The End Time Church: From the Cathedrals to the Catacombs

By Dan L. White

Copyright ©2017 by Dan L. White, all rights reserved.

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB) which is in the public domain.

Chapter 33

Who is King of the Church?

Stephen said that Israel was the ekklesia in the wilderness.

And they were kinda wild.

Acts 7:37-39
(37)  This is that Moses, who said to the children of Israel, The Lord our God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me.
(38)  This is he who was in the assembly [ekklesia] in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living revelations to give to us,
(39)  to whom our fathers wouldn’t be obedient, but rejected him, and turned back in their hearts to Egypt,

That ekklesia was called out of Egypt and they were all together physically in the wilderness. Spiritually, though, they were all over the place.

Num 14:22-23
22) because all those men who have seen my glory, and my signs, which I worked in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not listened to my voice;
23) surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of those who despised me see it:
Moses was their spiritual leader but he was not their king. Moses led Israel by the power of God, not the coercion of human government.

So who was king of that ekklesia?

Again, Yahweh God Almighty was their king. Yahweh did not give Israel the same type of government He had rescued them from in Egypt, a human pharaoh or emperor or king. He simply gave them Him.

What did God do, then, with the New Testament ekklesia?

At the time of the Festival of Pentecost in 30 CE, when Christ began his ekklesia, Tiberius had succeeded the first Roman Emperor Augustus. Historians write that Tiberius, in his reign from 14 to 37 CE, stabilized the empire and increased its wealth. Encyclopedia Britannica has these comments on this king of the “civilized” world of that time.

Although the opening years of Tiberius’s reign seem almost a model of wise and temperate rule, they were not without displays of force and violence, of a kind calculated to secure his power. The one remaining possible contender for the throne, Postumus, was murdered, probably at Tiberius’s orders. The only real threat to his power, the Roman Senate, was intimidated by the concentration of the Praetorian Guard, normally dispersed all over Italy, within marching distance of Rome…

There were, to be sure, occasional wars and acts of savage repression. Tiberius’s legions put down a provincial rebellion with considerable bloodshed. In Rome itself, on the pretext that four Jews had conspired to steal a woman’s treasure, Tiberius exiled the entire Jewish community…He built himself a dozen villas ringing Capri, with prisons, underground dungeons, torture chambers, and places of execution. He filled his villas with treasure and art objects of every kind and with the enormous retinue appropriate to a Caesar: servants, guards, entertainers, philosophers, astrologers, musicians, and seekers after favour. If the near-contemporary historians are to be believed, his favourite entertainments were cruel and obscene. Even under the most favourable interpretation, he killed ferociously and almost at random. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Tiberius

As with Augustus, Tiberius was the Pontifex Maximus, the chief priest of the Roman religion. This tyrant, known as a perverse monster, was both king of the world and high priest of the world’s official religion. By force, not free choice, this emperor controlled politics and religion. People could have any religion they wanted, as long as the emperor approved it. Different areas had different religions, but all had to be approved by Rome, and they all had to include the official religion of Rome, with its Pontifex Maximus.

That was Rome’s government, one man, with human failings — a madman emperor.

Would Christ give his new flock the same type of government that Rome had? In his new ekklesia, did Christ set up a human pyramidal government between Him and his people, with a human emperor, with human failings?

Who was the king of the new church?

Many say it was Peter.

They don’t call him king of the church. Instead they call him Pope, meaning Father. Of course, such a title directly contradicts Christ’s plain command, as do all such religious titles.

Matt 23:8-12
8) But don’t you be called ‘Rabbi,’ for one is your teacher, the Christ, and all of you are brothers.
9) Call no man on the earth your father, for one is your Father, he who is in heaven.
10) Neither be called masters, for one is your master, the Christ.
11) But he who is greatest among you will be your servant.
12) Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Of course, the office of Pope is a very exalted position. Such an exalted office also violates the principle of being a servant, instead of a human king.

Still, millions of people around the earth believe that Peter was the first pope, the first absolute ruler of Christ’s scattered ekklesia. Non-Catholics who adhere to the same type of governing system as Rome might call Peter another title, like chief apostle or archbishop, but it is the same position as Pope — the king of the church.

Paul didn’t think that Peter was king of the church. Paul put Peter in his place, as Paul wrote in his letter to Galatia.

Gal 2:1-14
(1) Then after a period of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus also with me.
(2) I went up by revelation, and I laid before them the Good News which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately before those who were respected, for fear that I might be running, or had run, in vain.

Notice that Paul said he went privately to “those who were respected” about the conflict over circumcision.

What does that show?

