On the Taizé Website under in the section “Bible and Faith” we find an article with the title “A Biblical Word - The Church”, together with a short writing from Taizé entitled “Do we need the Church?”
We have studied these articles in order to understand the Taizé Community’s concept of the Church and would like to present it in the light of the Bible.
The article “The Church” focuses on particular aspects of the usage of the Greek word ekklesia (gathering, church, community) and on its synonyms in the New Testament. Next to nothing is said about the meaning of this word at the time of the New Testament or about what characterized the early Church. Rare instances of the usage of the word ekklesia are discussed, for example the usage of the term to describe the Jewish nation or for public gatherings in Greek towns. Obviously the intention here is to evoke the false impression that the borders of the Church were blurred and that not only believers belonged to it.
Today many people lack clarity about the question of how God intended the Church to be and where its borders lie. Among the Taizé Community this vagueness seems to have been adopted as a way of thinking. This is visible, for example, in a commentary on Jesus’ parable of the yeast, which works through a whole batch of dough. The Taizé Community explains the parable as a picture for the whole of mankind:
“To return to the image used by Jesus, part of the dough allows the yeast of the Gospel to do its transforming work, while another part remains more or less resistant. The dividing-line is constantly in motion; it passes not only between “the Church” and “the world” but between different sectors of the community, and in the final analysis is found within every believer.” (Short writings from Taizé, 6. “Do we need the church?”, page 11)
Unfortunately Frère John has no qualms about reinterpreting Jesus’ parables for his own aims. Let’s take a look at it. Matthew 13:31-33,
He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.” He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”
In Frère John’s short writing we find a thoroughly correct explanation of this Parable: God’s work in the world starts off as something seemingly insignificant, it then however causes a profound transformation—occuring, of course, only where it is allowed to.
However, in the explanation quoted above, the picture of the yeast is extended and reinterpreted as referring to the institution of the church, in other words to individual people, where a number always remain who resist the transforming work of the yeast. That means according to the opinion of the Taizé Community, the parable expresses that it is normal for a large number of unbelievers to be in the "churches". It is not difficult to see where this interpretation has its roots: an attempt is made at reading today's reality into the scriptures instead of recognizing that today's reality deviates grossly from the scriptures. Let us explain more...
Jesus and his disciples made it unmistakably clear that the world on the one hand, and the believers who form the church on the other hand are irreconcilable. In John 15:19 Jesus said:
“If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”
By “the world” Jesus was referring to the people who do not want to live their lives according to God’s commandments. Those who want to do God’s will, that is to say Jesus’ disciples, i.e. Christians, are to them a perpetual offense. That is why the disciples are hated by the “world”. An institution or group of people which calls itself Church and does not attract the antagonism of the world shows that it “belongs to the world” - which means, that it is actually part of the world. It shows that it makes compromises with the world and that the message of Jesus is not clearly preached because it wants to be accepted by the world.
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18:
“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
Here we find a very clear call to separate light from darkness, believers from unbelievers. This border is not to be blurred. Only those who turn away from the world with all its impurity, who love God rather than the world and all its godless “fun” will be accepted by him as his children.
The vision of Church put forward by the Taizé Community is entirely different:
“If the Christian community is thus necessarily a mixed body, always on the road, it follows that any attempt to solve its problems by separation misconstrues the true dynamics of its existence.” (Short writings from Taizé, 6. “Do we need the Church?”, page 11)
To come back to Taizé’s article about “The Church”: Two terms can be found in the oldest section of the Acts of the Apostles chapters 1–8 which are used to refer to the Church, namely ekklesia and plethos. In this section one can find, however, other terms for Church, too.
"Brothers" (greek: adelphoi – Acts 1:15) describes the deep connection between the believers. They were all brothers and sisters to one another. This brotherliness was not limited to a small selection of their number, who created their own sub-group.
