Question: "What is the church?"

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[ealgeone]

Question: "What is the church?"

Answer: Many people today understand the church as a building. This is not a biblical understanding of the church. The word “church” comes from the Greek word ekklesia which is defined as “an assembly” or “called-out ones.” The root meaning of “church” is not that of a building, but of people. It is ironic that when you ask people what church they attend, they usually identify a building. Romans 16:5 says “… greet the church that is in their house.” Paul refers to the church in their house—not a church building, but a body of believers.

The church is the body of Christ, of which He is the head. Ephesians 1:22-23 says, “And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” The body of Christ is made up of all believers in Jesus Christ from the day of Pentecost (Acts chapter 2) until Christ’s return. The body of Christ is comprised of two aspects:

1) The universal church consists of all those who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. “For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink” (1 Corinthians 12:13). This verse says that anyone who believes is part of the body of Christ and has received the Spirit of Christ as evidence. The universal church of God is all those who have received salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.

2) The local church is described in Galatians 1:1-2: “Paul, an apostle … and all the brothers with me, to the churches in Galatia.” Here we see that in the province of Galatia there were many churches—what we call local churches. A Baptist church, Lutheran church, Catholic church, etc., is not the church, as in the universal church—but rather is a local church, a local body of believers. The universal church is comprised of those who belong to Christ and who have trusted Him for salvation. These members of the universal church should seek fellowship and edification in a local church.

In summary, the church is not a building or a denomination. According to the Bible, the church is the body of Christ—all those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation (John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 12:13). Local churches are gatherings of members of the universal church. The local church is where the members of the universal church can fully apply the “body” principles of 1 Corinthians chapter 12: encouraging, teaching, and building one another up in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[Elsie]

Now if we could only remember what day of the week it was that Jesus worshiped

The answer is: Yes.

[Elsie]

Somehow I manage to work on ALL of them.
And rest; too!

[Elsie]

The Law was not given to nor observed by Gentiles.

Strange how so MANY people have seemed to have MISSED this point!

[imardmd1]

Paul said:

Romans 8:1-2 AV:
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free
from the law of sin and death."

Peter said: Acts 15:10 AV: "Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the ^Gentiledisciples,
which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they."

[imardmd1]

(Sorry. Repost:)

Paul said:

Romans 8:1-2 AV:
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free
from the law of sin and death."

Peter said:

Acts 15:10 AV:

"Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the ^Gentiledisciples,
which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they."

[metmom]

Somehow I manage to work on ALL of them. And rest; too!

I manage to worship on all of them, too.

[BipolarBob]

For me, as for Jesus, every day is Sabbath.

Well that sums up the law of imardmd1. That is not what Gods Law says. So you have made up your own law to replace Gods law.

The Law was not given to nor observed by Gentiles.

The Law was given to everybody. It was instituted at Creation. Adam and Eve worshiped on the Sabbath. The ceremonial laws were given only to the Hebrews to cleanse them. To prepare them for the coming Messiah. Those ceremonial laws are expired but the Ten Commandments never expire. They were wrote in stone for a purpose. They are kept in Heaven for a purpose. They were kept by Christ for a purpose. Jesus kept the Sabbath and stated "If ye love Me, keep My Commandments" John 14:15.
They weren't called suggestions.

[imardmd1]

I see your line of reasonings moving toward seventh-day sabbatarianism, and I have not particular interest in getting into this with you. One problem with it is that most of this kind of fixation on holy days leads to works-oriented doctrines, with the outcome being that it undercuts eternal security or removes it, giving the candidate for salvation no security except in his own works.

Your post here seems to have the flavor of judging the value of my relationship to the Lord. This is not a topic for testing genuineness of a person's relationship to God or to the Bible. I know most of the arguments, but am not willing to cite them to anybody who hasn't asked for more information rather than just trolling for a tiff. If that's what you want, look elsewhere.

