Does The Church Have A Official Name Or Not?
Question : The Church belongs to Christ and therefore it has no name. So call it as the Church of Christ. Let us not use our wisdom; but let us follow Christ and the Bible. Why are we hesitating to name the church in all places after Christ and thus call it as "Church of Christ". He shed His blood for the the whole world, so Christianity is a way to eternity and is more than a religion (John 14:6). This I said not to hurt your feelings, but to speak the Truth. God be with you and guide you.
Answer : Greetings in Jesus name! Without any doubt the Church belongs to Christ because Jesus promised to us all saying, "I will build My Church" (Matt 16:18). Whether anyone accepts this fact or not, the Church belong to Jesus Christ who is its head. But no where in the Scripture it has been told for the Church to be conformed to the same name, instead it encourages diversity and Jesus Himself wrote to the various Churches in the Book of Revelation calling it by the name of the places in which it was physically present (Rev 2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14). God has called each individual pastor of the Church and spoke to them the message he wanted to give to them in it. This shows that God has a individual vision and pattern for each shepherd to build the Church in a particular way according to the need of the place (Acts 20:28). Paul the leading apostle of all time, calls the Church as "the Church of the living God" (1 Tim 3:15). All those who are in Christ by faith are members in "the household of God" as Paul says in another place (Ephesians 2:19). The same apostle calls it as "the body of Christ" to reveal to all the individual members of the Church that all believers are interconnected to minister to each other spiritually in Christ who is the head over the whole Church just like our head presides and directs our physical body to minister to each other in love, and thus cherish the life of God rather than boast over one another carnally (1 Cor 12:28, 7, 20). In writing to the Church of Galatia, Paul calls the Church as "the household of faith" (Gal 6:10).
If God wanted Paul the apostle to call the Church word for word with the exact description "Church of Christ", then he would have written it all alike like how you want it to be called. This itself proves that God doesn't want all the Churches to look like copy cats. But He wants each individual Church to be unique in the way it is called, God's word reveals that though on the outside each individual Church might look different in many aspects, yet in all His true churches the same life of God will flow in it (Rom 8:9; 1 John 5:11-13; 1 Cor 12:3-6). It is not a problem to call a Church with some BIBLICAL NAME according to the vision God has given each individual shepherd (1 Cor 16:19, 1; 1 Peter 5:1-4), but the problem starts to come when somebody thinks carnally that the whole body of Christ should be conformed to someone's belief because that is the only true one (1 Cor 3:1-4). This is how cults are formed. Cults are people with intense belief in and devotion to a person, idea, or activity rather than God. They take one Scripture verse or a few related one and devote themselves to conform all people to the same way they believe it. Everything in the Bible should be seen with a balance which the Holy Spirit gives and no one should become cultist. The Holy Spirit gives true spiritual discernment to all those believers who are submissive and humble enough to correct their own mistakes when the Holy Spirit convicts them by revealing the truth (1 Cor 2:14-15; John 16:13).
When the people of the Church of Christ say, "The Lord promised only one kind and built only one kind--There is only one body (Eph. 4:4), and that one body is the church. (Col. 1:18)", they take the word "church" out of its context to mean it from being a spiritual universal body to a physical organisation in a particular place. The "true church" is a spiritual organism, NOT a physical organization. So it is a cultic mindset to make all people conform to the same name "church of Christ" which God does not want it to be. The term "church of Christ" is found nowhere in the Bible, then how can one even for a moment tell anyone this title to be the only one that a New Testament church should be called as? There is nothing wrong for a group of believers to call themselves as the "Church of Christ", but it is absolutely wrong when they insist to call all assembly of believers all around the world to be called with the same name "Church of Christ" and claim to be the only true one. All those who claim exclusivity in the body of Christ will soon become a cult in a matter of time and this is what has happened to the Church of Christ.
You are so wrong in saying, Christianity is a way to eternity. Christianity is not a way but the way which means that there is no other way at all to reach God, so only Jesus the head of the Church claimed himself as the only way to God and eternity of life with God (John 14:6). Do not add every one in to your limited light and wisdom and generally say that we should all follow Christ and the Bible, thus implying as though nobody other than those of you and your church follow the Lord Christ and the Bible. Nobody is hesitating anything, except the tyranny of the cultism of all cultists. You have not hurt my feelings because I believe and know that the way you are expecting all to gulp your belief is not the right way we should follow the Lord. We should major on the weightier matters of the law which is justice, mercy and faith, and not unnecessarily create divisions within the body of Christ by acting in a childish carnal way (Matt 23:23). We should stop majoring on the minor issue like getting in to dispute over names, or else all of us will turn to be Pharisees of the first order very soon (Col 2:21-23), instead we should be spiritual enough to cleanse our heart from all filthiness of the world by living to please God rather than live religiously to please men and their doctrines and traditions (2 Cor 7:1; Matt 23:27, 26; Mark 7:13-15; Gal 1:10). Thank you.
