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Ekklesia and Church: A Word Study
Posted : 19 Oct, 2013 03:19 AM
Ekklesia and Church: A Word Study
If you follow the thread in scripture from II Kings 21: 13, to Isaiah 29: 16 and on to Jeremiah 18: 1-7 and then to Isaiah 50: 1, and Jeremiah 3: 8, and Hosea 7: 7-8, then to Romans 9: 24-25 (Hosea 2: 23), then on to Romans 2: 17-29, Romans 9: 6-8, and Galatians 4: 22-29,the Israel of the Old Covenant was transformed, changed into the spiritual house of I Peter 2: 5 and the chosen generation of I Peter 2: 9.
Now, look at Ephesians 2: 11-20: "Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
12. That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
13. But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
14. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
15. Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
16. And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
17. And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
18. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
19. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;"
The Gentiles were alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, but in Christ, fulfilling Hosea 2: 23 (Romans 9: 24-25), the Gentiles are said to be made close by the blood of Christ (verse 13) so that in verse they are "fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God."
To what are the Gentiles made close to by the blood of Christ? To the church? Where is church in this passage?
Man made theology has re-defined things as usual and has given us two categories of thought, two alternatives for understanding the transformation of Israel, or to dispensationalism, there was no transformation of Israel as II Kings 21: 13, Isaiah 29: 16 and Jeremiah 18: 1-6 predicted.
In the man made theology of dispensationalism either Israel was replaced by the church, now a capital C Church as begun by the Catholics, or God has two peoples, Israel, the Jews, and the capital C Church. Dispensationism violates what Christ says in John 10: 16 that there is one fold (people of God) and one shepherd, and I would not want to be in their shoes on Judgment Day.
Part of the key which would help clarify this problem of whether Israel was replaced by the Church or physical Israel now stands beside the Church as a people of God is the meaning the Apostles gave to the Greek word ekklesia, translated, unfortunately, as church in the Geneva Bible and in the King James. It is translated also as church in the newer versions.
The problem is bigger than it seems at first. The ekklesia, the congregation, assembly, or meeting does not have the same meaning spiritually as the Body of Christ, the elect, the saints or the saved. And the NT teaches that Israel under the Old Covenant is no longer the people of God (Romans 11: 17-20, Romans 9: 7, Romans 11: 7). So, dispensationalism has claimed that God now has two peoples, neither of which are his people in the NT. Hebrews 10: 9 says "He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second."
Here is a version of the Tyndale Bible in modern English spelling: http://faithofgod.net/TyNT/rm.htm#16:1
Tyndale, Romans 16: 5: "Likewise greet all the company{congregation} that is in their house. Salute my well beloved Epenetes, which is the firstfruit among them of Achaia."
Tyndale, Acts 8: 1: "Saul had pleasure in his death. At that time there was a great persecution against the congregation which was at Jerusalem, and they were all scattered abroad thorowout the regions of Jury and Samaria, except the apostles."
Tyndale, Acts 14: 23: "And when they had ordained them seniors{elders} by election in every congregation, after they had prayed and fasted, they commended them to God on whom they believed."
And especially see the Tyndale Bible for Colossians 1: 24: "Now joy I in my passions{sufferings} which I suffer for you, and fulfil that which is behind of the afflictions{passions} of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the congregation, "
In Colossians 1; 24 Paul seems to equate ekklesia with the Body of Christ.
One reason the ekklesia should not be equated with the Body of Christ, the elect, the saved, is because at various times in church history, the congregations at various places were made up both of the saved and the unsaved. And the percentage of the elect, or saved, in a congregation would vary from congregation to congregation and from one period of time to another.
Christ said in Matthew 13: 27-30, in the King James "So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?
28. He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
29. But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
30. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn."
After the falling away of II Thessalonians 2: 3-4 the church becomes the Babylon of Revelation 17 and 18, a tare church in which the majority are members of the ekkelsia, Tyndale's congregation, are not the elect. The remnant who are the elect, or are to be the elect, still in Babylon, are called out of it in Revelation 18: 4. And the falling away does not occur until after the dispensationalist church is raptured and the dispensationalist tribulation begins.
