Seven Churches in Revelation
 

I was reading this morning about the seven churches in the book of Revelation and was wondering what your thoughts are on this.

One I have heard it taught these are dispensations of the "church" and that we are in the Ladoicean age. I have heard others teach that all of these are prevelant even now.

What are your thoughts on this?

I see no biblical reason to view the letters as any designation of church dispensations.

I think that they are all in some sense a part of the body of Christ

It could, indeed, be said that the attributes found in each of the letters could be found in the differing members of the body of Christ.

It was there then... it is probably with us yet today.

They were literal churches and the letters were the literal words of Jesus to those churches. However, just as some people take certain things in the Old Testament as types of something in the New Testament or in the Church, so also the churches are taken by some as a type of the history of the Church from Pentecost and the first century until the blessed hope. The churches are to some extent specific periods in church history but, more than that, characteristic of various churches throughout church history. I think, for example, that much of the Church in places like China, Sudan and other places where there is extreme persecution are like the churches in Revelation that experienced such extreme persecution. The Church in North America and Europe (and other places where there is relative freedom from persection) is much like Laodicea. The Church for which the Lord is going to return in the blessed hope is the Church at Philadelphia.

Are there any divisions of ages demonstrated in the Bible other than the division of the OT & NT ages?

of course read Genesis 5:happydance

Divisions of ages, like both the oneness and trinity doctrines, are nothing more than interpretations of scripture. In this case, we're talking about patterns that have been observed and the divisions or dispensations are merely explanations of those patterns.

debatable subject...I personally believe they were just churches...

Well, yes, interpretations of scripture are subject to debate.