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Concerned over accuracy?


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 Just for a small, yet wide range of discussions...

It has been stated in another thread (Jim's 'Closed Communion' sermon entry) - 

[Not by Jim btw]

"You are not a member of the body/bride until a local NT church votes you in.  There is no such thing as the universal, invisible church."

For accuracy - you ARE a member of the body OF CHRIST, but not a member of the bride - [bride being the earthly group of independent churches, in different communities, collectively.]

Which does indeed form "a universal", and "invisible church" - as the whole group of churches (real one's mind you.) form the whole body of Christ...don't they?

* Not the catholic style of church either - just thinking we are bound up so much by what they think, and sometimes we are afraid to state the facts based upon that thinking.*

The true universal church is every believer alive (earthly), added with the believers that have gone on before us (heavenly).

The true invisible church is the collective body of real believers, no matter their location (heaven or earth), being believers equally, yet not gathered together at one time - ever - (at least while we are on this earth before the Lord comes back.)

Make sense?

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12 hours ago, Genevanpreacher said:

"You are not a member of the body/bride until a local NT church votes you in.  There is no such thing as the universal, invisible church."

I do not understand this. It is my understanding that one becomes part of the body of Christ when one accepts Christ as Lord and Savior. I know that in our church there is no "vote" to join the visible community, in our case, called Liberty Baptist Church in Las Vegas NV. 

I could be wrong though. 

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Four verses only which mention the specific phrase "the body of Christ":

Rom_7:4  Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
1Co_10:16  The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
1Co_12:27  Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
Eph_4:12  For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

(You will of course need to put these verses into their context - but for the sake of space I have only quoted the actual verses).

Upon which of these verses do you base your premise that:

12 hours ago, Genevanpreacher said:

For accuracy - you ARE a member of the body OF CHRIST, but not a member of the bride - [bride being the earthly group of independent churches, in different communities, collectively.]

 

And upon which of these verses do you base your premise that:

12 hours ago, Genevanpreacher said:

Which does indeed form "a universal", and "invisible church" - as the whole group of churches (real one's mind you.) form the whole body of Christ...don't they?

 

And upon which of these verses do you base your premise that:

12 hours ago, Genevanpreacher said:

The true universal church is every believer alive (earthly), added with the believers that have gone on before us (heavenly).

And upon which of these verses do you base your premise that:

12 hours ago, Genevanpreacher said:

The true invisible church is the collective body of real believers, no matter their location (heaven or earth), being believers equally, yet not gathered together at one time - ever - (at least while we are on this earth before the Lord comes back.)

And upon what verses do you base the idea of:

12 hours ago, Genevanpreacher said:

The true universal church

I don't see any of your suppositions God's Word.

 

By the way, I don't think you will find a verse that states that a vote is involved.

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7 hours ago, DaveW said:

Four verses only which mention the specific phrase "the body of Christ":

Rom_7:4  Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
1Co_10:16  The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
1Co_12:27  Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
Eph_4:12  For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

(You will of course need to put these verses into their context - but for the sake of space I have only quoted the actual verses).

Upon which of these verses do you base your premise that:

A.

And upon which of these verses do you base your premise that:

B.

And upon which of these verses do you base your premise that:

C.

And upon which of these verses do you base your premise that:

D.

And upon what verses do you base the idea of:

E.

I don't see any of your suppositions God's Word.

By the way, I don't think you will find a verse that states that a vote is involved.

F.

A. Romans 12:4,5 is a good start.

Ephesians 1:22,23 is another.

Only in Revelation 21:3-27 do we see described the Bride quite clearly as believers in eternity. Verse 24 in my bible says that the "saved" are the one's there in the New Jerusalem.

And the bride is never mentioned as a "body" together in this present existence. Just that the Lord Jesus is the bridegroom.

Now there are other mentions of the bride but not as a whole collective.

B. Same as above.

C. Same as above.

D. Ephesians 4:11-16 clearly shows the present gifts of the church 'til we all meet together' and then describes the body 'built' in verse 16.

E. Again - the above references support this - that the true "universal" church is the whole church which becomes the future bride in eternity.

