Where in the Bible does it say the Church came from the Bible?

Question

Doesn't the Bible say that the Church was founded by Christ? Did he also entrust His ministry to the Apostles after the Ascensions? Didn't the New Testament come much later?

Answer 1

Right on all points, David.

It really blows me away that anti-Catholics can't seem to grasp the fact that the gospel was oral tradition passed down, LONG before it was ever written. Yet, 1500 years later, they decide it wasn't true. Um, yeah..

Answer 2

The “first church” is the church that is recorded in the New Testament, especially in the Book of Acts and the Epistles of Paul. The New Testament church is the “original church” and the “one true church.” We can know this because it is described, in great detail, in Scripture. The church, as recorded in the New Testament, is God’s pattern and foundation for His church. On this basis, let’s examine the Roman Catholic claim that it is the “first church.” Nowhere in the New Testament will you find the “one true church” doing any of the following: praying to Mary, praying to the saints, venerating Mary, submitting to a pope, having a select priesthood, baptizing an infant, observing the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper as sacraments, or passing on apostolic authority to successors of the apostles. All of these are core elements of the Roman Catholic faith. If most of the core elements of the Roman Catholic Church were not practiced by the New Testament Church (the first church and one true church), how then can the Roman Catholic Church be the first church? A study of the New Testament will clearly reveal that the Roman Catholic Church is not the same church as the church that is described in the New Testament.

Answer 3

the genuine church of right this moment's dispensation of grace comes from the Holy Ghost, which baptizes people who have confidence interior the completed artwork of Christ on the bypass, into the physique of Christ, it incredibly is the only application, and the only church that concerns correct now. So the corrrect answer on your question is neither. The Bible AND the church comes from the Holy Ghost, besides the actuality that the Roman Catholic Church might prefer to take the credit for all of it. undergo in concepts who it became that needed the credit and compliment that rightfully belongs to God?

Answer 4

The Gnostic gospels (as they are called) date very close to the death of Jesus. The Gospel of Thomas was one of the first to be authenticated by historians and scientists. I believe they predate the 4 gospels in the New Testament by a good 30 years or more. They were considered heresy, however, I think they give the best insight in Jesus and what he taught as Thomas was the twin as well as the doubter. I was just reading this is Living Buddha Living Christ but have heard of these gospels well before this. The book just reminded me of their existence.

Answer 5

The Christian church came from Christ before the Bible was written.

Answer 6

The Bible was written by men who wanted to establish
and empower the Church (Catholic) to suppress and
eradicate any other believe system that existed before
the Church was firmly in control.

Is anyone of us really able to check the facts that are written
in the Bible?

If I say the Bible was written and re-written to suit certain Individuals or groups - than I will be called Devils advocate.

But I also have the right to question that, what I am supposed
to believe without question!

Answer 7

The new testament (Gospels) were written as close as about 10 years after his death. He sent the apostles out to witness what they saw to all other men/women. 500 others also saw Jesus after he came back to life. Thousands saw him ascend to heaven. Jesus never said go start a church. That was a man made idea. He just wants everyone to know why he came and did what he did. To save us all from sin.

Answer 8

Matthew 16:17-19 is the central issue between the Protestant churches, grown up since Luther, and the Roman Catholic Church.

Yes, much of the New Testament came much later. But then most of the Old Testament came hundreds upon hundreds of years sooner. Timing of things on earth must be matched to the unfolding seasons of the spirit.

These things are not by the observance of time and the traditions of men but by the revelation of God. This argument is like that of the Pharisees. They could mark every part of the law and rightly forcast the weather; but could not discern the purpose or the presence of God.

Roman Catholics say the Rock which Christ spoke of was Peter. Protestants say the Rock is Christ. Still others say the rock is the revelation referenced in verse 17.

It is true that Jesus Christ is the Rock of Ages but He has built and is finishing the church on the rock of revelation. He is still the chief corner stone and the head of the church. Here we have the head of the church stating how he is building. Unfolding might be a better word.

