No
Invisible Church. In the opinion of some scholars
the church of Christ is an entirely invisible body, consisting of all true believers
in our Lord, no matter what denomination they belong to, or do not belong to;
no matter what their forms of worship may be. This church, they say, has no
need of forms, ceremonies, chapels, creeds or ministry. Only Christ knows who
the members are. And this church they explain, is the only one in which
salvation can be obtained.
But
this invisible, to men unknown, multitude is not a "church."
The
word in the Old Testament, as Nephi knew it, is "kahal" which means
an assembly, a gathering, called or invited to meet for certain purposes.
(Psalm 22:22) In the Septuagint the Hebrew word "kahal" was rendered
"ekklesia," which word, according to Liddel and Scott, means,
"an assembly of the citizens summoned by the crier, the legislative
assembly." At Athens the regular assembly with the "kyriai
ekklesia," meaning the ruling body. From the Septuagint the word found its
way to Greek-speaking Christians and was by them applied to Christian
assemblies, and especially to the Church of Christ. Nephi, probably, did not
know the Greek word "ekklesia," but he knew the Hebrew
"kahal," which means the same; and the Prophet Joseph, properly,
translates it "church." (George Reynolds and Janne M. Sjodahl, Commentary
on the Book of Mormon, 7 vols. [Salt Lake City: Deseret Press, 1976], 1:403)
