Insider Church

Ekklesia and the Insider Paradigm

S. T. Antonio

• Publisher: William Carey Publishing
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781645082750
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

Insider Movements = Church-planting Movements? In the last few decades, the Church has witnessed a growing harvest of Muslim-background believers coming to Christ. However, a divide remains over whether the "insider" paradigm contributes to the flourishing and multiplication of healthy, biblical churches among Muslims. S. T. Antonio advances this conversation beyond the old arguments through a fresh analysis of the insider paradigm by asking the question, What is church? Starting with the identity-shaping narrative of the people of God, Antonio digs deep into the nature of biblical ekklesia from multiple angles—local and universal, visible and invisible, the classical "marks" of the church, and missional identity. Combining a robust, biblical vision with a nuanced contextualization framework, and informed by firsthand ministry among Muslims, Antonio uncovers the roots and contours of the ecclesial vision of the insider paradigm. Insider Church provides an innovative diagnosis of a paradigm that has been surrounded by controversy, challenging it with constructive analysis for multiplying biblical churches among Muslims. This integrative study draws together biblical, theological, and missiological scholarship in service of Christ's mission. Insider Church helps guide mission practitioners, leaders, and students toward a wise assessment of insider movements and a vision for church multiplication that is both fruitful and faithful to the Lord of the harvest.

The church is the light of the world. But in Muslim-majority lands, it can also be a stumbling block. My Muslim friends have complicated and varying views of the church. Many see the church as the Christian counterpart to the mosque—a house of prayer deserving of respect. Some see the church as a source of strange, deviant worship, which intrigues the curious while repelling the devout. With the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches being some of the largest and oldest Christian communities in the Middle East, many Muslims associate “church” with icons, incense, and black-robed, bearded priests. For many Muslims—including those living in “unchurched” parts of the Middle East—their views of the church are just as likely to be shaped by stories about the Pope and the Vatican, or the varied portrayals of churches in Hollywood movies.

Some of my friends view the church and Christians fairly positively, as a community of peace in a region too often at war. Yet some still see the church as a potential danger—as an alternative, competing community that can pose a threat to Muslim society if it lures Muslims to abandon their religion, family, and nation.

How do we multiply churches among people for whom “church” carries such unwieldy baggage? Is it possible to bypass Muslim suspicions of “the Christian church” altogether by reimagining “church” as Muslim, insulated completely from the institutional Christian church? What are the possibilities and dangers presented by such a proposal?

Any answer to the above questions requires answers to a completely different set of questions. What is church? What is essential to its biblical identity, and what is secondary? How does the church express itself in diverse cultural and religious contexts? The way we define church, and its interaction with cultural context, is foundational for how we see the church taking shape in Muslim contexts. It also determines in large measure how we assess the insider vision of the church.

This chapter and the next tackles the fundamental question of the nature and identity of the church, laying the groundwork for later discussion on the church’s relation to culture. The goal is to provide a biblical and theological vision of the church that is sound and robust enough to engage the messy realities of mission to Muslims and the complex problem of the insider paradigm. As will be shown in later chapters, this biblical and theological framework sheds light on both insightful strengths and worrisome weaknesses of the insider vision of the church which must be addressed in a clear-eyed, responsible assessment of the insider paradigm.

To define the identity of the church, there is no better starting point than Holy Scripture. The inspired Word of God discloses the mind of God—who designed and created the church. Furthermore, God’s Word illumines, corrects, and relativizes all human ideas and experiences of church. But as we look to Scripture, we see that the church is not presented as an abstract philosophical concept, but as a concrete reality—a living, historical community, enmeshed in the story of God and his people. We cannot understand what it means to “be and do church” apart from the overarching narrative of the people of God which defines the church’s identity.

In the remainder of this chapter, I trace the way that Scripture unveils and shapes the identity of the church through the unfolding narrative of the people of God, from Abraham to the New Jerusalem.¹ As we trace this story in its key stages, we will get a glimpse of the rich array of themes, images, and teachings that contribute to the fabric of the nature of the church in Scripture.² As later chapters show, the insider paradigm emphasizes particular images and biblical themes to support its vision of ekklēsia for insiders. In order to accurately assess both the strengths and weaknesses of insider biblical theology, it is crucial to grasp the fullness of the biblical narrative and array of images that define the identity of the church in Scripture.

The story of the people of God will be traced along four key stages and an excursus, each of which reveals and shapes the identity of the church in crucial ways: (1) the Old Testament people of God, (2) the kingdom community of Jesus, (3) the Pentecostal church of the Spirit, (4) the apostolic teaching about the church, and (5) the triumphant church of the Lamb. Each stage provides an important block in our biblical foundation for defining the church, and each deserves careful attention.

