Trench — Synonyms of the New Testament
THERE are words whose history it is peculiarly interesting to watch, as they obtain a deeper meaning, and receive a new consecration in the Christian Church; words which the Church did not invent, but has assumed into its service, and employed in a far loftier sense than any to which the world has ever put them before. The very word by which the Church is named is itself an example—a more illustrious one could scarcely be found—of this progressive ennobling of a word.' For we have ἐκκλησία in three distinct stages of meaning—the heathen, the Jewish, and the Christian. In respect of the first, ἡ ἐκκλησία (ΞΞἔκκλητοι, Euripides, Orestes, ‘ Zezschwitz, in his very interesting Lecture, Profangrdcitét und Biblischer Sprachgeist, Leipzig, 1859, p. 5, has said excellently well, ‘ Das Christenthum wiire nicht als was es siegend iiber Griechenthum und Romerthum sich ausgewiesen, hitte es zu reden vermocht, oder zu reden sich zwingen lassen miissen, nach den Grundbegriffen griechischen Geisteslebens, griechischer Weltanschauung. Nur sprachumbildend, ausstossend was entweiht war, hervorziehend was griechische Geistesrichtung ungebiihrlich zuriickgestellt hatte, verklirend endlich womit das aichtmenschliche, von Anfang an so sittlich gerichtete Griechenthum die Vorstufen der gittlichen Wahrheit erreicht hatte: nur so ein in seinen Grundbegriffen christianisirtes Griechisch sich anbildend ‘konnten die Apostel Christi der Welt, die damals der allgemeinen Bildung nach eine griechische war, die Sprache des Geistes, der durch sie zeugte, vermitteln.’ B 2 SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT $1 939) was the lawful assembly in a free Greek city of all those possessed of the right of citizenship, for the transaction of public affairs. That they were swmmoned is expressed in the latter part of the word; that they were summoned owt of the whole population, a select portion of it, including neither the populace, nor strangers, nor yet those who had forfeited their civic rights, this is expressed in the first. Both the calling (the κλῆσις, Phil. iii. 14; 2 Tim. i. 9), and the calling out (the ἐκλογή, Rom. xi. 7; 2 Pet. i. 10), are moments to be remembered, when the word is assumed into a higher Christian sense, for in them the chief part of its peculiar adaptation to its auguster uses lies.' It is interesting to observe how, on one occasion in the N. T., the word returns to this earlier significance (Acts xix. 32, 39, 41). Before, however, more fully considering that word, it will need to consider a little the anterior history of another with which I am about to compare it. Συναγωγή occurs two or three times in Plato (thus Theet. 150 a), but is by no means an old word in classical Greek, and in it altogether wants that technical signification which already in the Septuagint, and still more plainly in the Apocrypha, it gives promise of acquiring, and which it is found in the N. T. to have fully acquired.” But συναγωγή, while travelling in this ’ Both these points are well made by Flacius Illyricus, in his Clavis Scripture, 5. v. Ecclesia: ‘Quia Ecclesia a verbo καλεῖν venit, hoc observetur primum; ideo conversionem hominum vocationem vocari, non tantum quia Deus eos per se suumque Verbum, quasi clamore, vocat ; sed etiam quia sicut herus ex turba famulorum certos aliquos ad aliqua singularia munia evocat, sic Deus quoque tum totum populum suum vocat ad cultum suum (Hos. xi. 1), tum etiam singulos homines ad certas singularesque functiones. (Act. xiii. 2.) Quoniam autem non tantum vocatur Populus Dei ad cultum Dei, sed etiam vocatur ex reliqua turbé aut confusione generis humani, ideo dicitur Ecclesia, quasi dicas, Evocata divinitus ex reliqu4é impiorum colluvie, ad cultum celebrationemque Dei, et eternam felicitatem.’ Compare Witsius In Symbol. pp. 394-397. ? An American scholar (Church Review, July 1881) says well, ‘The Septuagint represents only a half-way step in this assignment of the Greek language to the expression of Hebrew ideas.’ §1 SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 3 direction, did not leave behind it the meaning which is the only one that in classical Greek it knew; and often denotes, as it would there, any gathering or bringing together of persons or things; thus we have there συναγωγὴ ἐθνῶν (Gen. xlviil. 4); συναγωγὴ ὕδατος (Isai. xix. 6); συναγωγὴ χρημάτων (Hcclus. xxxi. 8), and such like. It was during the time which intervened between the closing of the O. T. canon and the opening of that of the New that συναγωγή acquired that technical meaning of which we find it in full possession when the Gospel history begins; designating, as there it does, the places set apart for purposes of worship and the reading and expounding of the Word of God, the ‘ Synagogues,’ as we find them named; which, capable as they were of indefinite multiplication, were the necessary complement of the Temple, which according to the divine intention was and could be but one. But to return to ἐκκλησία. This did not, like some other words, pass immediately and ata single step from the heathen world to the Christian Church: but here, as so often, the Septuagint supplies the link of connexion, the point of transition, the word being there prepared for its highest meaning of all. When the Alexandrian translators undertook the rendering of the Hebrew Scriptures, they found in them two constantly recurring words, namely, ΠῚ and Dap. For these they employed generally, and as their most adequate Greek equivalents, συναγωγή and ἐκκλησίά. The rule which they seem to have prescribed to themselves is ag follows—to render ΠῚ for the most part by συναγωγή (Exod. mie; ley, ty. 13; Num. 1. 2. and altogether more than a hundred times), and, whatever other renderings of the word they may adopt, in no single case to render it by ἐκκλησία. It were to be wished that they had shown the same consistency in respect of Onp ; but they have not; for while ἐκκλησία 15 their more frequent rendering (Deut. xviii. 16; Judg. xx. 2; 1 Kin. viii. 14, and in all some seventy times), they too often render this also by συναγωγή (Lev. iv. 13; Num. xvi. a. Deut. v. 22, and in all some five and twenty times), thus B2 4 SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT $1 breaking down for the Greek reader the distinction which undoubtedly exists between the words. Our English Version has the same lack of a consistent rendering. Its two words are ‘ congregation ’ and ‘ assembly ;’ but instead of constantly assigning one to one, and one to the other, it renders 77 now by ‘congregation ’ (Lev. x. 17; Num. i. 16; Josh. ix. 27), and now by ‘assembly’ (Lev. iv. 23); and on the other hand, Sap sometimes by ‘assembly ’ (Judg. xxi. 8 ; 2 Chron. xxx. 23), but much oftener by ‘congregation’ (Judg. xxi. 5; Josh. vill. 35). There is an interesting discussion by Vitringa (De Synag. Vet. pp. 77-89) on the distinction between these two Hebrew synonyms; the result of which is summed up in the following statements: ‘Notat proprie bap universam alicujus populi multitudinem, vinculis societatis unitam et rempublicam sive civitatem quandam constituentem, cum vocabulum fy ex indole et vi significationis sue tantum dicat quemcunque hominum cetum et conventum, sive minorem sive majorem ’ (p. 80). And again: ‘ Swaywyy, ut et ΠΝ, semper significat cetum conjunctum et congregatum, etiamsi nullo forte vinculo ligatum, sed ἡ ἐκκλησία [ = ΠΡ] designat multitudinem aliquam, que populum constituit, per leges et vincula inter se junctam, etsi spe fiat ut non sit coacta vel cogi possit’ (p. 88). Accepting this as a true distinction, we shall see that it was not without due reason that our Lord (Matt. xvi. 18; xviii. 17) and his Apostles claimed this, as the nobler word, to designate the new society of which He was the Founder, being as it was a society knit together by the closest spiritual bonds, and altogether independent of space. Yet for all this we do not find the title ἐκκλησία wholly withdrawn from the Jewish congregation; that too was ‘the Church in the wilderness’ (Acts vii. 38); for Christian and Jewish differed only in degree, and not in kind. Nor yet do we find συναγωγή wholly renounced by the Church; the latest honourable use of it in the N. T., indeed the only Christian use of it there, is by that Apostle to whom Siew VVONIVYS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 5 it was especially given to maintain unbroken to the latest possible moment the outward bonds connecting the Synagogue and the Church, namely, by St. James (ii. 2); ἐπισυναγωγή, Τ may add, on two occasions is honorably used, but in a more general sense (2 Thess. ii. 1 ; Heb. x. 25). Occasionally also in the early Fathers, in Ignatius for instance (Hp. ad Polyc. 