Give as many Bible verses (where appropriate), comments, and explanations as you can to support your answers. Click here to go to “Introduction to ‘The Biblical Doctrine of the Church’”

1. These teachings are based upon a _______________________ interpretation of Scripture.
2. The Bible uses ____________, ______________________, _________________, and other figures of speech.
3. Untold damage to the cause of Christ has been caused by unbridled _____________________ or _____________________ of Scripture by _______________, ________________, _______________’s ______________________ and others.
4. Some of those religions, due to their heinous theologies (false interpretations of Scripture) have violently __________________ and ______________________ others, including ________ ______________ who stood on God’s Word in spite of persecutions and ___________________, down through the last 2,000 years.
5. Sadly, perversions of Scripture by such religions and the resulting atrocities based upon false interpretations have been attributed to ________ ___________________ by the world in general—________ ___________________ and churches have been lumped together with imposters by both secular and Christian _________________.
6. In order to understand why church incorporation and 501(c)(3) status violates biblical principles and grieves our Lord Jesus Christ, one must first be __________. Second, he must understand the biblical principles of ___________________, ____________, and _____________________ of ___________ and __________.
7. He must then understand the facts about and ______________________ of incorporation and 501(c)(3).
8. Finally, he must apply ____________________ to __________ and ______.
9. To fully understand this requires a lot of time and study, and God wants His children, and especially ______________, to take the time to do the studying (1 Ti. 2.15).
10. Most pastors are so consumed with their ministries that they need to rely on specialists within the local church body-for example, born again, Bible believing, God honoring ________________ or others who have the _________, ___________, __________________, and ________ for the Lord necessary to examine these matters.
11. As foretold by Isaiah (Is. 40.3), John the Baptist announced: “____________ ye: for the ______________ of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the Prophet ______________, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the ________, make his __________ straight” (Mt. 3.2-3. See also, Mk. 1.2-3; Lu. 3.4; and Jn. 1.23).
12. The phrase “______________ of heaven” “is peculiar to ______________ and signifies the Messianic earth rule of __________ ____________, the Son of David.
13. Why is it called called the kingdom of the heavens?
14. From which Old Testament book is the phrase “kingdom of heaven” derived?
15. How does Daniel define “kingdom of heaven?”
16. The “kingdom of heaven” is covenanted to whose seed?
17. After Israel morally rejected the kingdom of heaven, Jesus predicted judgment on the places chosen for the testing of the nation, _________________, ___________________, and __________________, “wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they ________________ not” (Mt. 11.20-24). Jesus, at that point, turned from the rejecting nation, offered rest and service to ________________ in the nation, and turned to the _________________.
18. Just as God ordained __________ government, He also ordained His ________________ after the nation ____________ rejected ______ and the ______________ of ____________.
19. The power given by God to His churches on earth was to secure a ________________ good for their members.
20. When Christ asked His ____________________ whom they thought Him to be (Mt. 16.15, Mk. 8.29, Lu. 9.20), Peter answered, “Thou art the ____________, the ______ of the living ______”. At that point, our Lord announced the out calling of the ____________ when He said: “And I say also unto thee, [t]hat thou art Peter, and upon this ________ I will build my ____________; and the gates of ________ shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the ________ of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt ________ on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
21. Upon whom is Christ’s church built?
22. Peter made clear that the cornerstone of the church is whom?
23. Peter made clear that the rock upon which the Lord will build the institution of the church which is made to be made up of __________, ____________________ churches, which are ________________ houses made up of __________________ beings offering up _________________ sacrifices, and not ________________ houses made by man, is Christ Himself:

“To whom coming, as unto a _______________ stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as ____________ stones, are built up a __________________ house, an holy priesthood, to offer up ___________________ sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a __________ ____________ stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the ________ of the corner. And a stone of ________________, and a rock of ________________, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed” (1 Pe. 2.4-9).

“This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the ________of the corner” (Ac. 4.11, part of Peter’s address to the Sanhedrin).

24. From the context of the above verses, it is obvious that Peter is speaking of the ________ as being the chief corner stone. Nowhere in the Bible is there any indication that Peter was the cornerstone of a ____________________ visible or invisible church. The words used also make clear that Christ was referring to ______________ as the ________ on which the church would be built. “There is in the Greek [in Matthew 16.18] a play upon the words, “thou art Peter [petros—literally, ‘a ____________ rock’], and upon this rock [Petra] I will build my church.” He does not promise to build His church upon __________, but upon ______________, as Peter himself is careful to tell us (1 Pet. 2.4-9).”
25. Jesus Christ, Head of the church, “__________ the church and gave ______________ for it” (Ep. 5.25).
26. Jesus did not give ____________ the keys—a key being a badge of power or authority (see, e.g., Is. 22.22 and Re. 3.7)—to the church, but to “the kingdom of heaven,” the keys in the sense of Matthew 13, that is of the sphere of Christian ______________________.
27. Peter assumed no other authority. In the council at Jerusalem as recorded in Acts 15, ___________ seems to have presided. Peter claimed nothing more than to be an ______________ by gift and an __________ by office. The power of binding and loosing was shared by ______ ____________ _________________. Since only ____________ held the keys of death and the place of departed spirits, “this did not involve the determination of the eternal destiny of souls.” I [__________ ____________] am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the ________ of ________ and of __________” (Re. 1.18).
28. Isaac Backus, the great Baptist leader in New England, elaborated upon the faith confessed by Peter:

