Originally posted by Frank:
dhk:
It is obvious to the rational mind that the body of the saved, the church, is used in a local and universal sense. The church at Rome was the church that belonged to Chirst. The same is true of the others mentioned. They simply show location for the various members of the one body meeting in that location. The Bible so teaches in I Cor. 1;2, Gal. 1:2, Eph. 1:1.
The Bible also teaches one church. Is. 2;1-4,Micah 4;2,Mat. 16:18, Acts 20:28, Acts 2:47.
One body , the church, has many members. I Cor. 12:12-14, Col. 1:18, I Cor, 14:33 This is universal. The context of the passages in the Bible so teach.
Frank,
It is also obvious that you have not/will not read the thread "What exactly is the ‘Body of Christ?'" which I bumped up for you. The information that I will give you now, has already been discussed in that thread quite thoroughly.
"It is obvious to the rational mind that the body of the saved, the church, is used in a local and universal sense."
It is not so obvious to you that it is not used in both a local and universal sense, neither indeed can be. If you take time to read what I have already written you would find out why. Words have meanings. It is impossible or an assembly or congregation to be either invisible or universal. Please explain that one. Look up the definition of assembly or congregation, and tell me how it can be either invisible or universal. It is a physical impossibility. It defies logic, and the definition of the word ekklesia (assembly). An assembly is a congregation that gathers together in one place at one time, such as what happened in Acts 19:32. What was universal about that?
The Bible never teaches the existence of just one church (except at the beginning of the Book of Acts before the disciples had planted a church outside of Jerusalem). It always teaches the existence of churches. Let's look at one of the verses you posted:
Acts 20:17 And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church.
28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Now, Frank, you being such a literalist with the Bible ought to join the "Church of God," not the "Church of Christ," for that is the one that Christ died for. J/k
But what does this passage teach? Paul calls together the pastors of the Ephesian church (assembly). He wants to give them some last minute instructions before he goes to Jerusalem. Remember he is speaking to the pastors of the assembly at Ephesus. He says to them to feed the assembly of God which God has purchased with his own blood. This is not talking of a universal church. The context is the church at Ephesus, and Paul just finished telling them that God shed His blood for that particular assembly.
Eph.5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
---Again writing to Ephesus, he emphasizes the same thing. Christ loved the church (the one at Ephesus), and gave himself for it. He is writing to the Ephesians, to their assembly.
1Cor.12:12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
---Now he is addressing the Corinthian church, and in the next few verses he uses the illustration of the body to illustrate how the church should function harmoniously together as one unit, something a universal "monster organization" could never do. He tells how each one has to function. Not every "member" can be the hand or the eye. We all have a different purpose or function. This illustration that Paul uses is only applicable to a local church. "When one member suffers, all the members suffer." This is only true in a local church, never in a universal church. You don't know what the believers of India, Pakistan, Bangeledash, Saudia Arabia, Kenya, etc. are suffering. But the assemblies that those believers belong to know, and they pray one for another, and can do so because they know and understand each others needs.
1Cor.12:27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
---Who did he say that to? The Corinthian assembly! They were a body of Christ (metaphorically speaking), with Christ as their head, as He ought to be the head of every Bible-believing local church.
The only meaning of ekklesia, translated church, is assembly, which of course has to be a local assembly.
DHK