Thematic Bible: Of the ekklesia (body of Christ)


Thematic Bible



BUT Saul was delighted with his execution. Now on that very day commenced a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and all, besides the apostles, were dispersed through the regions of Judea and Samaria.

For ye have heard of my former manner of life, when I professed Judaism, that in the most outrageous manner I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:

BUT Saul, still breathing out threatenings and murder against the disciples of the Lord, applying to the high-priest, besought of him letters for the synagogues at Damascus, that if he should find any persons of this way, whether men or women, he might bring them in chains to Jerusalem. So advancing on his journey, he was drawing nigh to Damascus: and suddenly there shone around him a light from heaven: read more.
and falling on the ground, he heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Then said he, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou art persecuting: It is difficult for thee to kick against the goads. And trembling and amazed he said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men who travelled with him stood astonished, hearing indeed a voice, but seeing no man. Then Paul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus. And he was three days seeing nothing, and did neither eat nor drink. Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said unto him in a vision, Ananias! And he said, Here I am, Lord. Then the Lord said to him, Arise, go into the street called Strait, and inquire at the house of Judas for one named Saul a man of Tarsus: for, behold, he is praying, and hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming to him, and laying his hand upon him, that he may recover his sight. But Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard from many of this man, how many evils he hath inflicted on thy saints at Jerusalem: and here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call upon thy name.


who opposeth himself against, and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or is the object of adoration; so that he in the temple of God sitteth as God, exhibiting himself in public that he is God.

He that overcometh, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall never more go out from thence: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and my own new name.

in whom the whole building exactly cemented together groweth into a holy temple in the Lord: