Universal church

[Dave G]

What are your thoughts about the "universal church"

The same as I replied here:
The Distinction Between the Lord's New Testament Church and the Kingdom of GOD.

The way I understand it, there's the local church ( group of believers in Christ... Matthew 18, James 5:14-15, Acts of the Apostles 2:46-47, Hebrews 10:24-25 ) and there is the Church ( all of the saints... Romans 12:4-5, Matthew 16:18, Ephesians 2:19-20, Ephesians 3:20-21, Ephesians 5:22-26, 1 Corinthians 1:9, 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, ).

Just as Paul and others of God's preachers went about preaching the word, and the Lord added to the Church ( body of Christ ) being gathered into local assemblies ( churches ) by His Spirit then, so does it happen today.
In the Bible, the Lord Jesus speaks of His body, the Church ( the kingdom ), as well as those gathered together into local bodies ( churches ).

In other words,
To me there is indeed a "universal church" ( all the saved on earth at any given time ) that are gathered together into churches ( local bodies of believers ), plus those who have gone on to be with the Lord.
Where they are is definitely known to Him.


May God bless you in your studies.

 

[37818]

What are your thoughts about the "universal church"

The term is an extra Biblical term. The Greek form is from which we get the term catholic church. The later copies of some New Testament letters are translated as a "General Epistle" of.
There are churches and there is the whole body of Christ being made up of all God's people which can be regarded as the "Universal Church." [A certain sect claims to be the one true Church.]

 

[Salty]

Dave G - In the City that I am in - we have an association of Evangelical pastors.

Currently, every Friday we gather, along with anyone who would like to join us - and we have an hour of prayer for reival.
In addition, about once a month we gather at one of several churches to have a service together - it may be music, preaching or just a time of prayer.

I see this as an example of the "universal church"

 

[Alan Gross]

To me there is indeed a "universal church" ( all the saved on earth at any given time )

there is the whole body of Christ being made up of all God's people which can be regarded as the "Universal Church.

In addition, about once a month we gather at one of several churches to have a service together - it may be music, preaching or just a time of prayer.

I see this as an example of the "universal church"

Right.

We've looked for it. I've never seen it in the Book.

"Throughout all Protestant Christendom there prevails the teaching that the word church has a twofold meaning in the New Testament. They say at times it is used in the local sense and at other times in the sense of a universal, invisible church consisting of all believers. They make the word to have a literal sense and a figurative sense.

"Universal church people are not agreed on just what this invisible church really is. The strict dispensationalists would give this definition: "The true church, composed of the whole number of regenerate persons from Pentecost to the first resurrection (I Cor. 15:52), united together and to Christ by the baptism of the Holy Spirit (I Cor. 12:12-13), is the body of Christ of which He is the Head (Eph. 1:22-23). As such it is a holy temple for the habitation of God through the Spirit (Eph. 2:21-22); is 'one flesh' with Christ (Eph. 5:30-31); and espoused to Him as a chaste virgin to one husband (II Cor. 11:2-4)." (See The Scofield Reference Bible, footnote on Hebrews 12:23, p. 1304).

"Strict covenant theologians have a much larger church than dispensationalists. They say: "The catholic or universal Church, which is invisible, consists of the whole number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ the head thereof; and is the spouse, the body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all" (Confession of Faith of the United Presbyterian Church, Chap. 25, Article 1, p. 36, of the 1961-62 annual).

"For 117 years of its existence, the Southern Baptist Convention had no article of faith about the universal, invisible church. In the 1950s and 1960s, the liberals ceased power, and in 1962 a revised confession was adopted which said: "The New Testament speaks also of the church as the body of Christ which includes all the redeemed of all ages" (Article VI). This is essentially the strict covenant view of the church.

"The dispensationalists make the church to be the whole number of regenerate persons from Pentecost to the first resurrection. They would exclude the Old Testament saints from being in the church and all New Testament saints before the day of Pentecost. The covenant theologian has a much larger church consisting of the whole number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one. Nevertheless, both schools have a universal, invisible church. This view is so generally believed that any person who dares to reject it is branded as a "misguided fanatic."

from: In Search of the Universal Invisible Church.

[A certain sect claims to be the one true Church.]

Do they have any Bible for it?