Re: Whose on First?
The verse is not referring to the church but to a gathering of two or three. Not seeing the difference between a church and a gathering is your mistake. For your view to be correct we should see churches in the bible comprised of groups of 2 or 3. We do not see this. The first church was 12 members and they became the pillars of the church. The churches established by Paul easily exceeded 3 people.
If your view is correct then God would have started the church with only 3 people...and Israel would have only had 3 tribes.
Some common sense is required.
A family of three having a prayer meeting at home does not make them a church.
The church is familt but also an army and an army cannot have only 3 people in it.
Whichever way we look at it...bibllically...historically. .and common sense...3 is too small to be a church.
Even denominations know this. I was once involved in a church plant that started with 50 people but was eventually disbanded when the numbers dropped below 10. This number was insufficient to warrant a full time pastor and the weekly tithes could not cover the expenses.
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