What is a church and when did it start?

Matthew 16:18 “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”


On this earth there are somethings we better not get wrong, (1) is salvation and (2) is the church. Both carries eternal weight in glory, first, you will not be in heaven if you miss on salvation, and second, the church carries significant meaning as the Bride of Christ. However, for today, and for the sake of time we are just going to look at the church, what it is and when did it start. A lot of people like to play with words,  however at the same time they do not have a basic understanding of defining Greek. I am not scholar, but I do have a bible and a Greek lexicon, and I do know how to look-up the Greek numbers and see the definition of the words. Every number in the Greek has a meaning, and that meaning might only have a slight difference but have a very major difference in meaning. Let us look at the Greek number for the name Peter which is G4074 which is “Petros” defined - a (piece of) rock.  But the word “Rock” which the church was built on is G4073 which is “petra” defined - a (mass of) rock. Therefore, to conclude that Peter was the rock the church was built on is mind bottling in the least. Why would God build His church which today is massive on a piece rock when He said it was built on a massive rock. God said without question that Jesus Christ is the foundation of the church and not Peter. Jesus Christ is that massive rock which the church was built on. 1 Corinthians 3:11 “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” God would have never built the church on anyone but Jesus Christ who is also her head.

Second, what is a church? The Greek word for church is “ekklēsia” Greek number G1577 which means - a calling out, of an assembly. God said in 1 Corinthians 12:18 “But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.” Now some will say this is talking about a human body and not the church, but Paul went in verses 27 & 28 “Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.” There is no question that the body here mentioned is the Lord’s church. The church is the body of Christ. With this fact of what is a churchis, now proven, in order to find the beginning of the first church we must look in the New Testament and find a calling out and an assembling together. In Matthew chapter 4:12 you will find Jesus beginning His ministry which was a “CALLING OUT” of people and then in chapter 5 we see these people assembled together and the very first church service when Jesus taught them on top of the mountain. This is the only place in the New Testament where the definition of a church is seen, and we see this very church in Jerusalem. Acts 8:1 “And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.” We must conclude, without question that this is the church Jesus started in Matthew 4 & 5.


To believe as most do that the church is a Universal Invisible Body is to believe a myth. Please let me explain, first, nowhere in Acts 2 did the church start, you simply cannot find one single verse that shows a church started in this chapter. But let me ask this question, who are the people in Acts 1 that voted for Matthias to replace Judas as an Apostle, and what authority were they doing this? Acts 2 says these saved were ADDED to the church and we all know that you cannot add to something that has not been started already. Next, the Universal Invisible Church theory cannot contain officers in the church because there is no assembling together. Who is the Pastor, treasure, who is the clerk, who are the deacons, who sets the bylaws, and how do we all vote on something? Believing in the Universal Invisible Church is like believing in evolution which cannot prove where “life” comes from, the Universal Invisible Church has no proof of a beginning. Both are a must to believe either.  

Next the theory that the church which is a Universal Invisible Church has Catholicism as the Mother church. This one completely throws me for a loop, because Catholicism did not even start until around 311a.d. But for the sake of argument let us look at this theory. First, why would the Lord make such a damnable organization the Mother Church? Have you ever studied the history of Catholicism? Have you ever seen where this so-called Mother Church teamed with the government through history and murdered Christians that refused to join them? 1 John 4:20 “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” Have you studied about “Reformation” where people left them because they would not allow the people have a copy of the bible? What sort of Mother church is this where its own membership cannot have God’s word? Also, there is no mention of anything like a Catholic church in the entire New Testament until Revelations when God destroys them and their land, He makes eternally useless. Revelation 17:1 - 2 “And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.” When studied carefully there is no question whom God is talking about in Revelations as the Great Whore. She sold her soul for power and glory on this earth, and she will continue in the Tribulation Period. I have heard the arguments about a Universal church and the whole theory makes no sense, it does not connect the dots to completion. It does not even resemble a church as described in the bible. How does this church observe the ordinances as God ordained for the New Testament churches? What meaning is Baptism, what meaning is the Lords Supper? The Universal Invisible Church has never observed the Lord’s supper, ever! As a Baptist I have never been a part of Catholicism the Pope is nothing to me, in fact I have never read about a Pope I have ever agreed with, oh he can quote a scripture, but listen closely to his words. Where in the bible is the Pope named “The Victor of Christ” or an "earthly representative of Christ"? Christ Jesus would never have committed the atrocities that these Popes have. Jesus Christ is nothing like this current Pope, he has said some very unbiblical things, he contradicts Jesus Christ. We have no earthly Jesus Christ, Jesus is on the Right hand of God, and still working, Jesus was our substitute on the cross, He does not need one and neither do we as Christians. The Lords churches are sovereign independent bodies of local assemblies. We are just like the church at Jerusalem, Antioch, Ephesus, Philippi, and on and on. These churches were independent, sovereign bodies and were in no way adherent to the Catholicism or a Pope.