Ekklesia Used In the New Testament
Since the Greek word ekklesia is so important for this issue in man made theology of whether Old Covenant Israel was replaced by the ekklesia or God now has two peoples, Old Covenant Israel and the ekklesia, we should study the meanings of the ekklesia, and especially what it meant to the apostles.
See: http://www.acu.edu/sponsored/restoration_quarterly/archives/1950s/vol_2_no_4_contents/ward.html
"The most common classical usage of ekklesia and its cognates was as a political term, meaning an assembly of citizens. In the Greek city-state the citizens were called forth by the trumpet of the kerux (herald) summoning them to the ekklesia (assembly)."
"It should be noted that in ordinary usage, ekklesia meant the assembly, and not the body of people involved. The Boule existed even when it was not actually in session, but there was a new ekklesia every time they assembled.7 The demos (people) assembled in an ekklesia, but when they acted, it was said to be the action of the demos, not the ekklesia."
"Ekklesia, in turn, meant only "that which is called forth, an assembly."
That is, the ekklesia as part of the definition in Strong's Exhaustive Concordance for Greek number 1577, ekklesia, "a calling out" did not mean a calling out by God in a spiritual sense. it merely meant a calling out to a meeting.
"Ekklesia occurs 80 times in the canonical books of the Septuagint translation (LXX) of the Old Testament, and where the Hebrew original is available for comparison,20 it always translates qahal or words from the same root.21
Two important Hebrew words were used in the Old Testament to denote a gathering or assembly: qahal and 'edhah. But when applied to Israel, 'edhah came to indicate the society itself, whether assembled or not. In particular, 'edhah is used of the children of Israel, whether assembled or not, during its journeying from Egypt to Canaan.22 Thus 'edhah assumes quasi-technical status as the People of God, but qahal continues to denote only the actual assembly or meeting."
"Furthermore, if ekklesia had come to mean, People of God, or Israel of God, through the Hebrew qahal, it is difficult to understand why N.T. writers do not use it as evidence when trying to prove that Christians are the People of God; Paul does not use it in Rom. 1-15, nor does Peter in 1 Pet. 2 :4-10. There is no good evidence in the O.T. to show that qahal or ekklesia ever meant anything other than the actual assembly, be it a religious assembly (as in most cases), the assembly gathered when David slew Goliath, an assembly of prophets, etc."
"(1) Ekklesia meant an assembly. (2) It was familiar both to Gentiles by political usage and to Greek-speaking Jews through the LXX. (3) Its Greek history associated with it a certain dignity, with possible ideals of freedom and equal-membership playing a part. (4) It could be used of a religious assembly--Pagan or Jewish--but it did not become the title of any religious group, Pagan or Jewish. (5) Negatively, no evidence is found that in usage it meant "the called out"�despite etymology�nor that it came to mean "the People of God," nor that, in general, it was applied to any other than an individual assembly.."
Meaning of Ekklesia In the NT
This site says of the use of ekklesia in Acts that "In every case, with one possible exception, ekklesia. is explicitly or implicitly used in a local sense: it is the assembly (assembled or not) at Jerusalem (11:22; 12:1, 5; 15:4, 22), at Antioch (11:26; 13:1; 14:27; 15:3), at Caesarea (18:22), and at Ephesus (20:17,28). This local use is emphasized by the use of the plural, ekklesiai, when referring to churches in a larger area: in Syria and Cilicia (15 :41) and in areas of Asia Minor (16:4). The one possible exception to the local use is the statement in 9 :31: "So then the Church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace, having been strengthened." But even here there is good textual evidence for the plural, rather than the singular."
"Pauline Epistles. Ekklesia is used 62 times in the Pauline epistles.
In Paul's first letter to Corinth he uses ekklesia several times according to common usage; denoting an actual assembly: "For first when you have come together in an assembly, I hear there are divisions among you" (11:18; see also 14:19, 28, 35)."
