The First Century Church

January 6, 2024

While reading the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatians this morning, I wanted to double check my understanding of earlier research about what was meant by “church.” Here is today’s meaning from Strong’s Lexicon: “ekklésia: Church, assembly, congregation / Original Word: ἐκκλησία / Meaning: an assembly, congregation, church; / the whole body of Christian believers.”

Yeah. I knew that that is how the first assemblies are viewed today, but I wanted to know how the original assemblies were viewed by people back then.

In the very same source was this: “Word Origin: Derived from the Greek preposition ἐκ (ek, ‘out of’) and the verb καλέω (kaleō, ‘to call’), meaning ‘called out.’ “ — https://biblehub.com/greek

Now, I must add that that understanding coincides with the meaning of the word “holy,” or “separated out” which in the Biblical context means “a person or people separated out for God’s purposes. “

The combination of those two ideas fuse together to make a strong alloy. That alloy was what the first century church was. It was a coming together of individuals into an assembly of people who were called out to accomplish the purposes of God.

They were invited. They responded. They joined together.

The resulting alloy is described in this way: “All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” — aCTS 2:44–47, NIV

This has little to do with the Church today which is composed of factionalized denominations — the opposite of the fusion of the two into a strong alloy.

Denominations are a dissolution of the Gospel, dissolving the alloy of Believers who have been called out to form assemblies. Instead. all the denominational assemblies have been decaying, and disintegrating the message of the Gospel of Jesus…

Therefore, let’s try to remember that this is the purpose Jesus gave the assemblies of Believers: “He {Jesus} said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” — Mark 16, New International Version (NLT).

Let me point out that this excerpt contains the hard truth of condemnation.

However, there is also the Good News containing this assurance in John;s Book: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light…” — John 3:16–19, NIV.

So, I repeat for the umteenth time that this is a choice… Individuals must choose whether to join in the assembly of Believers and go Jesus’ way to accomplish His purpose, or individuals can choose simply to go their own way.

Exercise your God-given free will. Use the brain God gave you. Weigh the consequences. Which is the preferred choice? Condemnation or eternal life.

For your own sake, read the Bible and seek the presence of God in your life.