Hi, winman!
I am also a "Bible student" but no Bible scholar.
We need to rightly divide "church".
WHICH "church"? Please visit my post here (post #5):
http://av1611.com/forums/showthread.php?t=509
There is a church, "WHICH is the body of Christ", and there are churches which are not the body of Christ.
1. The "church of the firstborn" (Exo. 4:22, "Israel is my firstborn") is certainly not "the church, which is the body of Christ".
2. The "seven churches" on the Lord's day (Rev. 1:10; Joel 2) are local churches which existed during the Acts period but will be existing again during the Tribulation period ("Lord's day"). These are certainly not the "church, which is the body of Christ".
That is, if John is speaking to a "church", which "church"? Is he writing to the Body of Christ in the Age of Grace, or to seven local churches which are in Asia on the Lord's day?
3. I have come across Galatians 4:22-31 but I don't really done deeply into it, but Paul is talking about an "allegory" here. It seems that the CONTEXT is not about a discussion on "church" but being "free" from the bondage of the law.
Galatians 4:24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
The subject matter here is: "these are the two covenants".
"Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of US all" (Gal. 4:26)
Who is the "US"? If the "US" is the "church, which is the body of Christ", then who is the "
mother of US all"?
Is the "mother" and "us" the same?