Name of the Body of Christ

[manichunter]

Question- What is the name of the Body of Christ?

I have used the word "Church" for a great many of years. However, I have been confused about the word since I started studying the original text in Greek and Hebrew. The universal business language at the time the Second Covenant epistles were written was an ancient Greek dialect. However, the author's were Hebrews. They were writing to people who spoke Greek or mostly gentile audiences. Hence they sent a letter that could be understood by more people. Moreover, they still talked and understood in the context and culture of the Hebrews. So when they wrote letters, the Greek letter was actually a translation of Hebrew thoughts and intentions. The Hebrew culture, biases, and history were in mind when they wrote in Greek. Therefore the Greek culture, context, and biases should not trump those of the Hebrews. Consequently, the understanding should be always from that of the Hebrew.

The Hebrew language was almost dead at this time because the common populous spoke Aramaic. Only the religious caste spoke Hebrew frequently in order to teach and study Scripture. So writing letters in Greek to the cultures of Asia Minor and Greece (former Greek colonies and cities) was the efficient and smart thing to do. Unlike the Pharisees who wanted to control information by not teaching the masses Hebrew.

So when see words like church what does it really mean? What is the Hebrew equivalent for this word "church". It is used a few times in the New Testament in various settings. People assigned many meanings to it, but all these are from the Greek setting and context. Is that what the Hebrew writers had in mind?


Ekklesia-

a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place, an assembly

a. an assembly of the people convened at the public place of the council for the purpose of deliberating

b. the assembly of the Israelites

c. any gathering or throng of men assembled by chance, tumultuously

d. in a Christian sense

1. an assembly of Christians gathered for worship in a religious meeting

2. a company of Christian, or of those who, hoping for eternal salvation through Jesus Christ, observe their own religious rites, hold their own religious meetings, and manage their own affairs, according to regulations prescribed for the body for order's sake

Mt 16:18 -And 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.

Mt 18:17 - And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.

Ro 16:1 I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea:

1Co 10:32 Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God:

I believe the proper context for the word church is to say congregation or synague which matches all these definitions and it has a Hebrew equivalent.


What is the Hebrew equivalent for the word church.

Mow`ed- appointed place, appointed time, meeting

edah- congregation, gathering

Qahal- assembly, company, congregation, convocation

Hence I believe the name is of Hebrew origins given Romans 2 and 11.

Romans 2:28, 29

28For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.

Romans 11 illustrates that there are two olive trees, one tamed and cultivated and the other wild and uncultivated. Tamed tree is the tree of Israel. The untamed tree symbolizes the gentile. The unbelieving Jews were cut off of the tamed tree and thrown on the grown. The believing gentiles were cut off the wild olive tree and grafted onto the tamed olive tree. Hence gentiles are grafted onto the existing Jewish tree. Hence the gentiles are no longer associated or identified with their old tree, but have assumed the identity of their new tree.

Ro 11:13-24 -13For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, 14if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them. 15For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
16For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, 18do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.
19You will say then, "Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in." 20Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. 22Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, F58 if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. 23And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

Every time we say the church is the body of Christ, I think we as gentiles are boasting against the original branches of the tamed tree Israel. What we called THE Church does not have a separate or distinct identity. Its identity is defined by its grafting onto the tamed tree of Spiritual Israel. Hence that is the proper name for the Body of Christ, Spiritual Israel.

What do you think? Are there two still two trees of God? I am being deceived by coming to this conclusion? Why do Christians claim to be their own tree?

 

[Agricola]

Yes Christians are the "Body of Christ", it is the people who make up the Church not the building, however our language being what it is, we use "Church" as a general term for buildings and congregation etc.

SO if the CHurch is the Body of Christ, and all Christians globally are also part of the body, then what of the Jews? God would have loved all the Jews to acknowledge Christ as the Messiah and to accept him as their Saviour, but we all know they didint , they missed him and ignored him. HOwever not all Jews have, there are plenty of Jews who do beleive that Christ is their Saviour, I am of course talking about the Messianic Jews.

Does this mean that Christians are now Gods chosen people . Definitly NO. Replacement theology is a terrible terrible thing, Despite the Jews rejecting Christ as the Messiah, they are still Godchosen special people, Israel is the only nation that is important to God along with the Jews. Yes as Christians we are part of the body of Christ, and we are with God etc, but in no way have we replaced the Jews.

You only have to look at prophecy to see how special and important Israel and the Jews are to God. You can see how God has already protected and taken care of Israel, look at the times Israel was attacked with armies several times larger than the whole population of Israel, yet met a disastrous doom and defeat.

God passes judgment upon those who stand against Israel and cause Israel harm. Katrina was divine retribution for the US Governments meddling in Israeli affairs, I wont go into those details, unless you wish, but that is another topic.

Several of the nations Prime Ministers and ministers who gave land away have met with terrible fates in one form or another.

