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NASB | Ephesians 1:23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Ephesians 1:23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills and completes all things in all [believers]. |
Bible Question (short): Church Covenant itself a contradiction? |
Question (full): Greetings Brother Robert! I agree with your analysis of what church membership is, and I appreciate your reasoning regarding the necessity of agreeing to a Church Covenant. Perhaps its the word 'Covenant' that is giving me "trouble", since we are under one covenant alone, and that is the covenant that has been established by Jesus Christ (Hebrews 9:15; Hebrews 12:24). But I realize that covenants between God and His people are entirely different and should not be considered on the same level of importance as the covenants that men make amongst themselves. Therefore, there is no need to "shed any blood" (Hebrews 9:18) to validify a "covenant" between men, even though we should seek to honor those covenants if they are not essentially in conflict with our covenant with God. However, in the "Church Covenant", there is an ordinance to 'not swear oaths' (or complete allegiance) to anything but Jesus Christ! Therefore, would swearing allegiance to a "Church Covenant" be a direct violation of the Covenant itself, and of Matthew 5:34- the verse of which this particular ordinance of the "Church Covenant" was, in fact, derived from? Blessings to you, Makarios |