In this blog, I want to pick up the story again from my blogpost called ‘The People of the Messiah’. I explained there why Paul chose that word εκκλησία/ekklesia, and what it means. Before we discuss the term “body of Christ”, I need first to mention two ways in which εκκλησία is used: The εκκλησία is both the universal church, as in Eph. 3,10, and the local church as in 1 Cor. 1,2 – where the local church in Corinth…
DURHAM UNIVERSITY UK, AUTUMN 1974 Before I went to Durham to study in the autumn of 1974, I can with hindsight see that God had started to speak to me. I was in search of answers. I was filled with the desire to find compassion for other people in my own heart. I said to myself, “When I get to Durham I’m going to attempt to find out if God is real or not.“ I got installed in Grey College,…
My blog up until this point, has predominantly been about the Christian´s relationship with God. As I recently stated, I want now in a few blogposts to look at the Christian fellowship; the fellowship of believers, the church. It is the church as a theological entity in the New Testament which interests me, not church buildings or denominations (e.g. the Lutheran Church) To a degree several New Testament writers have thought about this question, but it is Paul and John,…