The Misunderstood Church

Introduction:

    If I were going to nominate a word for one of the top 10 most misunderstood, misused religious terms, I think that word would be "church." What do you think of when you hear the word "church"? Webster's primary definition of the term is "a building for public worship, especially one for Christian worship." The English word "church" occurs 110 times in the New Testament of the New King James version of the Bible, 114 in the New International version. As you veterans of this discussion know, our word "church" is used to represent one Greek word--"ekklesia." Let's do a little Bible study and see if what we think of when we use the word church squares with the way the Bible uses the term.

I. Word Study:

    The Greek term is formed by two words--ek, out of, and klesis, a calling. [Vine, W. E., Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, (Grand Rapids, MI: Fleming H. Revell) 1981.] Historians and linguists note that, "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...a group of citizens assembled for socio-political activities." [Louw, Johannes P. and Nida, Eugene A., Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains, (New York: United Bible Societies) 1988, 1989.] From that original use came its primary meanings--"assemblage, gathering, meeting, congregation." [Bauer, Walter, Gingrich, F. Wilbur, and Danker, Frederick W., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press) 1979.] We can see this secular, socio-political use in Acts 19:38-41.

II. The term as it relates to Christians:

    "Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved friend and fellow laborer, to the beloved Apphia, Archippus our fellow soldier, AND TO THE CHURCH IN YOUR HOUSE." {Philemon 1-2; emphasis added}. "...when you come together as a church..." {1Corinthians 11:18}. "Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church." {Acts 12:5}. These Bible verses are given as representative illustrations of the fact that "church"/ekklesia/assembly is not used in the Bible to describe a physical building or a specific geographical location. Rather, the term refers to the people who comprise the assembly.

    "I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church." {Colossians 1:24; see also 1:18; Ephesians 5:23}. The church/assembly is described as Jesus' body. Of that church/body the Apostles Paul writes, "For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another." {Romans 12:4-5}. These passages illustrate the second misunderstood fact concerning the word "church." In the Bible, the word ekklesia/church never refers to an individual. By definition (assembly, gathering) it cannot refer to an individual. And by analogy it will not fit an individual. My arm is not my body, but part of it. Each individual Christian is not the whole body, but a member, a part of the whole body. I am not the church. You, the individual, are not the church. Together we are the church/body/assembly.

    In reference to believers, there are three other applications of the term ekklesia found in the New Testament we will introduce here. There is the universal application of the term which draws together all believers of every place and time {see Matthew 16:18; Ephesians 1:22-23; 3:10,21; 5:23-27}. Then there is the localized use of the term which refers to all believers within a certain city or geographical region {Acts 8:1-3; 13:1; 20:17}. Thirdly, there is a localized use of the term which is applied to a specific gathering of those believers within a local community {Acts 11:26; 18:22; Romans 16:5; 1Corinthians 11:18; 14:23}.

    There is much more the Bible teaches us about the church. We will provide much of that material in the other lessons in this series. We hope you find it Biblical and edifying.