It shows there was no human king of the church in Jerusalem. Had there been a king or pope, Paul would certainly have gone to him. But Paul went to those who were respected, and no one of them was over the others.

Gal 2 cont.
(3) But not even Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.
(4) This was because of the false brothers secretly brought in, who stole in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage;
(5) to whom we gave no place in the way of subjection, not for an hour, that the truth of the Good News might continue with you.
(6) But from those who were reputed to be important (whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God doesn’t show partiality to man)—they, I say, who were respected imparted nothing to me,

Further, in verse 6 Paul spoke of those who were reputed to be important. None of those guys was the king of the church, because you don’t speak of a king as if he is “reputed to be important.” A king is important!

Paul said that God does not show partiality to man; that is, God Himself does not defer to human rulers. And those who were justifiably respected imparted nothing to Paul — because Paul had his calling directly from Christ himself, not from a human church organization.

Gal 2 cont.
(7) but to the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the Good News for the uncircumcised, even as Peter with the Good News for the circumcised
(8) (for he who worked through Peter in the apostleship with the circumcised also worked through me with the Gentiles);

Peter was the apostle to the Jews and Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles. That did not mean that others were not also sent to the Jews and the Gentiles, but Peter and Paul were used at that time as prime messengers. And since there were two of them, Peter and Paul, neither was king over the other. Or king over anyone.

Gal 2 cont.
(9) and when they perceived the grace that was given to me, James and Cephas and John, they who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcision.

The pillars of the early flock, those who were respected for their spiritual strength, were James, Cephas or Peter, and John. James was Yeshua’s half brother, Peter had been Christ’s close associate, and John was that disciple whom Yeshua especially loved. Those three guys were lumped together as reputed pillars, but none of them was a king.

Gal 2 cont.
(10) They only asked us to remember the poor—which very thing I was also zealous to do.
(11) But when Peter came to Antioch, I resisted him to his face, because he stood condemned.
(12) For before some people came from James, he ate with the Gentiles. But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision.
(13) And the rest of the Jews joined him in his hypocrisy; so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.
(14) But when I saw that they didn’t walk uprightly according to the truth of the Good News, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live as the Gentiles do, and not as the Jews do, why do you compel the Gentiles to live as the Jews do?

What did Peter do?

Under the Old Covenant, Jews and Gentiles, circumcised and uncircumcised, did not associate. At Christ’s death, circumcision and that separation ended. So Peter ate with the Gentile Christianos until some who still advocated circumcision came from James and Jerusalem, then Peter withdrew from the Gentiles. That does not mean that James supported circumcision, but only that some Pharisees had come from Jerusalem, where James was. Had Peter been king of the church, he would not have feared James.

Then Paul told Peter off for that bit of hypocrisy. Not only did he correct Peter, but he did so before all the Jew and Gentile Christianos!

Here’s a tip in diplomacy.

Don’t ever try that with a king, a pope, a chief apostle or whatever title a religious emperor has. If you tell him off before a whole group of people, or even individually, you will be cast out of the synagogue, disfellowshipped from the flock, anathematized from the assembly, and possibly euthanized. They may even burn your bones!

That one passage in Galatians shows that Peter was not king, pope, chief apostle, etc. of the church.

Of course, there is nothing to indicate that Peter saw himself as king of the church. In his first letter, he said that he was an apostle, not the apostle, just one of those who were sent.

1Pet 1:1
1) Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the chosen ones who are living as foreigners in the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

Then Peter exhorted the elders — the other old men — as a fellow elder, not as a king.

1Pe 5:1-3
(1) Therefore I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and who will also share in the glory that will be revealed.
(2) Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, not for dishonest gain, but willingly;
(3) neither as lording it over those entrusted to you, but making yourselves examples to the flock.

Peter was a fellow elder, who did not lord it over the others.

Notice how a Pope is supposed to be greeted, from an NPR interview with a Catholic official.

What if the pope approaches me?

Don’t just stand there — genuflect. That means bend at the knee, for you non-Catholics.

Do I kiss the ring?

Yes, if you are Catholic and the pope offers his hand. If you’re not Catholic, you can opt to shake his hand. That’s what President Bush did on Tuesday when he met the pope at Andrews Air Force Base outside of Washington, D.C. The ring is a mark of the papacy and, according to Smith, kissing it is a sign of respect and affection.

What do I call the pope?

Address him as “Your Holiness” or “Holy Father.”
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89667043, 9/16/2017

By contrast, Peter did not allow people to bow down to him.

