The Normative Evangelical Doctrine of Church as “Mother”
The Normative Evangelical Doctrine of the Church as “Mother” 1. Earliest known explicit Christian usage of the concept of the Church as our mother: From 2 Clement 2.1 (dated somewhere between the end of first half of the 1st Century and the first half of the second), commenting on Isaiah 54:1 and the "barren woman" (and so appears to be the earliest known Christian commentary on Isaiah 54:1), states that the prophet Isaiah "spoke of us, for our church ( ecclesia ) was barren before children were given to it" ( The Apostolic Fathers , 3rd Edition, tr. Michael Holmes). Also, from Cyprian (3rd Century, i.e. prior to Constantine): “No one can have God as Father who does not have the church as mother.” 2. Basic Scriptural data: (22) For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. (23) But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. (24) Now this may be interpret