The first church service was in the Garden of Eden when God killed an animal and covered Adam and Eve with bloody hides. Cane and Abel went to have church but the result was much like today.

The 'building' of the church actually began with the Lord speaking mouth to mouth with Moses as He brought the children of Israel under the blood, set the order for baptism, going through the Red Sea, and finally directing the building of the Tabernacle In the Wilderness; a house of skins not made with hands,

That Tabernacle copies the human soul as well as the priestly service before God. Through the glory of the Temple at Jerusaleam under Solomon and even the second Temple under Herod.

When the veil was rent in two, the final building was finally begun in real time. God could now write His law in grace upon the hearts of the redeemed in Christ Jesus as He wrote them upon tables of stone so many years before. A way was made from God's heart to ours.

This was not a church to be in this world but a church in the spirits of sons and daughters of God called out of this world to be seated, even at this hour, in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Certainly it is correct to say that the church started in time at Pentecost; but it existed in the mind of Christ from the beginning.

The Lord Jesus was not only the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He was also a high priest forever, after the order of Melchizedec, who blessed Abraham; not under law but under promise. This was a church service under New Testament order back before the days of Moses. And Abraham gave to him a tenth who was a priest forever; without beginning or ending of days. Who even now lives as our high priest to make intersession for the saints.

For our very material minds, times and seasons and buildings and foundings come as they will; but God, who knows the beginning from the end, is an unfolding. That unfolding is by revelation in the spirit and not by the art, nor plans, or buildings, or the words of men.

Answer 9

542. History of the Early Church

" ... There is certainly an element of truth at the bases of the organizations of the Christian Church. For instance, the primacy of Peter and his right to succession after Jesus have been established by the latter, though only orally and not in an explicit and definite language. The real reason why Christ did not make some explicit statement regarding His succession is not known, and cannot be known. For how can we, poor humans, claim to unravel the mysteries of God's mind and purpose, and to grasp the inscrutable Dispensations of His Providence. The utmost we can do is to give some explanations, but these must necessarily fail to give the fundamental reason to the problem we seek to solve.

(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, December 28, 1936)

(Compilations, Lights of Guidance, p. 162)

As to the position of Christianity, let it be stated without any hesitation or equivocation that its divine origin is unconditionally acknowledged, that the Sonship and Divinity of Jesus Christ are fearlessly asserted, that the divine inspiration of the Gospel is fully recognized, that the reality of the mystery of the Immaculacy of the Virgin Mary is confessed, and the primacy of Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, is upheld and defended. The Founder of the Christian Faith is designated by Bahá'u'lláh as the "Spirit of God," is proclaimed as the One Who "appeared out of the breath of the Holy Ghost," and is even extolled as the "Essence of the Spirit." His mother is described as "that veiled and immortal, that most beauteous, countenance," and the station of her Son eulogized as a "station which hath been exalted above the imaginings of all that dwell on earth," whilst Peter is recognized as one whom God has caused "the mysteries of wisdom and of utterance to flow out of his mouth." "Know thou," Bahá'u'lláh has moreover testified, "that when the Son of Man yielded up His breath to God, the whole creation wept with a great weeping. By sacrificing Himself, however, a fresh capacity was infused into all created things. Its evidences, as witnessed in all the peoples of the earth, are now manifest before thee. The deepest wisdom which the sages have uttered, the profoundest learning which any mind hath unfolded, the arts which the ablest hands have produced, the influence exerted by the most potent of rulers, are but manifestations of the quickening power released by His transcendent, His all-pervasive and resplendent Spirit. We testify that when He came into the world, He shed the splendor of His glory upon all created things. Through Him the leper recovered from the leprosy of perversity and ignorance. Through Him the unchaste and wayward were healed. Through His power, born of Almighty God, the eyes of the blind were opened and the soul of the sinner sanctified.... He it is Who purified the world. Blessed is the man who, with a face beaming with light, hath turned towards Him."

(Shoghi Effendi, The Promised Day is Come, p. 109)

Answer 10

And i say also to you, That you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my CHURCH; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Matthew 16:18