God gave the ‘lively oracles’ (the living Word of God) in the OLD testament to Israel through Moses on Mt. Sinai. The earliest church on record .... is the church in the wilderness, to whom God gave His law:
Acts 7:37-38 This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.
38 This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:
The OLD testament was sealed with the blood of animals (Heb 9:18-20) ....
the NEW testament was of force with the blood of Christ (Heb 9:14-17).
To be in the NEW testament church .... one had to believe that Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ (‘Messias’ is the Hebrew equivalent for ‘Christ’ in the Greek - John 1:41, 4:25). Jesus asked His disciples who men thought He was, then He questioned Peter personally:
Matt 16:16-18 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
Jesus, the Son of the living God, is the ROCK upon Whom the NEW testament church is built:
18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my church;
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
A few chapters earlier, Jesus taught the people building on the foundation rock:
Matt 7:24-25 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
There was a church functioning in Jesus’ earthly ministry. It was the same church .... made up of believers in Christ.... saints of God:
Matt 18:17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
We can see "the church" ACTIVE .... all the way through the book of Acts.
In Acts 2, there was still a church in operation after Jesus’ ascension into heaven, during Pentecost. It was the same church. God "added to" it:
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.
In Acts 8, there was a church at Jerusalem .... that Saul persecuted (Phil 3:6):
Acts 8:1 And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.
Acts 8:3 As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.
After his salvation, Paul addressed epistles to "the church of God" (1 Cor 1:2, 2 Cor 1:1).
There is no reason to think (as ‘mid-Acts-ers’ do -- without a verse)
that this "church of God"
is a different "church of God"
than the "church of God" Paul persecuted in time past:
Gal 1:13 For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:
In Acts 11:22-26, Saul joined the assembly at Antioch, called "the church" .... where the disciples were first called "Christians".
In Acts 12:5, "the church" was praying for Peter to be released from prison.
"The church" is also found in Acts 13:1; 14:23,27; 15:3,4,22; 18:22.
Paul told the elders and bishops of Ephesus to feed "the church of God" ....
which he also referred to as "the flock".
FYI, in a strenuous effort to keep calling the preacher a ‘pastor’ (instead of a ‘bishop’ as 1 Tim 3:1,2) .... ‘mid-Acts-ers’ (which I used to be, but no longer am) make a division between the flock and the body. They have difficulty with this passage, because they always make ‘only Israel’ to be ‘God’s sheep’ .... yet here Paul preached ‘the kingdom of God’ and called the Ephesian church ‘the flock’. How’s that for mixing it up?
Acts 20:24-28 But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. 25 And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more.
26 Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.
27 For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
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.
Paul refers to "the church" as Christ’s body.
‘Mid-Acts-ers’ are notorious for making ‘the church, which is His body’ a completely different church from those saints ‘in Christ before Paul’ (Rom 16:7):
Eph 1:22-23 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
If Paul was talking about ‘the church, the body of Christ’ .... as DISTINCT from ‘Israel’s kingdom church’ (as the ‘mid-Acts-ers’ call it) .... then WHICH church did Christ love and die for?
Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as
Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
When Hebrews quoted the Psalms, the word ‘congregation’ is the same as ‘church’ .... yet, without a verse, ‘mid-Acts-ers’ make this a SEPARATE church from ‘what-they-call’ ‘the church, the body of Christ’:
Heb 2:12 Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren,
in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.
Psa 22:22 I will declare thy name unto my brethren:
in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
If a man know not WHO the church of God is .... how shall he rule it?
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