Metaphors for the Church
Biblical, Symbolic Language about the Church - Biblical Ecclesiology in Eight Sessions
Throughout Scripture, God uses rich, metaphorical language to help us understand the nature and purpose of His Church. These divinely inspired images aren't mere literary devices—they reveal profound truths about our identity, relationships, and calling as God's people. Now that we have a foundational understanding of the Church based on Jesus’ own teaching and on the examples of the apostle-led church in Acts, we turn to these metaphors to help us build out our knowledge of the Church. Each metaphor reflects a unique facet of the Church, illuminating different aspects of church life. Together, these images serve as an apt guide to what God intends His Church to be. In this session, we'll explore five key biblical metaphors that shape our understanding of the Church's nature and guide its practice.
How do the members of Christ's body work together in unity?
1 Corinthians 12:12-27, Romans 12:1-8, Ephesians 4:15-16,
Have participants identify the specific ways Paul develops the body metaphor. What are the elements of this metaphor? See also Colossians 1:18 and 2:19.
The body metaphor is the most extensively developed image of the Church in the New Testament. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul presents a masterful exposition of how unity and diversity work together in God's design. The repeated emphasis that "the body is one" but has "many members" establishes the fundamental truth that unity doesn't require uniformity. Each member is, in a sense, equally a part of the body while wholly maintaining their personal identity. Indeed, in 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 and elsewhere, Paul highlights that diversity is essential for the body to function.
The Romans 12 passage adds crucial insight about how this diversity operates in practice through different spiritual gifts. Paul's emphasis here isn't just on having different functions, but on exercising them in ways that serve the whole body and in ways that reflect their status as “one body in Christ”. This transforms our understanding of spiritual gifts from individual possessions to corporate resources given for the common good.
Ephesians 4 introduces the vital concept of Christ as the head—a position parallel to that of “cornerstone” in Ephesians 2—from whom the whole body grows and builds itself up in love. This addition demonstrates the strength of the metaphor by strongly emphasizing both the source of our unity (Christ) and the purpose of our participation in the body (growth in love). Realizing such a unity requires building up one another as the body of Christ in love; every member's contribution is critical for the health of the whole.
What does it mean for the church to be the beloved bride of Christ?
Ephesians 5:25-32, Revelation 19:7-9
Reading the above passages as a group, guide participants in exploring both the present and future aspects of this metaphor. How does understanding ourselves as Christ's bride shape our current church life while pointing to our future hope? See also 2 Corinthians 11:2-3 and Revelation 21:2 and 22:17.
The bride metaphor captures the intimate love relationship and intended oneness between Christ and His Church while directing our attention towards our eschatological hope. In Ephesians 5, Paul reveals the profound mystery of Christ’s relationship with the church, described directly through the metaphor of marriage. The emphasis on Christ's sacrificial love ("gave himself up for her") establishes the foundation of this relationship, while the purpose of presenting the Church "in splendor, without spot or wrinkle" points to both our present sanctification and our future glorification as the Church.
Revelation's wedding imagery (19:7-9) transforms this metaphor from present reality to future hope, showing the culmination of Christ's work in the Church. The bride's preparation, wearing fine linen representing "the righteous deeds of the saints," connects our present faithfulness with future glory. This creates a powerful motivation for holy living—we are preparing for an eternal wedding celebration.
The oneness of marriage described in the central passage on the topic, Genesis 2:24, is the crux of this metaphor. Just as Christ acted in his human body, so too the church must live. As Christ was, so we are to be, for it is His Spirit that indwells the Church through each and every Christian. This oneness—a unity in purpose, direction, and life as a whole—is exactly the unity that is required within the church, and it can be attained only through unity in Christ. A church that is not united with Christ has gone, intrinsically, astray.
How does being God's family shape our relationships and responsibilities to one another?
Read Ephesians 2:11-18, Romans 8:14-17, and 1 John 3:1-2
Ask participants to compare their experience of natural family relationships with the biblical vision of God's family. What similarities and differences do they see? How might this metaphor challenge current church practices? See also 1 Timothy 3:15, Galatians 6:10, and Hebrews 2:11-12.
The family metaphor speaks powerfully to both our identity and our relationships within the Church. Ephesians 2:11-22 (explored further in the next metaphor) is one of the most impactful passages on the topic of unity within the church, as it addresses one of the all-time most challenging issues in the world: religious unity (in Christ) across culturally antagonistic people groups. Paul, using language that would have been applied to Gentiles attempting to integrate into Jewish life, highlights that this unity in Christ transforms our status from "strangers and aliens" to full members of God's household. There is great privilege and responsibility that accompanies this family membership. Transcending our earthly identities of culture, race, ethnicity, and whatever else we may be labeled by or identify as, this new identity as members of God’s household must radically reshape how we view and treat one another.
