What Really Happened at Nicea?

Christian Research Institute ^ | June 10, 2009 | James R. White

[tjd1454]

Yes, God shepherded the Church through contentious times, with many heretics, not unlike our day. [Lifelong Protestant Evangelical here].

[tjd1454]

You are divorcing yourself from 2,000 years of learned Christian reflection and sound doctrine, imagining that your “spiritual insight” is correct and the collective doctors of the Church are wrong. Sorry to say but there is not one inota of reason why anyone should pay you the slightest attention.

[tjd1454]

You err greatly in your disdain for two millennia of Christian reflection, which in your view amounts to nothing compared to your supposed “spiritual insight.” I can preach it better than you, born and raised a Baptist with theological degrees in leading Evangelical colleges.

[delchiante]

But one thing is missing in all that- Something called the ‘day of the new moon’.

That is also known in scripture as the new moon day or 1st day of the month.

And according to scripture, specifically Ezekiel 46:1, that day isn’t one of His 6 ‘working days’ or His Sabbath.

It’s another day. That Rome ignores. But it wasn’t,and isn’t, ignored by the Father or the Son.

The template is found in Ezekiel 46:1.
1 Day of the New Moon
6 Working Days
1 Sabbath Day

Judaism and Christianity have no idea what the ‘Day of the New Moon’ means.

With study one can know The Son, The Word Made Flesh, was born on the ‘Day of the New Moon’.
A day set apart as the 1st day of the Father’s months.

And that day isn’t one of His 6 working days, according to scripture.
Judaism and Christianity don’t understand this but those who follow Him can know this.

And it would start to answer questions as to why Israel was to circumcize boys on the ‘8th’ day.

Or why the 10th Day of the 7th month is ‘holy’.

Or why it is written the Father finished His Work of Creation on the ‘7th’ Day in Genesis 2 and also rested on the 7th Day from all His work (that is a contradiction that some versions of the bible have corrupted- but it’s not a contradiction with the Father’s calendar, which includes the New Moon Day)

Noteworthy,there are Jews and Muslims and even some Christians that do note the ‘new moon day’ each month.

But what they miss is that, according to scripture, that day is separate from His 6 working days and His Sabbath. those folks tend to jumble them together, to their blindness.

The Father counts 1+6+1 unlike rome and the world that counts 6+1. every calendar that doesn’t start with 1+6+1 is a counterfeit.

That 1+6+1 is in the scriptures.
And can be seen in the very life, death, resurrection of the Savior of the whole world. and the very work of Creation, Redemption and Convicting the world of sin, righteousness and judgment.

That 1 in the front of the ‘6’ is the Day the Word Became Flesh and it’s no accident rome ignores it.

They prefer to peddle December 25. they can get away with it because they control how people tell time.

But when following the Father’s calendar, one can understand that when a young Jew is born on the 1st Day of the month, a set apart day, the ‘8th’ Day,when is circumcised, is the Father’s ‘7th Day Sabbbath’.

And one can start to understand why the Son finished His Work on the 14th Day- like the Father finished His Work of Creation on the ‘7th’ Day (again Genesis 2 contradiction riddle if one doesn’t have a corrupted version)

1+6+1 is not found on Jewish calendars or rome’s calendars.
But it is found in His Word and on His calendar.

And when one understands when He was born, one will start to see the Word Become Flesh.
And the version rome peddles is false. and they can only peddle it because they control the calendar.

And no calendar is going to be good enough until they acknowledge what the Scriptures say-
His New Moon Day, or Day of the New Moon or 1st Day of every month- is not one of His 6 work days or His 7th Day Sabbath

The calendar of the Kingdom is all about Him. And 1+6+1 tells His story.
And the story of Creation, Redemption and Convicting the World of sin, righteousness and Judgment.
The story of justification, sanctification and glorification, too.

Or people can assume rome is correct.

[Ezekiel]

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” This powerful affirmation in God’s holy Bible destroys your vain pretensions.

Thank you for insulting my character along with one of the standard "proof texts". Whenever that happens, I end up with a huge blessing.

(If people knew what they were doing, they wouldn't do that.)

[metmom]

These three passages put their spiritual holier-than-thou-ness to rest.

Romans 14:1-9 As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

Galatians 4:8-11 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and months and seasons and years! I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.

Colossians 2:16-23 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

[metmom]

I’m sure God is impressed with your credentials.

[metmom]

You sure are doing a lot of mind reading in your posts.

[tjd1454]

“Ezekiel” - like you are some kind of prophet? LOL!

[tjd1454]

Nah - just a case of “been there, done that.” Spent too many years in the smug, know-it-all, biblical “experts” with no training, who have supreme confidence in their own imaginations.

