the gospel of Matthew 18:20, “…where two or three are gathered
together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Christ in our
hearts is where God may be found!
While our Lord calls us out of the world for our salvation, he also gave
directions as to how he wants things to be done. His directions for
following him are found in the Bible.
The writer of Second Timothy and in chapter two and verse fifteen
informs the reader to study the Word of God for spiritual maturity.
This writer would never knowingly make a statement of any thing
contrary to Hebrews 10 : 25 which reads as, “ Not forsaking the
assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is; but
exhorting one another…as you see the day approaching.” The early
Church / Christians did assemble together. Some scholars feel it was
on the first day of the week, taking the phrase, “…as you see the day
approaching… ” to mean Sunday and their purpose was for “exhorting
one another.”
Exhortation and being social able is a need of humanity. However,
taking the above scripture and allowing it to refer to a location and to
a given time of worship, leads to what has already been stated about
meeting places / buildings.
On the other hand, some feel that a building is vital and necessary. All
kinds of reasoning is given by those adhering to this argument. Contrary
to modern opinions, please think about Jesus’ beautiful “ Sermon on the
Mount.” Multitudes were gathered together in the wide open spaces as
recorded in Chapters 5 - 7 of Matthew’s gospel. The point is, through
out the New Testament the early Christians assembled in various places,
but none were identified as “church building.”
It is erroneous to make such a statement of, “let’s go to church.” In
the original language of the New Testament the meaning of church is,
“the called out of.” Meaning called out of the world. Therefore, the
inspired writer is referring to converts to Christ. Their new names are
Christians! Christians are the church 8