Quote:
Originally Posted by Jay
There's a lot to unpack here. First of all the term church just means congregation. In the original Greek it means 'gathering of the called out ones.' So in a sense wherever believers meet there is the church. Ok.....but, we have Deuteronomy chapter 12 where the Lord clearly says we can't just meet at any old place we want to, but at the place of his choosing. So where is that then? That's a golden question in this equation.
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The New Testament already tells us where to worship while explicitly referencing the temple of the Old Testament. You have already been given scriptural examples that you are unfortunately disregarding.
We will no longer worship on the mountain or the temple, but in spirit.
We are God's temple, God's dwelling place.
God has already explicitly outlined his house of worship: his people.
The fulfillment of the temple is not churches named according to arbitrary city boundaries made by men. The fulfillment of the temple is God's people. A house that is not built by the hands of men. Cities are made by the hands of men. City boundaries are established by men. Stop trying to use such arbitrary things to place unscriptural limits on the assemblies of God.
You have provided no scriptures that make any such overt and explicit connections between the temple and how we name our assemblies, and you have provided no scriptures that in any way implies such a level of importance for the naming of churches according to the cities they are found in. If it was that important, it would be that explicit. Do not compare the naming of the churches to something as crucial and grand as the holy temple of the old testament when it clearly does not have that level of importance.
As others have mentioned, you are taking something
descriptive in the New Testament and presenting it as something
prescriptive.
Tell me, Jay, what do you know of the church in Cenchreae and the church in Phoebe's house?