church was founded by Christ. God could not have left it to men to give an arbitrary interpretation to His teaching—and so He established the church. All these expositions are to such an extent unjust and bold that one feels some compunction in overthrowing them.
There is nothing but the assertion of the churches to show that God or Christ founded anything resembling what the churchmen understand by church.
In the Gospel there is an indication against the church, as an external authority, and this indication is most obvious and clear in that place where it says that Christ’s disciples should not call anyone teachers and fathers. But nowhere is there anything said about the establishment of what the churchmen call a church.
In the gospels the word “church” is used twice—once, in the sense of an assembly of men deciding a dispute; the other time, in connection with the obscure words about the rock, Peter, and the gates of hell. From these two mentions of the word “church,” which has the meaning of nothing but an assembly, they deduce what we now understand by the word “church.”