4; for other examples see Suicer, s.v.), we find συναγωγή still employed as an honorable designation of the Church, or of her places of assembly. Still there were causes at work which led the faithful to have less and less pleasure in the appropriation of this name to themselves ; and in the end to leave it altogether to those, whom in the latest book of the canon the Lord had characterized for their fierce opposition to the truth even as ‘ the synagogue of Satan ’ (Rev. iii. 9; cf. John viii. 44). Thus the greater fitness and dignity of the title ἐκκλησία has been already noted. Add to this that the Church was ever rooting itself more predominantly in the soil of the heathen world, breaking off more entirely from its Jewish stock and stem. This of itself would have led the faithful to the letting fall of συναγωγή, a word with no such honorable history to look back on, and permanently associated with Jewish worship, and to the ever more exclusive appropriation to themselves of ἐκκλησία, so familiar already, and of so honorable a significance, in Greek ears. It is worthy of note that the Ebionites, in reality a Jewish sect, though they had found their way for a while into the Christian Church, should have acknowledged the rightfulness of this distribution of terms. Epiphanius (Heres. xxx. 18) reports of these, συναγωγὴν δὲ οὗτοι καλοῦσιν τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἐκκλησίαν, καὶ οὐχὶ ἐκκλησίαν. It will be perceived from what has been said that Augustine, by a piece of good fortune which he had no right to expect, was only half in the wrong when transferring his Latin etymologies to the Greek and Hebrew, and not pausing to enquire whether they would hold good there, as was improbable enough, he finds the reason for attributing συναγωγή to the Jewish, and ἐκκλησία to the Christian Church, 6 SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT $1 in the fact that ‘ convocatio’ (= ἐκκλησία) is a nobler term than ‘congregatio’ (= συναγωγή), the first being properly the calling together of men, the second the gathering together (‘ congregatio,’ from ‘ congrego,’ and that from ‘ grex ἢ of cattle.! See Field, On the Church, i. 5. The πανήγυρις differs from the ἐκκλησία in this, that in the ἐκκλησία, aS has been noted already, there lay ever the sense of an assembly coming together for the transaction of business. The πανήγυρις, on the other hand, was a solemn assembly for purposes of festal rejoicing ; and on this account it is found joined continually with ἑορτή, as by Philo, Vit. Mos. ii. 7; Ezek. xlvi.11; cf. Hos. ii. 11; ix. 5; and Isai. Ixvi. 10, where πανηγυρίζειν = ἑορτάζειν : the word having given us ‘ panegyric,’ which is properly a set discourse pronounced at one of these great festal gatherings. Business might grow out of the fact that such multitudes were assembled, since many, and for various reasons, would be glad to avail themselves of the gathering; but only in the same way as a ‘fair’ grew out of a ‘ feria,’ a ‘ holiday’ out of a ‘holy-day.’ Strabo (x. 5) notices the business-like aspect which the πανηγύρεις commonly assumed (7 τε πανήγυρις ἐμπορικόν τι πρᾶγμα: cf. Pausanias, x. 32.9); which was indeed to such an extent their prominent feature that the Latins rendered πανήγυρις by ‘ mercatus,’ and this even when the Olympic games were intended (Cicero, Twsc. v. 3; Justin, xiii, 5). These with the other solemn games were eminently, though not exclusively, the πανηγύρεις of the Greek nation (Thucydides, i. 25; Isocrates, Paneg.1). Keeping this festal 1 Enarr. in Ps. |xxxi. 1: ‘In synagog& populum Israél accipimus, quia et ipsorum proprie synagoga dici solet, quamvis et Ecclesia dicta sit. Nostri vero Ecclesiam nunquam synagogam dixerunt, sed semper Ecclesiam : sive discernendi causa, sive quod inter congregationem, unde synagoga, et convocationem, unde Ecclesia nomen accepit, distet aliquid ; quod scilicet congregari et pecora solent, atque ipsa proprie, quorum et greges proprie dicimus ; convocaré autem magis est utentium ratione, sicut sunt homines.’ Soalso the author of a Commentary on the Book of Proverbs formerly ascribed to Jerome (Opp. vol. v. p. 533); and by Vitringa (p. 91) cited as his. §u SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 7 character of the πανήγυρις in mind, we shall find a peculiar fitness in the word’s employment at Heb. xii. 23, where only in the N. T. it occurs. The Apostle is there setting forth the communion of the Church militant on earth with the Church triumphant in heaven,—of the Church toiling and suffering here with that Church from which all weariness and toil have for ever passed away (Rev. xxi. 4); and how could he better describe this last than as a πανήγυρις, than as the glad and festal assembly of heaven? Very beautifully Delitzsch (in loc.) : “Πανήγυρις ist die vollzihlige, zahlreiche und insbesondere festliche, festlich frdhliche und sich ergétzende Versammlung. Man denkt bei πανήγυρις an Festgesang, Festreigen und Festspiele, und das Leben vor Gottes Angesicht ist ja wirklich eine unaufhérliche Festfeier.’ S$ il. θειότης, θεότης. NEITHER of these words occurs more than once in the N. T.; θειότης only at Rom. 1. 20 (and once in the Apocrypha, Wisd. xviii. 9) ; θεότης at Col. ii. 9. We have rendered both by ‘ Godhead’; yet they must not be regarded as identical in meaning, nor even as two different forms of the same word, which in process of time have separated off from one another, and acquired different shades of significance. On the contrary, there is a real distinction between them, and one which grounds itself on their different derivations; θεότης being from Θεός, and θειότης, not from τὸ θεῖον, which is nearly though not quite equivalent to Θεός, but from the adjective θεῖος. Comparing the two passages where they severally occur, we shall at once perceive the fitness of the employment of one word in one, of the other in the other. In the first (Rom. i. 20) St. Paul is declaring how much of God may be known from the revelation of Himself which He has made in nature, from those vestiges of Himself which men may everywhere trace in the world around them. Yet it is not the personal God whom any man may learn to know by these 8 SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT $1 aids: He can be known only by the revelation of Himself in his Son; but only his divine attributes, his majesty and glory. This Theophylact feels, who on Romans i. 20 gives μεγαλειότης aS equivalent to θειότης ; and it is not to be doubted that St. Paul uses this vaguer, more abstract, and less personal word, just bacause he would affirm that men may know God’s power and majesty, his θεῖα δύναμις (2 Pet. 1. 8), from his works; but would not imply that they may know Himself from these, or from anything short of the revelation of his Eternal Word.! Motives not dissimilar induce him to use τὸ θεῖον rather than 6 θεός in addressing the Athenians on Mars’ Hill (Acts xvii. 29). But in the second passage (Col. ii. 9) St. Paul is declaring that in the Son there dwells all the fulness of absolute Godhead ; they were no mere rays of divine glory which gilded Him, lighting up his person fora season and with a splendour not his own; but He was, and is, absolute and perfect God; and the Apostle uses θεότης to express this essential and personal Godhead of the Son; in the words of Augustine (De Cw. Dei, vii. 1): ‘ Status ejus qui sit Deus.’ Thus Beza rightly: ‘Non dicit: τὴν θειότητα, i.e. divinitatem, sed τὴν θεότητα, 1.6. deitatem, ut magis etiam expresse loquatur; .. . ἡ θειότης attributa videtur potius quam naturam ipsam declarare.’ And Bengel: ‘Non modo divine virtutes, sed ipsa divina natura.’ De Wette has sought to express the distinction in his German translation, rendering θειότης by ‘ Gottlichkeit,’ and θεότης by ‘ Gottheit.’ There have not been wanting those who have denied that any such distinction was intended by St. Paul; and they rest this denial on the assumption that no such difference between the forces of the two words can be satisfactorily made out. But, even supposing that such a difference could not be shown in classical Greek, this of itself would be in no way decisive on the matter. The Gospel of Christ might for all this put into words, and again draw out from them, new " Cicero (usc. i. 13): ‘Multi de Diis prava sentiunt; omnes tamen esse vim et naturam divinam arbitrantuy.’ §u SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 9 forces, evolve latent distinctions, which those who hitherto employed the words may not have required, but which had become necessary now. And that this distinction between ‘deity ’ and ‘ divinity,’ if I may use these words to represent severally θεότης and θειότης, is one which would be strongly felt, and which therefore would seek its utterance in Christian theology, of this we have signal proof in the fact that the Latin Christian writers were not satisfied with ‘ divinitas,’ which they found ready to their hand in the writings of Cicero and others; and which they sometimes were content to use (see Piper, Theol. Stud. ει. Krit. 1875, p. 79 sqq.); but themselves coined ‘ deitas’ as the only adequate Latin representative of the Greek θεότης. We have Augustine’s express testimony to'the fact (De Cw. Dei, vii. 1): ‘Hane divinitatem, vel ut sic dixerim deitatem; nam et hoc verbo uti jam nostros non piget, ut de Greco expressius transferant id quod illi θεότητα appellant, &c.;’ ef. x. 1,2. But not to urge this, nor yet the different etymologies of the words, that one is τὸ εἶναί τινα θεόν, the other τὸ εἶναί twa [or τι] θεῖον, which so clearly point to this difference in their meanings, examples, so far as they can be adduced, go to support the same. Both θεότης and θειότης, as In general the abstract words in every language, are of late introduction; and one of them, θεότης, is extremely rare. Indeed, only two examples of it from ᾿ς classical Greek have hitherto been brought forward, one from Lucian (Icarom. 9); the other from Plutarch (De Def. Orac. 10): οὕτως ἐκ μὲν ἀνθρώπων εἰς ἥρωας, ἐκ δὲ ἡρώων εἰς δαίμονας, αἱ βελτίονες ψυχαὶ τὴν μεταβολὴν λαμβάνουσιν. ἐκ δὲ δαιμόνων ὀλίγαι μὲν ἔτι χρόνῳ πολλῷ OV ἀρετῆς καθαρθεῖσαι παντάπασι θεότητος μετέσχον : but to these a third, that also from Plutarch (De Isid. et Osir. 22), may be added. In all of these it expresses, In agreement with the view here asserted, Godhead in the absolute sense, or at all events in as absolute a sense as the heathen could conceive it. Θειότης is a very much commoner word ; and its employment everywhere bears out the distinction here drawn. There is ever a manifestation of the divine, of some divine attributes, in that to which θειότης 10 SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT $11 is attributed, but never absolute essential Deity. Thus Lucian (De Cal. 17) attributes θειότης to Hephestion, when after his death Alexander would have raised him to the rank of a god; and Plutarch speaks of the θειότης τῆς ψυχῆς, De Plac. Phil. v.1; οἵ, De Is. et Os. 2; Sull. 6; with various other passages to the like effect. It may be observed, in conclusion, that whether this distinction was intended, as I am fully persuaded it was, by St. Paul or not, it established itself firmly in the later theological language of the Church—the Greek Fathers using never θειότης, but always θεότης, as alone adequately expressing the essential Godhead of the Three several Persons in the Holy Trinity. δ᾽ lll. ἱερόν, ναός. WE have in our Version only the one word ‘ temple’ for both of these ; nor is it easy to perceive in what manner we could have marked the distinction between them; which is yet a very real one, and one the marking of which would often add much to the clearness and precision of the sacred narrative (see Fuller, 4 Pisgah Sight of Palestine, p. 427). Ἵερό (= templum) is the whole compass of the sacred enclosure, the τέμενος, including the outer courts, the porches, porticoes, and other buildings subordinated to the temple itself: ai οἰκοδομαὶ τοῦ ἱεροῦ (Matt. xxiv.1). But ναός (= ‘ edes’) from ναίω, ‘habito,’ as the proper habitation of God (Acts vii. 48 ; xvii. 24; 1 Cor. vi. 19); the οἶκος τοῦ Θεοῦ (Matt. xii. 4; ef. Exod. xxiii. 19), the German ‘duom’ or ‘domus,’ is the temple itself, that by especial right so called, being the heart and centre of the whole; the Holy, and the Holy of Holies, called often ἁγίασμα (1 Mace. i. 87; iii. 45). This distinction, one that existed and was acknowledged in profane Greek and with reference to heathen temples, quite as much as in sacred Greek and with relation to the temple of the true God (see Herodotus, i. 181, 188; Thucydides, iv. 90 [τάφρον μὲν κύκλῳ περὶ τὸ ἱερὸν καὶ τὸν νεὼν ἔσκαπτον] ; v.18; Acts xix. 24, 27), is, I believe, always assumed in all passages relating to the δ SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT II temple at Jerusalem, alike by Josephus, by Philo, by the Septuagint translators, andin the N. T. Often indeed it is explicitly recognized, as by Josephus (Antt. viii. 8. 9), who, having described the building of the ναός by Solomon, goes on to say: ναοῦ δ᾽ ἔξωθεν ἱερὸν φκοδόμησεν ἐν τετραγώνῳ σχήματι. In another passage (Antt. xi. 4.3), he describes the - Samaritans as seeking permission of the Jews to be allowed to share in the rebuilding of God’s house (συγκατασκευάσαι τὸν ναόν), This is refused them (cf. Ezra iv. 2); but, according to his account, it was permitted to them ἀφικνουμένοις εἰς TO ἱερὸν σέβειν τὸν Ocov—a privilege denied to mere Gentiles, who might not, under penalty of death, pass beyond their own exterior court (Acts xxi. 29, 80; Philo, Leg. ad Cat. 81). The distinction may be brought to bear with advantage on several passages in the N.T. When Zacharias entered into “the tenple of the Lord’’ to burn incense, the people who waited his return, and who are described as standing “ without ’’ (Luke i. 10), were in one sense in the temple too, that is, in the ἱερόν, while he alone entered into the ναός, the ‘temple’ in its more limited and auguster sense. We read continually of Christ teaching ‘in the temple” (Matt. xxvi. 55; Luke xxi. 87; John viii. 20) ; and we sometimes fail to understand how long conversations could there have been maintained, without interrupting the service of God. But this ‘temple’ is ever the ἱερόν, the porches and porticoes of which were excellently adapted to such purposes, as they were intended for them. Into the ναός the Lord never entered during his ministry on earth; nor indeed, being ‘made under the law,’ could he have so done, the right of such entry being reserved for the priests alone. It need hardly be said that the money-changers, the buyers and sellers, with the sheep and oxen, whom the Lord drives out, He repels from the ἱερόν, and not from the ναός. Profane as was their intrusion, they yet had not dared to establish themselves in the temple more strictly so called (Matt. xxi. 12 ; John ii. 14). On the other hand, when we read of another 12 SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT $i1v Zacharias slain “between the temple and the altar” (Matt. xxiii. 85), we have only to remember that ‘temple’ is ναός here, at once to get rid of a difficulty, which may perhaps have presented itself to many—this namely, Was not the altar 7m the temple ? how then could any locality be described as between these two? In the ἱερόν, doubtless, was the brazen altar to which allusion is here made, but not in the ναός : “in the court of the house of the Lord” (cf. Josephus, Antt. viii. 4. 1), where the sacred historian (2 Chron. xxiv. 21) lays the scene of this murder, but not in the ναός itself. Again, how vividly does it set forth to us the despair and defiance of Judas, that he presses even into the ναός itself (Matt. xxvii. 5), into the‘ adytum’ which was set apart for the priests alone, and there casts down before them the accursed price of blood! Those expositors who affirm that here ναός stands for ἱερόν, should adduce some other passage in which the one is put for the other. δ iv. ἐπιτιμάω, ἐλέγχω (αἰτία, ἔλεγχος).
📖 Greek Word Study — In-Depth Study from Precept Austin
Church (1577) ekklesia
Church (1577)(ekklesia from ek = out + klesis = a calling, verb = kaleo = to call) literally means called out (but see note by Louw-Nida below) and as commonly used in the Greco-Roman vernacular referred to citizens who were called out from their homes to be publicly assembled or gathered to discuss or carry out affairs of state. Wuest writes that "The word assembly is a good one-word translation of ekklesia."
Church - English word - derived from Middle English chirche, from Old English cirice, ultimately from Late Greek kyriakon (doma - house) = a temple of God, from Greek neuter of kyriakos = of the Lord or pertaining to the Lord from kyrios lord, master.
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Smith's Bible Dictionary notes that...
