The First Synagogue

Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so.  Genesis 1:9 NASB Place – In Hebrew, the word translated “place” is maqom.  From a root meaning “to stand,” it is fairly straightforward as far as translations go.  It means some…

Rethink Possible

and all the brethren who are with me, to the churches of Galatia: Galatians 1:2  NASB Churches – We know that translators of the English Bible take considerable liberties with the word ekklesia.  We know that ekklesia never means “religious assembly” in non-biblical Greek literature.  We know that ekklesia is translated “church” when the context…

Rock of Ages

and I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it.  Matthew 16:18  NASB My church – What a difficult verse!  What theological wars it has perpetrated!  What schisms it brought to Christendom!  Partly because we didn’t hear…

Corinthians (1)

to the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours: 1 Corinthians 1:2 Church – We all know about the Corinthians.  They were a mess. …

Día 30 – 50% Iglesia

“Entonces Moisés reunió a toda la congregación de los hijos de Israel, y les dijo: Estas son las cosas que el SEÑOR ha mandado hacer.”  Exo 35:1 Congregación – Es muy normal para nosotros referirnos a la iglesia como ekklesia.  Eso es griego para “los llamados.” Esta es una descripción muy apta.  La iglesia ha…

The Church

Following the excellent post by Barry Jenkins (see his comment under the Today’s Word “Paradigm Shift”), I thought it might be useful to put back up an article that I posted on the old web site.  Here it is: The Church Today Christians stand at a significant crossroads in spiritual growth. On the one hand,…

50% Church

And Moses assembled all the congregation of the sons of Israel and said to them, “These are the words which the Lord has commanded, to do them.” Exodus 35:1 Congregation – It’s quite common for us to refer to the church as the ekklesia.  That’s Greek for “called out ones.”  That is an apt description. …

The Event of Church (2)

and greet the church at their house, and my beloved Epenetus Romans 16:5 Church – Yesterday we discovered that the two Hebrew words for “assembly” are not quite the same.  Qehillah focuses on the event of experience with God.  ‘Edah focuses on the unity of the whole people God appoints.  We found that ekklesia, the…

The Event of Church (1)

and greet the church at their house, and my beloved Epenetus Romans 16:5 Church – Something’s missing.  That seems to be the general consensus of a large number of those who attend church regularly.  We’re not quite sure what it is, but we know that our expectations are often greater than the actual delivery.  We…

Why Walls Won’t Work

History shows that the growth of who followed Jesus was faster during the first three centuries after His death than any other period.  Of course, since that time a larger number of people have claimed Jesus as their Savior, but even though the total numbers are bigger, the rate of growth has never been the…