5
classical notae of unity, holiness, catholicity, and apostolicity have been most often utilized in
Catholic ecclesiology, it is certainly possible to utilize them in an evangelical fashion.
12
The second resource is the Reformation description of the marks of a true church. Most
often cited are the two marks of the pure preaching of the Word and the right administration of
the sacraments.
13
Other reformers, such as Martin Bucer and John Knox, along with the
Anabaptists and early English Separatists, added discipline as a third mark.
14
12
As do, for example, George, "Toward an Evangelical Ecclesiology," 132-141, and
Edmund P. Clowney, The Church (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1995), 71-98.
13
Luther's fullest statement of the marks of the church is found in On the Councils and
the Church, vol. 41 of Luther's Works, eds. Helmut Lehmann and Jaroslav Pelikan (Philadelphia:
Fortress Press, 1966), 148-166. There, in addition to the Word and sacraments, he lists "the
office of the keys," authorized ministers, public worship, and "the sacred cross" of suffering and
persecution. Of these, clearly the most important is the Word, which is said to be sufficient in
itself, apart from any other sign. More often, Luther refers only to the Word and sacraments (as
in Against Hanswurst, vol. 41 of Luther's Works, 211.
Calvin's clearest statement is found in the Institutes, IV.i.9-10, where the "distinguishing
marks of the church" are said to be "the Word of God purely preached and heard, and the
sacraments administered according to Christ's institution."
14
See the discussion in Paul D. L. Avis, The Church in the Theology of the Reformers
(Atlanta: John Knox. 1981), 48-63.