What is the New Testament Definition of a Church

[aron]

Originally Posted by ZNPaaneah

I would prefer the congregation of the redeemed to the congregation of the righteous.

Otherwise I agree with you. I think it was a misdirection by WL to have us focus on "the true church". The focus of the NT is "the true Jesus".

Jesus is the Righteous One. It is the Congregation/Assembly/Church of Jesus (see Jesus' "my ekklesia" of Matt. 16). Jesus is the One whose leaf never withers, who delights in the Law of the LORD. Our faith is in Him, not ourselves. He alone is our righteousness; and our faith in Him is imputed to us. Basic Christian faith, which can be shown by the installation of the King of Psalm 2. Do you think Psalms 1 and 2 were haphazardly chosen?

Look at the specification of the Jewish King in Deuteronomy 17:14-20. It is Jesus, pictured "a little lower than the angels" in Psalm 1, and "enthroned in glory" in Psalm 2.

And I agree with you: that should be the focus of the NT. Not "how to do church". What a distraction and stumbling! Of course Paul often writes of the orderly church. But the core of the orderly church is the revelation of Jesus as God's Chosen One. Not sussing out who should report to whom, and what constitutes a quorum, a la Roberts Rules of Order.