REMNANT

The Spiritual Nature of Being the Church

One of the best things we have discovered about assembling in our temporary meeting place at the Harrisonburg Holiday Inn Ballroom (I-81 Exit 247A, Rt.33 East) is the spiritual nature of the Christian faith, and what it really means to be a church.

When we hear the word “Church” today, we think of a word (and idea) nebulous and misunderstood, which has been totally removed from its original biblical context and definition. It has been redefined through time and has come to mean a building. Is the church a fossil, which in the past existed as a living organism, but in time disappeared leaving behind nothing more than its rock-hardened silicone shell?

The Greek word EKKLESIA, (Strongs #1577), used in the New Testament, for example in Mt. 16:18, where Jesus said, “Upon this rock I will build my church,” and in Acts 2:47, where the church came into being on the day of Pentecost, “And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved,” is defined as: the “called out” people of God, a popular meeting, a religious congregation, Christian community of members, an assembly. I like the word “congregation” better because it implies people.
Talk about evolution, by the time of the Dark Ages, the idea of “church” consisting of God’s covenant people had metamorphosed into that of a rectangular shaped edifice erected on a hill with high ceiling, steeple, and stained glass.

To make matters worse, somebody came along and started calling the inside of this building, where Christian people met, a “sanctuary.” This is a terrible misnomer because according to the book of Hebrews, (8:2, 9:1, 2, 13:11) the word “sanctuary,” (HAGION, Strongs #39, derived from the word “holy” HAGIOS), was used solely for the holy places of the Old Testament tabernacle.

A walk through Church History reveals Christian people departing from the faith, taking spiritual things and making them physical, and abandoning the liberty of the New Covenant to revert back to the bondage of the Old.

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