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Originally Posted by Evangelical
aron, I was more addressing a view like Koinonia proposed that two or three sisters could constitute a church.
I think of it like this. Jesus and the 12 disciples can arguably be considered the first church. Suppose at that time another group of disciples started another "Jesus group", could they claim the Lord's presence? No. Jesus remained only with those he chose to be His first church.
Similarly, after Jesus's ascension, His presence for the church remained with the genuine church that He established.
Just because two or three believers get together does not mean they can claim to be a church established by Christ.
In the bible times the church was a particular visible entity in each city. It was not a haphazard or random scattering of small groups and believers. This is why churches were easy to persecute - everyone knew where they were. Persecutors did not have to chase Christians down rabbit holes or find them scattered around in parks by 2 or 3.
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According to Witness Lee the "model" of the first church was Mary, Martha and Lazarus and Jesus meeting together.
Hence the hypocrisy in his ministry. He has a meeting of 3 saints into the name of Jesus as his prototype of the true church but then claims that 3 people in a home meeting cannot be the church. His prototype is a home meeting of 3 people, all from the same family.