Where’s your “church?”

Tradition provides that we might worship together in specific locations, having different congregations to choose from. And indeed, those different congregations are a license for us to agree to disagree about what the Bible says.

But what does the Bible actually teach us about our “churches?”

First of all, that Jesus Christ was never on record referring to His disciples as the “church,” but rather as His ἐκκλησία [ê-klā-see’-uh]. This word is defined in the Greek lexicons as a congregation, assembly, or a gathering of religious, political, or unofficial groups. It’s a derivative of the Greek preposition ἐκ [êk], meaning “from, or from out of,” and  κλῆσις [klā’-sîs], a noun which means “a calling.”

In a general sense, ἐκκλησία can simply mean a gathered group. But the context in which Jesus used it was very specific. He spoke of it in a way that leaves the reader no semantical latitude. When He said ἐκκλησία, He defined a group He calls out from the world, that is, those He expects to set themselves apart from it.

He said to Simon, the son of John:

“I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I shall build My assembly [ἐκκλησία], and the gates of the grave shall not overpower it.” [Matt. 16:18] [my emphasis]

Many of the Greek lexicons have added the word “church” to the list of meanings of ἐκκλησία over the centuries, which explains why the two words are used interchangeably today. But I think it’s important to understand that the English word “church” originated with the Greek adjective κυριακός [cûr-î-ô-kôs’], and means “belonging to a lord [or a master].” And if you care to trace this word’s Germanic and Gothic morphology over the past two millennia, you can recognize its generic nuance and why it’s not synonymous with Jesus Christ’s ἐκκλησία. It’s used only twice in the New Testament: [1Cor. 11:20 and Rev. 1:10] and refers to our Lord’s “supper” and “day,” respectively—not an assembly.

So, κυριακός could describe the condition of belonging to any “lord” or master regardless of the presence or type of any religious affiliation.

What’s also remarkable though is that the realm of civil authority is another dimension that the term ἐκκλησία carries with it according to the Scriptures. Read Ac. 19:35-41. The speaker, the town clerk of Ephesus, used the same word twice to describe a legislative body.

So Christ’s ἐκκλησία is called out not just to sanctify itself, but also to govern in His behalf!.

“For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, and the government will rest on His shoulders.” [Isa. 9:6a]