The Church

To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: (1Co 1:2 ESV)

I have been thinking about the church and its relationship to Israel as I have been preaching through 1 Peter.  I will be preaching on it specifically in chapter two, which is just around the corner.  I am also reading Paul, Apostle of God's Glory in Christ by Thomas Schreiner, where I am reading about the church and Israel.  Paul was an apostle, missionary, evangelist, and church planter.  His goal was not to win converts but to plant churches.  The majority of his letters address the needs of churches, specifically exhorting them to stay true to or persevere in the faith.  He rarely addresses individuals; all the personal pronouns, (ie., you) are plural pronouns, addressing the church as a whole.  Many of the issues involve personal and relational issues in the church.  The church, a gathering of a specific group of people for the purpose of ministry and mission, was the natural expression of the christian life.  The early church knows no christian who does not regularly gather with other Christians (Heb 10:24-25).