Systematic Theology, by Louis Berkhof - New Leaven

Christians formed into distinct organizations and calling themselves ‘Churches,’ are
partial and incomplete embodiments.” The Church is “an actual, tangible, visible entity,
not an unrealized and unrealizable ideal.” 12
3. THE PROTESTANT CONCEPTION. The Reformation was a reaction against the
externalism of Rome in general, and in particular, also against its external conception of
the Church. It brought the truth to the foreground once more that the essence of the
Church is not found in the external organization of the Church, but in the Church as the
communio sanctorum. For both Luther and Calvin the Church was simply the community
of the saints, that is, the community of those who believe and are sanctified in Christ,
and who are joined to Him as their Head. This is also the position taken in the
Reformed confessional standards. Thus the Belgic Confession says: “We believe and
profess one catholic or universal Church, which is a holy congregation of true Christian
believers, all expecting their salvation in Jesus Christ, being washed by His blood,
sanctified and sealed by the Holy Spirit.” 13 The Second Helvetic Confession expresses
the same truth by saying that the Church is “a company of the faithful, called and
gathered out of the world; a communion of all saints, that is, of them who truly know
and rightly worship and serve the true God, in Jesus Christ the Saviour, by the word of
the Holy Spirit, and who by faith are partakers of all those good graces which are freely
offered through Christ.” 14 And the Westminster Confession, defining the Church from
the point of view of election, says: “The catholic or universal Church, which is invisible,
consists of the whole number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be gathered into
one, under Christ the head thereof; and is the spouse, the body, the fulness of Him that
filleth all in all.” 15 The Church universal, that is, the Church as it exists in the plan of
God, and as it is realized only in the course of the ages, was conceived as consisting of
the whole body of the elect, who are in course of time called unto life eternal. But the
Church as it actually exists on earth was regarded as the community of the saints. And
it was not only the invisible Church that was so regarded, but the visible Church as
well. These are not two Churches but one, and therefore have but a single essence. The
one as well as the other is essentially the communio sanctorum, but the invisible Church is
the Church as God sees it, a Church which contains only believers, while the visible
Church is the Church as man sees it, consisting of those who profess Jesus Christ with
12 Greek Orthodox Thought, pp. 241-242.
13 Art. XXVII.
14 Chap. XVII.
15 Chap. XXV.
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