F. I agree. 

 

Edited by Genevanpreacher
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Also, if patient studying is available for those interested, a careful reading of 1 Cor. 12:12-31.

I see this as the whole body of saved congregations and not just a church in Corinth.

Verses 12 and 13 and 37 are my supporting verses for that thinking.

You may disagree, and that is fine.

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This short study was done by someone else. I studied it, modified it for my own use and believe it is a true representation regarding this subject.
________________________________________________________________

First I would like to point out that there is a lot of misunderstanding regarding three different things. Let’s remember that things that are different are not the same. These three things are; The Family of God; The Kingdom of God; and The Church of God. I point this out because they are not the same things. Let me try to explain it this way:

1. The Family of God. This includes all the children of God in Heaven and on earth. Paul speaks of the whole family in Heaven and on earth. Eph 3:14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 

a. This family includes all believers, Gal. 3:26 says: Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. So then, all believers are God’s children, this includes Old Testament believers since they were also saved by Faith in Jesus. Acts 10:43. To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. 

b. This is not the church. The Family of God is bigger than either the Kingdom of God or the Church, because it contains all the saved from Able to the present time, whether they are in Heaven or on earth. We call Him father and He calls us sons and His children, this then is a family. 

2. The Kingdom of God. This includes all the saved on earth at any given time, beginning with John the Baptist. I need to elaborate on this statement because in some places it is used to include all professing Christians, while in other places it is used to include all of the “born again” on earth. This is not to be confused with the Kingdom associated with the Millennium, which is yet future. Again, this is not the church. 

  Luke 13:18 Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it?

 19 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it.

 20 And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God?

 21 It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. 

3. The Church of God. Church is never used of any institution, except an assembly or congregation of baptized believers in some given locality; such as The Church of God at Corinth. 1Cor. 1:2  Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: 

a. The word “church” is from the Greek word “ecclesia”, which means a called out assembly. The Greek free cities are a case in point. Citizens were called out to conduct city business. 

b. There are some that will teach that the Family of God, the Kingdom of God and the Church are one and the same. This is where they get the idea of a Universal Church. “Universal Invisible Church”; “Universal Visible Church”; “Local Church”. I feel that the three examples I gave above are scriptural. The only other times that the word Church is used in the singular is when the scripture is talking about the church as a generic, or institution. The one, or singular, being put for all. 

Eph 5:30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

A body (church) is an organism occupying space and having a definite locality. A heap of legs, hands, feet and other parts are not a body. They must be united in a system, each in its proper place. They must be put in place before you have a body or a church. So, even all the saved are not a church unless they are brought together as a body. So….no universal church, either visible or invisible. Paul put it this way:

1Co 12:14 For the body is not one member, but many.

 15 If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?

 16 And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?

 17 If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?

 18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. 

c. Jesus only built one kind of church; He called it “My Church”. This makes His church exclusive and one of a kind, not three different kinds. He gave His church specific directions and commands that can only be followed by a local church.

Here is just one example; can a Universal Church conform to this command? 1Co 12:25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.

 26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. 

d. Certainly it must be admitted that the so called, “church universal”, composed of all the saved on earth, has schism. They all teach different doctrines. Paul gave this command directly to the church at Corinth: 1Co 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 

All the saved on earth cannot conform to this command, no matter if you call it the visible or invisible church. They are all different, every one of them, with one exception, Baptist. Local Baptist Church is the only institution that can claim to be His church. All others are pretenders and instituted by man. That’s why I said that Jesus only built one kind of church and it was a Baptist Church and local. 

OK, I don’t need to beat this subject to death, what I have written should suffice to show the inconsistency of the premise of the three different kinds of churches that many advocate for. 

I am certainly not the last word on this subject and by no means a Bible scholar. But I think I have shown that local church is the only kind of church there can be. This must be true if for no other reason than to qualify as a true church it must be assembled, it cannot be scattered all over heaven and earth. 

But even more to the point is that The Family of God, The Kingdom of God and The Church are three different things.

