When did the church began, and when does it end. I have heard some say the church did not start until Pentecost. Others say the church existed in the Old Testament. I have heard some say the church stops when the church is rapture "before the tribulation". Others the church continues to be added to all the way up to eternity.
- I just wrote a paper for my STII class on "when did the church begin." If you are interested in reading it.
- Alan, at least I'd like to read it - do you want to upload it to the documents section?
- Hi Blair: Very late to this. Different groups have different views, from different sources, here is a short and rough synthesis for your consideration: If by Church is meant Ekklessia, then in the OT there was also such. As far as the "gathering of saints" at Pentecost, that was unique because the Holy Spirit came atop believers so they could worship in Spirit and truth due to the atonement already operant. Jesus came to restore Koinonia of man and God, and that was done through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the One that was lost at transgression. This particularity only could happen in the time after Jesus was glorified and sent the promised Holy Spirit. So yes Pentecost church is different to OT assembly. When will it end? Some groups believe that the parable of the wise and foolish virgins actually mean that there will be two groups in the Church: those that have oil in their lamps (Holy Spirit), and those that do not have enough. The ones hot with the Holy Spirit will be taken to the supper of the marriage of the Lamb, while the ones that are lukewarm / cold without enough Holy Spirit (oil in their lamp), will go through the tribulation, and will be rescued at the end by Jesus and the full of oil group. The low on oil group are the ones referred as having had to clean their garments in the tribulation. So you can say one group stays while the other is with Jesus. Also some think that the story of Joseph of Egypt is a type of what will happen with Israel: before Joseph (type of Jesus) reveals to his brothers, everyone had to leave the hall (his wife was sent to the royal chambers (gentile wife type of the wise full of oil group). Then when Joseph revealed to his brothers, they would weep understanding that they did something seemingly wrong, but Jesus will explain that such happened to preserve lives (gentiles). Hope the above gives you leads to do further research.