When I read in Acts 7 I noticed in verse 38 that Stephen actually uses the word "church" in reference to the time of Moses. The main question is that most people I talk to say the Church began in the New Testament times, (usually at the time of Pentecost). Are not the Hebrews themselves the 'called out people' of the Old Testament?
In Matthew 5-7, is Jesus introducing the Jews to the future kingdom of heaven on earth? And if that's the case, are the acts indicated in Matthew 5:29,30 the result of Matthew 5:28 and something believer's must physically carry out while in the future kingdom in order to enter into his final resting place?
Please comment on the controversy of the Local versus Universal Church.
Recently, I have been discussing man being made in the image of God. Some say that God's essence is spirit and, therefore, that image is mind, will, and emotions (or similar variations) and cannot include anything physical like a body.Some put forth that the image is spirit, soul, and body. But even most of those admit that the body is looking forward to Jesus as God in the flesh. My question for you is, why couldn't the Word have had a spiritual/physical body before the incarnation and, thus, man being made in God's image would be body, soul, and spirit?
What is the correlation/connection between water baptism and church membership? I see where Acts 2:41 references both baptism and adding to the church in the same context, but have not found where baptism is clearly required for church membership.