 

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1 hour ago, Jim_Alaska said:

This short study was done by someone else. I studied it, modified it for my own use and believe it is a true representation regarding this subject.
________________________________________________________________

First I would like to point out that there is a lot of misunderstanding regarding three different things. Let’s remember that things that are different are not the same. These three things are; The Family of God; The Kingdom of God; and The Church of God. I point this out because they are not the same things. Let me try to explain it this way:

1. The Family of God. This includes all the children of God in Heaven and on earth. Paul speaks of the whole family in Heaven and on earth. Eph 3:14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 

a. This family includes all believers, Gal. 3:26 says: Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. So then, all believers are God’s children, this includes Old Testament believers since they were also saved by Faith in Jesus. Acts 10:43. To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. 

b. This is not the church. The Family of God is bigger than either the Kingdom of God or the Church, because it contains all the saved from Able to the present time, whether they are in Heaven or on earth. We call Him father and He calls us sons and His children, this then is a family. 

2. The Kingdom of God. This includes all the saved on earth at any given time, beginning with John the Baptist. I need to elaborate on this statement because in some places it is used to include all professing Christians, while in other places it is used to include all of the “born again” on earth. This is not to be confused with the Kingdom associated with the Millennium, which is yet future. Again, this is not the church. 

  Luke 13:18 Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it?

19 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it.

20 And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God?

21 It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. 

3. The Church of God. Church is never used of any institution, except an assembly or congregation of baptized believers in some given locality; such as The Church of God at Corinth. 1Cor. 1:2  Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: 

a. The word “church” is from the Greek word “ecclesia”, which means a called out assembly. The Greek free cities are a case in point. Citizens were called out to conduct city business. 

b. There are some that will teach that the Family of God, the Kingdom of God and the Church are one and the same. This is where they get the idea of a Universal Church. “Universal Invisible Church”; “Universal Visible Church”; “Local Church”. I feel that the three examples I gave above are scriptural. The only other times that the word Church is used in the singular is when the scripture is talking about the church as a generic, or institution. The one, or singular, being put for all. 

Eph 5:30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

A body (church) is an organism occupying space and having a definite locality. A heap of legs, hands, feet and other parts are not a body. They must be united in a system, each in its proper place. They must be put in place before you have a body or a church. So, even all the saved are not a church unless they are brought together as a body. So….no universal church, either visible or invisible. Paul put it this way:

1Co 12:14 For the body is not one member, but many.

15 If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?

16 And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?

17 If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?

18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. 

c. Jesus only built one kind of church; He called it “My Church”. This makes His church exclusive and one of a kind, not three different kinds. He gave His church specific directions and commands that can only be followed by a local church.

Here is just one example; can a Universal Church conform to this command? 1Co 12:25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.

26 And whether onemember suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. 

d. Certainly it must be admitted that the so called, “church universal”, composed of all the saved on earth, has schism. They all teach different doctrines. Paul gave this command directly to the church at Corinth: 1Co 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 

All the saved on earth cannot conform to this command, no matter if you call it the visible or invisible church. They are all different, every one of them, with one exception, Baptist. Local Baptist Church is the only institution that can claim to be His church. All others are pretenders and instituted by man. That’s why I said that Jesus only built one kind of church and it was a Baptist Church and local. 

OK, I don’t need to beat this subject to death, what I have written should suffice to show the inconsistency of the premise of the three different kinds of churches that many advocate for. 

I am certainly not the last word on this subject and by no means a Bible scholar. But I think I have shown that local church is the only kind of church there can be. This must be true if for no other reason than to qualify as a true church it must be assembled, it cannot be scattered all over heaven and earth. 

But even more to the point is that The Family of God, The Kingdom of God and The Church are three different things.

I agree mostly. And highly for Ephesians 5 -

23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.

24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.

25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

27   That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

I think this is an obvious reference to the whole body of believers and not just the congregation in Ephesus. Which to me is the whole body - which is to be the future bride of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

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32 minutes ago, DaveW said:

So does Ephesians 5 then speak about a "universal wife"?

This is the illustration used in the passage - if there is a universal church then there MUST be a universal wife.......

My wife DOES match most definitions for the word...so yes!

