What exactly is the "Church"?

victorinus

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What is happening within the Catholic Church today, especially where Liberals from within are attacking the traditionalists.
this is true
we are being attacked because we are in control
we are being attacked from within
it isn't the first time
we do have history
-and-
we don't ignore it
 
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Winken

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no group is saved -
where do you get this stuff -
if you are saved, it will be as an individual
and not as being a member of a group
This might be a duplicate --- can't find my original response to your post. Sorry I didn't make scripture clear: No one is saved by Grace through Faith in a group. We are saved one-by-one by Grace through Faith. The scriptures I posted do not use the word "if." They are all "shall" scriptures.
 
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LittleLambofJesus

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The Church is one that has shown throughout the last 2000 years to have kept the 7 sacrements of Jesus Christ.

Without the sacrements, there exists no Church that is in obedience to Christ and his unchanging ways.
The Orthodox Church will hold these sacrements, even to the point of death. Will other denominations do likewise.
What is happening within the Catholic Church today, especially where Liberals from within are attacking the traditionalists..................
A lot of Christians are well quite aware concerning the stance of the EOC towards the CC [along with a lot of those in the Protestant Church].
I still have hope that one day all Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants will be as one, with Jesus the supreme leader over all. God bless

Jhn 17:21
that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I in You;
that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.

Since you are an EO, perhaps this article might interest you:

Orthodox Heritage
A Loud, Wake-Up Call to All Orthodox Leaders, Worldwide

*snip*
For almost a thousand years since the great Apostasy of Rome, having separated from the true Catholic and Apostolic Church, the Papacy has falsely proclaimed itself the Catholic Church. Orthodox leaders of our times know that the Orthodox Church alone is the true Catholic Church, and we all confess this in our Holy Creed.
These leaders have thought that dialogues with the Papists could bear fruit, hoping that Rome would renounce its errors and embrace the unchanging Orthodox faith. The Papacy will never budge a single inch away from its fundamental dogma: “the Pope is the only super-bishop ruling over all, to be questioned by no one, and the infallible representative of God on earth.”

The Pope says that the Orthodox Churches are indeed “churches” and that they enjoyed “many elements of sanctification and truth.”
“But,” he said, “they lack something because they do not recognize the primacy of the Pope—and are defective causing them harm.”

The Pope insults the Lord Christ Himself, who is the Head of the Orthodox Church, His Body, for there is no separation between Christ and Orthodox Christians who live in Christ and in whom Christ lives...........................
 
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AarontheStudent

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The Church is the body of Christ.

I would define a member of the Body of Christ as someone who believes these verses from scripture:
"5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time." 1 Timothy 2:5-6

"16 Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness:
He was manifested in the flesh,
vindicated by the Spirit,
seen by angels,
proclaimed among the nations,
believed on in the world,
taken up in glory." 1 Timothy 3:16

"
5Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,even death on a cross.J)" 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Philippians 2:5-11

and of course,

" ...the word of faith that we proclaim ... if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. 11 The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. 13 For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. 11 The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. 13 For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:8-13
 
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Winken

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the scriptures use the word 'might'
they might be saved
look it up

No, they don't. The "if" clause is there for those who do not confess Jesus.

Romans 10:8-13, One who confesses Jesus as Lord is unconditionally saved, excludes those who do not.

John 5:24, ....he that hears His Word, excludes those who do not.

Ephesians 2:8-9, Grace saves those who believe, excludes those who do not.

Romans 8:1, Those who walk in the Spirit are unconditionally saved. They no longer walk in the flesh.

John 3:16-17, "Whosoever believes" excludes those who do not.

In the first instance, one is saved. In the remaining instances, the Truth of that is clearly shown.
 
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GingerBeer

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Scripture and our Liturgical texts are considered the definitive statements on our faith.

Who is in charge? The Spirit of Truth.
That an interesting perspective. It appears to be the same as the one expressed by some in the Church of Christ protestant denomination who at one time said of themselves "We have no creed but Christ and no book save the bible". Have you looked into the "Restoration" movement denominations?
 
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Devin P

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If you ask a Protestant what the Church is, they'll probably give a variety of answers, although one of the most common is "all Christians"--this answer, unfortunately, has no Scriptural basis, especially since the application of the term "Christian" has widened considerably over the last two thousand years. Although if we narrowed the definition considerably, then it would be another story.

However, I don't blame Protestants entirely for this, since I can see from the Catholic Catechism that Rome has a likewise humanist understanding of the Church, perhaps that is where Protestantism got it. In defining the Church, the Roman Catechism states,

752 In Christian usage, the word "church" designates the liturgical assembly, but also the local community or the whole universal community of believers. These three meanings are inseparable. "The Church" is the People that God gathers in the whole world. She exists in local communities and is made real as a liturgical, above all a Eucharistic, assembly. She draws her life from the word and the Body of Christ and so herself becomes Christ's Body.