“Disciples” (greek: mathetai – Acts 6:1,2,7) means “students” and expresses that the believers had accepted the one and the same teaching of their only master, Jesus. The individual believers did not hold teachings that differed or contradicted those held by other believers.
“their own” (greek: toi idioi – Acts 4:23) – this term shows that those belonging to the Church were clearly distinguished from those outside.
“Servants [of God]” (greek: douloi sou, literally “your servants” – Acts 4:29) was not a pious expression from the liturgy, rather it reflected the reality that was their lives.
“those belonging to the way” (greek tes hodou ontes – Acts 9:2) expresses that being a Christian is a way of life. It alludes to Jesus’ words about the narrow path (see Matthew 7:13–14), which is the path of following Jesus that his disciples walk on and on which they must faithfully remain to the end.
These terms say a lot more about the Church than what is mentioned in Taizé’s article regarding plethos (Acts 4:32; 5:14; 6:2,5), which together with ochlos often means simply “crowd”. For example, in Acts 5:14, “And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes (greek: plethos) of both men and women” – ESV. Acts 1:15 writes, “In those days Peter stood up among the believers, a group (greek: ochlos) numbering about a hundred and twenty” and Acts 6:7 – “So the word of God spread. The number (greek: arithmos) of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly”. These words do not describe the nature of the Church but rather the quantity of their gathering.
If we should understand Church as it is in the Bible, one basic principle must be observed, namely unity. This is emphasized in the first chapters of Acts, as well as in the rest of the New Testament.
“All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer...” (Acts 1:14, ESV)
“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.” (Acts 2:1)
“They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer... All the believers were together and had everything in common.” (Acts 2:42-44)
“Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts...” (Acts 2:46)
“When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. Sovereign Lord, they said, you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them...” (Acts 4:24)
“All the believers were one in heart and mind. No-one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.” (Acts 4:32)
“And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon's Colonnade. No-one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people.” (Acts 5:12-13)
It is this unity by which the Church can be clearly recognized and distinguished from all other groups and gatherings, including the Old Testament community.
- “One”. The first Christians were one of mind. Oneness is a gift that is worked by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit enables the Christians to serve God together. Without oneness, Church cannot be Church. Oneness is a fruit of the transformation of each Christian’s way of thinking (Romans 12:2). If believers are not of one opinion and thought or don’t strive for this, they cannot make up the Church – the body which is “one in heart and mind” (see our article about Unity for more on this point).
- “They devoted themselves...”. Church involves commitment. They did not go off to play football, or disappear on holiday. They weren’t together for just a few beautiful moments and then simply gone—each to his own way of life. No, they devoted themselves to the fellowship—at the Temple courts in Jerusalem, which was a meeting place for believing Jews during the festivals, and at home in small groups, where they were able to get to know one another deeply.
- “They all...”. In the early Church there were no interest groups, in which those who preferred to be together with some believers rather than others. They were all together: the young, the old, people of different standing—the love of Christ connected them and taught them to bear one another’s burdens. They did not follow the principle “each to his own”. It is loveless and inconsistent to call those around me brothers and sisters in faith and yet to exclude them from my interest group. For instance: a youth group which is not for older people; a sportsman’s counselor who only counsels people who are interested in sport; convents and monasteries which make fellowship with families impossible; Catholic academics who don’t welcome simple people without an academic title, etc.
It exists, but unfortunately seldom. Unity and love arise not from the things that stir one’s emotions through singing together for example at a “Night of light”, at Sunday services or “devotions”, and not even by an overwhelming sense of oneness at international youth meetings. Unity and love are born out of the decision to obey God—out of the readiness to deny oneself and the wish to live a pure and holy life before God and man. “The Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him” (Acts 5:32) binds Christians together.
It is not only possible, it is necessary. Christ prayed on the night before his death:
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me... that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17:21–23)
Jesus’ wish and the aim of his coming was that the testimony of the unity of all believers would lead the world to believe in the power of his grace and love to change people’s lives. This unity must endure the centuries and cultures in order to testify to a God that never changes.