But seriously - it's not that it speaks 'about' a "universal wife"- it is speaking of the mans 'whole' wife - he gives himself for his wife completely, as Christ gave his all for the church as a whole. Just read over those verses slowly and really see all the things the man is to do for his wife and what the Lord did for his 'wife'. It's amazing!

Edited by Genevanpreacher
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GP, the part you boldened in red text is why I said in the very first part of this verse explanation: "The only other times that the word Church is used in the singular is when the scripture is talking about the church as a generic, or institution. The one, or singular, being put for all."

In this case the word "church" is obviously meant to signify the institution we call "church". Context and reason demand this interpretation. For we read further down on the text: "That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish".

It would be unreasonable and out of context to think that this reference in only meant for one church, it is speaking of the church as an institution. I am not going to argue or address the "church/bride" issue, different subject.

When Jesus said he was gong to build His church, he was not talking abut one single church, nor was He talking about any universal church. There is no possibility of having doctrinal unity in any universal church composed of all believers. 1Cor.1:10 demands doctrinal unity in the local church.

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25 minutes ago, Genevanpreacher said:

My wife DOES match most definitions for the word...so yes!

But seriously - it's not that it speaks 'about' a "universal wife"- it is speaking of the mans 'whole' wife - he gives himself for his wife completely, as Christ gave his all for the church as a whole. Just read over those verses slowly and really see all the things the man is to do for his wife and what the Lord did for his 'wife'. It's amazing!

A man's whole wife? You mean a man's INDIVIDUAL whole wife?

So it is not talking about a universal wife?

But you still say it is somehow talking about a universal church?

So the illustration and the fact are not talking about the same thing?

He is illustrating something with another thing but they don't match?

You are the one talking about accuracy but you point to a passage to support a universal church then say it has nothing to do with a universal church????? But instead the "whole" church.

The nature of that church, as per the illustration, must mean that (in your definition) the whole wife includes every separate wife as one single whole wife.

You cannot have this both ways - either this is talking of a universal wife or it is talking about each individual wife; either it is talking about a universal church or it is talking about each individual church. 

Now it is plain that there is no such thing as a universal wife, and therefore this passage CANNOT be talking about a universal church. 

 

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Would anyone arguing the "Universal Church" idea identify themselves as Catholic? You might ask why I ask this question; it is because catholic means "Universal". This is the origin of the phrase we  know as Universal Church. Catholics have always defined themselves as "The Church" and adamantly defended this definition as Universal.

So then, for anyone contending that the words "The Church" actually means that it is universal, they would also have to define themselves as Catholic. Personally I would never contend for this "theory" of any supposed Universal Church. I am a member of the church (institution) that Jesus built, which by the way was Baptist, and in particular a local, called out assembly (Ecclesia) that is Baptist by name as well as doctrine.

There is no way that I would ever consent to be seen as a member of anything known as a Universal Church. (Catholic).

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Of the 112 (I can't remember exactly at this moment) translations of the word "ecclesia" about half of them are plural - you cannot by definition have a multiplicity of universal somethings (in this sense), so about half of the instances are not universal by this point alone.

A whole of others are referring to "the church at.... (Corinth for instance), which is clearly not universal. Or the church in or of etc.

Then there are some which people simply misunderstand and make universal when they actually are not.

In fact there are only a very few uses of the word church which are NOT CLEARLY local only, and in those cases they make good sense in a local understanding and so can easily be applied that way.

Some of these mention church not as the subject but incidentally and so make no comment as to its nature.

And some, like Eph 5 only appear to be universal  if you ignore their context.

And of course in every case we must understand who the letter was written to. If it is written to the Church at Corinth, then the obvious understanding  (unless clearly indicated otherwise) is that "the church" is that church written to.

When the overwhelming use of the word is local ONLY and there are a few vague passages, how does it make sense to build a doctrine of universal church on those few vague passages?

 

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First off DaveW - there have been NO claims here of a doctrine of "Universal" church - but commenting on the accuracy of the fact that there IS a universal church, i.e. a whole body of believers, coming from at least 2000 years of human lives being born and dying.

And that body of believers makes up the WHOLE church (singular) of which scripture refers to in some of the above references. (Eph. 5:25)

Not in any way like the Catholic type of teaching, but scripturally. 

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