Build my church (Act 1-5)

[Cribstyl]

This thread begins a study on the great commission being carried out.

What is the church?

Did the church begin on Pentecost or before?

Were the Pharisees and Saducees annointed to lead the church, or were the apostles annointed the head of the church?

Was it all Jews who recieved the Holy Ghost on Petecost? Why?

What was Peter's message to those who gathered?

 

[CaliforniaJosiah]

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IMHO...

This thread begins a study on the great commission being carried out.

What is the church?

The term refers to two things:

1. The communion of believers, the mystical union of Christian, the bond that embraces all Christians: across the continents and conturies. "One holy catholic church - the communion of saints."

2. A local assembly of believers in a given place and time. In theology, this is typically called a congregation. In time, these can assume some institutional aspects.


MUCH later, the concept of denomination is occasionally called "church" (as in The Methodist Church). But technically, a denomination is a legal association of congregations, which in turn, consists of a tiny subset of the church.

Did the church begin on Pentecost or before?

Well, it depends...

The first BELIEVER was probably Adam and Eve. Abraham is called the "Father of Faith." But perhaps among the first to have faith specificly in JESUS would be Mary, Elizabeth, Joseph - all before Jesus was born and some 33 years before Pentecost.

Some would call the "multitude" of believers who traveled with Jesus a kind of proto-congregation. So I suppose the time immediately after the Temptation of Jesus might be seen as when "church" in that sense began. We certainly see congregations in the NT. Several are mentioned in the Book of Acts, some are the recipients to NT epistles.

When the first denomination began is a matter of some debate. It was probably a very slow development. In our sense, probably not until the fourth century, but that's not to say that inter-congregational affairs didn't exist before then.

Were the Pharisees and Saducees annointed to lead the church, or were the apostles annointed the head of the church?

Peter may have had some type of leadership early on, but the first clear leader we see is James - the brother of Jesus, who was the pastor of the congregation in Jerusalem.

Was it all Jews who recieved the Holy Ghost on Petecost? Why?

By race, maybe. It's impossible to know from the text.

Early converts to Christianity were virtually all Jewish. In fact, it's not even clear in the very beginning if Christianity and Judaism were understood as two different religions. That division seems to begin before our eyes in the Book of Acts.

What was Peter's message to those who gathered?

I see no need to copy and paste it to here. We can all read it in the NT, at least all that was recorded for us.



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[Cribstyl]

Thanks for trying to answer all at once CJ.


One question to a reply is quite reasonable...

Thanks

 

[Cribstyl]

What is the church?

Mat 16:18And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

From Jesus' comments the church was built after His death.

From reading Acts Chapter 1-5, the church is born again believers in Jesus Christ who gather together for worship.


These believers are baptised.
The church is a people who follow the teachings administered by the Holy Spirit through the teachings of the apostles.
Act 2:41Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added [unto them] about three thousand souls.

Act 2:47Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

 

[ebia]

This thread begins a study on the great commission being carried out.

What is the church?[/quoted]
There are at leas 96 different correct answers to that - could you be a bit more specific.

Did the church begin on Pentecost or before?

Before

Were the Pharisees and Saducees annointed to lead the church, or were the apostles annointed the head of the church?

? Am I missing something?

Was it all Jews who recieved the Holy Ghost on Petecost? Why?

Do you mean "was it only Jews", or do you mean "Did every single Jew receive it?"

What was Peter's message to those who gathered?

One can read that in Acts 2. Again, did you have a specific track for this question?

From reading Acts Chapter 1-5, the church is born again believers in Jesus Christ who gather together for worship.

Since the phrase "born again" occurs nowhere in Luke-Acts, only in one encounter in John and two phrases in 1 Peter, to use it in this context would be inappropriate.

A better answer from Acts might be "The people of God, called to assemble for worship and sent into the world".

 

[Cribstyl]

There are at leas 96 different correct answers to that - could you be a bit more specific.

Whatever you gather from Acts 1-5 is what I'm hoping to dialog about. (This is not a test, just a dialog on the book of Acts)..Thanks for posting.

Before

When do you think it started.

? Am I missing something?

Skip what seems confusing.:o it's not a test.

Do you mean "was it only Jews", or do you mean "Did every single Jew receive it?"

Was it only Jewish people,... (not every Jew) Act 2:5¶And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.

One can read that in Acts 2. Again, did you have a specific track for this question?

I did not make myself clear enough.....I'll edit the OP again.


Since the phrase "born again" occurs nowhere in Luke-Acts, only in one encounter in John and two phrases in 1 Peter, to use it in this context would be inappropriate.

A better answer from Acts might be "The people of God, called to assemble for worship and sent into the world".[/quote]

by Being born again...I meant baptism..

I did start the thread in a rush.......................

I just want to discuss what is taught to and about Christianity according to Act- 1-5.

Thanks

 

[ebia]

Whatever you gather from Acts 1-5 is what I'm hoping to dialog about. (This is not a test, just a dialog on the book of Acts)..Thanks for posting.

Then I think I would start with what I finished the last post with, slightly adjusted: The people of God, called to assemble for worship and sent into the world as witnesses to Jesus Resurrection and Kingdom".

When do you think it started.

If I had to pin it to a single point, which I'm not sure is helpful, when he called 12. That's the point that the "People of God" is redefined around Jesus.

Skip what seems confusing.:o it's not a test.

It's just that the answer seemed so obvious that I thought I must be missing something.

Was it only Jewish people,.

It appears so. Hebrew Jews as well as Diaspora Jews, but there is no indication of any Gentiles until chapters 11 & 12, and indeed chapter 11 heavily implies Cornelius was the first such.

Since the phrase "born again" occurs nowhere in Luke-Acts, only in one encounter in John and two phrases in 1 Peter, to use it in this context would be inappropriate.

by Being born again...I meant baptism..

Okay, - thats always the issue when one takes the jargon from one tradition into a more global conversation.

No, I wouldn't include the word baptism in the defintion for two reasons:
1. It creates something of an anomily at the beginning - just as the first people of God were assembled before their baptism through the Jordan into the promised land, so were the twelve.
2. It creates something of a truism. Baptism is normal entry into the people of God, so the word is a little redundant.

I just want to discuss what is taught to and about Christianity according to Act- 1-5.

Okay, sounds good.

 

[MrPolo]

Did the church begin on Pentecost or before?

This is always an interesting question and can be fairly answered a few ways. The most vast way to identify the Church's beginning is to say it was with Adam, the first of the people of God.

To identify when was the Church's beginning in the manner of the New Covenant, we can consider a couple different angles too. Since Christ is the firstborn of the new creation, then when He was conceived in Mary's womb could be seen in that sense as the beginning of the Church of the New Testament.

You could also look at it as Christ's death on the Cross, as the Old Covenant curtain was then torn in two.

And as you state, Pentecost is a significant manifestation of the Church in the New Covenant, fortified with the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Crucifixion and Pentecost are the greatest examples, in my opinion. Christ's Passion is not necessarily reducible to a "moment" when it all happened. But what was begun in His Passion in the garden came to completion at the Resurrection. All of this can be viewed now as a singular event.