Acts 10:24-26
24) On the next day they entered into Caesarea. Cornelius was waiting for them, having called together his relatives and his near friends.
25) When it happened that Peter entered, Cornelius met him, fell down at his feet, and worshiped him.
26) But Peter raised him up, saying, “Stand up! I myself am also a man.”

Well, then, since Peter wasn’t king of the church, was Paul king? After all, he was the one who told Peter off.

Actually, Paul said that he was the least of the apostles.

1Co 15:3-9
(3) For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
(4) that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
(5) and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
(6) Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom remain until now, but some have also fallen asleep.
(7) Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,
(8) and last of all, as to the child born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also.
(9) For I am the least of the apostles, who is not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the assembly of God.

That’s why Paul went to Jerusalem to discuss the conflict over circumcision, to check with the other apostles to make sure that he was not running in vain. He was the latest and least of the apostles.

Gal 2
(2) I went up by revelation, and I laid before them the Good News which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately before those who were respected, for fear that I might be running, or had run, in vain.

Paul even said that he was the least of the saints.

Eph 3:8
(8) To me, the very least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

No, Paul was not king of the church, either.

How about James? After all, he was the one who apparently Peter feared. And it was James who pronounced his final “sentence” in the circumcision debate.

Act 15:19 KJV
(19) Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:

However, most other translations do not use the word “sentence” to describe James’s conclusion.

Act 15:1-21, World English Bible
(1) Some men came down from Judea and taught the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised after the custom of Moses, you can’t be saved.”
(2) Therefore when Paul and Barnabas had no small discord and discussion with them, they appointed Paul and Barnabas, and some others of them, to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question.
(3) They, being sent on their way by the assembly, passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles. They caused great joy to all the brothers.
(4) When they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the assembly and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all things that God had done with them.

Paul and Barnabas were not received at Jerusalem by a king. They were received by the group, the ekklesia, along with the apostles and elders.

Act 15 cont.
(5) But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.”
(6) The apostles and the elders were gathered together to see about this matter.

When a group is ruled by a pope or a chief apostle or big bishop, whatever matter is under consideration is settled by that ruler, the king of the group. Like a political king, he gets advice from his advisers, then he makes the decision all by himself. Everyone else is expected to go along with that ruling as if it’s from God, because it is thought that the pope, chief apostle, or big bishop sits in the place of God. However, in that early ekklesia, the apostles and elders gathered together about circumcision. That means there was no human king of the church.

After much discussion by everyone, Peter rose and gave his papal decree.

Acts15 cont.
(7) When there had been much discussion, Peter rose up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that a good while ago God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the nations should hear the word of the Good News, and believe.
(8) God, who knows the heart, testified about them, giving them the Holy Spirit, just like he did to us.
(9) He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.
(10) Now therefore why do you tempt God, that you should put a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
(11) But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they are.”

Well, no, that was no papal decree by Peter. It was just what he thought, and he ended his thoughts not with a decree, but with a question. Why put on the Gentiles a burden that Israelites could not bear?

Then Paul and Barnabas added their experience with the Gentiles to the discussion.

Acts15 cont.
(12) All the multitude kept silence, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul reporting what signs and wonders God had done among the nations through them.

Finally, James gave his “sentence.”

Acts15 cont.
(13) After they were silent, James answered, “Brothers, listen to me.
(14) Simeon has reported how God first visited the nations, to take out of them a people for his name.
(15) This agrees with the words of the prophets. As it is written,
(16) ‘After these things I will return. I will again build the tabernacle of David, which has fallen. I will again build its ruins. I will set it up,
(17) That the rest of men may seek after the Lord; all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who does all these things.
(18) All of God’s works are known to him from eternity.’
(19) “Therefore my judgment is that we don’t trouble those from among the Gentiles who turn to God,
(20) but that we write to them that they abstain from the pollution of idols, from sexual immorality, from what is strangled, and from blood.
(21) For Moses from generations of old has in every city those who preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”

The King James Version has James issuing a sentence, but the World English Bible has James simply saying “my judgment is,” following the example of the American Standard Version, and most other translations are similar. The Greek word involved is ‘krino,’ which can mean simply to think or decide, as in this verse when Paul decided not to stop at Ephesus.

Act 20:16
(16)  For Paul had determined [krino] to sail past Ephesus, that he might not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hastening, if it were possible for him, to be in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.

Acts 16 says that Paul went through Gentile cities, delivering the message that had been decided — not by James alone — but by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem, including James.

Act 16:4
(4)  As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered the decrees to them to keep which had been ordained by the apostles and elders who were at Jerusalem.

James was no more king of the church than Peter or Paul. That ekklesia did not have a papal bull or royal decree issued by a human king but a decision made by the apostles and elders.

