Daily writing prompt

Have you ever unintentionally broken the law?

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I unintentionally (and intentionally) break church laws. That’s because I don’t see church in the Bible.

The word is there in English language Bibles, but I can’t find the tradition-bound religious institution that we call church anywhere in Scripture. Emil Brunner, a world famous, 20th century, Swiss theologian also couldn’t find church in the Bible. He wrote: “The ekklesia of the New Testament, the Christian fellowship of the first Christians, was not a church and had no intention of being a church.”

When I read the New Testament, I see Jesus directly leading and building His body together heart-to-heart. I see people who love and obey Jesus with all their body, soul, mind, and strength and who love and sacrifice for each other as they are continually led by God’s Spirit. I see ordinary Christians being trained to minister to each other. I see 50+ times where they are instructed to show love to one another in various ways. I see them assembling together like the ancient Greek town hall meeting based on open sharing (Christ’s ekklesia) that Jesus said He would build. I see overseers (translated as bishops in English Bibles) collectively watching over to “guard the flock” like officials in football or soccer watch over and guard the players and keep order in the game. They don’t impose their will on a congregation but watch and oversee in order to protect and maintain the direct leadership of God’s Spirit during the meeting as people minister to one another.

No matter how hard I look in the Bible, I don’t see a one-man pastor leading and controlling a body of believers that meets to be a passive audience for his preaching every Sunday morning. I don’t see a church building or a church program or a church service. I don’t see a government recognized, tax-exempt religious organization. Theologian, Emil Brunner, wrote: “The historical church . . . has arisen, in the course of a long and complicated history, through a process of development, transformation and retrogression, out of the New Testament ekklesia.”