The etymology of our English word,
church, is not at
all clear. When one consults linguistic sources he finds
several suggestions as to how the word may have evolved into our language. The most common theory is that it
came into English from an adaptation of one or more of
the European languages' adaptation of the Greek word,
kyriakon, meaning "of or belonging to the Lord." For
example, the German word is kirche. How ever it may
have come into our language, we have it and we must
deal with it. It is in all of our more respected and reliable
translations of the New Testament.
The New Testament Greek word,
ekklesia, is the
word translated "church" in these English versions.
Scholars generally agree that the word means a "called
(or summoned) out assembly." It was not originally a
"religious" word. It had reference to any assembly called
out of the general populace for a particular purpose or
function. It was more than a mere gathering or assembly
that may have been brought together by happenstance. It
was summoned out for a reason. Some in commenting on
this word leave the impression that it referred to just any
kind of gathering or assembly and point to the fact that it
is the word used to designate an unruly mob in Acts 19.
But this "mob" did not just happen to gather together,
they had been called to a meeting of silversmiths (v. 19).
After they were called together the assembly got out of
hand (v. 32). After the town clerk calmed them down, he
"dismissed the assembly" (v. 41). This was an assembly
(ekklesia) that had been formally convened and was then
dismissed. The Lord's ekklesia (church) is not a mere
gathering of people, but an assembly of people who have
been called out of the world by the Lord for a purpose.
Jesus and the New Testament writers did not coin a
new word when they spoke of the ekklesia. They used a
word already familiar and gave it a new application. How
ever it may be translated into English, it requires close
study of the context to determine how the word is applied
in a given passage. Perhaps "assembly" would have been
a better translation - just as "immersion" would have been
a better translation than "baptism." But the fact that the
translators chose "church" and "baptism" should not
present a huge problem for Bible readers. One can look at
all the times these words are used and consider the context
of each and come to an understanding of what the writer
meant in a given place. Even if "assembly" were uniformly used in our translations, one would still have to
study further to determine the nature of the assembly and
how it is used in each instance.
"Church" in scripture does not refer to a building. It
refers to people in every place it is used in the New
Testament. This is not to say that it is wrong to place a
sign on the meeting house that simply says "Church of
Christ." Some things are understood by reasonable people.
If I put a little sign on my house that simply says "Ed
Bragwell," it is not apt to leave the impression that Ed
Bragwell is a house. Oh, yes, I could make the sign say
"Ed Bragwell lives here." But is it really necessary? You
can put up a sign that says "Church of Christ meets here"
if you prefer, but don't pitch a fit if others think that
"meets here" is not necessary.
Many modern dictionary uses of
church are not
found in the scriptures. The first two definitions given by
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary are good examples:
"1: a building for public and especially Christian worship. 2: the clergy or officialdom of a religious body."
Nor is it ever used in a denominational sense in the
scriptures.
Now let us turn our attention to the ways in which
"church" is used in our English versions. It is used once
referring to the Israelite nation in the wilderness (Acts
7:38). All other times it refers to God's people in some
way or the other.
All of God's People
Jesus was the first to use "church" in the New
Testament (Matt. 16:18). Here he uses the figure of a
building resting upon a rock as a foundation. He envisions the time when he would build his great called out
assembly upon the foundation truth that He is the Christ,
the Son of God as had been expressed by Peter. In Acts
2:47 we learn who makes up this "church." It is saved
people.
We sometimes refer to this "church" as the "universal church." It is not accurate to refer to it as the "invisible church." Those who make it up are quite visible.
They are men and women everywhere who are saved by
the blood of Christ. The usage of "church" in this sense
is found in a number of other places in the New Testament (Eph. 3:10; 4:4; 1:22,23; 5:23-32; Phil. 3:6; Heb.
12:22,23 and similar passages)
The church in this sense has no geographical boundaries. It has no organizational structure. It has no earthly
oversight. Its only functioning unit is the individual
doing the will of the Head, Jesus Christ. It never convenes as a body. It is simply a term that aptly refers to all
of the of God's people as a group. They are God's
"called out" people - having been called out of the world
into Christ.
God's People in a Community
Interestingly enough, Jesus was also the first to use
"church" in a local sense (Matt. 18:17). Some think that
since Jesus spoke this before the establishment of the
church that he must be referring to some assembly other
than a New Testament congregation. But I believe that the
following quotation expresses the truth of the matter.
"As the Saviour was giving preparatory
instruction, he was compelled to thus
speak of the church by anticipation
before it actually existed. The word
church means 'assembly,' and the apostles knew that there would be some form
of assembly in the kingdom about to be
set up. When Matthew wrote his Gospel,
churches were already in existence. One
who will not hear the church is to be
regarded as an outsider. This implies
that such a one is to be excluded from
the church" (The Four-fold Gospel, by
J. W. McGarvey and Phillip Pendleton).
It should be obvious that it is "church" in the local
sense of which Jesus speaks here as it would not be
possible to tell the sin to all brethren everywhere.
Most of the times that "church" is used by the New
Testament writers it is in the local sense, speaking of
Christians in a given community. At first, there was only
one local church - Jerusalem (Acts 5:11). Before long,
due to the scattering of the disciples from Jerusalem due
to persecution and possibly other factors, churches were
found in other communities. Each of these churches were
spoken of as separate units often identifying them by their
geographic locations. There was not only "the church at
Jerusalem" (Acts 8:1; 11:22), there was the church at
Antioch (Acts 11:26; 13:1) and eventually many other
places (Rom. 16:16; 1 Cor. 1:2; 16:1; Rev. 1:7, etc.).
