That
building, the old church house, is just brick and stone or a wood-framed structure. The true Church
is made up of the true believers, who are living stones, who may or may not meet in
that Church house. So we were completely wrong on that one, but
according to our culture this is the way we have come to look at it.
The Church is made up of the believing element, "the Body of
Christ," and that is the way Paul always uses the word Church.
The word in the Greek is "Ecclesia" and you can spell it
with k’s or c’s, it does not make any difference, and is always
translated with one or two exceptions, as Church. But it should be
defined as, "A called out assembly." Just as Yesra-el, in not Israel. If you will remember Israel was a called out assembly and was set apart onto
God, Yehovah. Because Israel means a prince among men. But God's Yesra-el,
is the House which God rules and is also known as the apple of His
eye, the pupil. The pupil without splinter or grain of sand in it to
obscure the vision and cloud understanding. And because of the error
of our Bible translators in miss spelling it, it shows up as Israel,
especially in the New Covenant. For the same reason as the use of “k”
or “c” in the word Ecclesia does not change the word. But with Israel or Yesra-el the meaning is changed and not for good. But rather for evil in miss direction and it is not until we have clear sight through Light does our vision of understanding become clear. And we can begin the process of learning of Him and gain the proper knowledge which He alone can impart to us.
So
the called out assembly today is the Body of Christ when Paul uses
that expression, but it is not that way in other passages nor is it
any longer in our society. For example in Acts chapter 7, we find
Stephen speaking of the Church which was in the wilderness. Well now
it was not a building with a steeple, we all know that. Neither was
it a Church that practiced the Lord’s Supper, or the Communion
Sacrament and had pastors, bishops, and deacons. But rather it was
the children of Israel, recently come out of Egypt. So why in the
world does the New Testament call them a Church? They were a called
out assembly of people, who were recently in Egypt and now around the
base of Mount Sinai, but for goodness sake they were not a Church as
we think of the word Church. They were an Ecclesia of frightened and
insecure people, a mass of about one million souls. So when you see
the word Church, this is why Paul almost always identifies it as "The
Church which is His Body, Christ is it's head" which
makes a big difference from the word Church that is maybe used
elsewhere in Scripture. Paul's understanding of a called out people
is different than many understand because of practice of miss usage.
This miss usage causes a clouded vision and keeps us from God's
intended end. The very purpose and operation of Religion and the
nation of Israel with her priests are the perfect example. The
nations vision was obscured by obdurate sin, a double mindedness if
you will. A speck of sand or the plank in their eye, as the parable
goes, which only the Lord the Spirit can remove to allow the Light of
understanding to become our rock come in.
Ephesians
5:23b-24a
"...even
as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the
body. Therefore as the church..."
This
composite of believers around the whole world that makes up the True
Body of Christ, the Ecclesia, whether they are Methodists,
Baptists, Lutherans, Catholics - that’s moot. If they are truly
born again that is to say redeemed, they are given the right to
become a child of God, we are NOT automatically in the Body
of Christ. Because as 2Corinthinas 6 reveals we are to come
out from among them, those of the spirit of Belial, and that Body
of Christ will be called the Church. But always
remember that not all people meeting in those Church buildings
are in the Body of Christ. Because that depends of
course how much of the "Truth and Light" is promoted. If
the people in that particular building believe for their redemption
that Jesus Christ died for their sins (actually took their sin into Himself), was buried and rose again, +
Nothing, then these people are what are called "true believers,
and are part of the Body of Christ!" And that
is usually where it stops because many do not exercise the Holy
Spirits abilities to train, teach, guide and tutor them. Even if they
are filled with the Holy Spirit (in the deposit) because they do not
know to or even how to listen to Him. They spend their days as a babe
drawing from the breast, the mothers milk, and thereby stunt their
own growth. They are never healed as in being restored to God's
kingdom because to be healed is to understand this Gospel. To do
otherwise is to remain slaves of Satan as his child. Completing verse
24 we find that this true Church,
Ephesians 5:24
"Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing."
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