“I Will Be Your God, and You Will Be My People”: The Old Testament Backdrop

The word church does not appear in the Old Testament. Yet we cannot fully understand the nature of the church without grasping its roots in the Old Testament story of God and his people, which forms the essential backdrop for the emergence of the church of Jesus Christ in the New Testament.³ The significance of the Old Testament to the church can be captured in three identity-defining moments in the story of God and his people: (1) the Covenant with Abraham, (2) the Exodus and Sinai revelation, and (3) the Exile and the Remnant.

The Covenant with Abraham: Origins of the People of God

The story of the people of God has a backstory—the story of God and his creation. God’s good purposes for the world were frustrated by the rebellion of Adam and Eve, sparking a downward spiral of violence and evil, from the crime of Cain to the arrogance of Babel. But then a new history begins of God choosing, forming, and redeeming a people for himself. The call of Abraham in Genesis 12:1–3 is a turning point in the biblical story and in the history of the world, “the beginning of God’s answer to the evil of human hearts, the strife of nations and the groaning brokenness of his whole creation” (Wright 2006, 199).

The promise to Abraham reveals God’s plan of creating a people to bless all peoples, and within this covenantal call, Israel would later find the essence of its own identity as the people of God. As Harrington says, “Gen. 12:1–3 contains in brief compass many features characteristic of Israel’s sense of peoplehood: the divine initiative, the communal nature of salvation, the central significance of God’s fidelity and the gift of the land, and the place of Israel with reference to other peoples” (1980, 5). The Abrahamic promise introduces language that will reverberate throughout Scripture of God’s resolute determination to create a people for himself and to identify as “their God” (Gen 17:7–8).

This foundational covenant with Abraham extends to Abraham’s children (e.g., Gen 12:7; 15:1–21; 17:1–8), and in the new covenant, this incredible honor is bestowed upon all who are united to Christ, the Seed of Abraham (Gal 3:29). The essence of the church ultimately finds its origin in God’s radical decision to choose one man and fashion him into a nation that would bless the world—the first defining moment in the formation of the people of God.

Exodus and Sinai: God Takes Israel to Be His People

The exodus from Egypt inaugurates a new era in the formation of the people of God, a critical juncture which would forever re-define the identity of God’s people. The exodus was a fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham and a new horizon for his people (Ex 2:24; 6:2–5). For the first time, God formally reveals his personal name, Yahweh (6:2–3), and refers to Israel as his people, signaling a new level of intimacy and identification between Israel and their God: “I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians” (Ex 6:6–7).⁴ In language reminiscent of betrothal, God promises to make Israel into a nation that belongs to and his blessed by him, in fulfillment of his promise to Abraham.⁵

The exodus culminated in the “day of assembly” at Mt. Sinai, where Israel’s identity is solidified through the ratifying of the covenant and the giving of God’s law (Clowney 1995, 30).⁶ Nowhere is this identity better captured than in Exodus 19:4–6, which is “a seminal definition of the community of God” (Millar 2000, 684). Christopher Wright calls this passage “a key programmatic statement by God … like a hinge in the book of Exodus, in between the exodus narrative (Ex 1–18) and the giving of the law and covenant (Ex 20–24). It defines the identity of Israel and the role God has for them” (Wright 2006, 330). This statement—which shapes not only the identity of Israel, but also the New Testament church (1 Pet 2:9; Rev 1:6)—deserves careful unpacking.

The people of Israel are defined first and foremost by God’s prior act of redemption: “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.” As in the new covenant, it is God’s “past grace” which provides the context for understanding the identity of the people of God (Wright 2006, 116–17). The deliverance from Egypt is the definitive sign that God has graciously elected Israel—the basis of Israel’s privileged status and mission (Harrington 1980, 9–10; cf. Deut 7:6–9).

The people of Israel are also defined by virtue of a covenant relationship with the God who redeemed them: “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant …” (19:5). Israel is given both promises and obligations, and in order to become all that God intends them to be as his people, they must remain faithful to the stipulations of the covenant as revealed in God’s law.

What follows is a threefold statement that defines who the people of God are in relation to God and to the surrounding nations. (1) God’s special possession (19:5, cf. Deut 7:6). The Hebrew word used here (segulah) indicates the personal royal property of a king, the idea being that King Yahweh, who owns the whole earth, has claimed Israel for his personal, kingly possession (Wright 2006, 256). Israel’s cherished status would also be highlighted through being God’s “firstborn son” (Ex 4:22) and the “apple of [his] eye” (Deut 32:10; Clowney 1995, 33).

