[Sons to Glory!]

My response below:

Originally Posted by aron

Wherever 2 or 3 are gathered in his name, the Lord said he'd be there. Is that perforce limited to one location per metropolis? I find no suggestion in the NT; rather the opposite. So "church" in this vein then becomes instead an ecclesiastical administrative body, which we try, like Watchman Nee and the Brethren, to re-create (and impose) today, whole cloth, from a few verses. (But it doesn't mean "meeting" as it did in NT-era Greek.) Good points! So from a spiritual view the believers in an area are one ekklesia, but in a practical sense it's many gatherings . . .

And it looks like Nee modified his NT-modeled Church every few years, as the situation on the ground changed. Turns out the Bible was a prop. And I daresay it would be for us all, if we had to play "acting God". No, better to meet with whomever (even the [gasp!] Baptists and [gasp!] Congregationalists) than to impose our seemingly-sanctioned OCOC model.Yes, then it becomes just another divisive doctrine.

I've said it before, if you focus on the church you get weirdness. I like that! Yes, anything we focus on apart from Him, is just apart from Him!If you focus on Jesus Christ you get the church. Well put - amen!"We see Jesus, made a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory..." That's it. There's nothing else. Either you see Jesus or you don't. Adding other conceptual layers doesn't add clarity but veils.

I know, I know, "Christ and the Church, Christ and the Church, Christ and the Church" the mantra begins, but I still reply that the Church only sees Christ. If the Church sees the Church she becomes the Mystery Harlot, just like that - pouf! Interesting observation . . . Don't do it. Look at Jesus. Again, can't go wrong there!

The Church is a mirror you don't want to look into. Just gather with those who look at Jesus. The rest of it will follow. He said so. Can you plumb the depths of Jesus? Can you chase him to the end? There is nothing else. All reality flows out of him.

Thanks. Appreciate all you said, and it makes sense. Yes, we can get all wrapped up in ANYTHING other than Him, and it becomes a big distraction. I think there's a little more light on this now for me. The spiritual oneness is true, and the Lord addresses the gathering in a locality as being one, that is: "The Church in _____" existing together as the one body.
So from that aspect they are one, but perhaps many gatherings.