Much Blessings.....
Answer : Greetings in Jesus name! Without any doubt the Church belongs to Christ because Jesus promised to us all saying, "I will build My Church" (Matt 16:18). Whether anyone accepts this fact or not, the Church belong to Jesus Christ who is its head. But no where in the Scripture it has been told for the Church to be conformed to the same name, instead it encourages diversity and Jesus Himself wrote to the various Churches in the Book of Revelation calling it by the name of the places in which it was physically present (Rev 2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14). God has called each individual pastor of the Church and spoke to them the message he wanted to give to them in it. This shows that God has a individual vision and pattern for each shepherd to build the Church in a particular way according to the need of the place (Acts 20:28). Paul the leading apostle of all time, calls the Church as "the Church of the living God" (1 Tim 3:15). All those who are in Christ by faith are members in "the household of God" as Paul says in another place (Ephesians 2:19). The same apostle calls it as "the body of Christ" to reveal to all the individual members of the Church that all believers are interconnected to minister to each other spiritually in Christ who is the head over the whole Church just like our head presides and directs our physical body to minister to each other in love, and thus cherish the life of God rather than boast over one another carnally (1 Cor 12:28, 7, 20). In writing to the Church of Galatia, Paul calls the Church as "the household of faith" (Gal 6:10).
If God wanted Paul the apostle to call the Church word for word with the exact description "Church of Christ", then he would have written it all alike like how you want it to be called. This itself proves that God doesn't want all the Churches to look like copy cats. But He wants each individual Church to be unique in the way it is called, God's word reveals that though on the outside each individual Church might look different in many aspects, yet in all His true churches the same life of God will flow in it (Rom 8:9; 1 John 5:11-13; 1 Cor 12:3-6). It is not a problem to call a Church with some BIBLICAL NAME according to the vision God has given each individual shepherd (1 Cor 16:19, 1; 1 Peter 5:1-4), but the problem starts to come when somebody thinks carnally that the whole body of Christ should be conformed to someone's belief because that is the only true one (1 Cor 3:1-4). This is how cults are formed. Cults are people with intense belief in and devotion to a person, idea, or activity rather than God. They take one Scripture verse or a few related one and devote themselves to conform all people to the same way they believe it. Everything in the Bible should be seen with a balance which the Holy Spirit gives and no one should become cultist. The Holy Spirit gives true spiritual discernment to all those believers who are submissive and humble enough to correct their own mistakes when the Holy Spirit convicts them by revealing the truth (1 Cor 2:14-15; John 16:13).
When the people of the Church of Christ say, "The Lord promised only one kind and built only one kind--There is only one body (Eph. 4:4), and that one body is the church. (Col. 1:18)", they take the word "church" out of its context to mean it from being a spiritual universal body to a physical organisation in a particular place. The "true church" is a spiritual organism, NOT a physical organization. So it is a cultic mindset to make all people conform to the same name "church of Christ" which God does not want it to be. The term "church of Christ" is found nowhere in the Bible, then how can one even for a moment tell anyone this title to be the only one that a New Testament church should be called as? There is nothing wrong for a group of believers to call themselves as the "Church of Christ", but it is absolutely wrong when they insist to call all assembly of believers all around the world to be called with the same name "Church of Christ" and claim to be the only true one. All those who claim exclusivity in the body of Christ will soon become a cult in a matter of time and this is what has happened to the Church of Christ.
You are so wrong in saying, Christianity is a way to eternity. Christianity is not a way but the way which means that there is no other way at all to reach God, so only Jesus the head of the Church claimed himself as the only way to God and eternity of life with God (John 14:6). Do not add every one in to your limited light and wisdom and generally say that we should all follow Christ and the Bible, thus implying as though nobody other than those of you and your church follow the Lord Christ and the Bible. Nobody is hesitating anything, except the tyranny of the cultism of all cultists. You have not hurt my feelings because I believe and know that the way you are expecting all to gulp your belief is not the right way we should follow the Lord. We should major on the weightier matters of the law which is justice, mercy and faith, and not unnecessarily create divisions within the body of Christ by acting in a childish carnal way (Matt 23:23). We should stop majoring on the minor issue like getting in to dispute over names, or else all of us will turn to be Pharisees of the first order very soon (Col 2:21-23), instead we should be spiritual enough to cleanse our heart from all filthiness of the world by living to please God rather than live religiously to please men and their doctrines and traditions (2 Cor 7:1; Matt 23:27, 26; Mark 7:13-15; Gal 1:10). Thank you.
Much Blessings.....
Share:
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment