The Household of God (5)

‘Come, let us reason together’,says the Lord

On the way through this series, we are discovering that there is more we can know and understand of God’s eternal kingdom than we have been lead to believe – much more.  And discovering it is not just run-of-the-mill information; it is life-changing.  It gives reason and purpose to many of the things we do.  To go back to the analogy of the museum in an earlier post, we will see many of the artefacts differently as a result of seeing and understanding the elements of the background and the little windows.

So … find an uncomfortable chair and let’s position ourselves with a view to eternity past and to eternity future; to the time before God made the first Adam and to the time after the second Adam is married and getting on with his new LIFE.  And let’s tell God we are settled and quiet and ready for Him to join us and enlighten our spirits with His truth.

What was God doing before He created the world and set man in his place?  One part of the answer to that question lies in a re-statement of His character and attributes.

A. Household of Love, Light and Truth

In my opinion, the first of these comes from the very first verse in the bible.  God is Himself a “household”; a family; a “community”.  In Restoration Theology, Kevin J Conner says:

Verse one simply says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”.  Who can find “the beginning”?  There is no “time element” given here.  Simply, it is “in the beginning”.  No human being can find that beginning.  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

The Hebrew word for “God” is “Elohim”.  It is a Hebrew uni-plural word, denoting plurality of Divine Persons without stating the number.  Subsequent Scripture shows the word to be significant of the Godhead, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Genesis 1:1-5 may be compared with John 1:1-3 and Job 26:13.  In the Scriptures we find that the eternal Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, were each active in creation – the original creation of the heavens and the earth.  God is the creator of all things whether seen or unseen, visible or invisible. (Italics added)

And this is not just about some kind of “peaceful co-existence”; there is a unity between them that leads some to refer to it as a communion.  Note how Jesus talks of his union with the Father in his prayer in John 17: just about every verse says something about a deep and abiding love connection.

If you read Luke 4, you will see how Jesus’ life on earth was characterised by submission to and dependence on the Holy Spirit.  Jesus, “full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and led about by the Spirit in the wilderness.” (4:1)  Verse 14 says, “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit.”  And in verse 18, Jesus says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are down-trodden, to proclaim the favourable year of the Lord.”

In John 16:7-15, Jesus teaches his disciples that it is to their advantage that he leave, “for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you…  When He the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.  He shall glorify me; for He shall take of Mine and shall disclose it to you.  All things that the Father has are Mine…”

When Peter is preaching at Caesarea, he reminds his listeners that Jesus of Nazareth was anointed by God with the Holy Spirit and with power. (Acts 10:38)  And according to John the Baptist, he was able to identify Jesus because God had told him “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.”

In eternity past, the Godhead entirely functions by means of a deep and abiding love connection: a communion, a household, a family.  It comes as no surprise, then, to note that God’s household-building activity extends into the time-space-matter continuum of our life here on earth.

We know from Apostle John some of the defining features and activities of God’s household: “We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” (1 John 4:16)  “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5)  John the Baptist said, “He who has received His testimony has set his seal to this, that God is true. (John 3:33)

Love, light and the real, ideal, genuine, manifest reality are the defining features and over-arching activities of God’s household: love, with no darkness and no falseness at all.

B. Ruling / Regulating

Sometimes when I need a reality check, I go back to the book of Job, as I did recently.  What thoughts might have been going through God’s mind as He heard the discussions and debates between Job and Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar – and the young man, Elihu?  At some point, God has had enough and speaks for Himself.  It kind of put everything in perspective, and, in the end, Job makes this profound and liberating statement: “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eyes see You; therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:5-6)

Among the many things God said to Job was this, “Do you know the ordinances of the heavens, or fix their rule over the earth?” (Job 38:33)  By implication, God is not only well able to do so, He actually does so – with ease and grace.  Translators of this verse have had trouble finding adequate words to put it into simple English.  Ordinances is sometimes translated rules or statutes or laws or simply order.  It is literally ‘the limits’ of the heavens.  Rule is sometimes translated dominion or regulate or establish or simply reason.  What is God telling Job?

God knows the limits of the universe, the rules by which it runs and the order which it requires for continuous functioning.  He knows them because He made them; He wrote the specifications, the rule books and the manuals.  He is reminding Job – and reminding us, I believe – that we neither know nor understand these limits; we know few of the laws by which things run; and we understand little of the order required for the universe.

Now, given that Isaiah confirms that God “inhabits eternity” (as well as making His home among the bruised and broken), we need to see if we can find a way to conceptualise this aspect of what God was doing before He created the world.

I have found it helpful to think along these lines.  Imagine all of history as a multi-strand rope that goes all the way back to “in the beginning” when God created the world, whenever that was.  For us humans, restricted as we are to the passing of time, we conceptualise these events as a time sequence – like a long line of rope.  Imagine now that rope tightly coiled up so it forms a circle or disk that makes all the events of history present and visible at once.

With our limited years of life, our limited memory, our limited sight and so forth, history is not just a huge challenge for us, we can only conceive of it as standing in a present moment of time, looking back into the past.  It is extremely difficult for us humans to conceive of history as a perpetual present, but that is, I believe, one way of expressing how God sees the events and happenings in His world.

I believe He sees it all laid out before Him as we might see a vast rope coil.  Nothing is missing, nothing is forgotten, nothing is obscured.  According to W.E. Vine in his Expository Dictionary, this is the core or root idea of the Greek word we translate ‘true’ or ‘truth’.  We could say ‘God is true’ (as John the Baptist said) and mean God is accurate to the finest possible detail: never missing anything, never forgetting anything, never hiding anything, never being deceived.

Consequently, He is not only able to rule, to regulate, to exercise dominion – He actually does it; for the whole universe; for all of what we call time.  It is laid out before Him as His ever-present Kingdom, and His household is ‘Administration Central’ in that Kingdom.  The household began with Father, Son and Holy Spirit and then they added angels (household servants, if you like) and a Bride for the Son.  Thus, to me, history is His Story.

“Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.  Where then is a house you could build for me?  And where is a place that I may rest?  For my hand made all these things, thus all these things came into being, declares the Lord.  But to this one I will look: to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at my word.”  (Isaiah 66:1-2)

Summary

I believe God always has been, is now and always will be building a household whose defining features and activities are love, light and truth.  And He is establishing His Kingdom in which love, light and truth (righteousness) reside and prevail perpetually.  From this base, He is making a future for us humans out of love, light and truth.  The genesis of this project is located deep within the spirit of the Godhead in eternity past, as “the Spirit of God was moving gently over the face of the waters.”

Cheers,
Kevin.

The Household of God (4)

God’s Will; Our ‘Future’
In the last post, I looked at various scriptures that say these things about the new covenant people of God:

They will reign with Christ
They will judge the world
They will judge angels
They will reign on earth [the ‘new earth’ maybe]
They will be priests of Christ and reign with Him
They will reign for ever and ever

These things are like fascinating little doors or hatches to me.  I can’t resist.  I want to explore and find out what is on the other side.  What do I find when I open them?  What do I experience when I enter into them?

According to John in his Revelation, there is to be a new heaven and a new earth:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.  And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true. (Revelation 21:1-5)

Apostle Peter also refers to this: “But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.” (2 Peter 3:13)  In this future that God is making for His people, righteousness is at home – it abides there.

If eternal life is a reality; if God has in His plan a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness lives; if God adopts many sons into His family; if these ‘many sons’ share God’s entire inheritance along with Jesus; if those ‘many sons’ are, in God’s eyes, the bride of Christ; if there is a marriage supper of the Lamb; THEN I HAVE AN IMPORTANT QUESTION.

After the wedding breakfast – when the celebrations are done and everybody returns to their ‘usual occupation’ – what will that usual occupation look like?  What will we all be doing?  What is the on-going work of the Kingdom of God in the new heaven and new earth?

If we are reigning, reigning over what?  Reining over whom?  If this is eternity – no longer subject to time, space, matter restrictions – is it an eternal reign?  John did say ‘for ever’.

In all my years of listening to sermons and preachers, I have never heard anybody preach on this.  In all the hundreds of books I have read, I have never read any significant rendition of this aspect of the Christian life.

Frank Viola, in From Eternity to Here, makes a powerful point when he asserts that most believers live, think, preach and teach as if the story of God runs from Genesis 3 (the fall of man) to Revelation 20 (the judgement of man).  He powerfully reminds us there are two chapters (and a vast story) before the fall of man and there are two chapters (and another vast story) after the judgement.  For me, From Eternity to Here goes part of the way to revealing the vastness of God’s love and will for us – and leaves us still more to discover, I believe.

Obviously, there is no biblical text that states clearly what the answer to my question might look like, but there are – as I said – little doors or hatches to explore.  There are hints and glimpses of the occupation of eternity, but no definitive account.  And I believe we can understand some of the things in eternity future by revisiting eternity past.  I think Viola also makes this point well in his work.

I also believe we can begin to really fill out our understanding when we position ourselves with a view of eternity past and a view of eternity future, and then spend some time with God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) going over the central and defining words of the faith: Righteousness, Salvation, Redemption and Justification.

Behind the back of the wardrobe

When I did this some years ago – prompted and lead by the Holy Spirit – I found myself running and falling headlong into a vast and glorious panorama that still leaves me almost speechless.  At that point in my life, I decided to watch the video version of The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe in the NARNIA series by C.S. Lewis.

A small child hides in a wardrobe as part of a game, for what is really only a few minutes of time.  But on the other side of the back of the wardrobe is a whole world and a whole other life – called NARNIA.  The King of NARNIA is the lion Aslan who, in the entire series, is the Christ character.  He is Jesus, ‘the Lion of the Tribe of Judah’.

I mention this because for me, the adventure of opening and going through these little hatches I mentioned is a story akin to what lies on the other side of the wardrobe door.  However, in my experience, few people actually notice the little hatches and windows in the walls behind the artefacts on display, let alone open them and then explore behind them.

One thing I have learned about myself over recent years is that, on my ‘fight or flight’ gauge, my natural setting is towards ‘fight’, not ‘flight’.  Put another way, when I am presented with something weird, new or strange, I am drawn towards it, not away from it.  As far back as I can remember, I tend towards investigation, not disgust or trepidation.

So, when Paul says we will ‘judge the world’, I want to know what that means; what that involves.  When he says we will ‘judge angels’, I want to investigate and know more.  When John says we will ‘reign with Christ’ and ‘reign on earth’, you can’t stop me from opening the hatch and going headlong into it to see where it takes me.

Why do I mention this here?  Because this is the story of the Household of God.  In the “Chronicles of Narnia”, the children who are innocently playing a family household game together find themselves ruling and reigning in Aslan’s Kingdom of Narnia.  The Kingdom of God belongs to ‘little children’ according to Jesus!

As we go through this series, we will discover together that there is more we can know and understand of God’s eternal kingdom than we have been lead to believe – much more.  And we will discover it is not just run-of-the-mill information; it is life-changing.  It gives reason and purpose to many of the things we do.  To go back to the analogy of the museum, we will see many of the artefacts differently as a result of seeing and understanding the elements of the background and the little windows.

Cheers,

Kevin.

The Household of God (3)

What in the world is God doing?

I find there are three themes running consistently throughout the documents of the new covenant – what we call the New Testament.  These are like three different ‘background’ elements.  He is establishing His Kingdom; He is building a household; He is making a future.

Establishing His Kingdom

In relation to establishing His kingdom, I noted a number of important things.  God is establishing His kingdom because He is King!  Indeed, He is King over all kings.  And while His kingdom is ‘not of this world’, as Jesus noted, it is an eternal kingdom of an “other-worldly” type.  These are some of the characteristics of God and His kingdom:

• God’s essential nature is Father (attested to throughout our bible)
• He inhabits eternity (Isaiah 57:15)
• He invented time, space, matter, motion, the world, the natural order – and people (the book of Job is as good as any to get this message)
• The human race is the crowning glory of His creation (see Genesis story)
• His heart-beat is to bring into existence a new race of people – with His DNA (1 John 1:13)
• He is capable of doing this because He calls into existence that which does not exist (Romans 4:17)
• He is calling into existence “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that [they] may declare the praises of him who called [them] out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9)

Building a Household

In relation to building a household, I noted a number of important things:

In the household, God is Father

Jesus is, first in relation to the Father, the first-born and the once-born Son whose inheritance is the “double portion”.  And, second, in relation to us, he is the elder brother, with whom we share the Father’s inheritance.  Jesus made it quite clear that he is not ashamed to call those who put their trust entirely in him his ‘brothers’.

[Old versions of the bible use the term “only-begotten son” in reference to Jesus.  Begotten simply means born.  And since God, according to other parts of the bible, has many sons by new birth, Jesus cannot be the only-born son.  The word translated ‘only’ can also be translated ‘once’ and I suggest that is what it should be in our English bibles.  That way, Jesus is the once-born son of the Father; the rest of us are twice-born sons, as Jesus made quite plain when he spoke to Nicodemus.  And historically in the story of God in relation to man noted in the Old Testament, the first-born son always received a “double inheritance” – that is, he is entitled to two shares of the Father’s estate.]

The Holy Spirit is the life-source and the DNA of the household.  I believe the Holy Spirit is to the Godhead what the human spirit is to the human, only on a much grander scale, in every conceivable way and more besides.

The angels are the household servants.  But, while they too are created beings, they are of a completely different order from humans – and they never become sons.  I contend that this may even be what lies behind the rebellion of that angel Satan and his followers.  The whole idea of grubby humans becoming not just sons, but rulers in God’s household may have appeared quite scandalous to some of the angels.  We know from scripture that angels do look into matters relating to us humans and do have their unique responses to what they see.  While not human, they are not what we humans call robots.

And then of course, there are the many sons whom God is bringing to glory by means of the finished work of Jesus.  And be careful to note here: sons don’t become angels.  Angels will never be sons and sons will never be angels.  Sons receive His life and act out of their understanding of the Father and their position in Him through Jesus;  angels do what they are told.

Note also that I don’t say ‘sons and daughters’.  Under the terms and conditions of the Old Covenant, sons inherited but daughters usually didn’t.  A special case could be made for daughters to inherit when a father had no sons.

Under the terms and conditions of the New Covenant however, “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)  In the New Testament, the Greek word used for son (huios) loses its emphasis on maleness and becomes a term that indicates relationship, inheritance and name.  The huios is the one in whom “the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” and the one who has “received the spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out ‘Abba! Father!’” (Romans 8:15&16)

The very next verse of Romans 8 says, “And if children, then heirs also, heirs of God and fellow-heirs with Christ – if indeed we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”  All who have this witness within them are ‘sons’ (whether male or female) and all likewise co-inherit with each other and with Jesus the elder brother (whether male or female).  This is the true meaning of being a ‘son’ of God in His household: relationship and inheritance and name.

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Now if these two things (establishing His kingdom and building a household) are like subtle backgrounds to the artefacts on display, the third point is more like a series of little unobvious windows or hatches, almost invisible in among the collections on display.  He is making what for us is a future:

Take a look at these scripture verses from apostle Paul and apostle John.

2 timothy 2:11-13

It is a trustworthy statement: for if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him; if we endure, we shall also reign with Him; if we deny Him, He also will deny us; if we are faithless, He remains faithful; for He cannot deny Himself.

 1 Corinthians 6:1-3

Does any one of you, when he has a case against his neighbour, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints?  Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world?  And if the world is judged by you, are you not competent in the smallest law courts?  Do you not know that we shall judge angels?  How much more, matters of this life?

Revelation 5:10

And they sang a new song … You have made them a kingdom of priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.

[Bear in mind that the Revelation also says there is to be a new heaven and new earth.]

Revelation 20:6 and 22:5

Blessed and hold is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him.

And there shall no longer be night; and they shall not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord shall illumine them; and they shall reign for ever and ever.

Pull out the italicised phrases and have a good look.  This is what is in store for those who have died with Christ, who endure to the end, who do not deny him and who prove faithful.  And if we stand in Christ and live according to the Spirit (Romans 8 again), all these things are worked in us by the Spirit who is given to us as the guarantee of our inheritance with Christ.

• We will reign with Christ
• We will judge the world
• We will judge angels
• We will reign on earth [the ‘new earth’ maybe]
• We will be priests of Christ and reign with Him
• We will reign for ever and ever

Next post, I examine these six thing more cosely.  To me, they are like fascinating little doors or hatches.  I can’t resist; I want to explore and find out what is on the other side.  What do I find when I open them?  What do I experience when I enter into them?

Cheers,
Kevin.

The Household of God (2)

When Paul wrote to Timothy, one of his purposes in writing was “…so that [Timothy] may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the ecclesia of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.” (1 Timothy 3:15)

Three different expressions are used here to describe one thing.  The household of God = the ecclesia of the living God = the pillar and support of the truth.  Note that the word ‘church’ does not appear in the Greek text at all here.

According to Paul in this reference, God’s household is also His governmental assembly and also the superstructure and the fixed seat of the truth.

An Ecclesia in the life and times of the New Testament era was a governmental assembly of chosen citizens, called together to administer the realm and make the arrangements necessary for a fair, just, safe society.  The Ecclesia of God is God’s governmental assembly of saints, called together to administer His kingdom ‘on earth, as it is in heaven’.

Some say “the house of God”, but the word used here refers to an inhabited house or the household that inhabits the house.  Today, we often distinguish between an empty house and an inhabited house by calling one a house and the other a household or a home.  This shifts the emphasis from the building to the people.

The second idea is the pillar (Greek stulos).  This refers to the vertical superstructure of a building that is tied to the foundation and supports the walls and roof structures so that the building will stay standing and will house and protect its occupants.

The third idea is the support – or ‘ground’ in some older versions (Greek hedraioma).  The root meaning of this word is a) steadfast, firm, solid and b) seat.  We express this meaning in English today when we talk about a monarch’s throne or a professorial chair in a University, or (in Australia for example) the Speaker’s Chair in Parliament.  It refers to a fixed, solid, steadfast seat of truth.

This one thing that Paul is talking about is, at the same time, God’s kingdom governmental assembly, His household, and the superstructure and fixed solid seat of the truth.

1 Peter 4:17 also uses the expression ‘household of God’.  Here Peter is explaining that God’s judgement begins with His own household.  It contains a similar idea to Paul’s teaching in 2 Corinthians 10:6 – and one many of us are familiar with in the West today.  “Charity begins at home”, “get your own house in order”, “clean up your own act” – expressions like this speak of the principle that we have little authority to preach at or judge others if our own lives or households are chaotic or dysfunctional.  God is applying this principle to Himself.  He disciplines His own household – for their good and for the good of His kingdom and ultimately for the good of the world.

The remainder of the times ‘household of God’ is used in the New Testament are references back to historic events recorded in the Old Testament – Matthew 12:4 for example.

Quite some years ago now, I set some time aside to listen, think, study and pray around a question I was grappling with: what – on earth – is God doing?  Does He have a plan?  Is everything that happens just a response to the previous thing that happened?  Is there a meta-narrative – a big-picture story that is being worked out in the world?  If God is timeless and ageless, does He have an eternal purpose for our time-trapped earth and the people on it?

While I am the first to admit that what I learnt in that time is clearly not the whole story, I found it does go a long way towards some answers for our life here.

I first broke down my thoughts into three foundational questions: What is God doing?  What is God’s idea of ‘church’ or ecclesia?  Where is it all headed?  I then searched the scriptures for themes, ideas and direct answers to these three questions.  What I found was small in terms of volume or words, but huge in terms of the implications and applications of those things I did find.

I often explain what I found as a bit like being in a vast art gallery or museum and finding a few tiny little windows that almost disappear in amongst the mass of artifacts on display.  This has been part of my personality and make-up since boyhood.  I like to look into the un-obvious things.  My reasoning is, I can always come back again later and look at the things on display – the obvious; I am much more interested in what might be behind an obscure little hatch.  I also notice subtle changes in the backgrounds where the artifacts are displayed.  For obvious reasons, backgrounds are important when displaying artifacts, but they will inevitably be overlooked or unnoticed by many.

So … the questions:

What is God doing?

I found three themes running consistently throughout the documents of the new covenant – what we call the New Testament.  These are like three different ‘background’ elements.

He is establishing His Kingdom; He is building a household; He is making a future.

Obviously, when I speak of God ‘making a future’, it is future only in relation to us time-bound humans, not to God Himself.  This implies that God does indeed have a kind of ‘mind-map’ or a spirit-map that is being played out here in our time-space-matter world.

Following that, there are two more questions: What is God's Idea of "Church"? and Where is it all Headed?

See you next time,

Kevin.

The Household of God (1)

At the end of the final post in the What does Ecclesia look like? series, I raised the issue that often comes up when I discuss this subject: So What?

Sometimes I find it hard to understand that people don't see the implications of some truth or a new idea for us humans.  If what I have said is true, there are enormous, earth-shaking if not earth-shattering implications for humans generally, and for Christians in particular.

At the end of that post, I constructed a large dot-point list of some of the many implications of the teaching in that series.  That list serves as a kind of hook into this series.

At the beginning of this series of posts, I note that one implication in particular relates to this question: "If not 'church', then what?"  My answer to that question is ...

THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD.

So let's begin a new adventure.

When you spend a lot of your time writing, there is something unique about that moment when you realise you are not alone in how you see things.  That feeling came over me when I found the page “What is the Ecclesia?” by Ben Williams.

Ben Williams has written:

"Ecclesia" is an entirely different word with an entirely different meaning than "kuriakos" ("church")

Eventually, through the manipulation of organized religion, "church" came to replace "ecclesia" by popular acceptance. Indeed, churches have achieved their goal-- to neutralize Christians!

Thousands of times a week, all over the globe, preachers are heard to say, “The Greek word for ‘church’ is ecclesia.  And that is the big lie of it all.  The Greek word for ‘church’ is kuriakos and it is not used in the New Testament at all to speak of the new covenant people of God.  It literally means “belonging to the Lord” and it is used once in 1 Corinthians 11:20 when speaking of the Lord’s supper and once in Revelation 1:10 where John says he was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s day.”

The Greek word that is used in the New Testament for the new covenant people of God is ekklesia and it should never be translated ‘church’.

This graphic comes from the website I linked to above.

Throughout my writings, I use the Anglicised spelling ecclesia, but it is the same word.  So… what was an ecclesia in the time of Jesus and Paul?

I believe Williams is correct when he says, on the above website,

The Greek "ecclesia" was "a civil body politic." This is strong proof that the Christian "ecclesia" we read about in the New Testament was an INDEPENDENT CIVIL BODY OF CHRISTIANS -- independent from rulers and man's government. Their objective was to be free to serve King Jesus. This phenomenon had nothing to do with building and attending churches! Churches are NOT ecclesias!

If one takes the Old Testament (old covenant) paradigm, God’s chosen people are referred to as His Possession and the place where He meets with His chosen people – whether temple or tent – is His house.  In Greek, ‘His Possession’ translates as Kuriakos; the place where He meets with His people is called the Kuriakos doma – the ‘domicile’ or address for the meetings of God with His chosen people.  That was part of the prescription for the people of God pre-Jesus.

In the new covenant however – that is since Jesus – you will not find this concept.  Since in the new covenant God doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands, the New Testament scriptures use a different expression altogether.  And even when the writers wanted to talk about the concept of ‘God’s House’, they did not choose to use kuriakos doma – they used the term oikos theos, the household of God.

And here’s the really good part – they took the common word for a civil body of people and put it to a new use describing God’s new covenant people as distinctly different from His old covenant people.

Ben Williams puts it well:

“What, then, did the writers of the New Testament mean when they used the word "ecclesia" to describe a Christian body of people? Obviously, they meant the same thing: a body of Christians called out of the Roman and Judean system to come together into a separate civil community. It meant a politically autonomous body of Christians under no king but Jesus. No man ruled them! Only Christ. And, that was the reason these same Christians ran into trouble with kings and rulers; got in trouble with Caesar; were arrested, crucified and martyred. They dropped Caesar and took up Christ.

The ecclesias were diametrically opposed to the Caesars of the world. This is the well-hidden secret about the ecclesia!

Many people are seriously uncomfortable with any suggestion that God has changed, citing the scripture, “I am the Lord; I change not”.  But any careful and honest reading of the Old Testament scriptures will show that God Himself hasn’t changed, but rather it is the ‘administration of the realm’ that has changed.  And I don’t mean that a ‘new guard’ has replaced the ‘old guard’.

Imagine a company decides, through fair and legal means, to keep the same board and the same staff, but change its driving vision and the structures through which it delivers its products and services.  I believe it is the same with God in relation to us humans.

The scriptures say, concerning Jesus, “But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order that He might  redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4-5).

God was and is working to “… His eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ephesians 3:11).  Under the provisions of the old covenant operating in the human time-space continuum, God would bless His people on the basis of their adhering to the rules and regulations He gave them – until Jesus.  When Jesus came, the provisions of the old covenant became obsolete and Jesus Himself became the inaugurator of an entirely new covenant – one in which God adopts humans (whether Jew or not) into His family on the basis of the finished work of Jesus in redemption, justification and freedom, in return for those humans entrusting their entire lives (temporal and eternal) to Jesus.

Apostle Paul makes it quite clear that his apostolic commission was to announce, proclaim and herald this new administration and how it works.  Ephesians 3 gives us a good insight into this.

And in this new régime, it is no longer kuriakos doma but oikos theos; no longer God visiting a building, but God’s very own household.  And this household is known as “The Ecclesia of God” – quite literally, the assembly or congretation of God.  Read 1 Timothy 3:14-15.

At no point does Paul revert to the old covenant thinking or language to describe the new covenant people of God or to explain the God-revealed provisions of that new covenant relationship.

Unfortunately, the creature we call “the church” does this all the time, and has done so from the earliest time – I suggest from the time of Paul himself.  [Read the Acts 17 account of Paul and Silas.]  Paul was constantly up against it with the religious nutters of the day; and some of his letters contain strong references to the insidious work of ‘Judaisers’ insisting on carrying the provisions of the old covenant into the new covenant.  Paul never backed away from resisting these incursions – even when it meant a conflict with a fellow-apostle.

Williams makes this important observation: “The ecclesias were diametrically opposed to the Caesars of the world.  This is the well-hidden secret about the ecclesia.”

Encyclopaedia Britannica has this notable entry:

In the New Testament, "ecclesia" (signifying convocation) is the only single word used for church. It (ecclesia) was the name given to the governmental assembly of the city of Athens, duly convoked (called out) by proper officers and possessing all political power including even juridical functions.

An Oxford Dictionary entry under ‘congregation’ says this:

...used by [William] Tyndale as a translation of "ecclesia" in the New Testament, and by the sixteenth century reformers instead of "church”.

And Williams continues:

I have a Geneva Bible (Calvin's Bible) in my office. It, too, comes from the sixteenth century. But, unfortunately, Calvin wanted the word "church" in his Geneva version. Nonetheless, godly Tyndale, and other sixteenth-century reformers who were more reputable than Calvin, did not like the word "church." They used other words like "congregation," "governmental assembly," etc.

I agree fully with Williams on this matter.  And I still struggle to find the best word to use to describe and explain what I mean.  One thing I have found useful is to use a word that has not been in use for a very long time: exclave.

Paul speaks of new covenant believers as ‘ambassadors for Christ’; an ambassador’s base of operations is an Embassy;  an Embassy is an exclave of its home country, geographically cut off from home and located entirely within a ‘foreign’ country.  Paul also describes believers in this world as ‘foreigners’, ‘aliens’ and ‘strangers’.

So…. I may talk about a congregation, an assembly, a gathering, an exclave; made up of ambassadors, foreigners, aliens, strangers; here in our world, spiritually but not geographically attached to eternity where God dwells in “unapproachable light” as Paul described it to Timothy (1 Tim 6:16).  Now we’re getting close to an appropriate translation of the Greek ekklesia.

“The Church”, in its arrogance and its interminable quest for legitimacy, has plagiarised the word ekklesia and given it a false meaning, designed to make “church” appear to be the inheritor of God and the Bride of Christ.

Thus the foundation for everything that follows here is this:

• "the church” is NOT the ecclesia: not now, not ever;
• ecclesia is God’s household of ambassadors – an exclave of saints.

I wish you well,
Kevin.

What does Ecclesia look like? (6 - Final)

ECCLESIA now

If you have followed me to this point, you may well be able to make my next point for me.  What does ecclesia look like?  Not Church!  As I have said elsewhere in this series, the only thing ‘church’ and ecclesia have in common is some of the people involved.

If what is contained in this series is what ecclesia looks like, there are some important questions to be asked and answered concerning this creature we call ‘church’ and the species that perpetuates it.

Let me be very clear here.  One of the fundamental differences between ‘church’ and ecclesia is that ecclesia is a creation of God and is not a physical, ‘seen’ thing separate from the people it is composed of; it is entirely organic.  ‘Church’, on the other hand, always has an existence that is physical and ‘seen’ either as an organisation, an institution, a building, etc.  All these physical things have some form of legal existence separate from the people it is composed of, usually made visible in a document often referred to as a Constitution.  As for the buildings, these are usually legally owned by an individual person or a group of people formally in some kind of legal structure, and recognised and registered with the government of the day.

D.L. Moody – a nineteenth century teacher and evangelist – is reputed to have viewed ‘the church’ as a ‘voluntary association of the saved’.  Could he have understood something that others of his day didn’t?  I’m not sure we can know precisely what was in his mind, but I have no trouble with that expression.  I think ‘the church’ is something that has an existence of its own, created, established and maintained by humans, that one can join and un-join at will.  That also infers that one can qualify or not qualify for membership in it based on the ethos and rules it operates under.  And that infers that other humans may determine who is in and who is out.

Ecclesia has none of these features.  It is the fellowship of the saints, not the voluntary association of the saved.  So many today struggle with the idea of being saints.  One of the main reasons for this is that the creature we call ‘the church’ has taken to itself the right to define what a saint is; and what it has chosen is very different from what the new testament teaches.  W.E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary notes: “In the plural, as used of believers, it designates all such and is not applied merely to persons of exceptional holiness or to those who, having died, were characterized by exceptional acts of saintliness.”  And as he rightly points out, in 2 Thessalonians 1:10 “the saints” are also described as “them that believed” – referring to “the whole number of the redeemed.”

In New Testament Greek, the word for saint has the same linguistic root as the word for sanctify and sanctification.  The root idea has two parts to its meaning: one is separation to God; the other is the work of the Spirit in the lives of those so separated as they are “transformed into His likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).  God names and calls us to follow Him. In responding as the first disciples did, we too are separated to God and, through what Apostle Paul calls ‘the obedience of faith’ (Romans 1:5), the Spirit begins His sanctifying work; and we are assured that “He who began [that] good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).

“To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colossae” (Colossians 1:2) combines the twin concepts well and is Paul’s description of the ecclesia in Colossae.  Those who turn from trusting in themselves, other people or organisations for their right standing before God and place their trust in Jesus alone are called ‘brothers of faith’ (‘faithful brethren’); they are also called saints; they are the ecclesia.  By this process, each one is organically joined to Jesus Christ and to one another.  One biblical analogy is the human body: all the parts are organically joined to make up the functioning whole; another analogy is that of a building – each one is a living stone being built and knit together by the Spirit to form a “spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5) and a “dwelling of God in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22).

When all of this – and so much more – is plainly evident in scripture, why do we pretend that ecclesia is anything different?  And why do we pretend that ‘church’ and ecclesia are the same thing?  I suggest one reason is that we really cannot bring ourselves to believe the “glorious liberty of the children of God” of Romans 8:21.  And why might that be? Well Paul did say that “the God of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor. 4:4).

The god of this world has tricked many into assuming that “seeing is believing”; whereas the reality of eternity, of God, of spiritual life, is the opposite – believing is seeing.  You want to see something and understand it?  First believe it; suspend your unbelief for a moment and allow the light of God to inform your spirit and you will see as God sees.  You want to see and understand ecclesia?  First believe that it is as Jesus and Paul and others clearly indicate in the scriptures; that it is as a continuous line of prophets and teachers have been saying from then til now; that it is NOT what you see when you look at the creature that goes by the title ‘church’.  Do that, and the light of God will teach your spirit to see according to the Holy Spirit and you will ‘discern the body of Christ correctly’.

‘Church’ is not ecclesia now sick; and ecclesia is not ‘church’ made well.  As I have said elsewhere, they are as different as a fish and a dog; as separate as wheat and tares.