So to conclude, Christians and those who accept Christ as thier Saviour, ARE Gods church, But the Jews, even those who have not accepted Christ as their Saviour are still Gods chosen special people and will always have priority over anyone else. Will they have special dispensation? Only Gods knows, but all Jews should really be accepting Christ as their Saviour, when this happens, and all Jews do this, then we do not even need to discuss this.

 

[Catholic Crusader]

I. NAMES AND IMAGES OF THE CHURCH

751 The word "Church" (Latin ecclesia, from the Greek ek-ka-lein, to "call out of") means a convocation or an assembly. It designates the assemblies of the people, usually for a religious purpose.139 Ekklesia is used frequently in the Greek Old Testament for the assembly of the Chosen People before God, above all for their assembly on Mount Sinai where Israel received the Law and was established by God as his holy people.140 By calling itself "Church," the first community of Christian believers recognized itself as heir to that assembly. In the Church, God is "calling together" his people from all the ends of the earth. The equivalent Greek term Kyriake, from which the English word Church and the German Kirche are derived, means "what belongs to the Lord."

752 In Christian usage, the word "church" designates the liturgical assembly,141 but also the local community142 or the whole universal community of believers.143 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.

Symbols of the Church

753 In Scripture, we find a host of interrelated images and figures through which Revelation speaks of the inexhaustible mystery of the Church. The images taken from the Old Testament are variations on a profound theme: the People of God. In the New Testament, all these images find a new center because Christ has become the head of this people, which henceforth is his Body.144 Around this center are grouped images taken "from the life of the shepherd or from cultivation of the land, from the art of building or from family life and marriage."145

754 "The Church is, accordingly, a sheepfold, the sole and necessary gateway to which is Christ. It is also the flock of which God himself foretold that he would be the shepherd, and whose sheep, even though governed by human shepherds, are unfailingly nourished and led by Christ himself, the Good Shepherd and Prince of Shepherds, who gave his life for his sheep.146

755 "The Church is a cultivated field, the tillage of God. On that land the ancient olive tree grows whose holy roots were the prophets and in which the reconciliation of Jews and Gentiles has been brought about and will be brought about again. That land, like a choice vineyard, has been planted by the heavenly cultivator. Yet the true vine is Christ who gives life and fruitfulness to the branches, that is, to us, who through the Church remain in Christ, without whom we can do nothing.147

756 "Often, too, the Church is called the building of God. The Lord compared himself to the stone which the builders rejected, but which was made into the corner-stone. On this foundation the Church is built by the apostles and from it the Church receives solidity and unity. This edifice has many names to describe it: the house of God in which his family dwells; the household of God in the Spirit; the dwelling-place of God among men; and, especially, the holy temple. This temple, symbolized in places of worship built out of stone, is praised by the Fathers and, not without reason, is compared in the liturgy to the Holy City, the New Jerusalem. As living stones we here on earth are built into it. It is this holy city that is seen by John as it comes down out of heaven from God when the world is made anew, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.148

757 "The Church, further, which is called 'that Jerusalem which is above' and 'our mother', is described as the spotless spouse of the spotless lamb. It is she whom Christ 'loved and for whom he delivered himself up that he might sanctify her.' It is she whom he unites to himself by an unbreakable alliance, and whom he constantly 'nourishes and cherishes.'"149

139 Cf. Acts 19:39.
140 Cf. Ex 19.
141 Cf. 1 Cor 11:18; 14:19,28,34,35.
142 Cf. 1 Cor 1:2; 16:1.
143 Cf. 1 Cor 15:9; Gal 1:13; Phil 3:6.
144 Cf. Eph 1:22; Col 1:18; LG 9.
145 LG 6.
146 LG 6; cf. Jn 10:1-10; Isa 40:11; Ezek 34:11-31; Jn 10:11; 1 Pet 5:4; Jn 10:11-16.
147 LG 6; cf. 1 Cor 39; Rom 11:13-26; Mt 21:32-43 and parallels; Isa 51-7; Jn 15:1-5.
148 LG 6; Cf. 1 Cor 3:9; Mt 21:42 and parallels; Acts 4:11; 1 Pet 2:7; Ps 118:22; 1 Cor 3:11; 1 Tim 3:15; Eph 2:19-22; Rev 21:3; 1 Pet 2:5; Rev 21:1-2.
149 LG 6; Cf. Gal 4:26; Rev 12:17; 19:7; 21:2,9; 22:17; Eph 5:25-26,29.

source:
http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p123a9p1.htm#I

 

[one_lost_coin]

What do you think? Are there two still two trees of God? I am being deceived by coming to this conclusion? Why do Christians claim to be their own tree?

I think you are mixing the metaphors and loosing the context. I also wouldn't loose sight of all the Apostles being Jewish.

