Ecclesiology
A Study of the Church
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
"Ecclesia: A Study of the Church" is one of the most comprehensive books ever written on this subject. It is over 1000 pages and covers nearly every aspect of the church (pre-New Testament history of the Greek term ekklesia; New Testament usage and application of that term, the metaphors for the church, the baptism in the Spirit, the worship of the church, the government and officers of the church, the ordinances of the church, the future of the church, etc.). It is a revolutionary study as it adds significant historical evidence rarely found in any other study on this subject. It documents the abstract institutional use of the Greek term ekklesia in Classical Greek literature and what it means to the practical study of New Testament uses as a definite singular noun. It provides the root origin and development of the English word "church" in the history of England. It deals with every single passage in the New Testament where the Greek term ekklesia is found. It deals comprehensively with the proper and improper use of metaphors such as "body" and "head" in relationship to the church. It deals with the respective roles of men and women in the assembly. It deals with the history of the origin of the universal visible church theory and the universal invisible church theory. However, one of its best features is its study of the relationship of salvation with the church. The root problem of the fall is clearly identified as spiritual separation from God and the only possible solution is spiritual union with God. This study provides an in depth study that demonstrates only two possible kinds of human beings have existed since the fall and they are either found "in Adam" in a state of spiritual separation from God or "in Christ" in a state of spiritual union with God and there is no third type or classification between Genesis and Revelation. Pentecost and the church are 4000 years too late to be involved in providing any applicable solution to this spiritual condition of separation of man from God between the fall and the cross. Hence, the church has nothing to do with this problem or its resolution. Moreover, this book offers a comprehensive study of the precise differences and relationships between the kingdom, family and church of God.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
The issue of the church is one of the most divisive issues in Christendom. In this volume, Professor Fenison restricts his studies to Pre–New Testament and New Testament uses of the Greek term ekklesia. He then evaluates the more modern universal invisible church theory in its relationship to the historical usage of ekklesia and in its relationship to the very fundamental basics of biblical soteriology. In particular, Fenison demonstrates that this post-biblical theory is not inconsistent with regard to the primary consequence of the fall (spiritual death/separation) and its only possible fundamental solution (restoration to spiritual union with God). Fenison argues that ecclesiology was never part of that solution prior to the cross and is no part of that solution after the cross. Fenison totally repudiates church salvation in every form but insists that salvation consists in its most fundamental essence as restoration to spiritual union with God, which is affected by the internalized empowered gospel as the Spirit’s creative Word (2 Cor. 4:6; Jam. 1:18; Pet. 1:23,25) without any relationship to the church or its ordinances in any way, shape, or form.