Now it is clear that Rome does understand the Church as the Body of Christ (and so do Protestants), but instead of proceeding from that definition, she ends with it. Which is a problem. Scripture starts from that definition, the Church "is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all." (Ephesians 1:23). Rome starts with the Church as something external to God, which becomes the Body of Christ. In Orthodoxy, the fundamental definition of the Church is God's Body and Fullness. The transformation is rather of the people being united to the Church. This perversion in definition engenders a radically different Roman theology in general, for instance, also from the Catechism,

882 The Pope, Bishop of Rome and Peter's successor, "is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful." "For the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, and as pastor of the entire Church has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered."

Now in Orthodoxy, clergy preside in the Church, but the idea of clergy having power over the Church would be sacrilegious, in fact arguably blasphemous.

Further down the line, Catholic ecclesiology seems to have created the idea that the Church can sin. Cardinal Marx, for instance, recently said the Church should apologize for not having been supportive enough of gay rights: Cardinal Marx: Homosexuals deserve an apology from the Church

Now I'm not going to address how inane that is, but I will point out that in Orthodoxy, sin is precisely stepping away from the Church, a sundering from Her. Repentance and Communion as are a rejoining and a repairing of the damage.

The most potent of this dreadful theology can also be found in the Catechism. Concerning the Church, it is said: Here below she knows that she is in exile far from the Lord [769]. This is simply heretical in the highest degree, the Church is the Lord's Body and Fullness, and in joining with it, we become One with him--how is that exile?

So while the Pope and the Filioque might have engendered the Great Schism, it is clear that they are hardly the only things that separate us today. Catholic theology has diverged enormously from Orthodox theology, and saying there are cosmetic similarities like clergy, doesn't mean there is necessarily a lot of common ground.

You asked what the church is? Israel. Whether native or spiritually grafted in, the church is Israel. The church are those that walk in the faith - i.e. follow God's commandments, statutes, decrees, and laws. As Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jesus, Peter, Paul, David, etc. all did, so shall we. To the best of our abilities with what we have in the lands we've been sent to.
 
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yeshuaslavejeff

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the scriptures use the word 'might'
In Scripture (YHWH'S WORD), see what YHWH says the church (ekklesia) is.
You asked what the church is?
Yes, apparently - look in YHWH'S WORD (SCRIPTURE) to see what it is. Instead of what men say it is, if different .... there are a lot of descriptions in Scripture,
YHWH'S description of the ekklesia.
Reading this thread, I am glad that I am non-denominational!
Is the ekklesia 'non-denominational' in Scripture ?
I'm glad you are too.
Happy Birthday ! When is he three ? :)
 
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PeaceB

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If you ask a Protestant what the Church is, they'll probably give a variety of answers, although one of the most common is "all Christians"--this answer, unfortunately, has no Scriptural basis, especially since the application of the term "Christian" has widened considerably over the last two thousand years. Although if we narrowed the definition considerably, then it would be another story.

However, I don't blame Protestants entirely for this, since I can see from the Catholic Catechism that Rome has a likewise humanist understanding of the Church, perhaps that is where Protestantism got it. In defining the Church, the Roman Catechism states,

752 In Christian usage, the word "church" designates the liturgical assembly, but also the local community or the whole universal community of believers. These three meanings are inseparable. "The Church" is the People that God gathers in the whole world. She exists in local communities and is made real as a liturgical, above all a Eucharistic, assembly. She draws her life from the word and the Body of Christ and so herself becomes Christ's Body.

Now it is clear that Rome does understand the Church as the Body of Christ (and so do Protestants), but instead of proceeding from that definition, she ends with it. Which is a problem. Scripture starts from that definition, the Church "is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all." (Ephesians 1:23). Rome starts with the Church as something external to God, which becomes the Body of Christ. In Orthodoxy, the fundamental definition of the Church is God's Body and Fullness. The transformation is rather of the people being united to the Church. This perversion in definition engenders a radically different Roman theology in general, for instance, also from the Catechism,

882 The Pope, Bishop of Rome and Peter's successor, "is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful." "For the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, and as pastor of the entire Church has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered."

Now in Orthodoxy, clergy preside in the Church, but the idea of clergy having power over the Church would be sacrilegious, in fact arguably blasphemous.

Further down the line, Catholic ecclesiology seems to have created the idea that the Church can sin. Cardinal Marx, for instance, recently said the Church should apologize for not having been supportive enough of gay rights: Cardinal Marx: Homosexuals deserve an apology from the Church

Now I'm not going to address how inane that is, but I will point out that in Orthodoxy, sin is precisely stepping away from the Church, a sundering from Her. Repentance and Communion as are a rejoining and a repairing of the damage.

