Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
And I am saying that Evangelical and many others assume a meaning that I here question, in Matthew 18: "Concerning a brother who sins in church" is the typical contextual understanding. But Jesus pointed to a larger idea, which ZNP is considering as well (so I surmise), which Evangelical dismisses with, "It's not the church".
So my way of entering the discussion was to say, "When 2 or 3 have the Name, and the Presence (Gk: parousia), have the authority to bind and loose, to testify (to the 'church', or other, larger, [public] assembly(s)", and it is dismissed with "That's not the church", which 'church' we're promptly told needs "proper elders" and "proper administration" (appointed by the head of a non-profit publishing company), ad nausea, how quickly we've gone back on the road to Rome!
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Most references to the ekklesia describe a collection of believers gathered in some location, either city, or home, or region. Some other references to the ekklesia refer to the so-called universal church, "which is His body," as in "I will build My church." Some other references to the ekklesia refer to a specific gathering, which also may include secular references.
I did voice a little protest (post #5) when you said to "tell the church," was to "publish it abroad and shout from the rooftops." (post #6) I do feel the Lord was saying, "take it public, go to thers for help, but keep it in house, preferably by going to some mature brothers, possibly the elders or other wise brothers," as in I Cor 6.5.
But as far as "two or three meeting in His name," who's to say that is not the church? The Bible is NOT definitive here. Did not Paul "appoint elders in every church" (Acts 14.23) which implies those congregations of untold numbers of believers were churches BEFORE elders were appointed.