Front matter
What Is the Church?
Crucial Questions
Crucial Questions booklets provide a quick introduction to definitive Christian truths. This expanding collection includes titles such as:
Who Is Jesus?
Can I Trust the Bible?
Does Prayer Change Things?
Can I Know God's Will?
How Should I Live in This World?
What Does It Mean to Be Born Again?
Can I Be Sure I'm Saved?
What Is Faith?
What Can I Do with My Guilt?
What Is the Trinity?
T O B R O W S E T H E R E S T O F T H E S E R I E S ,
P L E A S E V I S I T: R E F O R M A T I O N T R U S T. C O M / C Q
What Is the Church?
What Is the Church? © 2013 by R.C. Sproul
Published by Reformation Trust Publishing a division of Ligonier Ministries 421 Ligonier Court, Sanford, FL 32771 Ligonier.org ReformationTrust.com
Printed in China RR Donnelley 0001018 First edition, sixth printing
ISBN 978-1-64289-052-5 (Paperback) ISBN 978-1-64289-080-8 (ePub) ISBN 978-1-64289-108-9 (Kindle)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of the publisher, Reformation Trust Publishing. The only exception is brief quotations in published reviews.
Cover design: Ligonier Creative Interior typeset: Katherine Lloyd, The DESK
All Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved..
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sproul, R.C. (Robert Charles), 1939-2017 What is the church? / by R.C. Sproul. pages cm. -- (The crucial questions series ; No. 17) ISBN 978-1-56769-329-4 1. Church. I. Title. BV600.3.S69 2013 262--dc23 2013015788
Contents
One The Church Is One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Two United in the Truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Three Doctrine Divides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Four Visible and Invisible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Five The Church Is Holy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Six The Church Is Universal . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Seven Founded on the Apostles . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Eight Servants of the Lord . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Nine The Marks of a True Church . . . . . . . . . . 61