"When speaking of a larger geographical area Paul uses the plural: the churches of Asia (1 Cor. 16:19), of Galatia (1 Cor. 16:1; Gal. 1:1), of Macedonia (2 Cor. 8:1), of Judea (Gal. 1:22; 1 Thess. 2:14). Paul also uses ekklesia of smaller groups, such as the household church of Prisea and Aquila in Rome (Rom. 16:5), that of the same couple in Ephesus (1 Cor. 16:19), that of Nympha in Laodicea (Col. 4:15) and that of Philemon in Colosse (Phile. 2). These can evidently be called ekklesia, even while calling the total group in the city ekklesia."
"Other N T. Books. In the other N.T. books, excluding the gospels, ekklesia is used 26 times. It is found 20 times in the Revelation, always in the local sense, referring to the seven churches of Asia. James and III John also use it in a local sense (Jas. 5:14; III John 6, 9,10.). Once in Hebrews (2:12) it is used in a quotation from Psa. 22 :22 where ekklesia simply stands for qahal. "
"This local usage continues in the literature of the Apostolic Fathers. I Clement is a letter from the ekklesia of God sojourning at Rome to the ekklesia of God sojourning at Corinth. Ignatius begins his letters in a similar way, as also Polycarp, and the Martyrdom of Polycarp from the church in Smyrna. Didache and the Shepherd of Hermas also know this local use."
"There is, however, an increasing tendency to use ekklesia in referring to the church universal. This is explicit when Ignatius adds to ekklesia the adjective, katholike (general or universal), which later becomes a technical term: the Catholic Church."
The Catholic Church made the elect, the Body of Christ, equal to the ekklesia, the meeting, assembly or congregation. In doing so, the Catholic Church changed the meaning of ekklesia as a meeting to an institution of man standing equal to and really replacing physical Israel. Physical Israel in scripture was not replaced by the meeting, now called the church. Instead physical and national Israel was changed into Israel reborn in Jesus Christ, the Israel of God. That is, physical Israel was transformed into the Israel which is of God (Galatians 6: 16), to distinguish it from physical Israel as in Romans 9: 6-8, "For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel...They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God."
The Origins of the Word Church
The original 1828 Webster's Dictionary, defines "church" as:
"Church, n. [Sax. Circe, circ or cyric; Scots, kirk, which retains the Saxon pronunciation; D. Kerk; G. Kirche; Se. Kyrchia; Dan. Kirke; Gr. Kuriokon, a temple of God, from kuriakos, pertaining to a Lord, or to our Lord Jesus Christ, from kurios, a Lord; Russ. Tzerkou.] .1 A house consecrated to the worship of God, among christians; the Lord's house. This seems to be the original meaning of the word. The Greek ekklesia, from ekkalew, to call out or call together, denotes an assembly or collection. But kuriakos, kuriakon, are from kurios, Lord, a term applied by the early christians to Jesus Christ; and the house in which they worshipped was named from that title. So kuriaka signifies church goods, bona ecclesiastica; kuriakh, sc hmera, the Lord's day, dies dominica. 2. The collective body of christians, or of those who profess to believe in Christ, and acknowledge him to be the Savior of mankind. In this sense, the church is sometimes the Catholic or Universal Church. Johnson Enclyce. 3. A particular number of christians, united under one form of ecclesiastical government, in one creed, and using the same ritual or ceremonies; as the English church; the Gallican church; the Presbyterian church; the Romish church; the Greek church."
The new Webster�s international dictionary, of 1909, has this definition of church:
�Church (church), n. [ME. chirche, fr. AS. circe, fr. Gr. kyriakon the Lord's house, fr. kyriakos concerning a master or lord, fr. kyrios master, lord, fr. kyros power, authority; akin to Skr. gram mighty , bold Olr. caur, cur, hero. Cf. KIRK.] 1. A building set apart for public worship, esp� 2. A place of worship of any religion, as, formerly, a Jewish or pagan temple or a mosque. Acts six. 37.�
In Young's Concordance, the word kuriakon, related to Kuriokon, pertaining the a Lord, not the Lord, is not in the Greek New Testament. So, the word church as related to the Greek kuriakon or kuriokon, meaning a pagan lord, has no place in the New Testament Greek text. The word church was instead taken over from the pagans and used by the Catholic Church to indicate an institution which replaced physical Israel. And the word church, which was not a proper noun, was capitalized and made into the capital C Catholic Church. Luther, Calvin and other Reformation leaders failed to fully grasp the importance of this and allowed Christians to continue to call themselves the capital C Church.