[tjd1454]

At least I took the time and effort to learn from others.

[tjd1454]

Well actually on this point I agree that these verses are relevant to the discussion, and rebut those who claim that Christians MUST worship on a certain day. Good reply!

[boatbums]

Let me guess...you didn’t bother to read the article? Typical!

[boatbums]

From the OP article:

Why do Christians believe in the deity of Christ today? Is it because they have been forced to do so by legislated theology from councils and popes? No, it is because the Scriptures teach this truth. When orthodox believers affirm the validity of the creed hammered out at Nicea, they are simply affirming a concise, clear presentation of scriptural truth. The authority of the Nicene creed, including its assertion of the homoousion, is not to be found in some concept of an infallible church, but in the fidelity of the creed to scriptural revelation. It speaks with the voice of the apostles because it speaks the truth as they proclaimed it. Modern Christians can be thankful for the testimony of an Athanasius who stood for these truths even when the vast majority stood against him. We should remember his example in our day.

[boatbums]

Agreed!

[boatbums]

I thought it quite interesting that every time the bishops would come up with a statement in simple biblical term each one was found to support Arianism, which was why they had to “go beyond what is written” (1 Cor. 4:6) to find a way to justify their duality creed. The thing to keep in mind about what led to the council of Nicea is that it was really a power struggle for the office of bishop of Alexandria where most of the people wanted Arius and the aged Bishop Alexander wanted the ambitious Athanasius, his assistant, to get the position. Arius had to go, so Athanasius, who history tells us had no scruples, made it into an issue of teachings with Alexander’s approval. The two were willing to split the Empire so Athanasius could get the position, which was one of the most powerful in Christendom at the time.

Not sure who your source is on that idea, but it is not an accurate portrayal of the events. From the OP article:

Under Constantius, council after council met in this location or that. So furious was the activity that one commentator wrote of the time, “The highways were covered with galloping bishops.”22 Most importantly, regional councils meeting at Ariminum, Seleucia, and Sirmium presented Arian and semi-Arian creeds, and many leaders were coerced into subscribing to them. Even Liberius, bishop of Rome, having been banished from his see (position as bishop) and longing to return, was persuaded to give in and compromise on the matter.23

During the course of the decades following Nicea, Athanasius, who had become bishop of Alexandria shortly after the council, was removed from his see five times, once by force of 5,000 soldiers coming in the front door while he escaped out the back! Hosius, now nearly 100 years old, was likewise forced by imperial threats to compromise and give place to Arian ideas. At the end of the sixth decade of the century, it looked as if Nicea would be defeated. Jerome would later describe this moment in history as the time when “the whole world groaned and was astonished to find itself Arian.”24

Yet, in the midst of this darkness, a lone voice remained strong. Arguing from Scripture, fearlessly reproaching error, writing from refuge in the desert, along the Nile, or in the crowded suburbs around Alexandria, Athanasius continued the fight. His unwillingness to give place — even when banished by the Emperor, disfellowshipped by the established church, and condemned by local councils and bishops alike — gave rise to the phrase, Athanasius contra mundum: “Athanasius against the world.” Convinced that Scripture is “sufficient above all things,”25 Athanasius acted as a true “Protestant” in his day.26 Athanasius protested against the consensus opinion of the established church, and did so because he was compelled by scriptural authority. Athanasius would have understood, on some of those long, lonely days of exile, what Wycliffe meant a thousand years later: “If we had a hundred popes, and if all the friars were cardinals, to the law of the gospel we should bow, more than all this multitude.”27

Movements that depend on political favor (rather than God’s truth) eventually die, and this was true of Arianism. As soon as it looked as if the Arians had consolidated their hold on the Empire, they turned to internal fighting and quite literally destroyed each other. They had no one like a faithful Athanasius, and it was not long before the tide turned against them. By A.D. 381, the Council of Constantinople could meet and reaffirm, without hesitancy, the Nicene faith, complete with the homoousious clause. The full deity of Christ was affirmed, not because Nicea had said so, but because God had revealed it to be so. Nicea’s authority rested upon the solid foundation of Scripture.

A century after Nicea, we find the great bishop of Hippo, Augustine, writing to Maximin, an Arian, and saying: “I must not press the authority of Nicea against you, nor you that of Ariminum against me; I do not acknowledge the one, as you do not the other; but let us come to ground that is common to both — the testimony of the Holy Scriptures.”28

[boatbums]

Are you trying to discredit the message by discrediting the messenger? Is every non-Catholic wrong by default in your book? If there is something wrong with the content of the article, how about you address that instead of disparaging or trying to slander, the author?

