The Meaning and Uses of the Word Church

The English Term Church

The English term church, along with the Scottish word kirk and German Kirche, is derived from the Greek kuriakon, which is the neuter adjective of kurios, "Lord," and means, "belonging to the Lord." Kuriakon occurs only twice in the New Testament, neither time with reference to the church as commonly used today. In 1 Corinthians 11:20 it refers to the Lord's Supper and in Revelation 1:10 to the Lord's Day.

Its application to the church stems from its use by early Christians for the place where they met together, denoting it as a place belonging to God, or God's house. With the realization that the place had significance only because of the people of God who met in it, the term was applied to the assembly itself. From this its meaning has extended to various contemporary uses: (1) a place of meeting, (2) a local organization of believers, (3) the universal body of believers, (4) a particular denomination, for example, the Lutheran Church, and (5) an organization of believers related to a particular area or nation, for example, the Church of England.

The Greek Word

THE ETYMOLOGICAL MEANING

The Greek word in the New Testament for the English word church is ekklesia. It is derived from the verb ekkaleo, a compound of ek, "out," and kaleo, "to call or summon," which together mean "to call out." While often this etymological meaning is used to support the biblical doctrine of the church as a people called out, separated from the world by God, the usage of this term both in secular Greek and the Greek Old Testament, which provides the background for the New Testament language, does not lend support to this doctrine from the word ekklesia itself.

IN SECULAR GREEK

Ekklesia was used by the early Greek-speaking people with its full meaning of those called forth. It was a term for the "assembly of citizens summoned by the crier, the legislative assembly." The idea of summoning, however, soon passed away in usage. In Athens, ekklesia signified the constitutional assembly which met on previously fixed dates and did not need to be specifically summoned, much like our modern legislature, while special assemblies summoned to deal with urgent matters were called sunkletoi, in distinction from the ordinary ekklesiai. The word came to stand for any assembly, regardless of its constituents or manner of convening. This broad use is evident even in the New Testament where a confused mob which had rushed into the theater at Ephesus is twice called an ekklesia (Ac 19:32, 41), and in the same context the term is used for "a lawful assembly" (v. 39).

In addition, in secular Greek ekklesia refers only to the assembly or meeting and never to the people which compose that assembly. When the people are not assembled, they are not considered as composing an ekklesia. A new ekklesia existed each time people assembled.

It is questionable whether ekklesia was ever used in the Greek society for a religious group. The secular use, therefore, provides little for an appreciation of the rich meaning of the New Testament term outside of the formal analogy of an assembly of people meeting for a particular purpose.

IN THE SEPTUAGINT

The primary background for the New Testament use of the term ekklesia, as with most New Testament word thought, is the Old Testament, specifically the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures in the third century B.C. The word ekklesia occurred almost a hundred times in the Septuagint and always translated the Hebrew qahal or a word of the same root. Although qahal is also rendered by seven other Greek words, including sunagoge, which indicates its breadth of meaning, ekklesia is the preeminent translation. Qahal means simply an assembly, convocation or congregation and can be used for almost any type of gathering of people. It refers to assemblies gathered for evil counsel (Gen 49:6; Ps 26:5); for civic affairs (1 Ki 12:3; Pr 5:14); for war or invasion (Num 22:4; Judg 20:2); for a company of returning exiles (Jer 31:8); or for a religious assembly to hear God's Word (Deu 9:10) or worship Him in some way (2 Ch 20:5; Neh 5:13). The word is used for the congregation of Israel (Mic 2:5; Num 16:3), but it is also used for angels (Ps 89:5, ASV) and simply for an assembled multitude (Gen 28:3; 35:11).

This varied use indicates that no technical meaning was attached to qahal in the Old Testament or to its Septuagint Greek translation, ekklesia. Apparently in the interest of demonstrating continuity between Israel and the New Testament church, it is often argued that qahal became a sort of technical term for Israel in the Old Testament, meaning the people of God. This meaning is then said to provide the real background for the New Testament use of ekklesia as the early disciples saw themselves as the new Israel of God, the continuation of the Old Testament Israel. There is no evidence, however, that such is the case. Qahal and its Greek translation simply mean an assembly. Who assembles and the significance of the assembly must be added explicitly or implicitly in the context. It is only the addition of "Lord" which makes it plain that an assembly is the congregation of God. Campbell examines the seven passages in the Old Testament where the terminology "qahal of the Lord" is used. This terminology is suggested as that which gives the technical meaning of "people of God" to the term ekklesia. He concludes that these passages afford no adequate basis for the assertion that the "qahal of the Lord" is the usual term for Israel as the people of God, nor for the supposition that a Christian reader of the Septuagint would be led to think that "ekklesia of the Lord," which is found in only five of the seven passages, had that meaning. He notes that if this is true even with the addition of the qualifying phrase "of the Lord," it is surely clear that qahal alone cannot have had such a technical meaning. Corroboration of this conclusion appears in the fact that in the book of Romans, which concerns itself with the relationship of the New Testament church with God's Old Testament people, and also in 1 Peter, where perhaps the most notable of Old Testament references describing Israel is applied to the church (1 Pe 2:4-10), the term ekklesia is entirely absent.

Moreover, the Old Testament qahal with its Septuagint translation, ekklesia, like the secular Greek use, never seems to refer to other than an actual meeting. However, a synonymous term, edah, did come to have the broader meaning referring to the congregation, whether actually assembled or not. In this sense it is nearer to the New Testament use of...