When you say the word church, most people still think of a white building with rows of benches, a steeple on top and a parking lot next to it, but that is pretty far from the biblical meaning of the word.
I'm told that the word originates in Greek. In the time of Jesus the common language was Greek and someone had translated the ancient Hebrew scriptures into Greek. In the Hebrew scriptures, the word referred to the Israelites, the descendants of Jacob, as the people of God. Jesus was a Jew, someone who belonged to the people of God, an Israelite. He did not concern himself much with anyone outside that group. It wasn't until Paul began to bring the gospel to the gentiles that the word began to refer to local groups of Christians as well as the worldwide church.
The big difference between the old meaning of the word and Jesus' new interpretation is that if you could trace your ancestry back to Abraham, you were in. Everyone else was out. Jesus' new interpretation is revealed in Matthew 16:18: "you are Peter, on this rock I will build my church." No, it does not mean the person of Peter, not on flesh and blood, he says, but on Peter's faith that Jesus is the son of God, but not literally, of course. It just meant that what Jesus is saying is true, it is from God.
In the beginning, the disciples operated mostly within the Jewish synagogues. There is some disagreement about how the separation happened. What we do know is that some synagogues began to expel Christians who then went on to form separate groups. In the beginning, there may have been very little coordination among them. I think we can thank Paul's extensive letter writing campaign for providing some of that glue. Events like the Council of Jerusalem (50AD) and the Council of Nicea (325) helped formalize the new church.
Scientists argue about the relationship between Christianity and Judaism. My take is that Jesus did not intend to start a new religion. He simply re-interpreted the old Hebrew scriptures and built a new church that is for everyone. In the new church, there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, no male and female, but for all in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28). We, meaning our first century ancestors, caused the separation, not Jesus.
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