I'll bet that person didn't even bother to read the OP article in full! Pretty sad when one imagines they get to tell everyone what they can or cannot read rather than ACTUALLY reading what the author said and addressing it intellectually. What laziness!

[metmom]

What control issues......

[boatbums]

The reason Christians have ALWAYS met and worshipped together on Sunday is because that was what the Apostles did. It was to honor the day when Jesus had resurrected and had appeared to the disciples. Scripture tells us:

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” (Matthew 28:1-10)

Then we have the examples of the Apostles setting aside the first day of the week for the purpose of collecting funds to help other believers, to study the Scriptures and to break bread. From Why do Christians worship on Sunday?:

Scripture never mentions any Sabbath (Saturday) gatherings by believers for fellowship or worship. However, there are clear passages that mention the first day of the week, Sunday. For instance, Acts 20:7 states that “on the first day of the week we came together to break bread.” Paul also urges the Corinthian believers, “On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income” (1 Corinthians 16:2). Since Paul designates this offering as “service” in 2 Corinthians 9:12, this collection may have been linked with the Sunday worship service of the Christian assembly. Historically, Sunday, not Saturday, was the normal meeting day for Christians in the church, and its practice dates back to the first century.

Christians worship on Sundays in celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is very important to remember, though, Sunday worship is not commanded in the Bible, and Sunday has not replaced Saturday and become the Christian Sabbath. While the New Testament describes Christians gathering and worshipping on Sundays, it nowhere states that Sunday has replaced Saturday as the Sabbath. They key point in all of this is that we are not to limit our worship to any particular day of the week. We are to rest in the Lord every day. We are to worship the Lord every day.

But getting back to the subject of this thread, what do you believe about the Deity of Jesus Christ and the Trinity?

[nobamanomore]

Ephesians 2:20-22 ESV / 256 helpful votes

Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Acts 20:28 ESV / 184 helpful votes

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

Matthew 16:18 ESV / 168 helpful votes

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Hebrews 10:24-25 ESV / 136 helpful votes

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Colossians 3:16 ESV / 106 helpful votes

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Acts 2:47 ESV / 101 helpful votes

Praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Ephesians 2:21 ESV / 99 helpful votes

In whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

Romans 12:5 ESV / 94 helpful votes

So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

1 Corinthians 3:17 ESV / 89 helpful votes

If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

Ephesians 4:16 ESV / 77 helpful votes

From whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Romans 16:17 ESV / 71 helpful votes

I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.

Ephesians 2:19-22 ESV / 51 helpful votes

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 3:9 ESV / 49 helpful votes

For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

John 10:16 ESV / 48 helpful votes

And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

Hebrews 3:6 ESV / 41 helpful votes

But Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.

1 Timothy 3:15 ESV / 41 helpful votes

If I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.

Ephesians 1:22 ESV / 41 helpful votes

And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,

Psalm 111:1 ESV / 41 helpful votes

Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation.

Colossians 3:11 ESV / 40 helpful votes

Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

Acts 7:48-53 ESV / 37 helpful votes

Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says, “‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things?’ “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, ...

Hebrews 13:17 ESV / 34 helpful votes

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

Matthew 18:20 ESV / 34 helpful votes

For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

1 Corinthians 12:5 ESV / 30 helpful votes

And there are varieties of service, but the same Lord;

1 Corinthians 14:26 ESV / 28 helpful votes

What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.

Ephesians 4:12 ESV / 25 helpful votes

To equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,

Hebrews 8:2 ESV / 24 helpful votes

A minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.

1 Timothy 3:14-15 ESV / 24 helpful votes

I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.

Ephesians 4:15 ESV / 24 helpful votes

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,

1 Corinthians 12:28 ESV / 23 helpful votes

And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.

1 Corinthians 10:17 ESV / 23 helpful votes

Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

Hebrews 10:25 ESV / 22 helpful votes

Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Isaiah 2:2 ESV / 20 helpful votes

It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it,

Matthew 16:15-19 ESV / 19 helpful votes

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Revelation 3:1 ESV / 18 helpful votes

“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. “‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.

Colossians 1:16-20 ESV / 18 helpful votes

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Ephesians 5:28-32 ESV / 17 helpful votes

In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

1 Corinthians 14:33 ESV / 17 helpful votes

For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints,

1 Corinthians 11:18 ESV / 17 helpful votes

For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part,

Psalm 92:13 ESV / 17 helpful votes

They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God.

Revelation 21:3 ESV / 16 helpful votes

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

James 5:14 ESV / 16 helpful votes

Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

Psalm 122:9 ESV / 16 helpful votes

For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.

