Question:
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 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?
Answer:
It must be taken
into account that it is Christ who built the true Church and that He called it
His Church (Mt. 16:18). To explain the relationship between Christ and His
Church, Apostle 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 its 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 Christians 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 Ancient 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 manuscripts such
as MS Syriac 4 (12th century), 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 Peshitta Aramaic Text With a Hebrew Translation which when translated into
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 blood.” (emphasis ours)
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 Meshiha [for 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 translation and versions that have “Church of Christ” are more
accurate rendition of Acts 20:28 because
the later 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
blood, which washed the members of the Church for their sins (I Pt. 1:18-19;
Rev. 1:5). When the text reads, “Church
of Christ,” it furnishes
no difficulty for reading “with his own blood.”