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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 15 page paper. What is the true church? How can one distinguish between a true church and a false church? These are two of the questions that have been debated for almost 2,000 years and these are the questions this essay addresses. To help the average citizen with this question, the Roman Church provided the Nicene Creed in the 4th century, which stated, "We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church." These are Marks of the Church, the beliefs of the people. Reformers, however, offered different Marks of the true Church. John Calvin identified three Marks of the Church, which he included in his Institutes of the Christian Religion. These are outlined, explained and discussed. The issue of the Cardinal Sadoleto is also explained. Calvin's commentary on a passage from Ephesians, one of the bases for Calvin's Marks of the Church is also noted. Finally, the writer comments on the importance of the Marks in today's world. Bibliography lists 8 sources.
Page Count:
15 pages (~225 words per page)
File: MM12_PGcalvin.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
are questions that have been argued for millennia. The New Testament refers to the church as "a people who are called by God" and it also refers to the Church
as "the body of Christ" (Mills, 2000, p. 2). This suggests that the Church is not the institution, instead, it is a "living organism" that is comprised of many different
but interdependent parts (Mills, 2000, p. 2). Jesus Christ is the head of this Church and the different parts of the church can only grow through Christ (Mills, 2000).
Mills points out that no passage in the New Testament makes a distinction between the congregation, defined as the group of Christians who are gathered in one place to
worship, and the Church, defined as "all Christians in all times and places" (Mills, 2000, p. 2). The reason for this lack of distinction between the two is simply that
Christ is not divided (Mills, 2000). To help believers recognize true from false churches, certain marks of the church, the beliefs and practices by which Christians live, have been identified.
In the 4th century, to help people understand the marks of the true Church, the Nicene Creed stated: "We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church" (Mills, 2000, p.
2). Mills (2000) suggests that the earliest identification of the marks of the true Church can be found in Acts: "They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the
fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer" (Acts 2:42). Calvin never disputed the church as "one, holy, catholic and apostolic" (Hicks, 1998). These were the ancient attributes given
to the true church that were concluded in the Nicene Creed at the Council of Constantinople in 381 (Hicks, 1998). In fact, Calvin asserted that he belonged to that church
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