Guilt is eating at me like a starving rat

[HERn]

From Terry. "All in all it was far easier to keep quiet than it was to speak up."

The book " The Silence of Adam" might help us men who choose silence when when the Spirit is yearning for honesty and speaking the truth in love.

[Sons to Glory!]

This does bring up an interesting topic (which I've actually seen mentioned on this forum a couple times at least). That is, we are to give ourselves to Christ, but where does it say we should give ourselves to the church? Good question! So I've been thinking about this, and found myself thinking, "Well of course we should give ourselves to the church. Christ in in His body, and He gave Himself for the church, right?

But as the song says, "In Christ alone I put my trust!" So as with anything, if we focus on that instead of Him, it is a distraction at the very least. For example, we want the "church life" so we focus on that, and that becomes something apart - a distraction - from Him. (And I think that's been said on here too before - hallelujah for the "Wisdom" in the body!)

So Christ gave Himself for the church. Therefore if we pursue Christ, Christ in us will do the giving to the church. But if I try to work all that up apart from Him, it's no good.

[least]

STG,
"but where does it say we should give ourselves to the church? "

We ARE the church.

Christ gave himself to the church. Jesus died and resurrected. Ascended to the Father and made Lord and Christ. God gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him (the son) shall not perish but have everlasting life.
All the believers is the one body, the church, the body of Christ, the one new man, the bride of the Lamb of God.
Christ loves his own body, he nourishes and cherishes her.
The church is the bride. The bride is waiting for the bridegroom, not giving herself to herself.
A member of the body (the church) is already in the body; a part of the body does not marry (or divorce) the body.

[Sons to Glory!]

Originally Posted by least

STG,
"but where does it say we should give ourselves to the church? "

We ARE the church.

Christ gave himself to the church. Jesus died and resurrected. Ascended to the Father and made Lord and Christ. God gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him (the son) shall not perish but have everlasting life.
All the believers is the one body, the church, the body of Christ, the one new man, the bride of the Lamb of God.
Christ loves his own body, he nourishes and cherishes her.
The church is the bride. The bride is waiting for the bridegroom, not giving herself to herself.
A member of the body (the church) is already in the body; a part of the body does not marry (or divorce) the body.

Correct. I don't think there is specific scripture saying we should give ourselves to the church. If there is specific scripture to that effect, please point it out. (if there was specific scripture about that, I'm sure various ones would try to use it to their advantage.)

The point is, we are to give ourselves to Him.

[Jo S]

Originally Posted by least

STG,
"but where does it say we should give ourselves to the church? "

We ARE the church.

Christ gave himself to the church. Jesus died and resurrected. Ascended to the Father and made Lord and Christ. God gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him (the son) shall not perish but have everlasting life.
All the believers is the one body, the church, the body of Christ, the one new man, the bride of the Lamb of God.
Christ loves his own body, he nourishes and cherishes her.
The church is the bride. The bride is waiting for the bridegroom, not giving herself to herself.
A member of the body (the church) is already in the body; a part of the body does not marry (or divorce) the body.

Least, I recommend doing a thorough exegetical study on "the Bride of Christ" and what that all entails.

The typical interpretation that came out of Catholic mysticism where the church = the bride is built solely upon Paul's hyperbole in Ephesians 5.

The church was never explicitly called the bride in scripture. Since I've been on this topic as of late, this is another example of biblical eisegesis.

[least]

Hi Jo S
"The church was never explicitly called the bride in scripture. Since I've been on this topic as of late, this is another example of biblical eisegesis."

If you are happy to share what you've learnt about the 'bride' in the NT bible, I'll like to know about it. If you would post on this topic please start a new thread so that we don't hijack stillseekingtruth's thread.

[Jo S]

Originally Posted by least

Hi Jo S
"The church was never explicitly called the bride in scripture. Since I've been on this topic as of late, this is another example of biblical eisegesis."

If you are happy to share what you've learnt about the 'bride' in the NT bible, I'll like to know about it. If you would post on this topic please start a new thread so that we don't hijack stillseekingtruth's thread.

Least, I addressed this topic HERE Starting at post #28.

[stillseekingtruth]

Originally Posted by Jo S

Least, I recommend doing a thorough exegetical study on "the Bride of Christ" and what that all entails.

The typical interpretation that came out of Catholic mysticism where the church = the bride is built solely upon Paul's hyperbole in Ephesians 5.

The church was never explicitly called the bride in scripture. Since I've been on this topic as of late, this is another example of biblical eisegesis.

Wait! What? The church isn't the bride of Christ? We're not going to marry Him? Whoa...whoa...whoa....Are you to tell me then that we don't 'take a tour of the tabernacle' everyday? Is Christ really a type of the offerings? My little dinghy is shaking again and I'm about to get swept over by waves of frustration.

My predicament is that I read the scripute, but I understand it to be a puzzle filled with types and figures and a 'heavenly language' that I must interpret through the spirit. It says what it says, but what does it mean? What is the connotation of the passsages?
Oy Here I go again....down down down