Interesting Questions-02
"Church of the Lord,"
or "Church of God,"
or "Church of Christ"? (in Acts 20:28)
Letter to the Editor:
GOD'S MESSAGE, May 2004, p.3
I CONSULTED SEVERAL Bible translations and
versions, and I found out that in most renditions, instead of
"Church of Christ," the phrase written in Acts 20:28 which
refers to the true Church is either "Church of the Lord" or
"Church of God." As far as I know, only Lamsa's Translation
mentions "Church of Christ." Why do you believe that "Church of
Christ " is the correct name of the Church founded by Christ?
Jasmine Domingo
Cotobato City, Philippines
Editor's reply:
It must be taken into account that it is
Christ who built the true Church .and that He called it His Church
(Mt. !6:18). To explain the relationship between Christ and His
Church, Apostle Paul teaches that the Church is Christ's body
(Col.1:18). The correct name of the true Church built by Christ
therefore is "Church of Christ," for it is but right and just for
the body to be called by the name of the head.
Regarding the phrase "Church of Christ" in his
translation of Acts 20:28, George M. Lamsa explains, thus:
"The eastern text
reads: 'The church of Christ which he has purchased with his blood.'
. . . . Jewish Christian could not have used the term God, because
in their eyes God is spirit, and spirit has no flesh and blood.
. .
. It was Jesus of Nazareth who shed his blood on the cross for us,
and not God." (New Testament Commentary: From the Aramaic and
the Eastern Customs, pp. 149-150)
Granting without conceding that only George M.
Lamsa's translation of the Bible renders the phrase in Acts 20:28 as
"Church of Christ," still no rule of reasoning compels us to
conclude that if one is alone in his position, then his stand would
be wrong.
Besides, it is not just Lamsa's translation which
mentions "Church of Christ" in Acts 20:28. The English translation
of the verse in Syriac manuscript such as MS Syriac 325 (12th
century), MS Syriac 27 (16th century), and the Novum Testamentum
Syriace (17th century) read "Church of Christ."
Syriac is an Aramaic dialect into which most of
the Greek manuscripts of the New Testament were first translated.
Consulting Syriac manuscripts can help settle controversies in the
Greek manuscripts. According to some Bible scholars, "No branch of
the Early Church has done more for the translation of the Bible into
their vernacular than the Syriac-speaking" (The early versions
of the New Testament: Their origin, transmission and limitations,
p.3). It is also asserted that the Syriac manuscripts are "of
great value to the Biblical exegete . . . in view of their
origin in the second and third centuries" (The text of the New
Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration, p.67).
Aside from Syriac manuscripts, the phrase "Church
of Christ" can also be found in Acts 20:28 in Peshitta Aramaic Text
with a Hebrew Translation which, when translated in English, reads:
"Watch then for yourselves and
for all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has given you the
responsibility to feed the church of Christ which
he has acquired with his own blood."
In Dr. John Wesley Etheridge's
translation "The Apostolical Acts and Epistles, from the Peschito,
or ancient Syriac, the phrase in the verse was rendered as "church
of the Meshija [or Christ]. Moreover, the Disciples New Testament
translated by Victor Alexander, puts in the verse the name "church
of Jesus Christ."
We are confident that the translations or versions
that have "Church of Christ" are the more accurate rendition of Acts
20:28 because the latter part of the verse states, "which he
purchased with his own blood" (Acts 20:28,
American Standard Version, emphasis ours). It is clear that the
one referred to here by the pronoun "he" is the one who shed his
blood for the Church. Here, we can only agree to Lamsa's
explanation, for it is indeed what the Bible teaches. The pronoun
"he" does not refer to our Lord God for He, being a spirit
(Jn. 4:24), has no flesh and bones (Lk.24:36-39), and thus has no
blood. It is the Lord Jesus Christ's blood, which washed the members
of the Church of their sins (I Peter 1:18-19; Rev. 1:5). When the
text reads, "Church of Christ," it furnishes no difficulty for
reading "with his own blood."
___________________
Note: Some words and
phrases are in italics for emphasis.