c) The Church Local and Universal.
By the first is meant the Church in any particular place, such as "the church at Corinth"; by the latter, the Church as found in every place (1 Cor. 1:2).
II. THE FOUNDING OF THE CHURCH.
1. FORETOLD BY CHRIST.
Matt. 16:16-18—". . . . On this rock I will build my church." Here is the Church in prophecy and promise; the first mention of the Church in the New Testament. Note the distinction here recognized between the "Kingdom" and the "Church."
The Church is to be founded on Peter's confession of Jesus Christ as the Son of the living God. No supremacy is here given to Peter, as a comparison of these verses with John 20:19-23, and Matt. 18:18—in which the same privilege of the binding and loosing is given to the whole Church and to all the apostles—will show.
In Matthew 18:15-20 our Lord recognizes the fact of the Church, and also that it has the divine seal and sanction in the exercising of the power of the keys.
2. HISTORICALLY FOUNDED BY THE APOSTLES.
Acts 1-2:47. The promise and prophecy of Matt. 16:16-18 is here fulfilled. Here is the account of the first Christian Church in its glorious beginning, and as it actually existed in Jerusalem. When a man became regenerate by believing in Jesus Christ he was thereby constituted a member of the Church. There was no question as to whether he ought to join himself to the Church or not; that was a fact taken for granted. So we read that the Lord was adding to the Church daily such as were being saved. The Church was already a concrete institution to which every believer in Christ united himself.
"The Apostles' doctrine" formed the standard of faith—a fulfillment of Christ's prophecy and promise in Matthew 16:16-18: "On this rock I will build my church," etc.