Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
I think I see your point. Christ loved the Ephesian assembly and gave Himself up for her, and by extension the assemblies elsewhere as well.
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See how personal and applicable a reading that is?
It loses something in the non-particular Universal glom reading, in my opinion.
Technically, it isn't really different, per se, but at least my brain for some reason seems to go someplace else besides right here and right now when you interpret "ekklesia" with a capital letter.
Christ loves the folks YOU ARE MEETING WITH and gave Himself up for Y'ALL, in the same way He would for His own wife, His own Body. Corporately. And, yes, that's applicable, of course, to all the assemblies everywhere, too. You might even be able to say "The Assembly" in that context, but I don't think I will join you just because I think it's a little bit of a stretch based upon the etymology of the word and it's unique usage in the New Testament. But it's not that big a deal for me as long as you mean those WITH you at least as much as those NOT with you.