(2) A kingdom of priests (19:6a). Chris Wright explains this difficult Hebrew phrase as:

a term implying a representative mediatorial role. Israel would bring knowledge of YHWH to the nations (just as the priests taught the law of YHWH to the people) and would ultimately bring the nations into covenant fellowship with YHWH (just as the priests enabled sinners to find atonement and restored fellowship through the sacrifices). Israel’s very existence in the earth was for the sake of the nations, and it had been since God’s promise to Abraham. (2006, 260)

The “kingdom of priests” statement encapsulates a “missional identity and role” of Israel containing both centripetal (nations coming to God) and centrifugal (God’s law/justice going out to the nations) dimensions (Wright 2006, 331–32).⁷

(3) A holy nation (19:6b). Abraham became a “great nation,” and Israel was to become a “holy nation”: a people set apart from the surrounding nations, reflecting the holiness of their God. This was both a divine work and a human calling: God sanctified and set apart Israel to be his people (Lev 20:24–26, 22:31–33), and Israel was called to “be holy” as God was holy, following God’s law and remaining “set-apart” from the surrounding nations (Lev 18:3–4; Wright 2010, 123).

At the center of the “holiness” of the nation is the presence of the “Holy One” in her midst, the physical dwelling of God with Israel in the tabernacle and later the temple (Clowney 1995, 33; Wright 2006, 334–35). In the words of Moses, “Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?” (Ex 33:16). It is the personal presence of Yahweh God in the midst of his people that ultimately set Israel apart and became a key defining feature of the identity of the people of God.

God’s past redemption, a special covenantal relationship, and a privileged status and role with respect to the surrounding world—these elements capture the essence of what it meant for Israel—and later, the church—to be the people of God. Declared and solidified at the “the day of assembly” at Mt. Sinai (cf. Deut 9:10), such truths would be remembered for generations as future assemblies and festivals of Israel—and the church—would look back and commemorate this original identity-defining gathering (Heb 12:18–24; Clowney 1995, 30).

The Exile and the Remnant: The Death and Rebirth of the People of God

If the exodus is the high point of the story of the Old Testament people of God, the exile is the low point. Israel had failed to live up to its calling as a kingdom of priests and holy nation, falling into a downward spiral of rebellion that fractured their relationship with God and threatened to unravel their identity as God’s covenant people (Hos 1:9). In a reversal of the exodus, Israel was expelled from the land of promise and sent into exile

But God, in his grace and love, did not fully reject Israel. After judging his people, God promised he would again return to them in mercy and salvation, regathering them from exile and restoring them as his people (Hos 2:23, cf. 3:16–22; 1:10–11), and along with them he would also gather Gentiles, seen in splendid images of people from all nations streaming to Israel to worship God in fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham (Isa 2:2–4; 25:6–8; 66:20–21; Jer 3:17; cf. Clowney 1995, 36).

In the context of exile, the prophets introduced an important new transformation in the identity of the people of God which paved the way for the new covenant church—the concept of the remnant, which means “what is left.”⁸ In Ancient Near Eastern cultures, “remnant” was often used to refer to “what is left of a community after it undergoes a catastrophe” (Meyer 1995, 669; cf. Elliott 2000, 723). In the Old Testament, remnant highlights God’s action in saving or preserving a group of people, as in the case of Jacob’s family, whom God preserved from famine through Joseph (Gen 45:7). God’s action is also highlighted in 1 Kings 19:18, which uses an active verb to describe those that God “left/caused to remain” in Israel who had not bowed the knee to Ba’al in the time of Elijah—later picked up by Paul in Rom 11:4–5 to describe the remnant of Jews who believe in Christ (Elliott 2000, 724; Millar 2000, 685).⁹

In the prophetic literature, the theme of the remnant is elevated to express a new stage of the people of God, a complex theology which intertwines the themes of judgment and mercy (Elliott 2000, 724; Millar 2000, 685). On the one hand, the theme of remnant can highlight the judgment of God: “The catastrophe undergone by the community is so great that only an insignificant remnant survives, or none at all” (Meyer 1995, 670; e.g., 2 Kings 21:13–15, Isa 17:4–6; Jer 8:3). Though God made Israel “numerous as the sand of the sea”—the promise of Abraham—only a remnant would survive God’s judgment in exile and be restored (Isa 10:22).

The remnant theme can also highlight the mercy and salvation of God (Meyer 1995, 670; cf. Isa 1:25–26; Obad 17; M...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• PART 1: Toward a Biblical Vision of the Church
• PART 2: Toward a Fresh Appraisal of Insider Church
• Epilogue
• Bibliography
• Subject Index
• Scripture Index