Woman from Revelation as the Church?

[Chorister]

According to Jimmy Akin’s article, the woman from Revelation 12 represents the Church.

If as the Scripture says, though, the woman’s “offspring” are those who bear witness to Jesus (Revelation 12:17), then why do we call the woman the Church?

Wouldn’t the offspring and not the woman represent the Church?

 

[tobias]

According to Jimmy Akin’s article, the woman from Revelation 12 represents the Church.

If as the Scripture says, though, the woman’s “offspring” are those who bear witness to Jesus (Revelation 12:17), then why do we call the woman the Church?

Wouldn’t the offspring and not the woman represent the Church?

If you really know scripture well, Revelation takes on multiplicity of imagery. Like the antichrist fitting well with Nebuchadnezzer and Antiouchus and Nero. was it a look to the past, present or future. Or, is it really all of these. Not to be overly simplistic, but as the saying goes 'history repeats itself. And don’t forget the 4 interpretations of scripture- literal, spiritual, alagorical and anagalogical.

Literally, Mary is the woman who gave birth to the child. but alagorically Israel gave birth to the child. spiritually it is the church. Sorry but the anagological sense always escapes me.

But it’s not as though revelation is a clear cut and dry writing, aflter all apocryphal writing was not meant to be.

 

[Belloc_Fan]

According to Jimmy Akin’s article, the woman from Revelation 12 represents the Church.

If as the Scripture says, though, the woman’s “offspring” are those who bear witness to Jesus (Revelation 12:17), then why do we call the woman the Church?

Wouldn’t the offspring and not the woman represent the Church?

I’d never thought of it, but that interpretation would be a major blow to the whole “Church just means body of believers” argument - because if it were just a group of people, then yeah… the children would definitely be the symbol of the Church (and probably, they’d just be children of Christ, not children of the Church).

I don’t see, off-hand, a way to rectify a “body of believers” view with the Church image. Which I guess leaves Protestants venerating Mary.

 

[Nita]

We speak of the Church as giving birth to its members. This is done through the Church’s sacrament of Baptism in which we are born anew, becoming a new “family” member of the Body of Christ/Church