The day of Pentecost is the birthday of the Christian church. Before they had been individual followers Jesus; now they became his mystical body, animated by his spirit.
As with all Greek word studies, the meaning of the word in a specific passage is critically dependent upon examination of the context. This basic principle is applied in this discussion and accounts for several different nuances of ekklesia in the summary below (note). As Easton's Bible Dictionary says...
In the New Testament it is the translation of the Greek word ecclesia, which is synonymous with the Hebrew qahal of the Old Testament, both words meaning simply an assembly, the character of which can only be known from the connection in which the word is found (Ed: In other words, context is critical in order to understand the meaning/nuance of each specific use of ekklesia).
Louw and Nida adds that...
Though some persons have tried to see in the term ekklesia a more or less literal meaning of ââ¬Ëcalled-out ones,’ this type of etymologizing is not warranted either by the meaning of ekklesia in NT times or even by its earlier usage. The term ekklesia was in common usage for several hundred years before the Christian era and was used to refer to an assembly of persons constituted by well-defined membership. In general Greek usage it was normally a socio-political entity based upon citizenship in a city-state and in this sense is parallel to demos (a group of citizens assembled for socio-political activities). For the NT, however, it is important to understand the meaning of ekklesia as ââ¬Ëan assembly of God’s people.’ (Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains. United Bible societies or Wordsearch)
In summary, Louw and Nida says that strictly speaking the etymology of "ekklesia" is not "called out ones" but was used of an assembly (composed not necessarily of "called out ones"). That said, when we come to the usual NT meaning of ekklesia, the church, it cannot be a "coincidence" that the body of Christ, the church, is composed solely of men and women "called out" by God. To be sure local assemblies of believers ("local churches") seldom if ever are 100% believers and thus "called out ones" is strictly speaking not be an accurate designation. So while etymologically inaccurate, "called out ones" is theologically accurate for the true church which is the body of Christ.
A BETTER TERM:
BODY OF CHRIST
A key identifying characteristic of the Church is Holy Spirit baptism (1 Cor. 12:13) which is the event that forms the Body of Christ which is actually a better designation for the world-wide body of believers than the term 'church.' To reiterate, the Greek ekklesia (most often translated 'church') merely means a gathering or group of people. Ekklesia can even describe nonbelievers and thus is not a precise technical term. In short, ekklesia can appear in contexts which have nothing to do with the baptizing work of the Spirit which defines the Body of Christ, an entity which did not exist prior to Pentecost.
Here are some other indicators that the Body of Christ, the Church did not exist in the Old Testament: (1) Jesus Himself indicated that 'on this rock I will build my Church' (future tense, Mt. 16:18). (2.) Peter referred to the arrival of the Holy Spirit as the 'the beginning' (Acts 11:15). (3) James referred to the giving of the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles (Acts 10:45) as 'at the first' (Acts 15:14). (4) The joining of Gentiles and Jews into the same body is described as a 'mystery' which was not made know previously to the sons of men (Eph. 3:4-7; Col. 1:26-27). (5) In the OT when Gentiles joined Israel they became Jewish proselytes, whereas in the NT, the barrier between Jews and Gentiles (the Law of Moses) was removed 'in Christ' and God created a new spiritual organism, the 'one new man' (Eph. 2:15), which has no counterpart in the the Old Testament.
The New Unger Bible Dictionary lists seven metaphors that set forth the relationship between Christ and His Church...
Relation Between Christ and the Church. Seven NT figures set forth this relation: (1) the Shepherd and the Sheep (John 10); (2) the Vine and the Branches (John 15); (3) the Cornerstone and the Stones of the Building (1 Cor. 3:9; Eph. 2:19—22; 1 Pet. 2:5); (4) High Priest and the Kingdom of Priests (Heb. 5:1—10; 6:13—8:6; 1 Pet. 2:5—9; Rev. 1:6); (5) the Head and the Many-Membered Body (1 Cor. 12:12—13, 27; Eph. 4:4); (6) the Last Adam and the New Creation (1 Cor. 15:22, 45; 2 Cor. 5:17); (7) the Bridegroom and the Bride (John 3:29; 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:25—33; Rev. 19:7—8).
Here are the definitions of ekklesia...
(1) In Secular Greek usage ekklesia = a body of citizens “gathered” to discuss the affairs of state
Zodhiates: (Ekklesia) was a common (secular) term for a congregation of the ekklÄ"toà (n.f.), the called people, or those called out or assembled in the public affairs of a free state, the body of free citizens called together by a herald (kerux]) which constituted the ekklÄ"sia.
NIDNTT = Ekklesia, centuries before the translation of the OT and the time of the NT, was clearly characterized as a political phenomenon, repeated according to certain rules and within a certain framework. It was the assembly of full citizens, functionally rooted in the constitution of the democracy, an assembly in which fundamental political and judicial decisions were taken. The scope of its competence varied in the different states....
What is noteworthy, however, is that the word ekklÄ"sia, throughout the Greek and Hellenistic areas, always retained its reference to the assembly of the polis (city). In only three exceptional cases was it used for the business meeting of a cultic guild....Otherwise it was never used for guilds or religious fellowships. These were referred to by such expressions as thiasos, cultic assembly to worship a god; eranos, literally a contract of partnership....however, none of these words found its way into the NT. (Brown, Colin, Editor. New International Dictionary of NT Theology. 1986. Zondervan or Computer version)
(2) In the Septuagint (LXX) - Ekklesia occurs in the Septuagint (Lxx) (Greek translation of the OT) about 77 times and is used most often to translate the Hebrew noun qāhāl (06951) (from qāhal = to gather or assemble) which conveys the idea of assembling without regard to purpose and depending on the context can refer to an assembly, company, congregation, multitude. Qāhāl describes various gatherings and assemblies called together - for evil purposes (Ps 26:5,- Lxx = ekklesia), for worship (Ps 22:22 - Lxx = ekklesia), for war (Jdg 20:2 - Lxx = ekklesia; David before Israel's army before he slew Goliath - 1Sa 17:46 - Lxx = ekklesia), description of an assembly of exiles (Ezra 2:64, Neh 7:66 - Lxx = ekklesia), assembly of Israel gathered at Mt Sinai to hear the LORD's commandments (Dt 9:10 - Lxx = ekklesia), assembly called for worship (2Chr 30:25 - Lxx = ekklesia used twice), description of Israel gathered at Solomon's dedication of God's Temple (1Ki 8:14 - Lxx = ekklesia)
The other Hebrew word for assembly or congregation is 'edah (05712) which Septuagint never translates with ekklesia. Instead 'edah is is translated with the Greek noun synagoge 127/145 occurrences. Note that some of the the Scriptural uses of qāhāl are also translated with synagoge (E.g., Ge 35:11, 28:3, Nu 20:4, assembly on the Day of Atonement in Lev 16:17)
Ekklesia - 77 uses in the non-apocryphal LXX - Dt 4:10; 9:10; 18:16; 23:2, 3, 4, 9; 31:30; Josh 9:2; Jdg 20:2; 21:5, 8; 1Sa 17:47; 19:20; 1Kgs 8:14, 22, 55, 65; 1Chr 13:2, 4; 28:2, 8; 29:1, 10, 20; 2Chr 1:3, 5; 6:3, 12f; 7:8; 10:3; 20:5, 14; 23:3; 28:14; 29:23, 28, 31f; 30:2, 4, 13, 17, 23, 24, 25; Ezra 2:64; 10:1, 8, 12, 14; Neh 5:7, 13; 7:66; 8:2, 17; 13:1; Ps 21:23, 26; 25:5, 12; 34:18; 39:10; 67:27; 88:6; 106:32; 149:1; Pr 5:14; Job 30:28; Mic 2:5; Joel 2:16; Lam 1:10
(3) In the NT ekklesia has at least 4 nuances of meaning depending on the context...
(a) A body of citizens “gathered” to discuss the affairs of state - Acts 19:39
(b) A tumultuous gathering, i.e., a riotous mob - Acts 19:32, 41
(c) Used by Luke in Acts 7:38 where the intended meaning is not "church" but an assembly of Israel. It is therefore not surprising, that most Bible translations (other than the Acts 7:38KJV) avoid translating ekklesia here as "church".
