So here’s a quiz for you. Close your Bible. Shut down your Bible software program. Put your notes away, and get out a clean sheet of paper and a #2 pencil. Be sure to fill in the dots on your sheet completely and erase corrections completely. I hope you studied for this one!
There are nine questions and they are all the same, except that they reference different books of the Bible: Please tell me who the following books of the Bible were written to?
- Romans
- 1 Corinthians
- 2 Corinthians
- Galatians
- Ephesians
- Philippians
- Colossians
- 1 Thessalonians
- 2 Thessalonians
Now check your answers and then get out your red pen to grade the quiz.
I hope you didn’t answer these thoughtlessly–because the answer is not the church in each of those cities. It will be interesting to see who gets the best score. Make sure you’re honest and then ponder how the instructions in those books change their nuances because of who they are written to.
- Romans – “To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints” (1:7). This is interesting because we’ll also note that there was more than one church in Rome even at this time. Paul specifically mentions the one in Priscilla and Aquila’s house in chapter 16:3-5. It seems evident that since he mentions the church in their house, there were other churches in Rome that met in other people’s houses or in other places.
- 1 Corinthians – “Unto the church of God which is at Corinth” (1:2). Very good! That one was easy.
- 2 Corinthians – “Unto the church of God which is at Corinth” (1:1). Very good! Oh, wait. Got to keep reading… “with all the saints which are in all Achaia” (1:1). Achaia is a large region. It would have included Cenchreae; also Sparta, Athens, Olympia.
- Galatians – “Unto the churches of Galatia” (1:2). Now don’t whine, but if you said “the church” at Galatia, I cannot accept that as a correct answer. We must be very careful to be precise in our understanding of Scripture.
- Ephesians – “to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus” (1:1). Oooh, a little different. Is that the same as the saying “the church” at Ephesus. Well, I can’t give you that one either. It seems significant that Paul does not address Ephesians to the church there. Paul was in Ephesus for quite some time, and Acts tells us that from Ephesus “all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus.” Ephesus was a large city and more that one church was represented by “the saints which are at Ephesus.”
- Philippians – “to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons” (1:1). Here again, if you wrote down “church” you are not correct. Sorry.
- Colossians – “to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse” (1:2). “Church” is not the correct answer for this one either. Sorry.
- 1 Thessalonians – “Unto the church of the Thessalonians” (1:1). Very good. That was an easy one!
- 2 Thessalonians – “Unto the church of the Thessalonians” (1:1). Very good. That was easy also!
So, how’d you do? Tell me in the comments. But don’t be second guessing my motives. I had been reading a lot of discussion about the church and the body and other metaphors for the church. And I wanted to see who Paul was writing to when he used the differing descriptors.
I surprised myself. I have to admit, although I didn’t keep track when I did the study, I would guess I only got four of them right myself.
You Think Too Much! 
Is this a trick question? Seriously, I got them all right.
Maybe I am learning something about the Bible in church after all :0).
You’re quite the scholar! Or I’m quite an idiot! I look forward to other people’s grades and comments.
Did you get them exactly correct? If so, very good.
Well I see the trick about the question you wanted exact wording Church,saints and stuff.
so i am not sure exactly what I did since I already saw the answers
I would say 50/50 probably
So, where is this heading?
I’m glad you are looking at all this. I knew them because I’ve done this study before and then preached through all of those books at least once. I think a lot of people think the books start about the same, and I think that most of your explanations were about correct.
Young Fundy said… So, where is this heading?
I answered that already. It’s at the end of the post.
I was surprised at my own lack of knowledge and wondered how many others thought that every one of those was written to the church in each of those cities (btw, I did get Galatians right – it’s a region with many churches).
Pastor B’burg said… I think that most of your explanations were about correct.
Thanks for the vote of confidence, almost! I think (but am not certain) that most (but not all) of your explanations were about (but not completely) correct. j/k Sounds more like a CT guys confindence in a preserved text. No really, I appreciate the comment. I haven’t had a lot of time to study this through, but as I said in the post, I needed to start because of all the body/church talk and then the idea about understanding the text as it originally would have been received. I’m very big on using a proper hermeneutic (although I’m sure I could always improve here), so thence, the beginning of my study.
Oh, Young Fundy…
What was your score? You don’t have to answer, but that was the point of the post. Also, where is it heading? Does it make you think? We should never be afraid to think biblically about anything–even if that is different that all our previous abiblical instruction.
They were all written to churches. Those in the Scriptures referred to as “saints” are contextually members of local churches.
Formerly known as young fundy:
I am now posting as “young fundamentalist.” See my answers above.
Be sure to visit my blog for a good time!
You see, that’s just the point of the quiz. We cannot just lump everything together as “churches contextually.” If God wanted them written to the church there only, He would have said it that way. The whole point of recognizing this is that some of the books were written to more than just one church.
As to where it’s headed, hopefully to a more full understanding of the Bible. I’m not a Catholic who knows what he believes and then looks for it in the Bible. I go the other way around. Go to the Bible, let that determine faith (belief) and practice.
