Finding Jesus in the Bible…So We Can Follow Him in Life
Bible Reading Plans
- Plan One: New Testament Only
- Plan Two: New Testament + Psalms
- Plan Three: New Testament + History
- Plan Four: The Entire Bible – Year 1 of 3, Year 2 of 3, Year 3 of 3
Don’t know which plan? Go to A Christ-Centered Bible Reading Plan: Quick Start.
Extras
Verse of the Day, Audio Capsule, and Video Minute
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The One True Church
Chapter 16 – Synagogues and Churches: Ancient and Modern
We began our study of the one true church by studying how the word “church” is used in the Bible. We even spent time considering the original languages in which this word appeared. And when we discovered that the word “synagogue” was much more closely related to the word “church” than modern understanding would lead us to believe, we studied it, too.
Summarizing our study, we saw that the Greek words for synagogue and church were generally synonymous before the New Testament age, but came to have very different meanings after it…and ever since.
Per Google AI: “In ancient Greek translations of the Hebrew Bible (the Septuagint), words like sunagoge and ekklesia were sometimes used interchangeably to describe assemblies of the people of Israel. Over time, Christian tradition reserved ekklesia (church) for followers of Jesus, while sunagoge (synagogue) remained tied to Jewish communal gatherings, making the modern terms – synagogue and church – entirely separate.”
The main point of all this is that we must understand that in New Testament times, Jesus’ disciples didn’t hear the word “church” as we understand it today. They did not think of it as an institution that must be perpetuated. On the contrary, they saw it as “assemblies, congregations, or gatherings” designed to prepare disciples for receiving the Lord when He returned – that is, a movement. The New Testament church would never need to become an institution because while the movement was still taking place, the Lord would come.
Consider, for example, this exhortation from an apostle to churches of the time:
Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;
Hebrews 10:24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,
Hebrews 10:25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
Paul was reminding his listeners that Jesus was the one who personally “promised” to return – and that He is “faithful.” Therefore, He would keep His promise, and therefore Paul could speak of “the day drawing near” on all of them. This exhortation did not apply to some distant generation of posterity. It applied to that generation!
(If you have doubts about this, read or reread the book The Biblical Case for the Second Coming as Accomplished Fact. And, by the way, if you have doubts about the Greek and English words I referenced, check it out for yourself. If you don’t know how, I have a playlist on my YouTube channel that walks you through how to use an exhaustive concordance to trace English and Greek usage in the Bible. It consist of seven short videos that can be viewed in about half an hour total. )
Because the Second Coming was to take place before all the apostles died, it’s clear that neither Jesus nor they were not trying to replicate the synagogue system. Is it even reasonable to think that God’s plan was to replace Jewish synagogues with Christian churches? Surely God wasn’t thinking, “I know what I can do to save the world: I’ll move the sabbath from Saturday to Sunday and that will surely do the trick!”
No, God was doing something very different. He was using “assemblies, congregations, and gatherings” – a one-generation movement – to usher in the kingdom of God.
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