Comment: Note that the gathering of the Jews in the NT is most often termed "Sunagoge/synagoge" (G4864) from sun = together or with + ago = to bring - literally "a bringing together". Luke's use of ekklesia to describe the OT assembly of Israel does not support the teaching by some that the "church" was mentioned in the OT. It was not! In fact it was a mystery only revealed in the NT. One should be wary of commentaries and systematic theology books that take the liberty of seeing the "church" in OT passages that specifically (clearly from the context) refer to the nation or people of Israel. This is not saying that ekklesia was not used in the Greek translation of the Hebrew word for "assembly," because it was used many times (See Definition #2 Above). However, the uses of ekklesia in the Lxx are not evidence that the "church" as it is defined by the NT writings of Luke and Paul was present in the OT.
Mounce comments that: "the prototype of the NT ekklÄ"sia lies not in Greco-Roman history but in the assembly of God’s people in the OT (cf. Acts 7:38), which developed into the Jewish synagogue as the gathering of the community of God. In these gatherings the great stories of salvation history were regularly rehearsed and the wonderful promises of God to Israel recounted (cf. Nu 14:7, 8, 9). But while the ekklÄ"sia may find its roots in the synagogue, it is not a subset of it but becomes the new term used for the gathering of various groups of Christian believers...The apostle sees the church as a new race, which he lists it alongside Jews and Greeks in 1Co 10:32; it is sufficiently equipped with leadership and gifts to fulfill God’s purposes on earth (1Co 12:28); and it is the avenue through which the wisdom of God is made known (Ep 1:22). (Mounce's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan or Computer version)
(d) A specific congregation of believers in Christ (1Co 1:2, Ro 16:16, Acts 20:28; 1Co 1:2; Gal. 1:13; 1Th 1:1; 2Th 1:1; 1Ti 3:5) Note that at least 92 uses of ekklesia refer to a local congregation.
Specific phrase "church of God" - 8x - Acts 20:28; 1Cor 1:2; 10:32; 11:22; 15:9; 2Cor 1:1; Gal 1:13; 1Ti 3:5. This phrase signifies that the church belongs to God and comes from God. "Church of the living God" - 1Ti 3:15
Specific locations - "Church of the Laodiceans" - Col 4:16, "Church of the Thessalonians" - 1Th 1:1, 2Th 1:1; In Jerusalem
Hebrews 12:23 "church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven" -
Christ is Head of church = Eph 1:22,23-note Eph 4:14-note Eph 5:23-note Col 1:18-note
Church = Christ's body - Col 1:24-note
(e) All congregations of believers, the whole Body of Christ, "the whole company of the redeemed throughout the present era" (Vine) (Mt 16:18, Christ's "body" = Ep 1:22; Ep 5:23)
Norman Geisler: In the New Testament, ekklesia came to refer to an assembly of believers, namely, followers of Jesus. The term church as used in this volume refers to the New Testament church founded by Jesus Christ; that is, an assembly of believers joined to Christ’s spiritual body by the Holy Spirit (1Cor. 12:13) at the moment of regeneration (Titus 3:3—6), when they individually place their faith in the Lord Jesus as their Savior (Acts 16:31). If still on earth, they should be part of a local body of believers meeting regularly (Heb. 10:25) for edification (Eph. 4:12), worship (John 4:24), and participation in the ordinances. To this group Paul addressed most of his epistles, such as, for example, “the church of God which is at Corinth” (1Cor 1:2NKJV) (Systematic Theology, Volume four: Church, Last Things)
Barclay: In essence...the Church, the ekklesia, is a body of people, not so much assembling because they have chosen to come together but assembling because God has called them to Himself; not so much assembling to share their own thoughts and opinions, but assembling to listen to the voice of God. (Ibid)
Wayne Grudem's definition of the church: "The church is the community of all true believers for all time. This definition understands the church to be made of all those who are truly saved." (Grudem, W: Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. IVP; Zondervan, 1994 or Logos or Wordsearch)
Ed comment: I personally strongly disagree with this "definition" which ignores the fact that the "church" came into being at Pentecost when the Jewish believers were baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit's permanent presence. The Spirit did not indwell OT believers permanently. Grudem's definition does not take this significant difference into account but rather seems to minimize the importance of the vital need of the Holy Spirit in the supernatural work of the New Testament Church. However if Grudem intends the meaning of ekklesia to indicate an "assembly," I would agree with him, for indeed all believers will one day be present together in a glorious assembly around the Throne of God! For example, John describes an assembly of believers singing Hallelujah choruses...
After these things I heard, as it were, a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God...And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude and as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns." (Revelation 19:1, 19:6-note)
Grudem says "there are several indications in the Old Testament (Italics his for emphasis) that God thought of His people as a 'church." (Page 853) Grudem then goes on to defend this clearly suppositional statement with the fact that the Lxx uses "ekklesiazo" in Dt 4:10 (Ekklesiazo is the verb form of ekklesia and is a verb not even found in the NT! Furthermore, ekklesiazo is used in Dt 31:28 in a different context, meaning "to assemble" all the elders, not all of Israel!) to translate the Hebrew verb (qahal) meaning to gather. To say that by using ekklesiazo God was implying that Israel was (or is) the church is taking the Hebrew and Greek words both out of context, because clearly even in the NT ekklesia is not always used in a context which would allow it to be translated "church." This is highly questionable hermeneutics in my opinion and blurs the distinctions between an Old Testament assembly of Israel composed solely of Jews (many of whom were unregenerate!) and the New Testament assembly composed of regenerate Jews (and later regenerate Gentiles).
As an aside, I think Dr Grudem's Systematic Theology is one of the better works of its genre available, but as with all "resources" [including the one you are reading] the wise reader is encouraged to read with a Berean-like mindset (Acts 17:11-note)
It is worth noting that the New Testament never uses ekklesia to describe a building but describes a Body of men and women who have given their hearts to Jesus the Head of the Body. We often hear it said that the church is not an organization but an organism.
Morton H Smith has an interesting note on the etymology of the English word "church"...
The English word “church”, the Saxon word “circe”, the Scottish “kirk”, and the German “kirche” are all probably derived from the Greek kuriakos as used in some such phrase as kuriake oikia or kuriakon doma , meaning “the Lord’s house”. This derivation is believed to have come through the Goths, who used Greek names for Christian terms. This English word “church” is used to translate the Greek ekklesia in the New Testament. Thus we have the interesting phenomenon of an English word that has been derived from one Greek word to translate an entirely different Greek term. (Systematic Theology, Volume One : Prolegomena, Theology, Anthropology, Christology)
MacArthur...
The church is the bride of Christ; the branches of the Vine; the flock of the Good Shepherd; the kingdom of God’s dear Son; God’s household, consisting of His adopted children; a spiritual temple, of which Jesus Christ is the cornerstone; but, uniquely, the body of Christ.
William Barclay emphasizes that ekklesia (as used by Jesus in Mt 16:18)
It was not a Church in the human sense, still less a Church in a denominational sense, that began with Peter. What began with Peter was the fellowship of all believers in Jesus Christ, not identified with any Church and not limited to any Church, but embracing all who love the Lord....
In Athens the ekklesia was the governing body of the city; and its membership consisted of all the citizens met in assembly. But, very naturally, at no time did all attend. The summons went out to come to the Assembly (ekklesia) of the City, but only some citizens answered it and came. God’s call has gone out to every man; but only some have accepted it; and they are the ekklesia, the Church. It is not that God has been selective. The invitation comes to all; but to an invitation there must be a response (Ed Comment: See related studies on Calling = klesis and Called = kletos). (Barclay, W: The Daily Study Bible Series. The Westminster Press or Logos)
William Barclay has an interesting note that...
