6.2 Biblical foundation

6.2 Biblical foundation The covenant with Noah included all human beings. Through God’s election of Abraham, a further covenant was established, which called Abraham and his descendants into a special relationship with God: they became the chosen people of God. The outward sign of this covenant was circumcision. This covenant was confirmed with Isaac and Jacob. When Moses received the Ten Commandments from God on Mount Sinai and passed them on to the people of Israel by God’s commission, God re- vealed His will in the form of a law. This was proclaimed to a particular as- sembly, a congregation. The law defined the relationship between human beings and God, as well as their relationships with one another. It established rules for proper divine service. The latter consisted of the sacrificial rite performed by the priests in the tabernacle, in addition to worship of, and devotion to, God by the people through prayer, profession, and obedience. As the people chosen by God, Israel was called to this divine service. These elements of the old covenant also point to Jesus Christ and to the establishment of the church: the old covenant points to the new covenant, the old covenant mark of circumcision points to baptism, the proclamation of the divine will points to the preaching of the word of God, the priestly sacrificial service points to Holy Communion and its administration by the authorised ministry, and prayer and profession point to the worship of the triune God in Christian divine service. The divine service of the Old Testament had its central place in the temple of Jerusalem, where it was celebrated in solemn fashion. It was there that the house of the Lord stood, and it was there that the people came together in order to praise God (Psalm 122) and bring Him sacrifices. This changed with the destruction of the temple and the ensuing Babylonian captivity of the Jewish people. During this period, the Jews gathered in synagogues for divine service, in which the word of God—the law—was read aloud and interpreted. The sacrificial service could not be performed there, however. In this respect, these divine services were deficient. Even once the temple in Jerusalem had been rebuilt after the Babylonian exile, and after sacrificial service had once 253 6 The church of Jesus Christ again become possible, the believers continued to gather for divine service in synagogues, in which the proclamation of the word was the focal element. This serves as a reference to the church of the New Testament, in the centre of which Jesus Christ is present as the Word incarnate (John 1: 1). The epistle to the Hebrews interprets the old covenant with its law, sacrificial ser- vice, circumcision, and priesthood as a “shadow”—that is an anticipation—of the new covenant (Hebrews 8: 5; 10: 1). A shadow is not the object itself—it merely refers to the object. It is not the old covenant that is God’s perfect in- stitution of salvation, but rather only the new covenant which Jesus Christ established. Therefore the chosen people of the old covenant already foreshadowed that which would become reality in God’s people of the new covenant, in the church of Christ. 6.2.2 The beginning of the church of Christ Everything that church is, and everything on which it is based, has its origin in the person and deed of Jesus Christ, who both is and brings salvation. “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (Galatians 4: 4–5). Jesus, the Son of God, was born as a human being into God’s chosen people of the old covenant. God became Man—He entered into human history and became part of it. He called human beings to follow Him, gathered disciples, preached the kingdom of God, revealed Himself—for example, in the Sermon on the Mount—as a lawgiver, healed the sick, fed the hungry, raised the dead, for- gave sins, and promised and sent the Holy Spirit. The incarnation of God in Jesus Christ is the essential prerequisite for the existence of church. All other events pertaining to the foundation of the church are founded upon, and have derived from, this event: the choosing of the Apostles (Luke 6: 12–16), the establishment of the office of Peter (Matthew 16: 18), the institution of Holy Communion (Matthew 26: 20–29), 254