109 In Sacred Scripture, God speaks to man in a human way. To interpret Scripture correctly, the reader must be attentive to what the human authors truly wanted to affirm, and to what God wanted to reveal to us by their words. 75
110 In order to discover the sacred authors' intention, the reader must take into account the conditions of their time and culture, the literary genres in use at that time, and the modes of feeling, speaking and narrating then current. "For the fact is that truth is differently presented and expressed in the various types of historical writing, in prophetical and poetical texts, and in other forms of literary expression." 76
111 But since Sacred Scripture is inspired, there is another and no less important principle of correct interpretation, without which Scripture would remain a dead letter. "Sacred Scripture must be read and interpreted in the light of the same Spirit by whom it was written." 77

The Second Vatican Council indicates three criteria for interpreting Scripture in accordance with the Spirit who inspired it. 78

112 1. Be especially attentive "to the content and unity of the whole Scripture." Different as the books which compose it may be, Scripture is a unity by reason of the unity of God's plan, of which Christ Jesus is the center and heart, open since his Passover. 79
The phrase "heart of Christ" can refer to Sacred Scripture, which makes known his heart, dosed before the Passion, as the Scripture was obscure. But the Scripture has been opened since the Passion; since those who from then on have understood it, consider and discern in what way the prophecies must be interpreted. 80
113 2. Read the Scripture within "the living Tradition of the whole Church." According to a saying of the Fathers, Sacred Scripture is written principally in the Church's heart rather than in documents and records, for the Church carries in her Tradition the living memorial of God's Word, and it is the Holy Spirit who gives her the spiritual interpretation of the Scripture (". . . according to the spiritual meaning which the Spirit grants to the Church" 81).
114 3. Be attentive to the analogy of faith. 82 By "analogy of faith" we mean the coherence of the truths of faith among themselves and within the whole plan of Revelation.

The senses of Scripture
115 According to an ancient tradition, one can distinguish between two senses of Scripture: the literal and the spiritual, the latter being subdivided into the allegorical, moral and anagogical senses. The profound concordance of the four senses guarantees all its richness to the living reading of Scripture in the Church.
116 The literal sense is the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture and discovered by exegesis, following the rules of sound interpretation: "All other senses of Sacred Scripture are based on the literal." 83
117 The spiritual sense. Thanks to the unity of God's plan, not only the text of Scripture but also the realities and events about which it speaks can be signs.
(1) The allegorical sense. We can acquire a more profound understanding of events by recognizing their significance in Christ; thus the crossing of the Red Sea is a sign or type of Christ's victory and also of Christian Baptism. 84
(2) The moral sense. The events reported in Scripture ought to lead us to act justly. As St. Paul says, they were written "for our instruction". 85
(3) The anagogical sense (Greek: anagoge, "leading"). We can view realities and events in terms of their eternal significance, leading us toward our true homeland: thus the Church on earth is a sign of the heavenly Jerusalem. 86
118 A medieval couplet summarizes the significance of the four senses:
The Letter speaks of deeds; Allegory to faith; The Moral how to act; Anagogy our destiny. 87
119 "It is the task of exegetes to work, according to these rules, towards a better understanding and explanation of the meaning of Sacred Scripture in order that their research may help the Church to form a firmer judgement. For, of course, all that has been said about the manner of interpreting Scripture is ultimately subject to the judgement of the Church which exercises the divinely conferred commission and ministry of watching over and interpreting the Word of God." 88
But I would not believe in the Gospel, had not the authority of the Catholic Church already moved me. 89

The Church also has this to say about the Churchs relationship with the Jewish people

839 ...The relationship of the Church with the Jewish People. When she delves into her own mystery, the Church, the People of God in the New Covenant, discovers her link with the Jewish People, 326 "the first to hear the Word of God." 327 The Jewish faith, unlike other non-Christian religions, is already a response to God's revelation in the Old Covenant. To the Jews "belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ", 328 "for the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable." 329

 

[Catholic Crusader]

Are you trying to say that the book we are both quoting from is contradicting itself? I am sure it is not.
You have to be real careful when you read it, because there are subtle nuances that people often overlook.

 

[Vic C.]

Question- What is the name of the Body of Christ?

I prefer the word, ekklesia. The notion that the Body refers to God's assembly or congregation appeals to me.

What do you think? Are there two still two trees of God? I am being deceived by coming to this conclusion? Why do Christians claim to be their own tree?

If I may answer with a question...

Is Romans 11 telling us both trees are of God?

 

[manichunter]

Question- What is the name of the Body of Christ?

I prefer the word, ekklesia. The notion that the Body refers to God's assembly or congregation appeals to me.

What do you think? Are there two still two trees of God? I am being deceived by coming to this conclusion? Why do Christians claim to be their own tree?

If I may answer with a question...

Is Romans 11 telling us both trees are of God?

The word ekklesia was used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament as well, but its meaning is still tied to its hebrew roots, not those of Greek context and origin. A few references are in the New Testament in a clear Hebrew sense. Hence we saw church we should see congregation or assembly from the Hebrew prospective, not called out worlds in a Greek prospective. It is one of the many ways the Greek thought has covered and replaced Hebrew origins.

Yes there are two trees. One tamed and cultivated tree and another wild and uncultivated tree. Tamed tree is under the special care and husbantry of God. The untamed tree is unintended and heading for destruction.