Is the Church an invisible fellowship of believers, or a visible body with real offices and authority handed down from the apostles?
21 verses are cited on this page. Each one links to its chapter in the Greek text.
...upon this rock I will build my church... I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.Matthew 16:18-19
Christ builds one Church and gives it the keys, an authority to bind and loose. An invisible fellowship needs no keys.
And if he will not hear the church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican.Matthew 18:17
A dispute is settled by telling it "to the church", which must be a visible, identifiable body one can bring a case before.
...the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.1 Timothy 3:15
The Church, not the individual, is called the pillar and support of truth, a public and enduring institution.
And when they had ordained to them priests in every church...Acts 14:23
Paul and Barnabas appoint presbyters in each church, an ordered office from the first missionary journey.
And sending from Miletus to Ephesus, he called the ancients of the church.Acts 20:17
Paul summons the presbyteroi and eleven verses later calls the same men episkopoi. The two words overlap in the New Testament, which the Church has never denied. What follows in the second century is the settling of one order into three, not the invention of an office.
Take heed to yourselves, and to the whole flock, wherein the Holy Ghost hath placed you bishops, to rule the church of God.Acts 20:28
The Holy Spirit makes men overseers of the flock, a governing office within the Church.
If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.1 Timothy 3:1-13
Paul lays down the qualifications for bishops and deacons as standing offices, not ad hoc roles.
...with the bishops and deacons.Philippians 1:1
Paul greets the ordered ministers of the church by their titles, showing the offices already in place.
...stir up the grace of God which is in thee by the imposition of my hands.2 Timothy 1:6
A real grace of office is conferred by the laying on of hands, passed from Paul to Timothy.
...the same commend to faithful men, who shall be fit to teach others also.2 Timothy 2:2
Paul commands the handing on of the deposit to reliable men who will teach others, succession in four links.
...and his bishopric let another take.Acts 1:20-26
The apostles fill Judas's office, treating the apostolic charge as an office to be succeeded to, not a role that dies with the man.
Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church... I will give to thee the keys.Matthew 16:18-19
Peter alone is named the rock and given the keys, singled out among the Twelve. (See the petra word study for the Greek and the Aramaic Kepha behind it.)
...but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren.Luke 22:31-32
Christ prays for Peter by name and charges him to strengthen the others, a role over his brethren.
Feed my lambs... Feed my sheep.John 21:15-17
The risen Christ commissions Peter three times to shepherd the whole flock, lambs and sheep alike.
Christ built a visible Church and gave it authority to bind and loose (Matthew 16:18-19; 18:17), calling it the pillar and ground of truth (1 Timothy 3:15). That Church is ordered under bishops, presbyters, and deacons (Acts 20:28; Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy 3), an order handed on by the laying on of hands (2 Timothy 1:6; 2:2). Ignatius of Antioch, writing around the year 107, already insists that nothing be done in the Church without the bishop (Letter to the Smyrnaeans 8). Peter is given the keys and charged to feed the whole flock (Matthew 16:19; John 21:17). The First Vatican Council (Pastor Aeternus) and the Second Vatican Council (Lumen Gentium) confess this same visible, hierarchical, apostolic Church.