Humans need kings to keep them under control, because of destructive human nature — that crazy carnality we all have. What happened in Acts 15 showed that those early Christianos were using a different spirit, the spirit of God. In that meeting, they had the mind of Christ. Therefore they were able to think alike, all thinking like the Messiah.

No, there was no papal bull, no royal decree by someone like King James of England, no unilateral doctrinal decision by the chief apostle. There were only the decrees ordained by the apostles and elders.

The most important thing about those decrees was not the decision against circumcision and the external signs of the laws of Moses, but how they made that decision. That was a miracle of the mind, letting Christ lead his church through his spirit.

And what a miracle it was!

Who were those guys who were there in that discussion?

John, whom Yeshua loved.

You remember John, who along with his mother and James his brother asked to be on the right and left hand of the Messiah in his kingdom. John kinda, like, put himself first there.

There was Peter. Remember when Peter, James and John were with Christ on the mountain when Moses and Elijah appeared? Peter blurted out to Yeshua, “Let’s make three tents here: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” Not a lot of thought went into that statement, since Christ, Moses and Elijah didn’t really need tents! When Christ wanted to wash Peter’s feet, Peter refused, then wanted Yeshua to wash his whole body. Keep calm, Peter! And when Christ told the disciples that He would be killed, Peter quickly corrected him. Not a good move. “Get behind me, Satan!” So having Peter around could make for a lively discussion!

James was there at the circumcision discussion. Who was James? Yeshua’s brother, who early on did not even believe that his oldest brother was the Messiah!

There were also Pharisees there. You know how easy they are to get along with. And Sadducees were there, because it said that many priests became part of the way.

And the Greek speakers in the ekklesia had already had a disagreement with the Hebrew speakers.

Act 6:1
(1)  Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, a complaint arose from the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily service.

That’s who was there in that circumcision conference, and all those people, John, Peter, James, Pharisees, Sadducees, Hellenists, Hebrews, et al —

All were led by the spirit of their Messiah to have the same mind. And that mind was the mind of Christ.

Php 2:1-5
(1)  If therefore there is any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion,
(2)  make my joy full, by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind;
(3)  doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;
(4)  each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.
(5)  Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus,

Or as the King James puts verse 5 —

Phil 2:5
5) Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

What they did at that circumcision conference was humanly unbelievable. They had no pope and nobody wanted to be pope!

James warned the ekklesia against indulging uppity people.

Jas 2:1-9
(1)  My brothers, don’t hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory with partiality.
(2)  For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue, and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in;
(3)  and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing, and say, “Sit here in a good place;” and you tell the poor man, “Stand there,” or “Sit by my footstool;”
(4)  haven’t you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
(5)  Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him?
(6)  But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you, and personally drag you before the courts?
(7)  Don’t they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called?
(8)  However, if you fulfill the royal law, according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well.
(9)  But if you show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors.

No popes allowed for James.

Instead of being papal, Peter told the ekklesia to return a blessing when they were insulted. Kings don’t do that.

1Pe 3:8-9
(8)  Finally, be all like-minded, compassionate, loving as brothers, tender hearted, courteous,
(9)  not rendering evil for evil, or insult for insult; but instead blessing; knowing that to this were you called, that you may inherit a blessing.

And John, who with his brother wanted a chief position in the kingdom, had to warn the ekklesia against Diotrophes, who was trying to do what John had wanted to do earlier.

3 Jn 1:5-10
(5)  Beloved, you do a faithful work in whatever you accomplish for those who are brothers and strangers.
(6)  They have testified about your love before the assembly. You will do well to send them forward on their journey in a way worthy of God,
(7)  because for the sake of the Name they went out, taking nothing from the Gentiles.
(8)  We therefore ought to receive such, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.
(9)  I wrote to the assembly, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, doesn’t accept what we say.
(10)  Therefore if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words. Not content with this, neither does he himself receive the brothers, and those who would, he forbids and throws out of the assembly.

This ekklesia was the opposite of the ekklesia in the wilderness. The wilderness ekklesia was not close to God. The Jerusalem ekklesia was. Since they were close to God, they were also close to each other. In that amazing meeting in Jerusalem, the fruits of the flesh — hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies — all gave way to love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control, the fruits of the spirit (Gal. 5).

Only Yeshua can rule like that, not with an emperor’s army but with Christ’s mind and spirit. And Christ rules only like that and not through human emperors whose prime function is to control what people think.

No, the pope or chief apostle or archbishop — the King — of the ekklesia was not Peter, Paul or James. There is only one being who can fill that position. Only He can unify people by the spirit instead of by force.