Physical and Spiritual churches defined:
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church:
In the early centuries of Christianity, “church” meant the community of all Christians. But in 1054, a split occurred between Christians in Western Europe and those in Eastern Europe and western Asia. The communities in Eastern Europe and western Asia became known as the Eastern Orthodox churches. ----- The early Christians had no physical church buildings because they feared persecution from the Roman rulers. They met secretly in private homes and in underground passages called catacombs.
Taken from “The World Book Encyclopedia.”
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Church:
a building set apart or consecrated for public worship especially one for Christian worship.
the ecclesiastical government of a particular religious group.
the profession of the clergy; clerical profession.
having to do with organized Christian worship.
Taken from Webster’s New World Dictionary
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The physical, organized, Church ran by men:
The above definitions define the physical, organized, Church run by men. The Physical Church is an organization located at a physical place. It is the building and furniture located in the building. There are usually rooms for offices with desks, phones, etc. There are people in these offices that are paid, or volunteer, to carry out the business of the physical organization. There is a leader (CEO) who is called by names such as Pastor, Bishop, Priest, and Pope. The leaders of the physical Church set up the doctrines of the Church for all the common people that go there. They are the leaders or rulers. The common people are there to support the physical church by their money, time, and voluntary service but they do not have a say as to the doctrines of the Church leaders.
The Spiritual church:
The spiritual church is not made with human hands It has no physical location. “””Nor does it have any physical business to perform. It is not of this world.”””
The Spiritual church is in the hearts of each and every child of God. The child of God has been born of the Holy Spirit and is no longer a physical part of this world. The person lives in a body of flesh but it is not his home. The following scriptures support my conclusions.
1 Pet 2:4-5
4 As you come to him, the living Stone-- rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him--
5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
(NIV)
The true church is a Spiritual house. The church has this in common with the Jewish Temple of the O.T. in that it is the dwelling place of God on earth. But it is contrasted with the Temple, a physical, tangible, perishable materials. The church is a structure built of living stones.
John 18:36 Jesus speaking
36 Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but **now** My kingdom is not from here."
Now = not at this moment
John 17:14-16 Jesus speaking
14 "I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
15 "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.
16 "They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
(NKJ)
Col 2:20
20 Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations--
(NKJ)
John 3:8 Jesus speaking
8 "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
(NKJ)
1 Cor 2:13-14
13 These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
(NKJ)
The true church is a spiritual one. It is not made with human hands or human works.
Acts 17:24-25
24 "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.
25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.
(NIV)
Heb 9:11
11 When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation.
(NIV)
I have often wondered why men want a physical Church and I think it is because they can control a physical Church. They don’t have to be honest with a physical organized church. They can make it whatever they choose to make it. I think that is what John was expressing in John 3:19-21
19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."
NKJV
Man cannot control a Spiritual church. It exists in the hearts of God's children and God sees into everyone’s heart.
In Christian love, Richard
*****
church:
In the early centuries of Christianity, “church” meant the community of all Christians. But in 1054, a split occurred between Christians in Western Europe and those in Eastern Europe and western Asia. The communities in Eastern Europe and western Asia became known as the Eastern Orthodox churches. ----- The early Christians had no physical church buildings because they feared persecution from the Roman rulers. They met secretly in private homes and in underground passages called catacombs.
Taken from “The World Book Encyclopedia.”
*****
*****
Church:
a building set apart or consecrated for public worship especially one for Christian worship.
the ecclesiastical government of a particular religious group.
the profession of the clergy; clerical profession.
having to do with organized Christian worship.
Taken from Webster’s New World Dictionary
*****
The physical, organized, Church ran by men:
The above definitions define the physical, organized, Church run by men. The Physical Church is an organization located at a physical place. It is the building and furniture located in the building. There are usually rooms for offices with desks, phones, etc. There are people in these offices that are paid, or volunteer, to carry out the business of the physical organization. There is a leader (CEO) who is called by names such as Pastor, Bishop, Priest, and Pope. The leaders of the physical Church set up the doctrines of the Church for all the common people that go there. They are the leaders or rulers. The common people are there to support the physical church by their money, time, and voluntary service but they do not have a say as to the doctrines of the Church leaders.
The Spiritual church:
The spiritual church is not made with human hands It has no physical location. “””Nor does it have any physical business to perform. It is not of this world.”””
The Spiritual church is in the hearts of each and every child of God. The child of God has been born of the Holy Spirit and is no longer a physical part of this world. The person lives in a body of flesh but it is not his home. The following scriptures support my conclusions.
1 Pet 2:4-5
4 As you come to him, the living Stone-- rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him--
5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
(NIV)
The true church is a Spiritual house. The church has this in common with the Jewish Temple of the O.T. in that it is the dwelling place of God on earth. But it is contrasted with the Temple, a physical, tangible, perishable materials. The church is a structure built of living stones.
John 18:36 Jesus speaking
36 Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but **now** My kingdom is not from here."
Now = not at this moment
John 17:14-16 Jesus speaking
14 "I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
15 "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.
16 "They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
(NKJ)
Col 2:20
20 Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations--
(NKJ)
John 3:8 Jesus speaking
8 "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
(NKJ)
1 Cor 2:13-14
13 These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
(NKJ)
The true church is a spiritual one. It is not made with human hands or human works.
Acts 17:24-25
24 "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.
25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.
(NIV)
Heb 9:11
11 When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation.
(NIV)
I have often wondered why men want a physical Church and I think it is because they can control a physical Church. They don’t have to be honest with a physical organized church. They can make it whatever they choose to make it. I think that is what John was expressing in John 3:19-21
19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."
NKJV
Man cannot control a Spiritual church. It exists in the hearts of God's children and God sees into everyone’s heart.
In Christian love, Richard
