Quote:
Originally Posted by Freedom
The way in which the Bible refers to assemblies does not 'reveal' anything. Besides, the Bible doesn't always refer to assemblies by the city in which they are located. Take for instances the opening of Philemon:
Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved friend and fellow laborer, to the beloved Apphia, Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house
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This is how Jesus referred to assemblies-
Revelation 1:11
saying "Write in a book what you see, and send it to
the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea."
Ephesus is a church - city, not denomination, house/street name, or country
Smyrna is a church - city, not denomination...
Pergamum is a church- city, not denomination...
Thyatira is a church- city, not denomination...
Sardis is a church - city, not denomination...
Philadelphia is a church - city, not denomination...
Laodicea is a church - city, not denomination...
Here, Jesus refers to churches by city name, and seven of them, proving that "a church" is a church in a city.
He does not call them the "Church in Asia".
They are called the "churches in Asia" proving that each city was one church.
He does not refer to them by their doctrine, founder, or beliefs, despite all their differences.
This is the New Testament pattern about church names given to us in the Bible.
A biblical church is all the believers in a city.
How many churches in your town/city? 10, 100, 1000? In the Bible both Paul and Jesus only refer to one per city.