[aron]

Re: Strip #24, panel 3

It is probably significant that the letters were addressed to the angel of the church in that city. Not to the elders or to the church in general. And yes it does trump the "street address" idea that I heard in a LC meeting. "The Lord knows those who are His" - I don't think the angel needed a physical set of coordinates from Jesus. It was understood who was the Lord's flock. A Book Publisher doesn't determine this.

Now, as to multiple assemblies: We have the epistle to the Romans which tells them to "greet the church" in someone's house (16:5), a house in Rome, I presume. So "ekklesia" could mean what we call "meeting", like "the home meeting in Sister Smith's house". This is corroborated by Acts 17 where the city clerk dismisses the "ekklesia" which is clearly not what we'd call a "church" but would be called a "meeting" or "gathering" or "assembly" (v.41). It was an ekklesia, just not a very pleasant one. Furthermore, Jesus spoke of "my ekklesia", meaning there were ekklesia not of Jesus, like the one dismissed by the city clerk in Acts 17. If one looks at the usage of the word "ekklesia" in the first century, this NT usage is consistent with that. There were multiple ekklesia occurring in any given metropolis. Some were of Jesus, some were not.

And the Lord knows who are His. The question is, do we? Do we know God, or rather are we known by Him? I think this is in our living, and we all need to look to ourselves. This is the "practical church life" - how we behave, and how we treat others. This is not determined by a Book Publishing House, sorry. The Lord knows who are His. So let us abstain from poor behavior, and make the glad confession, and endevour to go on together, best as we can.

And I do apologize for my overly sharp tone. I see poor arguments and people getting carried along by them, and the damage caused. So I get exasperated. But my lack of peace and charity is my own issue. Mea culpa. I'm working on it.