“This __________ is the foundation of the _________________; against this __________ the gates of hell shall not prevail; this __________ hath the keys of the kingdom of heaven; what this __________ shall loose or bind on earth, is bound and loosed in heaven…. Now it followeth, that whatsoever person hath received the same precious __________ with Peter, as all the faithful have, 2 Pet. i. 1, that person hath a part in this gift of Christ. Whosoever doth confess, publish, manifest or make known Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of the living God, and Saviour of the world, that person opens heavens gates, looseth sin, and partakes with Peter in the use of the ________; and hereupon it followeth necessarily, that one faithful man, yea, or woman either, may loose and bind, both in heaven and earth, as all the ministers in the world.”

29. God’s Word describes the church as being the __________ of Christ and the ________ of Christ. What connotations do those designations carry? The Word of God gives ample _____________________to alert churches to what this relationship entails.
30. To whom did the Lord reveal how, when, or of what materials local church bodies on this earth should be built, or what should be their position, relationships, privileges or duties. Instead?
31. The Lord revealed to ________ the mystery of the churches who were to be made up of both ____________ and ____________ believers in ___________________ __________ assemblies. Paul’s epistles develop the _______________ to be followed by the churches. God, through the Apostle Paul, explained the ______________, ___________________, ________-____, and __________________ of the churches, and the relationship of His churches to the ________ __________. Through Paul alone we know that churches are not organizations, but ___________________, local ___________________ bodies.
32. The Bible makes clear that churches here on earth are to be ______________ ___________ ____________________ bodies, each operating under the principles of the ________ of ______. Paul wrote to local __________________ or _______________—the church of God which is at ______________ (1 Co. 1.2, 2 Co. 2.1), the churches of _______________ (Ga. 1.2), the church at _____________ (See Re. 2.1), the church of the _______________________________ (1 Th. 1.1; 2 Th. 2.1). Christ stood in the in the midst of __________ ____________ ______________________ (local ________________ still on earth) (Re. 1.11-13); and He instructed ________ to write to those seven ________________ (Re. 1.19-20). The Lord delivered individual messages to each of those local assemblies (Re. 2.1-3.22).
33. Although the Lord made clear that He wants every church to be under ______ in all things, God allows men in a church ________-________ to decide whether to do things His way. Our Lord warned against false __________________ to come and some writers of the New Testament warned of already existing ________________ in the church and revealed that before the return of Christ true believers would all be _________________ and those left behind in the visible “church” would go into total ________________, be called a __________ and not a church, and be destroyed by the nations. Religious _______________ of some churches in America began with the importation from Europe of modernism and has recently accelerated as seen in the recent Church _____________ Movement and, after that, the Emerging ____________ Movement.
34. Christ is described as the only ________, ______________, and ______________________, of His churches. He will conduct a _________________ ceremony, the wedding of the ________ (Re. 19.7-10), prior to His second coming in glory. The __________ who will be called to the marriage supper of the Lamb will be arrayed in fine __________, which is the _________________________ of the saints. Because of the signs of the times, as related to biblical prophecy, true believers should be vigilant in seeking ______ __________________ ____ ______ since it appears that the Lord will return soon. Only true believers have the ________________ ________: they will __________ with the Lord. The Holy Spirit is now calling out, not the subjects, but the co-__________ and co-_______________ of the kingdom. Since the Lord told believers to ________ others, since believers will be ___________________ with God, and since nonbelievers will be ___________________ _______ God for all eternity, those who are saved should have a great burden for the _____________________ of the lost.
35. In order to maximize the witness of the local church, believers should be careful to do all they do as individuals, families, as a church body, and as citizens according to the principles of the ________ ____ ______. Initial ____________________ of God’s principles on the church level inevitably leads to further ____________________, to _____________, and in most cases to _______________. ____________________ introduces leaven which in turn infects the whole body. Thus, for example, the initial ____________________ of many ______________ churches after the adoption of the United States Constitution in getting corporate status introduced a little poison into churches. Corporate ________________, generally speaking, had no problem with further _____________________ such as the abandonment of God’s Word in English, and Internal Revenue Code § 501(c)(3) status. The religious __________________ in America among God’s churches has accelerated at an alarming pace.