A Biblical Theology of the Church - Book Review

I recently finished reading A Biblical Theology of the Church as an assignment for my summer internship.  The book is well done and sparked my thinking on a couple of issues.  Of course, I didn’t agree with everything and other readers are sure to disagree with even more, but it is a profitable read nonetheless.

A Biblical Theology of the Church, by editor Mal Couch, is an excellent resource examining the theological underpinnings of the church from a dispensational perspective.  Anyone who has plowed through Chafer’s Systematic Theology and been disappointed by the brief chapters on Church doctrine and polity will find that this book addresses many of the topics that need to be discussed.  The introduction states that the book’s purpose is to examine “the doctrine of the church as revealed in Scripture” and to “reexamine the doctrine of ecclesiology.”  As is the case for most of Mal Couch’s books, he is simply the editor while the content consists of articles by excellent dispensational authors such as Arnold Fruchtenbaum and Thomas Ice.

The book begins with two chapters that lay the groundwork for a dispensational understanding of the Church.  Honestly, it was these two chapters that excited me most about Couch’s book because they handled the dispensational aspects of the Church very carefully and biblically. 

After establishing the framework in which to understand the Church, following chapters discuss a wide range of topics from spiritual gifts to women in the church, from the rapture to missions.  Most chapters are simply good exegesis of fundamental passages to establish good theology.  For example, a chapter entitled “How Christ Treats the Church: Ephesians 5:22-32” begins by clarifying that the primary application of the passage is “how husbands are to love their wives” and then proceeds to dig out the doctrine about God that is revealed through the passage.

Two weaknesses that I found were a liberal stand on divorce (in the discussion of qualifications for elders) and what I consider to be too strong of a stand on elder rule.  Couch’s (or whoever was the author of this chapter) conclusion on the issue of divorced elders is that the text in 1 Timothy is disallowing polygamy and states “This interpretation would certainly open the door for restoration, no matter what issue led to a past divorce.”(pg. 176)  His stand on elder rule becomes so strong that congregations are denied the responsibility of choosing their own leaders.  I indirectly deal with this issue and give a little of my perspective  about Ecclesiology in a blog I posted in 2011 entitled “Church: It ain’t that complicated folks!”

Another little annoyance with this book (and with other books edited by Mal Couch) is the fact that the chapters are not attributed to the co-authors.  I don’t know if there was some intent in leaving their names out, but I was sometimes curious who was writing and had no way of finding out.

A Biblical Theology of the Church contains a few items where I objected, but overall presents a good, biblical look at the doctrine and conduct of Christ’s Body.

"That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel" - Ephesians 3:6