Pastoral Epistles: 1 Timothy 3:15 - The Church as a Family

The idea of the church as the household of God also appears often in New Testament writings. Paul added further clarification to his point by declaring that the household of God is the “church of the living God.” This stresses, once again, that the church is God’s possession. We belong to him. The description of the Ephesian assembly as the living God’s church was especially apropos. It was the island of light in a dark sea of pagan worship. Crucial to behaving properly is the knowledge that the assembly of saints is the living God’s church in the world of dead idols, and that it is mandated and empowered for a divine mission and a divine message.