The most potent of this dreadful theology can also be found in the Catechism. Concerning the Church, it is said: Here below she knows that she is in exile far from the Lord [769]. This is simply heretical in the highest degree, the Church is the Lord's Body and Fullness, and in joining with it, we become One with him--how is that exile?

So while the Pope and the Filioque might have engendered the Great Schism, it is clear that they are hardly the only things that separate us today. Catholic theology has diverged enormously from Orthodox theology, and saying there are cosmetic similarities like clergy, doesn't mean there is necessarily a lot of common ground.
I would not call it "humanist". Here is a part of the Catechism that you left out:

The Church - both visible and spiritual

771 "The one mediator, Christ, established and ever sustains here on earth his holy Church, the community of faith, hope, and charity, as a visible organization through which he communicates truth and grace to all men."184 The Church is at the same time:

- a "society structured with hierarchical organs and the mystical body of Christ;

- the visible society and the spiritual community;

- the earthly Church and the Church endowed with heavenly riches."185

These dimensions together constitute "one complex reality which comes together from a human and a divine element":186

The Church is essentially both human and divine, visible but endowed with invisible realities, zealous in action and dedicated to contemplation, present in the world, but as a pilgrim, so constituted that in her the human is directed toward and subordinated to the divine, the visible to the invisible, action to contemplation, and this present world to that city yet to come, the object of our quest.187

O humility! O sublimity! Both tabernacle of cedar and sanctuary of God; earthly dwelling and celestial palace; house of clay and royal hall; body of death and temple of light; and at last both object of scorn to the proud and bride of Christ! She is black but beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem, for even if the labor and pain of her long exile may have discolored her, yet heaven's beauty has adorned her.188
 
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redleghunter

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If you ask a Protestant what the Church is, they'll probably give a variety of answers, although one of the most common is "all Christians"--this answer, unfortunately, has no Scriptural basis, especially since the application of the term "Christian" has widened considerably over the last two thousand years. Although if we narrowed the definition considerably, then it would be another story.

However, I don't blame Protestants entirely for this, since I can see from the Catholic Catechism that Rome has a likewise humanist understanding of the Church, perhaps that is where Protestantism got it. In defining the Church, the Roman Catechism states,

752 In Christian usage, the word "church" designates the liturgical assembly, but also the local community or the whole universal community of believers. These three meanings are inseparable. "The Church" is the People that God gathers in the whole world. She exists in local communities and is made real as a liturgical, above all a Eucharistic, assembly. She draws her life from the word and the Body of Christ and so herself becomes Christ's Body.

Now it is clear that Rome does understand the Church as the Body of Christ (and so do Protestants), but instead of proceeding from that definition, she ends with it. Which is a problem. Scripture starts from that definition, the Church "is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all." (Ephesians 1:23). Rome starts with the Church as something external to God, which becomes the Body of Christ. In Orthodoxy, the fundamental definition of the Church is God's Body and Fullness. The transformation is rather of the people being united to the Church. This perversion in definition engenders a radically different Roman theology in general, for instance, also from the Catechism,

882 The Pope, Bishop of Rome and Peter's successor, "is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful." "For the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, and as pastor of the entire Church has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered."

Now in Orthodoxy, clergy preside in the Church, but the idea of clergy having power over the Church would be sacrilegious, in fact arguably blasphemous.

Further down the line, Catholic ecclesiology seems to have created the idea that the Church can sin. Cardinal Marx, for instance, recently said the Church should apologize for not having been supportive enough of gay rights: Cardinal Marx: Homosexuals deserve an apology from the Church

Now I'm not going to address how inane that is, but I will point out that in Orthodoxy, sin is precisely stepping away from the Church, a sundering from Her. Repentance and Communion as are a rejoining and a repairing of the damage.

The most potent of this dreadful theology can also be found in the Catechism. Concerning the Church, it is said: Here below she knows that she is in exile far from the Lord [769]. This is simply heretical in the highest degree, the Church is the Lord's Body and Fullness, and in joining with it, we become One with him--how is that exile?

So while the Pope and the Filioque might have engendered the Great Schism, it is clear that they are hardly the only things that separate us today. Catholic theology has diverged enormously from Orthodox theology, and saying there are cosmetic similarities like clergy, doesn't mean there is necessarily a lot of common ground.

We can start with the actual definition of the word:

Ekklesia is a Greek word defined as “a called-out assembly or congregation.” Ekklesia is commonly translated as “church” in the New Testament.
 
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The Times

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this is true
we are being attacked because we are in control
we are being attacked from within
it isn't the first time
we do have history
-and-
we don't ignore it

The 7 sacrements is what distinguishes the faithful Church from the apostate church from within.
 
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The Times

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A lot of Christians are well quite aware concerning the stance of the EOC towards the CC [along with a lot of those in the Protestant Church].
I still have hope that one day all Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants will be as one, with Jesus the supreme leader over all. God bless

Jhn 17:21
that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I in You;
that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.

