The believers live in churches that are in their localities respectively. Acts 8:1, for example, speaks of “the church in Jerusalem.” This was the first church established in a locality within the jurisdiction of a city, in this case the city of Jerusalem. It was a local church in its locality, as indicated by the Lord in Matthew 18:17. It was not the universal church, as revealed by the Lord in Matthew 16:18, but only a part of the universal church, which is the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23). The record of the New Testament concerning the establishment of the church in its locality is consistent throughout (Acts 13:1; 14:23; Rom. 16:1; 1 Cor. 1:2; 2 Cor. 8:1; Gal. 1:2; Rev. 1:4, 11).
The second mention of a particular local church in the New Testament is in Acts 13:1a. This verse says, “Now there were in Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers.” In Antioch there was another local church, another expression of the church. Hence, in Acts 8 and 13 we can see one church with two expressions: one is at Jerusalem, the other at Antioch. All local churches are the expression of the one universal church.
In 1 Corinthians 1:2 Paul addresses “the church of God which is in Corinth.” This reveals that the church is not the church of any person, practice, or doctrine but of God. The church is the church of God because it is constituted of the universal God. Such a church existed in Corinth, a definite locality. In nature the church is universal in God, but in practice the church is local in a definite place. This means that the church has two aspects: the universal and the local. Without the universal aspect, the church has no content; without the local aspect, it is impossible for the church to have any expression and practice. For this reason, the New Testament emphasizes the local aspect of the church.
The description of the church in 1 Corinthians 1:2 is marvelous. The church is of God, for it is constituted of the element of God. But the church which is of God is also local. Hence, in this one verse we see both the universal aspect and the local aspect of the church. The universal aspect refers to the constitution, nature, and content of the church; the local aspect refers to the expression and practicality of the church. If we have only the local aspect but not the aspect of the church being of God, we shall have only an outward formality. We shall be lacking the inward reality. But if we have only the universal aspect but not the local aspect of the church in a particular locality, we shall have the reality but not the practicality. On the one hand, the church is constituted of God; on the other hand, the church is expressed in a particular locality. The universal church is expressed and practiced in particular localities.
The universal church as the Body of Christ is expressed through the local churches. The local churches, as the expressions of the one Body of Christ, are locally one. The book of Revelation was written to local churches, to “the seven churches which are in Asia” (1:4). Asia was a province of the ancient Roman Empire in which were the seven cities mentioned in Revelation 1:11. The seven churches were in those seven cities respectively, not all in one city. The book of Revelation does not deal with the one universal church but with the local churches in many cities. The church is first revealed as universal in Matthew 16:18 and then as local in Matthew 18:17. In Acts the church was practiced in the way of local churches. Except for a few Epistles written to individuals, all the Epistles in the New Testament were written to local churches. Not one was written to the universal church. Without the local churches there is no practicality and actuality of the universal church. The universal church is realized in the local churches. Knowing the church universally must be consummated in knowing the church locally. It is a great advance for us to know and practice the local churches. Concerning the church, the book of Revelation is in the advanced stage, for it is written to local churches.
In Revelation 1:11 the voice said to John, “What you see write in a book and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamos, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.” This verse is composed in a very important way. In this verse we see that the sending of this book to the seven churches equals the sending of it to the seven cities. This shows clearly that the practice of the church life in the early days was that of one church for one city, one city with one church. In no city was there more than one church. This is the local church, local with respect to city, not with respect to street or area. The jurisdiction of a local church should cover the whole city in which the church is; it should not be greater or lesser than the boundary of the city. All the believers within that boundary should constitute the one unique local church within that city. Hence, one church equals one city, and one city equals one church. This is what we call the local churches.
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