Whose church is it?

Cousin,

I just noticed that Acts 20:28 makes mention of "the church of God." This is a common term in the New Testament.

To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:(1 Corinthians 1:2)

Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— (1 Corinthians 10:32)

If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice—nor do the churches of God. (1 Corinthians 11:16)

Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not! (1 Corinthians 11:22)

For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. (1 Corinthians 15:9)

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia: (2 Corinthians 1:1)

For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. (Galatians 1:13)

Yet, Romans 16:16 reads:

"Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send greetings."

We see the words "God" and "Christ" used interchangeably.

Furthermore, the church of God is sometimes referred to as "the body of Christ" in Scripture (1 Corinthians 12:27, Ephesians 4:12).

This is another "clue" regarding Jesus' identity.

Mike

Is there one God or two?

Cousin,

This morning our pastor told us about a conversation he had yesterday with some nice Jehovah's Witnesses that came to his door. They discussed John 1:1 and 1:18 together, and the Jehovah's Witnesses claim that Jesus is not God, but only "a god."

This is how he said the conversation ended:

Pastor: So are you saying there are two Gods?

Witnesses: No. Jehovah is the one almighty God.

Pastor: So what is this passage saying Jesus is?

Witnesses: "A god," god being lower case.

Pastor: But the Bible teaches there is only one God. Other so-called gods are always false gods.

Witnesses: Yes, that's true.

Pastor: But you believe Jesus is one of these other gods. You believe there are multiple gods, (or at least two), in some sort of hierarchy, Jesus being at a lower level than Jehovah.

Witnesses: [deer in the headlights look] We'll have to research that one. Can we come back when we have an answer for you?

Pastor: By all means.

This strikes me as a very valid question.

Mike

Purchased with God's blood?

Hi Cousin,

Acts 20:28 came up today in church:

"Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood."

The New World Translation renders it:

"Pay attention to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the holy spirit has appointed YOU overseers, to shepherd the congregation of God, which he purchased with the blood of his own [Son]."

Among translators, I believe the Watchtower is alone in adding the word "Son" to the passage. (I will give them credit for adding brackets to indicate the word was not there to begin with.)

If you look at a Greek Interlinear (such as this) you'll see that the translators of the NWT deviated from the Greek... which is tragic, because it's obviously very significant.

Mike