Romans 8 deepens this metaphor by introducing the concept of adoption, showing that our family status isn't merely metaphorical but legally and spiritually real. The Spirit's work in making us cry "Abba! Father!" points to the deeply personal nature of this familial relationship with God. Perhaps even more profoundly, this passage also establishes our status as co-heirs with Christ, giving us both future hope and present dignity. It is worth considering Paul’s implication here that each and every Christian is placed in equal legal footing alongside Christ with respect to God’s distribution of His great and gracious inheritance. However, the responsibility attendant to membership in God’s household is also present in this passage, clearly stated in the final phrase, “if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”
1 John 3 marvels at the reality of our new identity as God's children, connecting it directly to our hope, that is, transformation into the image of Christ, which is both present ("everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself") and eschatological (“we will be like Him”). This linking of our identity and being with that of Christ depicts a powerful image of the sanctifying effect of understanding our relationship to God and Christ through the family of God. This membership in God’s household is comprehensively consequential, transforming our very persons into the image of Christ. It is necessary that this transformation into Christlikeness occurs in order to maintain unity within the Church, the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, the family of God.
What does it mean to be living stones built together as God's temple?
1 Peter 2:4-10, Ephesians 2:19-22
Guide the group in exploring how the temple metaphor speaks to both the individual and the corporate aspects of church life. What does it mean to be "built together" while remaining "living stones"? See also 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 and 2 Corinthians 6:16-18.
The temple metaphor for the Church uniquely combines individual worth with corporate unity. 1 Peter 2 describes believers as "living stones" being built into a “spiritual house for a holy priesthood”. The emphasis on both life and structure suggests an organic yet ordered growth. Peter's connection of this image to priesthood and sacrifice shows that the temple metaphor isn't just about God's presence among us but also about our service to Him: we are, indeed the new “chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession”! This stunning reapplication of various Old Testament descriptions of Israel palpably illustrates God’s intentions for His Church. It is not merely some religious movement, or a social organization; it is the special, chosen people of God who have received His mercy, who are called now to live lives of saints as a holy people wholly dedicated to God’s service.
Critically, Ephesians 2 features this temple imagery with the foundation of apostles and prophets, and Christ as cornerstone. This grounds the Church's identity in both divine and human elements, just as Jesus himself did in Matthew 16:17. The Church is built on apostolic teaching but centered on and held together by Christ. This foundation, while fundamental, is also merely a part of the whole building—the Church—which is composed of each and every Christian. Paul’s emphasis on being "joined together" highlights how individual stones find their purpose only in connection with the whole building. The Church cannot operate through isolated Christians. It operates as a whole building, built for the dwelling of God in the Spirit. Only then can the Church operate rightly as a holy temple in the Lord.
How does the shepherd/flock metaphor guide our life in the church?
John 10:11-16, 1 Peter 5:2-4
Have participants consider how this metaphor shapes both leadership and followership in the church. What qualities of both shepherd and sheep are emphasized in these passages? See also Acts 20:28-29, Ezekiel 34:11-16, and Psalm 23.
Finally, the shepherd/flock metaphor provides crucial insights into both divine and human leadership in the Church. John 10 presents Jesus as the Good Shepherd, who knows His sheep intimately and sacrifices everything for them. This sets the pattern for all pastoral ministry—leadership characterized by sacrificial love, personal knowledge, and protective care, rightly viewing the sheep as both defenseless and critically valuable. Jesus’ own passion demonstrates that He views us as worth laying His own life down for; such is the pattern that overseers in churches are called to practice.
1 Peter 5 applies this metaphor to church leaders directly, showing how human shepherding derives from and remains accountable to that of Christ, the Chief Shepherd. The emphasis on willingness, eagerness, and exemplary living provides a clear model for pastoral oversight within churches.
While this metaphor is less about the structure of the Church and more about local church leadership, it is immensely instructive as to how even leaders are to be servants in the Church, just as Christ was to all men and especially to His disciples. While we may be tempted to view our overseers as special within the Church, and indeed they are in some respect, they are but one member in the body, in the building, in the family of God, playing their part in bearing the image of God through the Church, just as every Christian is called to do.
Conversation Starters:
Which of these metaphors most challenges your current understanding or practice of church life? Why?
How might viewing the church through all these metaphors change our approach to common church issues like decision-making, conflict resolution, or mission?
What aspects of these metaphors seem most countercultural today, whether in relation to the culture of your local church or to the broader culture? How can we faithfully follow the pattern of these metaphors in our current context?
How do these different images of the church balance and complement each other? What might we miss if we emphasized one to the exclusion of others?
In what ways do these metaphors challenge contemporary individualistic approaches to Christianity? How can we better embrace their corporate implications?
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