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NASB | Matthew 16:18 "I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Matthew 16:18 "And I say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades (death) will not overpower it [by preventing the resurrection of the Christ]. [Eph 1:22; 4:15; 5:23; Col 1:18] |
Bible Question:
Dear Lifer1J511, I agree that each of us, individually, is in Christ. We are each members of His body, the church. However, I was asking if we, corporately, are the 'built' church? Jesus said 2000 years ago that He would build His church, and I fail to see an organism, only many may cellular organizations, each with their own agenda. I desire to witness an organism, an entity that portrays the body of Christ. Are 'we' there, yet? In Jesus' name, charis |
Bible Answer: Charis, in the New Testament the Greek word, ekklesia, translated church is used 114 times, but only three times in the Gospels, all in Matthew, once in 16:18 and twice in 18:17 In the former passage Jesus used ekklesia in a corporate sense (all believers) and in the latter passage in the local sense (believers in a specific assembly). The Greek noun ekklesia is from a preposition meaning "out" and a verb meaning "to call"; thus ekklesia literally means "called out ones." Despite the origin of the term, its emphasis is not on a people called out but on a people gathered together, that is an assembly or congregation. In secular Greek the common usage for the word was for the assembled citizens of a city. (See Acts 19:32) So, there are two ways ekklesia is used in the New Testament, in reference to a corporate church or a local church, or congregation. The latter use is more common.Having established, it is hoped, a fair idea of what the New Testament writers are saying when they use the term ekklesia, or church, I am prepared to answer your question with a qualified yes and no. Yes, some churches (in the sense of a congregation, a local assembly of believers) are "there yet". They are doctrinally sound; they accurately handle the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15); they are diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph.4:3). They are a paradigm of what Christ's church ought to be. But there are hosts of other churches in our time, as in Paul's time (the Corinthian church is an example) that are splintered by all kinds of schism; that are teaching for commandmants the doctrines of men (human secularism); that are, many of them, hardly identifiable at all as a church, and much less as an assembly patterned after the New Testament example. Therefore the answer would be no, in the sense of the corporate church, no, not only are we are by any means "there yet" but it would appear we are not headed in that direction. I truly believe that the most formidable enemy of the church is not the world but the pharisaic bigotry and bitter divisiveness that enshrouds the church itself. The clouds of disunity hang today over the church, heavy and dark, and block out the very Light that we ourselves should be taking to a lost world. --Hank |