I thank you and your congregation for the wonderful explanations you provided. I also offer my heartfelt thanks to God for your ministry.<\/p>\n
Please help me grow in my knowledge of God; your lessons are proving immensely useful to my congregation, to me, and in my preachers’ classes.<\/p>\n
Please explain whether the Church is visible or invisible, with biblical proof.<\/p>\n
I thank God for you all once again.<\/p>\n\t
The phrase “visible or invisible” comes from one passage: “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things have been created through Him and for Him<\/em>” (Colossians 1:16). The phrase parallels “in the heavens and on earth<\/em>.” Thus, “visible” refers to things in the physical realm and “invisible” refers to things in the spiritual realm.<\/p>\n “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible<\/em>” (Hebrews 11:3).<\/p>\n “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation<\/em>” (Colossians 1:15).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n While these terms are not applied to the church in the Bible, one could refer to the Christians in local congregations as the visible church and the universal church as the invisible church since it is composed of all faithful Christians both presently and in the past. Since you cannot tell by looking whether someone calling himself a Christian is faithful, the universal church is a spiritual concept.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I thank you and your congregation for the wonderful explanations you provided. I also offer my heartfelt thanks to God for your ministry. Please help me grow in my knowledge of God; your lessons are proving immensely useful to my congregation, to me, and in my preachers’ classes. Please explain whether the Church is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[1938,1148,76],"class_list":["post-98546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-physical-realm","tag-spiritual-realm","tag-terminology"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":29117,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-holy-spirit-doing-today\/","url_meta":{"origin":98546,"position":0},"title":"What is the Holy Spirit doing today?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, I know The Holy Spirit has brought about the Word of God but is the Holy Spirit now inactive? Is its work finish? Answer: Just because Jesus' task of bringing salvation to the world through his death, I don't assume that He is no longer involved in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":90419,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-isles-of-the-gentiles-refer-to\/","url_meta":{"origin":98546,"position":1},"title":"What does “isles of the Gentiles” refer to?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What do \"Isle\" and \"Gentile\" mean in the verse: \"By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations\" (Genesis 10:5 KJV). Answer: \"Gentile\" refers to nations, specifically nations other than Israel. \"Isles\" is an older\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":68312,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-calebite-refer-to\/","url_meta":{"origin":98546,"position":2},"title":"What does Calebite refer to?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 9, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Could the term 'Calebite' in I Samuel 25, which refers to Nabal, refer to those descended from the Caleb in Joshua? Answer: \"Now the man's name was Nabal, and his wife's name was Abigail. And the woman was intelligent and beautiful in appearance, but the man was harsh and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13782,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-satan-created\/","url_meta":{"origin":98546,"position":3},"title":"Was Satan Created?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 22, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Years ago I was asked to teach a class on I Timothy 6 for a congregation that I was visiting. We read of Jesus Christ, \u201cthe King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11805,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-gnashing-of-teeth-refer-to\/","url_meta":{"origin":98546,"position":4},"title":"What does “gnashing of teeth” refer to?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 25, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I hope you are doing well. I really like your new look on your web site, and the convenience it offers. Great work! Thanks, it makes it easier to navigate. I have a question about something that Jesus said more than once, usually (I think) during the telling of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":96754,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-under-the-earth-mean\/","url_meta":{"origin":98546,"position":5},"title":"What does “under the earth” mean?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 18, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi Jeff, \"That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth\" (Philippians 2:10 NKJV). Does the phrase \"those under the earth\" refer to those in the grave? Thank you! 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