Revelation 2:1 ESV / 14 helpful votes

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.

1 Peter 5:2-3 ESV / 14 helpful votes

Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.

1 Peter 2:5 ESV / 14 helpful votes

You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Colossians 1:24 ESV / 14 helpful votes

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,

Ephesians 4:25 ESV / 14 helpful votes

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

Acts 17:24-25 ESV / 14 helpful votes

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

Revelation 2:18 ESV / 13 helpful votes

“And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.

Hebrews 9:2 ESV / 13 helpful votes

For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place.

Acts 5:14 ESV / 13 helpful votes

And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women,

Psalm 46:5 ESV / 13 helpful votes

God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns.

Revelation 21:9 ESV / 12 helpful votes

Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

Revelation 3:7 ESV / 12 helpful votes

“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.

Revelation 2:1-6 ESV / 12 helpful votes

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. “‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. ...

Revelation 1:20 ESV / 12 helpful votes

As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

1 Peter 2:9-10 ESV / 12 helpful votes

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Hebrews 12:23 ESV / 12 helpful votes

And to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,

Acts 16:4 ESV / 12 helpful votes

As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem.

Acts 13:1 ESV / 12 helpful votes

Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member of the court of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

Acts 2:38 ESV / 12 helpful votes

And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Revelation 21:2 ESV / 11 helpful votes

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Revelation 3:14-20 ESV / 11 helpful votes

“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation. “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. ...

Hebrews 12:22 ESV / 11 helpful votes

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,

Philemon 1:2 ESV / 11 helpful votes

And Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house:

Titus 1:5 ESV / 11 helpful votes

This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you—

Colossians 1:18 ESV / 11 helpful votes

And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

Ephesians 2:22 ESV / 11 helpful votes

In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Ephesians 1:23 ESV / 11 helpful votes

Which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

1 Corinthians 3:3 ESV / 11 helpful votes

For you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?

1 Corinthians 1:17 ESV / 11 helpful votes

For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Acts 9:31 ESV / 11 helpful votes

So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.

Isaiah 62:12 ESV / 11 helpful votes

And they shall be called The Holy People, The Redeemed of the Lord; and you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.

Psalm 11:4 ESV / 11 helpful votes

The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.

Leviticus 19:30 ESV / 11 helpful votes

You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.

Revelation 3:14 ESV / 10 helpful votes

“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.

Revelation 2:12 ESV / 10 helpful votes

“And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.

1 Corinthians 12:12 ESV / 10 helpful votes

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

1 Corinthians 3:11-15 ESV / 10 helpful votes

For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

John 20:23 ESV / 10 helpful votes

If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

Psalm 2:6 ESV / 10 helpful votes

“As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”

Revelation 3:1-4 ESV / 9 helpful votes

“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. “‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.

1 Timothy 5:1 ESV / 9 helpful votes

Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers,

1 Corinthians 15:9 ESV / 9 helpful votes

For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

1 Corinthians 12:13 ESV / 9 helpful votes

For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

Acts 9:42 ESV / 9 helpful votes

And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.

Jeremiah 3:15 ESV / 9 helpful votes

“‘And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.

Psalm 46:4 ESV / 9 helpful votes

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.

Psalm 20:2 ESV / 9 helpful votes

May he send you help from the sanctuary and give you support from Zion!

Psalm 9:11 ESV / 9 helpful votes

Sing praises to the Lord, who sits enthroned in Zion! Tell among the peoples his deeds!

Numbers 19:20 ESV / 9 helpful votes

“If the man who is unclean does not cleanse himself, that person shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, since he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. Because the water for impurity has not been thrown on him, he is unclean.

Ephesians 3:15 ESV / 8 helpful votes

From whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,

Ephesians 1:10 ESV / 8 helpful votes

As a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Joel 2:1 ESV / 8 helpful votes

Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near,

Isaiah 62:6 ESV / 8 helpful votes

On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You who put the Lord in remembrance, take no rest,

Isaiah 4:5 ESV / 8 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy.

Colossians 2:10 ESV / 7 helpful votes

And you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

Ephesians 4:4 ESV / 7 helpful
2 Thessalonians 3:15 ESV / 6 helpful votes

Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.

1 Corinthians 16:19 ESV / 6 helpful votes

The churches of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord.
I guess all this is just BS, according to you, the oracle of the Lord!

Yes, of course we should just all be our own church. Are you still stupid enough to tell me that an organized church isn’t in the New Testament? Why is St Paul talking to churches? He’s a liar? Heretic? Not as learned as you? All of his letters were written to various churches!