In NT times the Church had no buildings. Christians met in any house which had a room large enough to accommodate them. These gatherings were called `house-churches' (Ro 16.5; 1Co 16.19; Col 4.15; Philemon 1:2). Every home ought to be in a real sense a Church. Jesus is Lord of the dinner table as he is Lord of the Communion table. And it will always be true that they pray best together who first pray alone. (Barclay, William: New Testament Words:. Westminster John Know Press, 1964)
Ekklesia - 114x in 111v in NAS -
Matthew 16:18; 18:17 (The only 2 uses in the Gospels);
Acts 5:11; Acts 7:38; 8:1, 3; 9:31; 11:22, 26; 12:1, 5; 13:1; 14:23, 27; 15:3, 4, 22, 41; 16:5; 18:22; 19:32, 39, 40; 20:17, 28;
Romans 16:1, 4-note, Ro 16:5-note, Ro 16:16-note, Ro 16:23-note;
1Corinthians 1:2; 1Cor 4:17; 6:4; 7:17; 10:32; 11:16, 18, 22; 12:28; 14:4, 5, 12, 19, 23, 28, 33, 34, 35; 15:9; 16:1, 19; 2Co 1:1; 8:1, 18, 19, 23, 24; 11:8, 28; 12:13;
Galatians 1:2, 13, 22; Ep 1:22-note; Ep 3:10-note, Ep 3:21-note; Ep 5:23, 24-note, Ep 5:25, 27-note, Ep 5:29-note, Ep 5:32-note; Php 3:6-note; Php 4:15-note; Col 1:18-note, Col 1:24-note; Col 4:15, 16-note; 1Th 1:1-note; 1Th 2:14-note; 2Th 1:1, 4; 1Ti 3:5, 15; 5:16; Philemon 1:2;
Hebrews 2:12-note; He 12:23-note;
James 5:14;
3Jn 1:6, 9, 10;
Revelation 1:4-note, Re 1:11-note, Re 1:20-note; Re 2:1-note, Re 2:7-note, Re 2:8-note, Re 2:11-note, Re 2:12-note, Re 2:17-note, Re 2:18-note, Re 2:23-note, Re 2:29-note; Re 3:1-note, Re 3:6-note, Re 3:7-note, Re 3:13-note, Re 3:14-note, Re 3:22-note; Re 22:16-note
Below are the 114 uses of ekklesia in the NT. NAS translates ekklesia = assembly(3), church(74), churches(35), congregation(2).
Matthew 16:18 "I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary: In the four gospels of the New Testament, the term “church” is found only in Matthew 16:18 and 18:17. This scarcity of usage in those books that report on the life and ministry of Jesus is perhaps best explained by the fact that the church as the body of Christ did not begin until the day of Pentecost after the Ascension of Jesus (Acts 2:1—4). That the church began on the day of Pentecost may be demonstrated in various ways: (1) Christ Himself declared the church to be yet future (Matt. 16:18) (Ed: Co Jesus prophetic promise to the Apostles in Acts 1:5); (2) it was founded upon the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, and such an accomplished fact was not possible until Pentecost (Eph. 1:15—23); (3) there could be no church until it was fully purchased with Christ’s blood (Eph. 2:13).
Matthew 18:17 "If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
Acts 5:11 And great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things.
Acts 7:38 "This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness together with the angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers; and he received living oracles to pass on to you.
Acts 8:1 Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles...3 But Saul began ravaging the church (not a specific house church but the "church" of Jesus Christ in general), entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.
Acts 9:31 So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase.
Acts 11:22 The news about them reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas off to Antioch.
Acts 11:26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.
Acts 12:1 Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them.
Acts 12:5 So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.
Acts 13:1 Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
Acts 14:23 When they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
Acts 14:27 When they had arrived and gathered the church together, they began to report all things that God had done with them and how He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.
Acts 15:3 Therefore, being sent on their way by the church, they were passing through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and were bringing great joy to all the brethren.
Acts 15:4 When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them.
Acts 15:22 Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas-- Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren,
Acts 15:41 And he was traveling through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.
Acts 16:5 So the churches were being strengthened in the faith, and were increasing in number daily.
Acts 18:22 When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and went down to Antioch.
Acts 19:32 So then, some were shouting one thing and some another, for the assembly was in confusion and the majority did not know for what reason they had come together.
Acts 19:39 "But if you want anything beyond this, it shall be settled in the lawful assembly.
Acts 19:40 "For indeed we are in danger of being accused of a riot in connection with today's events, since there is no real cause for it, and in this connection we will be unable to account for this disorderly gathering."
Acts 20:17 From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church.
Acts 20:28 "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
Romans 16:1 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea.
Romans 16:4 who for my life risked their own necks, to whom not only do I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles; 5 also greet the church that is in their house. Greet Epaenetus, my beloved, who is the first convert to Christ from Asia.
Romans 16:16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.
Romans 16:23 Gaius, host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer greets you, and Quartus, the brother.
1 Corinthians 1:2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:
1 Corinthians 4:17 For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church.
1 Corinthians 6:4 So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church?
1 Corinthians 7:17 Only, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, in this manner let him walk. And so I direct in all the churches.
1 Corinthians 10:32 Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God;
1 Corinthians 11:16 But if one is inclined to be contentious, we have no other practice, nor have the churches of God....18 For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part I believe it....22 What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you.
1 Corinthians 12:28 And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues.
1 Corinthians 14:4 One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself; but one who prophesies edifies the church. 5 Now I wish that you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy; and greater is one who prophesies than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may receive edifying.
1 Corinthians 14:12 So also you, since you are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek to abound for the edification of the church.
1 Corinthians 14:19 however, in the church I desire to speak five words with my mind so that I may instruct others also, rather than ten thousand words in a tongue.
1 Corinthians 14:23 Therefore if the whole church assembles together and all speak in tongues, and ungifted men or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are mad?
1 Corinthians 14:28 but if there is no interpreter, he must keep silent in the church; and let him speak to himself and to God.
1 Corinthians 14:33 for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.
1 Corinthians 14:34 The women are to keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but are to subject themselves, just as the Law also says. 35 If they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is improper for a woman to speak in church.
1 Corinthians 15:9 For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
1 Corinthians 16:1 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also.
1 Corinthians 16:19 The churches of Asia greet you. Aquila and Prisca greet you heartily in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.
2 Corinthians 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God which is at Corinth with all the saints who are throughout Achaia:
2 Corinthians 8:1 Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia,
2 Corinthians 8:18 We have sent along with him the brother whose fame in the things of the gospel has spread through all the churches; 19 and not only this, but he has also been appointed by the churches to travel with us in this gracious work, which is being administered by us for the glory of the Lord Himself, and to show our readiness,
2 Corinthians 8:23 As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker among you; as for our brethren, they are messengers of the churches, a glory to Christ. 24 Therefore openly before the churches, show them the proof of your love and of our reason for boasting about you.
2 Corinthians 11:8 I robbed other churches by taking wages from them to serve you;
2 Corinthians 8:28 Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.
2 Corinthians 12:13 For in what respect were you treated as inferior to the rest of the churches, except that I myself did not become a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong!
Galatians 1:2 and all the brethren who are with me, To the churches of Galatia:
2 Corinthians 12:13 For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it;
2 Corinthians 12:22 I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea which were in Christ;
Ephesians 1:22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church,
Vance Havner: What the world needs is neither a Christless churchianity nor a churchless Christianity, but Christ the Head living afresh in his body, the church.
R B Kuiper: The church was originated not only by Christ, but also from Him, and cannot continue to exist for even a moment apart from Him.
The church's one foundation Is Jesus Christ her Lord;
She is his new creation By water and the Word;
From heaven he came and sought her
To be his holy bride; With his own blood he bought her,
And for her life he died.
-Samuel John Stone
Ephesians 3:10 so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 3:21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.
Ephesians 5:24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.
Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,
Ephesians 5:27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.
Ephesians 5:29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church,
Ephesians 5:32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.
Philippians 3:6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.
Philippians 4:15 You yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone;
Colossians 1:18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.
Colossians 1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions.
Colossians 4:15 Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea and also Nympha and the church that is in her house.
Colossians 4:16 When this letter is read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and you, for your part read my letter that is coming from Laodicea.
1 Thessalonians 1:1 Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.
1 Thessalonians 2:14 For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews,
2 Thessalonians 1:1 Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
2Thessalonians 1:4 therefore, we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure.
1 Timothy 3:5 (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?),
1 Timothy 3:15 but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.
1 Timothy 5:16 If any woman who is a believer has dependent widows, she must assist them and the church must not be burdened, so that it may assist those who are widows indeed.
Philemon 1:2 and to Apphia our sister, and to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house:
Hebrews 2:12 saying, "I WILL PROCLAIM YOUR NAME TO MY BRETHREN, IN THE MIDST OF THE CONGREGATION I WILL SING YOUR PRAISE."
