Who or What is the Real Church - Part 3

Thirdly, the Church is the Community of Faith
We have discussed so far that the Church is the Body of Christ, the community of those who have been called or chosen by God for a particular role in God's plan for His creation.
(Let's not forget, with all this talk about the Body of Christ being specifically chosen, that God has also chosen all mankind to be saved at the end of the ages before "we step into eternity" together.  See the previous "God's Biblical Plan" posted in January 2019)

To perform their task or chosen role, members of the Body of Christ will require faith.
Why?
Because the gospel is pretty hard to get your head around without it.

Imagine trying to understand the gospel - the God of creation sending his Son to earth in a human body, His virgin birth, His death for our sins, His resurrection, His promised return, God being reconciled to us even as sinners, God's promise to reconcile all of us to Him eventually, etc.
It's way beyond what we would call rational. (See the previous "Is God Rational?" posted in August 2013)

We could not accept such a fantastic story without God's intervention in some way.
The gospel needs to be revealed to us - and then believed by us.

My understanding is this: If, before the foundation of the earth, God has chosen those who are to be members of the Body of Christ, then those chosen must hear the gospel (have the gospel revealed to them) and be given the faith to embrace it at some point in their life's journey on planet earth - the chosen need to be given the faith to act upon the gospel God has arranged for them to hear.
(Conversely, those who do not hear the gospel, or who hear the gospel but are not given the faith to believe it, have not been chosen to be members of the Body of Christ. Their salvation, their reconciliation to God, must wait until an event beyond their time in their earth-suits.)

Jesus (the Head) and we (the Body) have been given the faith to fulfil the roles God has given us. Both are referenced in this one verse from Hebrews.

Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end. He did not give up because of the cross! On the contrary, because of the joy that was waiting for him, he thought nothing of the disgrace of dying on the cross, and he is now seated at the right side of God's throne. [Hebrews 12 : 2 GNB]

Jesus required faith to complete His challenging mission. (See the previous "The Faithfulness of Jesus" posted in May 2017)
and
The Body requires faith to embrace the message and embark on its mission (which we will discuss in the final post of this mini-series).

The Gentiles listened with delight and extolled the Lord's Message; and all who were pre-destined to the Life of the Ages believed.
[Acts 13 ; 48 Weymouth]
So then, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through preaching Christ.
[Romans 10 : 17 GNB]

Confirmed by Paul's personal experience ...

Though I was previously a blasphemer and a persecutor and had been insolent in outrage. Yet mercy was shown me, because I had acted ignorantly, not having as yet believed; and the grace of our Lord came to me in overflowing fulness, conferring faith on me and the love which is in Christ Jesus.
[1 Timothy 1 : 13 - 14 Weymouth]

Yes, we are blessed by our early calling but we are not to boast about our being chosen or our being given faith.

And because of God's gracious gift to me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you should. Instead, be modest in your thinking, and judge yourself according to the amount of faith that God has given you.
[Romans 12 : 3 GNB]
What is so special about you? What do you have that you were not given? And if it was given to you, how can you brag?
[1 Corinthians 4 : 7 CEV]

Correct. The Body of Christ is not special - just chosen earlier than the rest of mankind and equipped for a specific task.

Blessings, Barry
(Part 4 coming in the next post)