Today we might use these terms interchangeably. But that would be a mistake.
Many of you already know what I think about our modern-day churches. Not a fan. I won't delve off into that too deeply right now.
Over the first few hundred years of early Christianity, the organization known as the Church was born; it morphed and then evolved eventually into what we have today. It wasn't what Jesus had set forth and it wasn't what the disciples wanted either. It became an organization focused on itself rather than an informal gathering about the Resurrected Rabbi.
In the earliest days, the members of a loosely formed congregation were responsible for doing the work. A gathering of Christians was called a body. Many today use that term to mean just a group of believers and nothing more. But the term body had a very important meaning.
Jesus spent His days teaching the disciples to do what He was doing. This is the essence of a true rabbi/disciple relationship. And when He left He charged them to continue doing what He had been doing. It was as simple as that.
A congregation was called a body because it was meant to be His body doing what He had previously been doing. In other words, the believers, who sometimes congregated in a certain area or place, were mimmicking Jesus in their communities; in their everyday lives. By doing this, they were allowing Jesus to do what He had been doing even after He was gone. His BODY was at work. Make sense?
Now I don't mean to say that there wasn't any informal organization to these congregations. But the individuals who were believers understood their primary goal/job was to continue to work as His body, doing exactly what He had done. There were Elders (who were disciples) who taught and at times disciplined. But it wasn't a group of people worried about by-laws, budgets, parking, child care, worship formats, salaries and all that. They were not an organization.
As the early church grew they began to formally organize. They began to own land and property. They used their communal funds to hire pastors and other clergy to minister. It was a more 'efficient' way to do the work of Jesus. They became lazy. But what actually happened was the ministry of Jesus became crippled. People were abdicating their responsibility to these paid clergy. And the paid clergy? They were there to get paid (commentary for today).
Without even a simple question, people today project back onto the gathering at Rome (and other congregations) our method of how we currently do church; most believe the earliest churches operated as we now do. It was no coincidence that Christianity flourished in the first and second centuries. Why? They were NOT doing business as we do today. They were focused on the person of Jesus and we're shackled today by an organization and it's self-serving/preserving mindset.
For the church (large and small) today, the first step would be to lose this massive organization and return to being simple congregations; congregations of people mimmicking Jesus in our communities.
The first Christians were simple people learning what Jesus had done (through the Oral Tradition and the disciples) and then doing their best to do just that. Jesus' body was truly at work.
Next post: The Oral Tradition in the First Congregations
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