Jesus also said: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35). Jesus came to teach us love. This love is the hallmark of his disciples and thus too of the Church, by which “all men will know”. If the unity and love are missing, is there anything that can replace them? Sacred art, Gregorian chants, symbolism, rituals, ‘spiritual’ highs, deep thoughts...?
Here in this life there is time and space for each person who is willing to carry out the words of Jesus make them reality in their lives. Here and now, the world must come to know through the testimony of the Church—his body—so that those who seek God can find him and live with him forever.
Did Jesus command the impossible? Had he asked the Father for things which are unrealistic he would have just been a dreamer. He knows people well. Not taking seriously how he wants the Church to be is, therefore, a sign of great unbelief.
Why is it not spoken about in Taizé that people with differing confessions of faith should strive to assess these differences in the light of the Bible and renounce their various structures in order to find true unity?
In their opinion, people should not oppose or even address the problematic points in the various denominations which are not in accordance with the life and teaching of Christ. They simply have to learn to live with the division and wordliness of the “Christian” groups, as the following quote demonstrates:
"Faced with a Church that seems to make peace too easily with the powers of this world … the temptation is great to leave behind the apparently unbelieving masses and to take refuge in a small group of people possessing the same outlook, … In another of his parables, Jesus warns us explicitly against such an undertaking. Describing a field where the wheat and the weeds are mingled, he cautions against any premature attempt to separate them, if we are not to spoil all the work." (Short writings from Taizé, 6. “Do we need the Church?”, page 12)
The parable referred to is in Matthew 13:24–30 and its explanation in 13:36–43. In verse 38 Jesus says, “The field is the world”—clearly NOT the church, as claimed in Taizé’s interpretation.
The Jews believed the Messiah would come to establish his kingdom on earth in a political way, to judge the world and remove all the wicked from his kingdom (e.g. Malachi 3:1–5; Isaiah 66:15–24). Jesus explained that with his coming the age of Grace started, but that he will also return to judge. Until that time the righteous will live in this world surrounded by ungodliness until the world is ripe for harvest. The term “harvest” is never used in the scriptures to refer to the church. It is used either to refer to evangelism or to the judgement on the world (John 4:35–38; Revelation 14:14–20).
If something that calls itself “church” makes peace with the powers of this world, can it really be the Church? James writes:
You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. (James 4:4)
The solution to this dilemma would be to sit down together, examine and assess the differences in the light of the Word of God, and to discern in which points each party erred and what led to these errors. There is just one big hindrance: this kind of solution requires humility. One must be ready to admit that many who claimed to be acting in the name of God (e.g. so-called “Vicars of Christ” or other religious leaders), actually destroyed his work.
Contrary to this, the Taizé article “Do we need the Church?” states:
“Our task is rather to live out the words of Pope John XXIII, often quoted by Brother Roger, the founder of Taizé: “We will not seek to know who was wrong or who was right; the responsibilities are shared; we will simply say: let us be reconciled!” (Short writings from Taizé, 6. “Do we need the Church?”, page 18)
Christ spoke quite differently:
"If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother." (Matthew 18:15, NASB)
Paul wrote:
“I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.” (1 Corinthians 1:10)
"I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers?" (1 Corinthians 6:5)
Reconciliation is not really possible without facing up to one’s own mistakes and being ready to see who was right and who was wrong. Unless this happens, each party will hold fast to his own assessment of the situation, though on the surface things may appear harmonious. It takes both humility and courage to face facts and arguments. This is the way to repentance: to find out where you have resisted God and where you ignored or rejected his will. Reconciliation with God, as with people, is not possible without repentance.
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Our hope is that the original teaching about the Church will not only be correctly understood, but also lived out. That is what we do, and we believe that everyone who seeks God earnestly will be filled with the same longing. If these thoughts resonate with you we’d like to get to know you and to hear your thoughts about what you have read.
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