who gave Game Theory its most formal mathematical basis: John von Neumann. In the book Poundstone describes why von Neumann plays.

Many have noted von Neumann's fascination with play, his collection of children's toys, his sometimes childish humor. In this he was not atypical among scientists. Jacob Bronowski wrote (1973), "You must see that in a sense all science, all human thought, is a form of play. Abstract thought is the neoteny of the intellect, by which man is able to carry out activities which have no immediate goal (other animals play only while young) in order to prepare himself for long-term strategies and plans." (Poundstone, p. 39)

John Owen on the Works of the Holy Spirit.

John Owen comments on the Holy Spirit's work being distinct from the other two persons of the Godhead: Father and Son. In creation, John Owen points that it is the God the Father who creates ex nihilo. The Spirit hovered over the water. The Holy Spirit works with existing materials so to speak. John Owen goes on and writes:

The work of the Spirit being not an original but a perfecting work, it supposes the love, grace, counsel and eternal purpose of the Father, and the whole mediation of Jesus Christ: for it is his peculiar work to make these effectual to the souls of the elect, to the praise of the glory of the grace of God. (Owen, p. 134, The Holy Spirit: His Gifts and Power