Smith�s Dictionary of the Bible says that �church� comes from a word meaning �circle,� which is related to our word �circus.� Professor Lipsius (German theologian during the Reformation) also shows that �church� came from �circle.� Professor A. F. Fausett of Home Bible Study Dictionary� agrees with Professor Lipsius. The exhaustive ten volume Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature under the word �church� states that:
�It was probably connected with the Latin circus, circulus, and with the Greek kuklos. Lipsius, who was the first to reject the received tradition, was probably right in his suggestion� (Vol. II, p. 322).
Robert Brown�s work The Myth of Kirke� also confirms that �kirke� (church) means �Circle� or �Circular� (p. 22).
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, under the entry �church� says: �No doubt the word means �a circle.� The places of worship among the German and Celtic nations were always circular [witness circular Stonehenge, one of the most ancient stone megaliths on earth]. Compare Anglo-Saxon �circe,� a small church, with �circol,� a circle.�
In Scotland it is called �Kirk� and in Gemany it is �Kirche,� in England it is the word �Circe� (the �c� having a �k� sound).
According to Brown�s book, �Kirke/Circe� was also the name of a Goddess: "Kirke or Circe was the daughter of the Sun god, who was famous for taming wild animals for her circus. But get ready for this: Circe is pictured holding a golden cup in her hand mixed with wine and drugs, by which she controlled the kings of the world. Now where have we heard that before?"
The early Christians, before the time of Origen (185�254 A.D), did not have an elite class of clergy above the "lay" mass of believer. The early church had leaders like Clement, Ignatius and Polycarp, but these men were not like our elite class of clergy, the priests, and preachers. The clergy came into existance after the time of Origen and the beginning of the Catholic Church. To be in control of the institution called the Church gave the clergy greater control over the Christian people. Not only the Church as a building, but also the church as an organized institution enabled the clergy to control the doctrines and practices of those claiming to be the people of God.
The Catholic Church and the Church of England used the word �church� and its meaning as an institution and building to help keep the Christian people in subjection to their control, to their control of doctrines and practices. Without an institution and building building the clergy would have lost their power over the people. And so the word "Church" was important for the creation and survival of that institution and building over the centuries since the beginning of the Catholic Church.
Although the Geneva Bible was created in Geneva by English protestants rather than in what was then Catholic England, nevertheless the Catholic capital C Church system with its elite clergy must have influenced them to translate ekklesia as church in the Geneva Bible of 1560.
William Tyndale in his 1525 Tyndale Bible translated ekklesia as congregation, except for Acts 14: 13 and Acts 19: 37. In both texts he used church to indicate a place of pagan worship.
Tyndale was martyred by the clergy for his creating his Bible. The clergy could not allow Tyndale to get by translating ekklesia as congregation and not as church.
Here are the places Tyndale used the word church, it is in old English:
Acts 14:13: "Then Jupiter's priest, which dwelt before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the church porch,|before the gate| and would have done sacrifice with the people."
Acts 19:37: "For ye have brought hither these men, which are neither robbers of churches, nor yet despisers |blasphemers| of your goddess." The reference is to the temple and goddess of Diana of the Ephesians.
Tyndale understood that the word church pointed to a pagan house of worship and translated it in this way. His translation of ekklesia as congregation was not something that the clergy running the church system wanted to be known by the people who did not have English Bibles.
Church Christians often defend the church by citing Hebrews 10:25, "Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together." To them this means going to church. But remember that the capital C Church was created to represent the Body of Christ as a man made institution in Catholic times. Assembling yourselves together can refer to a few Christians getting together anywhere to study the Bible and to fellowship in Christ and without benefit of the clergy.
The Greek word ekklesia translated as church did not begin with the 1611 King James Version. It began, contrary to the 1525 Tyndale Bible, with the Geneva Bible of 1560. That is, the Geneva Bible of 1560 consistently translated ekklesia as church, while the Tyndale Bible translated ekklesia as church only for Acts 14: 13 and Acts 19: 37.
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