Exactly!!! The "Church" (Capital C, Qahal, ekklesia) is resurrected, restored, refreshed, revitalized ISRAEL. And we lost dog goyiim shall stand in that assembly ONLY because of our faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel.
Unfortunately, most Christian churches (small c) think they are the center of God's plan for the ages. They are part of it, to be sure, but Israel is the center.
But church denominations as well as cults see the word “church” and say, “See there, that’s us!” (JL)
Exactly!!! The “Church” (Capital C, Qahal, ekklesia) is resurrected, restored, refreshed, revitalized ISRAEL. And we lost dog goyiim shall stand in that assembly ONLY because of our faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel. (Guyin40s)
It can be a real source of amusement to read all of the circular reasoning “churches” use trying to insert their own organizations into Matthew 16 !! You know, “We’re the true church, and since Matthew 16 says, ‘church,’ it must be talking about us.” So we ask how they know they are the true church. “Why . . .,” they answer, “Don’t you know Jesus said, “Upon this Rock I will build my church . . . . . there we are, Buddy.”
I’ve been on this Merry-Go-Round with Landmark Baptists for 30 years!
A lot of the Bible editions first published in the 19th century were edited by post-millennial people who would put the word “Church” (implying a church of our present dispensation) in the headings above OT passages that were dealing with nobody but Israel. This thing kind of stuck in people’s minds, I think.
Yes, Qahal and ecclesia have identical meanings. I do not criticize the translation of the word “church” as translated from Greek NT texts, but insist that the word itself must be interpreted inside the context where it is found, not merely by its general deifinition and then applied uniformly across the NT as referring to the same entity every time it shows up . . . which is what Landmark Baptists (”Baptist-Briders”) tend to do.