On the way through this series, we have glimpsed many examples of ecclesia, from the ‘two or three’ that Floyd McClung teaches about (based as it is on the teaching of Jesus) to the thousands of Acts 2.  But I want here to make one final distinction.  The Greek word ekkalo chosen to describe new covenant believers (saints) is a composite word that means ‘called-out’.  The saints are the ‘called-out’ ones.  If we take the picture demonstrated in Matthew 10 and Acts 1 and 2, the nature of this ‘calling’ was to Jesus.  The old testament announces this prophetically when it says, “unto Him shall the gathering of the people be”.

But if you examine every case of this calling – whether as recorded in scripture or in the lives of the people in our present generation I have referenced – it is not only a calling unto Christ, it is also a calling unto the mission and the mystery of God “on earth as it is in heaven”, which is the ecclesia.

It is not a calling to collect people, to count them and to tell the world ‘Look at me; I am a success because I have collected 3,000 people and they all love me and listen to me and want me to be their shepherd.’  The pattern of ecclesia is that they are called, they gather, they are dispersed, over and over again.

‘Church’ is about ‘collecting’ in order to demonstrate ‘success’, and so others can succeed when they follow what the first has done – which is, effectively, a gathering unto the person or the organisation or the vision, or the program, or the ministry.

In ‘church’, the people belong to us – our church, our people, our vision, our ministry.  In ecclesia, the people belong to Jesus – His called-out company, His family, His vision, His ministry, and, most importantly, His Headship.

So what!?  That is the question many want answered.

I want to finish this series with a short ‘so what’ and, at the same time, use it as an introduction to a new series that delves into ‘so what’ in more detail.
 

So what?  Well here’s what!

• We believe ecclesia is ‘by the Spirit’, not ‘by the book’;
• ‘The book’ is part of the revelation of the Spirit to ecclesia, not the sum of it;
• We are of the view that Christianity is not a ‘religion of the book’;
• For us, Christianity is “until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4:19);
• We place no special importance on owning or using buildings;
• We don’t condone or encourage the use of an ‘order of worship’;
• For us, it is ‘first apostles, second prophets, third teachers';
• That is followed by an application of the 5 ministries of Ephesians 4;
• Local congregations are not led by ‘Pastors’ or ‘Reverends’ or ‘Priests’
• All true believers are saints and priests unto God;
• Every such person has gifts, calling and ministry for the body;
• Every such person is exhorted to serve in their gifts, ministry and calling;
• The functioning body is a testament to God where it is located;
• We don’t practice or encourage the use of homiletic preaching in meetings;
• We don’t practice denominational ordination;
• We don’t conduct denominational birth, marriage and death ceremonies;
• We don’t condone or support the idea of special or sacred clothing;
• We believe gatherings/meetings are for participation not passive observation;
• We don’t elevate one gift or talent over another but encourage participation by all;
• We don’t practice or endorse ‘the tithe’ but rather generosity;
• We encourage giving systematically, individually, privately and proportionately;
• We practice ‘the Lord’s Supper’ as participation in Christ (1 Corinthians. 10);
• We practice baptism as participation in Christ (Romans 6; Colossians 2);
• We practice marriage as a lifetime spiritual union;
• We practice wedding as a familial and social celebratory event;
• We devalue the world’s idea of ‘educated’ in favour of God’s idea of ‘taught’;
• The new testament is not a ‘how-to’ manual but a ‘how-we-did-it’ guide;
• As man is the head of church, Jesus is the Head of Ecclesia;
• Ecclesia is of eternal immortal (not of temporal mortal) substance;
• Ecclesia is a worldwide band of brothers and a clan of equal heir-ship (Matt. 23:8);
• Any person anywhere can have God without religion or ‘church’ or priest;
• We have one Father, one High Priest, one Leader, one Spirit;
• We are the fiancée of the King of kings and Lord of lords;
• Our dream, our passion and our vision is that the world see Jesus alive here;
• We encourage people to stand firm in liberty and reject guilt and bondage (Gal. 5:1);
• We have no interest in erecting an organisation or a building;
• We reject the business model/template in favour of that of an unbroken blood kinship;
• God’s eternal purpose is our mandate and mission;
• All leadership flows from Father Son and Spirit and is visible as serving;
• God’s oversight is administered via His under-shepherds (Ezekiel 34/Ephesians 4);
• Decision-making is by living according to the Spirit and the gift of discernment;
• Authority belongs to Jesus and is delegated via submission to the will of the Father;
• ‘Covering’ is achieved by abiding in Christ and loving one another;
• There is only one ‘denomination’ (the people of God) and God is their covering;
• The normative beliefs and practices of ecclesia is the ‘apostolic tradition’ of the N.T.

Blessings,
Kevin.