I am fairly certain that the most Reformed person among us who says his/her faith is based on Sola Scriptura (one of the crucial solas of the Reformed Tradition) does not in fact believe this. Several blogs are addressing the doctrine of Sola Scriptura these days. Because we are religion nerds.We Reformed Christians are - in reality - more like our Roman Catholic and Orthodox siblings who give authority to tradition and church leadership. I'm just saying.
Exhibit A: The word "church." Our own congregation has been having a conversation about this word. Although I find myself using "church" as an adjective as in "church building" and "church gathering" I'm told that this is grammatically incorrect. And the dictionary agrees. Frankly, I prefer Rob Bell's notion that "Christian" is not a good adjective as in "Christian worship." "Church" as an adjective, though, works for me.
Most people indeed use the word "church" to mean the building, the worship service, the destination. I grew up doing this too. Sometimes I still do this.
But what if this is not Biblical?
Every time the word "church" (ecclesia in Greek) is used in the New Testament, it means "a gathering of people." Check it out here and click on the English word "church." It never once means a building/worship service/destination. So, if we are truly in the Sola Scriptura camp, isn't this something we should change? Shouldn't we only refer to "church" as the people?
Or we need to recognize that maybe we are Prima Scriptura people rather than Sola Scriptura people. These are the dorky things that everyday theologians ponder. But they really matter in terms of our own identity.
We are the church.
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4 comments:
I preached a sermon a number of years ago titled, "You can't go to church." It's not possible to go to something that you are.
I try to be very careful about referring to Sunday morning as worship and asking people if I will see them at worship. I tell people I work for the church not at the church.
Just a couple of ways to try and help folks see the church for what it is, the people.
Sing it: "I am a dork, you are a dork, we are dorks together...."
I think you're right. We're prima scriptura people.
I've been making a conscious effort to only use "church" when talking about a gathering of people. I don't know if I am succeeding or not, or if it is making any difference on perceptions around our place (I'm just a lay person on council, after all).
But I'm a total language dork. I often think that if I had it to do over again, I would have majored in theology in undergrad, gone to graduate school to study Scripture, and been perfectly content studying and teaching it for the rest of my life - mainly because of the nuances of the languages.
Check out http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/church[2] if you habitually use the word "church" as an adjective.
It is, in fact, gramatically correct: the word is also a transitive verb, if you want to look up the 3rd entry!
Part of the magic of this word is that it encompasses a place, a descriptor, a body of people, and an action ALL AT THE SAME TIME.
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