Acts 2:42-47

POOR translation, especially since the immediate preceeding verse says 3,000 souls were added to them.

v.42 then says "they" (and in my understanding of grammar, the pronoun here is referring to someone already spoken of, which would most likely be the people who just heard the Word and were saved) continued in the apostles' fellowship; we already know it was the apostles standing there preaching to the 3,000 that caused the 3,000 to get saved.

Kinda hard to get 3,000 people in one person's home, dontcha think?

 

Acts 2:47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

The word translated "church" is ekklesia, which always means "assembly," a body which can be gathered together, a congregation. There is no such thing as a universal church. The church referred to in this passage is the church in Jerusalem. It grew from 3,000 on the Day of Pentecost to over 100,000.

The early church did not have church buildings. Church buildings did not come into existence until about 250 years after Pentecost. The various churchs met in homes, in the open (as in the church in Jerusalem) in the catacombs (Rome), or wherever they could. Many of them met in homes.

Acts 12:5 Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.
12 And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying.

--Here the church met in John Mark's mother's home. Was it the universal church, the church of all ages, all believers all over the world? No, it was the church (assembly) of that area that was praying for Peter.
DHK

 

Since people who met in different homes were not assembled together, how can they be a part of the same church?? It seems to me that your proper historical analysis shows the fault of your theological analysis. The church is the body of Christ, and there is only one body. It is made up of all believers of this age.

The local church is the visible church, gathered in obedience to Scripture. The truly saved members of the local church is a part of of invisible church.

The "universal" church is taught in the NT and does not preclude or minimize participation in the local church. If someone is not involved in the local church, there is no reason to believe that they are a part of the invisible church.

Having said that, there is no reason in this age to pursue "house churches." Most of them, in my experience, have been disgruntled members who refuse to submit to the leadership of hte local church and so they go start their own, not over biblical issues but over preferences. Many are not organized in a biblical fashion (with an elder and deacons). A church may well start in a house, but if they are carrying out the biblical mission, they should outgrow that house and find a building to meet in.

 

If all of the Christians in the world got together in one place, why would it be wrong for me to refer to them as the church. If they then disperse again, why can I not still refer to that group as the church who are just a little further apart.

 

The only time that will happen is in Heaven, and then you can properly call it a church. Think of it. There are more than one billion (1,000,000,000) who profess Christendom. If just 10% of those were truly saved, that still means that there would be 100 million Christians. We would personally give you the responsibility of finding out who these 100 million Christians are, where they live, a place big enough for all of us to gather together, an acceptable pastor that all 100 million of us would agree upon, a few assistant pastors, some deacons, a treasurer or two, a secretary, and maybe organize a few committees.
A church is an organized assembly of baptized believers called together for the purpose of carrying out the great commission, and carrying out the two ordinances (baptism and the Lord's Table). I can't imagine serving juice and bread to a hundred million believers!

Church (in the KJV) is from the ekklesia, which always means assembly. It could never mean universal assembly, for the "assemby" cannot meet universally, and you cannot have (by definition) an unassembled assembly.
DHK

 

A church is an organized assembly of baptized believers called together for the purpose of carrying out the great commission, and carrying out the two ordinances (baptism and the Lord's Table). I can't imagine serving juice and bread to a hundred million believers!

__________________________________________________


Could we have a couple of days to get the elements ready.....and a tractor trailer to haul them in..


The Church of the Rock IFB, began in the living room of a family, and a young graduate from seminary, a few years back, and they are now in their third building with 300+ members. There were several other IFBs in the area, and to me it made little sense to have another, but God has truly blessed the work, and Praise the Lord, many Brothers and Sisters have been added to the Body.

May God bless.

A servant of Christ,
Drew