BTW, I did visit your blog the first time you posted. It was a very enjoyable read. Of course then I had to go to SI and find out what you were talking about. I still haven’t found out where or why brother Bobby was banned, just see it under his name.
Anyway, thanks for commenting. Sometime you’ll have to let us know who you are, since there are a lot of people out there who could be Young Fundamentalist. I could be Young Fundamentalist.
But, then again, I could be Young Fundamentalist.
I personally beelieve that there is one universal, invisible, mystical young fundamentalist who is locally expressed by visible, local young fundamentalists around the world.
Billy Bob Bobby was banned for telling a lady that she might be close to crossing Scriptural boundaries in her seeming rebuke of men.
You can read the statements here:
http://www.sharperiron.org/showthread.php?t=2732&page=13&pp=7
Read posts 90,91,93
Obviously, Billy Bob Bobby is nuts. He hasn’t been trained in one of the accepted institutions of higher learning among young fundamentalists. He should know that in the universal church there is neither male nor female. But, then again, maybe he was too soft on that woman. Maybe he should’ve called her a Jezebel and made a motion she be disciplined off of SI.
I don’t know–I’m just a poor, confused, young fundamentalist who can’t be sure of anything. I apologize if I came across as too dogmatic in that statement.
Just Kidding!!!!!
Maybe I am confused here and you can enlighten me if you feel the need too.
Theoretically, a “church” is a body of believers and “Saints” are believers, thus they really would be the same thing.
A church=saints, true. But saints=church, not true necessarily. Saints are individual believers; a church is a called out assembly of believers. They are not one and the same. What this means, I can’t articulate right now, because I’ve not fully studied it out. It’s just something I’ve recognized.
I’ve only had two readers report their grades.
Maybe I only have two readers…
I’m still not getting it, I think it is bordering on the line of semantics. So once you study it out, let me in, here is another thought, a church is a group of believers, ie more then one believer assemblying together, saint isn’t used, buts saints is, saints is plural. It makes it pretty clear that Paul is speaking to the believers of the churches in question.
You have more then 2 readers, others are just afraid to show their knowledge, or lack thereof 🙂
I have no problem with it being saints; I believe in a regenerate immersed church membership. Churches received the Words. Letters written to saints wouldn’t have arrived anywhere in particular. Saints in the NT are in churches. Paul started churches, not groups of saints, who argued on online forums.
Be well.
I got three. I did think of churches though, instead of “The Church.” Interesting blog post.
* At 2:03 PM, July 25, 2006, Jeff Voegtlin said…
You see, that’s just the point of the quiz. We cannot just lump everything together as “churches contextually.” If God wanted them written to the church there only, He would have said it that way.
* On SI, Jeff Voegtlin said … I’m TR (not Teddy Roosevelt), and if what Doug says is true, the KJV translation is incorrect. That doesn’t mean I’m going to start using the ESV, but I’m not afraid to say that a translator made a mistake or error.
* Maybe God did say that God wanted them written to the church there only, but some translator, somewhere made a mistake and left that part out? How would you know?
*
* Just wondering through my hat,
* … Joel
Joel,
Thank you for commenting. And I think I understand your wondering, so here’s my answer.
If I felt that there may have been some mischief going on in translation, I would learn the language myself or find a trusted friend that knew the language already himself to tell me what God wrote.
I believe God wrote once. Because the English language gives a different nuance than the language God originally gave His word in. And I believe God would have given His word in exactly the nuance he wanted the first time. I believe what He gave the first time is exactly what He wanted us to have. And if we are unsure of whether we are getting enough of the meaning from what has be translated, we should put forth the effort to be able to read what He gave us in the language He gave it to us.
Thanks again,
* Jeff wrote: I believe God wrote once. Because the English language gives a different nuance … if we are unsure of whether we are getting enough of the meaning from what has [been] translated, we should put forth the effort to be able to read what He gave us in the language He gave it to us.
* I believe that this stance is usually described as “The Bible was inspired by God and is without error in the originals.”
* So how do you know what God gave “the first time?” No one alive in well over the last 1,000 years has seen any of the originals. And the best of all human scholarship cannot agree what any original said.
* The only way you can know is to have a copy of the Bible that is without error, and the only way we can have such a copy is that GOD preserved it, as it says in Psalm 12:6.
* Do you know where such a copy is? Can you hold it in your hand? Or are you depending upon the work of scholars and language specialists to tell you what to believe?
* This is important, as I don’t want to be depending upon a book that might have errors in it!
*
* … Joel
Joel…
I don’t want to “duke it out with you” with my keyboard, so I’m giving a simple answer that some might say is overly simplistic. My answer to the gist of the big question behind all those little ones is “faith.”
I don’t have to see it, don’t have to know which library is holding the preserved copy, don’t have to hold it in my hand… but also don’t have to depend on scholars or language specialists.
Jesus saith unto him, ….blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. John 20:29
Thanks for the interaction,