Since you are an EO, perhaps this article might interest you:

Orthodox Heritage
A Loud, Wake-Up Call to All Orthodox Leaders, Worldwide

*snip*
For almost a thousand years since the great Apostasy of Rome, having separated from the true Catholic and Apostolic Church, the Papacy has falsely proclaimed itself the Catholic Church. Orthodox leaders of our times know that the Orthodox Church alone is the true Catholic Church, and we all confess this in our Holy Creed.
These leaders have thought that dialogues with the Papists could bear fruit, hoping that Rome would renounce its errors and embrace the unchanging Orthodox faith. The Papacy will never budge a single inch away from its fundamental dogma: “the Pope is the only super-bishop ruling over all, to be questioned by no one, and the infallible representative of God on earth.”

The Pope says that the Orthodox Churches are indeed “churches” and that they enjoyed “many elements of sanctification and truth.”
“But,” he said, “they lack something because they do not recognize the primacy of the Pope—and are defective causing them harm.”

The Pope insults the Lord Christ Himself, who is the Head of the Orthodox Church, His Body, for there is no separation between Christ and Orthodox Christians who live in Christ and in whom Christ lives...........................

Signs of the times my friend signs of the times that continue to repeat themselves.
 
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1gh2g3f4

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This theology is based on several passages in the Bible, including Romans 12:5, 1 Corinthians 12:12-27, Ephesians 3:6 and 5:23, Colossians 1:18 and Colossians 1:24. Jesus Christ is seen as the "head" of the body, which is the church, while the "members" of the body are seen as members of the Church.

so i would not say that it is not based on scripture... indeed this theology is based on scripture just as any doctrine should be.
 
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Ken Rank

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If you ask a Protestant what the Church is, they'll probably give a variety of answers, although one of the most common is "all Christians"--this answer, unfortunately, has no Scriptural basis, especially since the application of the term "Christian" has widened considerably over the last two thousand years. Although if we narrowed the definition considerably, then it would be another story.

However, I don't blame Protestants entirely for this, since I can see from the Catholic Catechism that Rome has a likewise humanist understanding of the Church, perhaps that is where Protestantism got it. In defining the Church, the Roman Catechism states,

752 In Christian usage, the word "church" designates the liturgical assembly, but also the local community or the whole universal community of believers. These three meanings are inseparable. "The Church" is the People that God gathers in the whole world. She exists in local communities and is made real as a liturgical, above all a Eucharistic, assembly. She draws her life from the word and the Body of Christ and so herself becomes Christ's Body.

Now it is clear that Rome does understand the Church as the Body of Christ (and so do Protestants), but instead of proceeding from that definition, she ends with it. Which is a problem. Scripture starts from that definition, the Church "is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all." (Ephesians 1:23). Rome starts with the Church as something external to God, which becomes the Body of Christ. In Orthodoxy, the fundamental definition of the Church is God's Body and Fullness. The transformation is rather of the people being united to the Church. This perversion in definition engenders a radically different Roman theology in general, for instance, also from the Catechism,

882 The Pope, Bishop of Rome and Peter's successor, "is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful." "For the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, and as pastor of the entire Church has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered."

Now in Orthodoxy, clergy preside in the Church, but the idea of clergy having power over the Church would be sacrilegious, in fact arguably blasphemous.

Further down the line, Catholic ecclesiology seems to have created the idea that the Church can sin. Cardinal Marx, for instance, recently said the Church should apologize for not having been supportive enough of gay rights: Cardinal Marx: Homosexuals deserve an apology from the Church

Now I'm not going to address how inane that is, but I will point out that in Orthodoxy, sin is precisely stepping away from the Church, a sundering from Her. Repentance and Communion as are a rejoining and a repairing of the damage.

The most potent of this dreadful theology can also be found in the Catechism. Concerning the Church, it is said: Here below she knows that she is in exile far from the Lord [769]. This is simply heretical in the highest degree, the Church is the Lord's Body and Fullness, and in joining with it, we become One with him--how is that exile?

So while the Pope and the Filioque might have engendered the Great Schism, it is clear that they are hardly the only things that separate us today. Catholic theology has diverged enormously from Orthodox theology, and saying there are cosmetic similarities like clergy, doesn't mean there is necessarily a lot of common ground.
"Church" is just a word in out language that expresses the concept of ekklesia in Greek or qahal in Hebrew. Those two words simply means "assembly, gathering, called out." If we are part of those God calls, if we hear the voice of the Shepherd and respond to His call... we are part of the ekklesia or qahal.... the church. Respectfully, beyond that, Scripturally speaking, is man adding to the meaning of the word. We have turned a simple word that means "to be called out" into an institution. It isn't... it is purely and simply a PEOPLE.
 
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