Same But Different

In Acts Chapter Two there were 3000 people "added to the church." It is helpful to note that there are several words in the bible which, while it is the same word it is often not talking about the same thing. The word "church" is one of them. Others are the word "gospel" and the word "baptism." For instance, there is obviously more than one church in the bible.

In Matthew 16, the Lord said "I WILL BUILD my church." Then the church that he referred to that he "will build" must be a different church than the one Stephen referred to in Acts:

Acts 7:37 This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.

Acts 7:38 This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:

So there was a church back there. Moses was the head of it. In the book of Hebrews it is referred to as "his house." (Hebrews 3:2) When the Lord says "I will build my church," then it must be a different church than the one in the wilderness. In the same way the church, which is the body of Christ, is neither the church in the wilderness, of which Moses was the head, nor is it the church referred to in Matthew 16, to which 3000 people "were added" in Acts Chapter Two.

The same is true of the word "gospel." The gospel of the kingdom, preached in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and continued to be preached by Peter in the book of Acts, is not the same message as the gospel of the grace of God which Paul announced for the very first time in Acts 20:24.

In the case of the word "baptism" we see three different baptisms in Matthew 3:11. We see baptism with water, baptism with the Holy Ghost, and also baptism with fire. But neither of those are the same baptism Paul refers to in such places as 1 Corinthian 12:13 and Galatians 3:27. We need to be mindful of the fact that there is more than one church, more than one baptism, and more than one gospel in the bible. Things that are different are not the same. The context will always show which gospel, baptism, or church is in view.