According to Dispensationalism, some teach that there was no church in the Old Testament and that the church began only at Pentecost in Acts 2. But is this correct according to Scripture?
From a Reformed and covenantal perspective, the answer is no. The church did indeed exist in the Old Testament, though under shadows, types, and promises. At Pentecost, the church was not created out of nothing; rather, the New Testament church was the fuller, clearer, and more glorious administration of the same covenant people of God.
Pentecost was not the birth of an entirely new people, but the powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the already existing covenant community, now expanded to include the nations in fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham.
The Greek word for church is ekklesia (ἐκκλησία), meaning “assembly,” “called-out ones,” or “congregation.” This word did not originate only in the New Testament. It carries with it the Old Testament idea of the gathered people of God.
In the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint), ekklesia is frequently used to describe Israel as the “assembly” or “congregation” of the Lord.
“Just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly…”
Here Israel gathered before God at Sinai is called the assembly (ekklesia in the Greek translation).
“…when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.”
“All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.”
“Remember your congregation, which you have purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage…”
God calls Israel His congregation—His church.
“This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai…”
Stephen explicitly refers to Israel in the wilderness as the church (ekklesia).
This is one of the clearest texts proving that the church existed in the Old Testament.
Scripture consistently teaches that God has one redeemed people, not two separate peoples with two separate plans.
Paul describes the people of God as one olive tree. Gentile believers are grafted into the same covenant tree—not a separate tree.
Gentiles who were once far off have now been brought near and made “fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.”
Paul does not describe the church as replacing Israel, but Gentiles being joined to the true Israel of God.
“And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”
Believers in Christ are Abraham’s seed—not by ethnicity, but by union with Christ.
“…apart from us they should not be made perfect.”
Old Testament believers and New Testament believers share the same salvation and the same final inheritance.
Acts 2 was not the absolute beginning of the church, but the beginning of its New Covenant fullness.
The Spirit was poured out in greater abundance. Christ had accomplished redemption. The gospel would now go to all nations. The shadows gave way to substance.
Just as an oak tree is not different in essence from the acorn, so the New Testament church is not a different people from Old Testament Israel—it is the same covenant people brought to maturity in Christ.
The church has existed throughout redemptive history.
“The Lord had one covenant from the beginning, and there has always been one and the same Church.”
— Institutes of the Christian Religion
“The Christian church did not begin to exist only on the day of Pentecost; it existed from the moment of the fall, from the promise given in Paradise.”
— Reformed Dogmatics
“The church existed in the Old Testament as well as in the New, and in essential nature they are one.”
— Systematic Theology
The Church “is one and the same under both dispensations.”
— Systematic Theology
“The people of God before and after Christ are one people; the difference is one of administration, not of essence.”
— Biblical Theology
The church did exist in the Old Testament. Israel was the church under age; the New Testament church is the church come to maturity in Christ.
Pentecost was not the creation of a brand-new people of God, but the glorious fulfillment of God’s ancient covenant promises.
There is one covenant of grace, one Savior, one gospel, and one church.
As Paul says:
“There is one body and one Spirit… one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all…”
The church has always been God’s redeemed people—from Abel to Abraham, from Moses to David, from the apostles to today—all saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.