Hebrews 12:23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,
James 5:14 Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;
3 John 1:6 and they have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God.
3 John 1:9 I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say. 10 For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words; and not satisfied with this, he himself does not receive the brethren, either, and he forbids those who desire to do so and puts them out of the church.
Revelation 1:4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne,
Revelation 1:11 saying, "Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea."
Revelation 1:20 "As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
Revelation 2:1 "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this:
Revelation 2:7 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.'
Revelation 2:8 "And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this:
Revelation 2:11 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.'
Revelation 2:12 "And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: The One who has the sharp two-edged sword says this:
Revelation 2:17 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.'
Revelation 2:18 "And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this:
Revelation 2:23 'And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.
Revelation 2:29 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'
Revelation 3:1 "To the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: 'I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.
Revelation 3:6 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'
Revelation 3:7 "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this:
Revelation 3:13 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'
Revelation 3:14 "To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this:
Revelation 3:22 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'"
Revelation 22:16 "I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star."
Four observations related to the 114 uses of ekklesia - [1] Only in Matthew, [2] Book of Acts lays foundation for the ekklesia - birth, structure, early practices [3] Ekklesia then become primarily a "Pauline" word [4] No mention of church in Revelation from chapter 4-19 where "Bride" of Christ is mentioned in heaven [Re 19:7-note]. Why is the church not mentioned even one time during the greatest outpouring of God's wrath the world will ever experience - the time of God's Seal, Trumpet and Bowl judgments?
Some teach Gal 6:16 refers to the "church" - See discussion of the Israel of God and the question Is God "Finished" with Israel in His prophetic plan?
Kenneth Wuest summarizes ekklesia...
The word ekklesia appears in the Greek text where this word (church) is found in the translations. Ekklesia comes from kaleō “to call,” and ek “out from.” The compound verb means “to call out from.”
In classical Greek ekklesia referred to an assembly of the citizens summoned by the town crier. It is used in Acts 19:32-41 in its purely classical meaning. The town clerk dismissed the citizens who had been gathered together by the craftsmen of Ephesus.
In its every other occurrence, it is translated “church,” the church being looked upon as a called-out body of people, called out of the world of unsaved humanity to become the people of God. The word refers either to the Mystical Body of Christ made up of saved individuals only (Ephesians), or to the local churches, as for instance Ro 16:5; Gal. 1:2. It refers to the invisible Church...not to the visible, organized Church on earth.
The genius of the word points to the fact that in the mind of God, the Church of Jesus Christ is a called-out group of people, separated out from the world to be a people that should maintain their separation from the world out of which they have been called. (Wuest, K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans or Logos or Wordsearch)
William Barclay gives some historical background on ekklesia...
Ekklesia is the NT word for 'church', and is, therefore, one of the most important of all NT words. Like so many NT words it has a double background.
(i) Ekklesia has a Greek background. In the great classical days in Athens the ekklesia was the convened assembly of the people. It consisted of all the citizens of the city who had not lost their civic rights. Apart from the fact that its decisions must conform to the laws of the State, its powers were to all intents and purposes unlimited. It elected and dismissed magistrates and directed the policy of the city. It declared war, made peace, contracted treaties and arranged alliances. It elected generals and other military officers. It assigned troops to different campaigns and dispatched them from the city. It was ultimately responsible for the conduct of all military operations. It raised and allocated funds. Two things are interesting to note. First, all its meetings began with prayer and sacrifice. Second, it was a true democracy. Its two great watchwords were 'equality' (isonomia) and 'freedom' (eleutheria). It was an assembly where everyone had an equal right and an equal duty to take part. When a case involving the right of any private citizen was before it—as in the case of ostracism or banishment—at least 6,000 citizens must be present.
In the wider Greek world ekklesia came to mean any duly convened assembly of citizens. It is interesting to note that the Roman world did not even try to translate the word ekklesia; it simply transliterated it into ecclesia (English - "ecclesiology", "ecclesiastical") and used it in the same way. There is an interesting bilingual inscription found in Athens (dated A.D. 103-4). It can be read against the background of Acts 18. A certain Caius Vibius Salutaris had presented to the city an image of Diana and other images. The inscription lays it down that they are to be set up on their pedestals at every ekklesia of the city in the theatre. To Greek and Roman alike the word was familiar in the sense of a convened assembly. So, then, when we look at it against this background, as Deissmann puts it, the Church was God's assembly, God's muster, and the convener is God.
(ii) Ekklesia has a Hebrew background. In the Septuagint it translates the Hebrew word gahal, which again comes from a root which means 'to summon'. It is regularly used for the 'assembly' or the 'congregation' of the people of Israel. In Dt. 18.16; Jdg. 20.2, it is translated 'assembly'; and in 1Ki 8.14; Lev 10.17; Nu 1.16. it is translated 'congregation'. It is very common in the Septuagint, occurring over 70 times. In the Hebrew sense it, therefore, means God's people called together by God, in order to listen to or to act for God. (Barclay, William: New Testament Words:. Westminster John Know Press, 1964)
Marvin Vincent summarizes "church" in his notes on Mt 16:18...
Church (ekklesia), ek, out, kaleo, to call or summon. This (Mt 16:18) is the first occurrence of this word in the New Testament. Originally an assembly of citizens, regularly summoned. So in New Testament, Acts 19:39. The Septuagint uses the word for the congregation of Israel, either as summoned for a definite purpose (1Ki 8:65), or for the community of Israel collectively, regarded as a congregation (Ge 28:3), where assembly is given for multitude in margin. In New Testament, of the congregation of Israel (Acts 7:38); but for this there is more commonly employed sunagoge, of which synagogue is a transcription; sun, together, ago, to bring (Acts 13:43). In Christ’s words to Peter the word ekklesia acquires special emphasis from the opposition implied in it to the synagogue. The Christian community in the midst of Israel would be designated as ekklesia, without being confounded with the sunagoge, the Jewish community. See Acts 5:11; 8:1; 12:1; 14:23, 27, etc. Nevertheless sunagoge is applied to a Christian assembly in James 2:2, while episunagoge (gathering or assembling together) is found in 2Th 2:1; He 10:25.
Both in Hebrew and in New Testament usage ekklesia implies more than a collective or national unity; rather a community based on a special religious idea and established in a special way. In the New Testament the term is used also in the narrower sense of a single church, or a church confined to a particular place. So of the church in the house of Aquila and Priscilla (Ro 16:5); the church at Corinth, the churches in Judea, the church at Jerusalem, etc.
A Few Devotionals on "Church"
The Boat - Our Daily Bread
A Well Church - Our Daily Bread
The Church Indestructible - Our Daily Bread
What's A Church For - Our Daily Bread
Smiling In Church - Our Daily Bread
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Paul's Estimate
of Himself
James Smith on Paul's estimate of himself (James Smith, "The Pastor's Morning Visit") - "I am nothing!" 2 Corinthians 12:11 - This was Paul's estimate of himself: "less than the least of all saints," and "the chief of sinners."
The more we know of ourselves and of Jesus—
the more shall we be humbled in the dust before Him;
and the lower we lie before Him,
and the happier and holier we shall be.
Sinful MAN will, MUST be something—
this is both his pride and his misery.
The Christian is willing to be nothing—
that Christ may be all in all.
If we daily felt that we are nothing—how many mortifications we would be spared; what admiring views of the grace of God would fill and sanctify our souls!
Apart from Christ—we are less than nothing; but in Christ—we are something!
We are empty—but He fills us!
We are naked—but He clothes us!
We are helpless—but He strengthens us!
We are lost—but He finds us!
We are ruined—but He saves us!
We are poor—but He supplies us!
All that we are—is by Christ!
All that we have—is from Christ!
All that all we shall be—is through Christ!
Christian, you are nothing! Therefore beware of thinking too highly of yourself; or imagining that you deserve more than you receive—either from God or men.
Humble souls are soon satisfied.
O could I lose myself in Thee,
Your depth of mercy prove,
O vast unfathomable sea
Of unexhausted love!
I loathe myself when God I see,
Content if Christ exalted be!
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Have you lost the amazement
over the fact that God has forgiven you?
Tozer writes...