Colossians 2:13-17 AV:
"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh,
hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 
And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly,
triumphing over them in it.
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday,
or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: 
Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
==========

My grandfather was a dairy farmer, and if you had brought up any issue about working on the/a Sabbath, he might have chased you around with a pitchfork for your impertinence in this matter. My Dad, brought up on that farm, a Methodist all his life, and an ordained minister from 1938 til his death in 2001 would have taken you down to the woodshed on this matter. For myself, I am neither a 1st-day nor a 7th-day Sabbatarian, and I'm not going to argue about it.

[BipolarBob]

and I have not particular interest in getting into this with you.

So you get to have your say but do not wish to give me time for a rebuttal. I see.
Col. 2 has nothing to do with the Sabbath. So that's a red herring. An ordained Methodist taking someone to the woodshed over Scriptural differences impresses me not.
God has ordained that six days are common and the seventh is set aside special. Then when you (and the others) chime in we worship on all of seven days. But that is NOT what God commanded you to do. When all days are special then none of the days are special. Human reasoning might tell you that you are seven times more holy than the Sabbatarian but that is not what the Bible will tell you.
Peace be to you

[imardmd1]

Sounds like you need to back up your opinions with scripture. Actually I have, and I did, but as I said, what I read merely confirmed what I said. You might want to read through I don't see at all where there is any differentiation of Adam's days with Jehovah Elohim before the Fall. Do you?

It is not clear at all that Jesus spent His Sabbaths according to the Pharisee's customs of not even lifting a finger on Sabbath if they could avoid it. Or limiting His hiking to the distance from His abode to the synagogue or Temple, and back.

How much have you read of the history of Sabbatarianism in the Christian culture? Paul rightly emphasized the Christian liberty of freedom from the religionist's hypocrisy since Jesus completely fulfilled the Law, and put it to rest.

I think an infantry squad under fire might have some different ideas, and so might the nurse whose patient is gasping for breath. Etc. etc. etc.

We're talking here about whether or not you can "lose your salvation" by electing to tune up your car on Friday evening or Saturday. You can have all the rebuttal you want as long as you don't diminish the completeness of Jesus's life, death, and resurrection; or the measure of grace God confers upon His child.

[imardmd1]

The Law was given to everybody. It was instituted at Creation<>i>

Give us a citation. Where in Genesis is it commanded that humans set aside any day of the week to offer saceifice to Jehovah Elohim? Or was it all just ad lib?

[Elsie]

Amen!

(But... are you doing it RIGHT??)

[Elsie]

The Law was given to everybody.

Nope; just the Chosen People.

---

Deuteronomy 26:17-19

"You have today declared the LORD to be your God, and that you would walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments and His ordinances, and listen to His voice. "The LORD has today declared you to be His people, a treasured possession, as He promised you, and that you should keep all His commandments; and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, for praise, fame, and honor; and that you shall be a consecrated people to the LORD your God, as He has spoken."

[Elsie]

Galatians 3:15 niv

Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case.

[Elsie]

Sounds like you need to back up your opinions with scripture.

Works for me! ;^)

[Elsie]

The first I heard of it was from that Moses fella:

Exodus 20:8 King James Version (KJV)

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

[imardmd1]

Exodus 20:8 King James Version (KJV)
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

How about the first part of this laundry list? To whom wasd it addressed? To whom was the command given, eh? to . . . Gentiles?

My Jewish friends call it "The Shema."

[imardmd1]

Deut. 6:4

"Shema Yisroel! Adenoi Elohenu, Adenoi echad!"

[BipolarBob]

"You have today declared the LORD to be your God, and that you would walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments and His ordinances
Gentiles were not given the ordinances. Just the Commandments.

[BipolarBob]

Sounds like you need to back up your opinions with scripture.

Indeed. Because of my time constraints I will break up my salient points into different postings.

#1 Genesis 2:2,3 2By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

Did God need this rest? No. He is God. He set the example showing the Ten Commandments were in effect. He rested for our benefit as a model. This day was sanctified to commemorate Creation. There were no individual races or ethnicities. This was for ALL mankind.