For I am the least of the apostlesââ¬Â¦ But by the grace of God I am what I am.ââ¬Â¦ 1 Corinthians 15:9, 10
Every humble and devoted believer in Jesus Christ must have his own periods of wonder and amazement at this mystery of godliness—the willingness of the Son of Man to take our place in judgment so that the people of God could be a cleansed and spiritual people! If the amazement has all gone out of it, something is wrong, and you need to have the stony ground broken up again!
The Apostle Paul, one of the holiest men who ever lived, was not ashamed of his times of remembrance and wonder over the grace and kindness of God. He knew that God did not hold his old sins against him forever!
Knowing the old account was all settled, Paul’s happy heart assured him again and again that all was well. He could only shake his head in amazement and confess: “I am unworthy to be called, but by His grace, I am a new creation in Jesus Christ!”
I make this point about the faith and assurance and rejoicing of Paul in order to say that
if that humble sense of perpetual penance
ever leaves our justified being,
we are on the way to backsliding!
(Tozer, A. W., & Smith, G. B.. Renewed day by day : A daily devotional)
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Responsibility - When God confronted Adam for eating from the forbidden tree, Adam blamed Eve (Gen. 3:12). Ever since then, people have tried to avoid taking responsibility for their actions by shifting the blame to others or to circumstances beyond their control.
Today the art of blaming others has reached new levels. In a television interview a high-ranking government official said that pro-life advocates are ultimately responsible for the 1.6 million abortions that occur annually in the United States. He argued that if those who oppose abortion would simply volunteer to take the babies into their homes, mothers wouldn’t have to abort them.
If you follow this line of reasoning, the woman who chooses to have an abortion because a baby would inconvenience her life is not responsible for the death of her child. The unwritten rule seems to be: “Never blame offenders for their wrongs. Those responsible are the people who want to punish them for their crimes.” How contrary to the Scriptures, which teach that God holds each of us accountable for what we do!
The apostle Paul showed us how we should respond. He admitted the awfulness of his sin, and he recognized how gracious God had been to him (1 Cor. 15:9-10). --Herbert Vander Lugt
Thank You, Lord, for giving us a mind and the ability to choose between right and wrong, truth and falsehood. Help us to accept responsibility and seek Your forgiveness when we make the wrong choices.
If you make an excuse for sin, your sin will not be excused.
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A W Tozer...
Man’s very human habit of trusting in himself is generally the last great obstacle blocking his pathway to victory in Christian experience.
Even the Apostle Paul, writing in his New Testament letters, confessed that his confidence in God was in completely opposite ratio to his confidence in himself. Paul made it very plain that it was only after giving up the last inclination to trust in himself that he became immersed in the sufficiency of Christ.
We can learn much from the experiences of Paul and the humility of his testimony, “For I know that in me ââ¬Â¦ dwelleth no good thing” (Ro 7:18a). He had discovered that to be fully surrendered to God and the will of God meant that first he must come to an entire and radical distrust of himself.
After he became willing to look within his own being, Paul had no further confidence in himself and couldn’t say enough against himself. But when he went forth before men in the compulsion of ministry for Christ, he seemed to stand sure with a great cosmic confidence because he had met God and could honestly declare that “we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us” (2Co 4:7).
Paul was being continually thrown into spiritual combat as he moved forward in his declaration of Jesus as Christ and Lord. He knew the blessing and the power of operating from a position of strength—the fact that he held no illusions about himself and depended completely upon the Spirit of God.
“By the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Corinthians 15:10a), he said. “I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle” (1 Corinthians 15:9a), he wrote. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief” (1 Timothy 1:15), he acknowledged.
This all adds up to a startling statement of truth held not only by Paul but by all of the great saints who have done exploits for God. They would all remind us that those who insist on trusting human self will never obtain the desired victory in spiritual combat, for they will presume vainly in their own strength!
To become effective men of God, then, we must know and acknowledge that every grace and every virtue proceeds from God alone, and that not even a good thought can come from us except it be of Him.
(Tozer, A. W. I talk back to the devil: Straightforward appeals for Christlike living)
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Gracegems on the path that leads us to learn of our own nothingness...
And what a lesson is this to acquire! For a child of God, not to confess merely- for nothing is easier than confession-
but to feel his nothingness;
to be conscious that he is the "least of all saints;"
to be willing to be thought so;
to feel no repining at being over-looked-
cast in the shade yes, trampled under foot-
O what an attainment is this!
And yet, how few reach it! how few aspire after it! It is to be learned only in the path of sanctified affliction. Other discipline may mortify, but not humble the pride of the heart- it may wound, but not crucify it. Affliction sanctified by the Spirit of God lays the soul in the dust; gives it low thoughts of itself. Gifts, attainments, successful labors, the applause of men, all conspire the ruin of a child of God; and, but for the prompt, and often severe, discipline of an ever-watchful, ever-faithful God, would accomplish their end. But the affliction comes- the needed cross- the required medicine- and in this way are brought out "the peaceable fruits of righteousness"- the most beautiful and precious of which is, a humble, lowly view of self. (The Tried Believer Comforted)
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J C Philpot on Paul's highest attainment...
"Though I am nothing." 2Corinthians 12:11
This was Paul's highest attainment in the knowledge of self. To be a daily pauper living on alms is humbling to proud nature, which is always seeking to be something, and to do something. If this self-nothingness was wrought in us, we would be spared much pain, in wounded pride. People are building up religion all over the country, but there is not one of a thousand who has yet learned the first lesson—to be nothing. Of all this noisy crowd, how few lie at Jesus' feet, helpless and hopeless, and find help and hope in Him! If you can venture to be nothing, it will save you a world of anxiety and trouble! But proud, vain, conceited flesh wants to be something—to preach well, to make a name for one's self, and be admired as a preacher.
"Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief."
"[I am] less than the least of all the saints."
(RICHES OF PHILPOT)
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Puritan Thomas Brooks in answer to the question "what is that sorrow or mourning for sin, which is a part of true repentance?" has several points one of which relates to Paul's declaration in 1Cor 15:9...
Godly sorrow is a LASTING sorrow,
it is a durable sorrow.
As long as a Christian continues sinning, he cannot but continue mourning. David's sins were always before him, Psalm 51:3, though his Absalom nor his Bathsheba were not ever before him. Godly sorrow will every day follow sin hard at heels. Look! as a wicked man, in respect of his desire and will to sin—would sin forever, if he should live forever; so I may say, if a godly man should live forever—he would sorrow forever. After Paul had been converted many years, some think fourteen, you shall find him a-mourning and lamenting over his sins, Romans 7. An sincere child will never cease mourning, until he ceases from offending an indulgent father. Though sin and godly sorrow were never born together—yet while a believer lives in this world, they must live together. And indeed holy joy and godly sorrow are in no way inconsistent, Psalm 2:11; yes, a godly man's eyes are always fullest of tears, when his heart is fullest of holy joy, etc. A man may go joying and mourning to his grave, yes, to heaven, at the same time.
But now the sorrow, the grief of wicked men for sin, it is like a morning cloud, or the early dew, or the crackling of thorns under a pot, or a runner who quickly passes by, or a dream which soon vanishes, or like a tale which is told, etc., their sorrowful hearts and mournful eyes soon dry up together, as you may see in Esau, Ahab, Pharaoh, and Judas. But the streams of godly sorrow will last and run as long as sin hangs upon us, and dwells in us: 1Co 15:9, "I am the least of the apostles, that am not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God." Psalm 25:7, "Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions." David prays to the Lord, not only to forgive—but also to forget, both the sins of his youth and the sins of his age. David remembered all his faults, both of former and of later times. David was well in years when he defiled himself with Bathsheba; and this he remembers and mourns over, Psalm 51.
And it is very observable, that God charged his people to remember old sins: Dt. 9:7, "Remember, and forget not, how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness." Repentance is a grace, and must have its daily operation as well as other graces. witness the very covenant of grace itself: Ezek. 16:62, 63, "I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall know that I am the Lord: that you may remember, and be confounded, and never open your mouth any more because of your shame, when I am pacified towards you for all that you have done."
Certainly a true penitent can no more satisfy himself with one act of repentance, than he can satisfy himself with one act of faith, or with one act of hope, or with one act of love, or with one act of humility, or with one act of patience, or with one act of self-denial. Godly sorrow is a gospel grace which will live and last as well and as long as other graces; it is a spring which in this life can never be drawn dry. (Evangelical Repentance by Thomas Brooks, 1669)