These churches (called out assemblies) had organizational structure. Each had its own overseers or shepherds
as men became qualified and appointed (Acts 14:23).
These were overseers only of the local church of which
they were a part (1 Pet. 5:1-4). There was a recognizable
bounds of membership for the local church. The "church
of God" at Corinth was told "if therefore the whole
church be come together into one place" indicating that
they would know those who constituted the "whole
church" at that place. It was not a matter of having vague
and loose boundaries.
One could be a member of the church at one place
while visiting at another place - Phoebe was a servant of
the church at Cenchrea while she was evidently at Rome
(Rom. 16:1).
These local groups were joined by Christians (Acts
9:26). Local churches received (Rom. 14:1) and rejected
members (1 Cor. 5:4-13). Sometimes mistakes were
made in both receiving and rejecting. Jerusalem first
rejected Paul, but later received him. Diotrephes wrongly
cast some out of the church (2 John 9). The point is, that
the bounds of membership was controlled by each local
church. They were independent autonomous functioning
units or organizations.
These local organizations were the only organizations through which Christians worked in spiritual
matters. There were no organizations larger than, smaller
than or other than these local churches to do the work
that God gave his people to do as organized units. By
"organized unit," we do not mean a mere systematic
arrangement utilized by the unit (local church), like a
Bible class or "work group," but a unit (organization)
that combines the resources (or some of the resources) of
a few or many into a common resource and placing it
under the control of the combined unit.
Physical Assemblies
The church existed in a given place as an organized
unit whether physically assembled or not. The elders of
the church at Ephesus were still elders of the church at
Ephesus when they met with Paul at Miletus (Acts
20:17). When the local church (an organized unit) came
together into a physical assembly, this assembly was also
called a "church" (1 Cor. 11:18, 20-21; 14:4-35).
One is "in church" even "at home" when "church" is
viewed either in the universal sense or the local organization sense. One has a duty to assemble with other
Christians (Heb. 10:25). When this is done one is "in
church" in the sense of a physical assembly.
"Church of God" or "church of
Christ" is used to
designate the church in all three senses. One needs to be
in "the church" in each since. He needs to be one of the
saved (universal church), then join himself to the disciples locally (local church) and then be present when the
local church comes "together in the church."
edbragwell@edssermonsandthings.com
That the word church is used in several different
senses in the New Testament cannot be denied. The
misunderstanding of these various uses has led many to
misunderstand what the Bible teaches concerning the
church. We all know that the basic meaning of the word
that is rendered "church" in most English translations is
"a called out assembly." But this definition does not
make clear all the various ways in which the word is
used. The definition of any occurrence of the word must
be determined also by the context in which it is used. We
know that sometimes the word is used in reference to a
relationship to God enjoyed by all the saved or what we
sometimes call the "universal church." (See Matt. 16:18;
Acts 2:47; etc.) We also know that at other times the
word is used in reference to a group of Christians in a
given locality who have joined themselves together to
worship and serve the Lord. (See 1 Cor. 1:2; Gal. 1:2;
etc.) I think that we all understand these basic uses of the
word. But there are other variations in meaning that we
see in some contexts. One such meaning is associated
with what we might call the church in the assembled state
as opposed to the unassembled state. Now it is true that
a Christian who is a part of a local church is a member of
that church whether the church is assembled or unassembled. I am still a member of the local church here in
Russellville, when assembled with them on Sunday or
sitting at my computer here at home right now writing
this article. However, there is a sense in which the word
church is used that distinguishes between the church
being assembled together and not being assembled
together. Sometimes the term "in the church" is used to
indicate something that is done when the church is
assembled together. In contrast to this, the term "at
home" is used to indicate what Christians do when they
are not assembled together "in the church." We want to
notice two such instances in which such usage found.
1 Corinthians 11:17-34
In the eleventh chapter of 1 Corinthians we see a
distinction made between what Christians may do "in the
church" and "at home" in respect to eating. Paul states in
verse 18 that he had heard that when they had come
together "in the church" that there was a problem. The
basic problem was that their purpose for coming together
should have been to eat the Lord's Supper (v. 20), but
instead they were eating their "own supper" (v. 21). After
giving instructions about the eating of the Lord's Supper
in the church, Paul then instructs them that if they want
to eat their own supper to eat it "at home" (v. 34). Here
the terms "in the church" and "at home" are used to
contrast times when the church is assembled and when it
is not assembled. Now it is true that we are all still
members of the church whether we are assembled "in the
church" or unassembled "at home." But it is also true that
certain actions should be done when we are assembled
together "in the church" and other things should be done
when we are unassembled "at home." We therefore get
into trouble when we try to reverse these things. We
ought to think about this when we decide that we want to
eat our "own" meals when we come together "in the
church." We also need to consider this when we want to
take the Lord's Supper out and serve it to others "at
home" who have not assembled with the saints "in the
church."
1 Corinthians 14:34-35
In the fourteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians we have
another instance of this distinction being made. We are
told that it is shameful for women to speak "in the
church." Instead, women are instructed to "keep silent in
the churches" and to reserve their speaking until they are
"at home." Now once again we see a distinction made
between what is to be done "in the church" and what is
to be done "at home." I know that it is not popular these
days to point out the distinction that is made in this
passage. To prohibit a woman from speaking anywhere
or at any time, makes one a target of ridicule and scorn.
But we must consider what is said here when we begin
advocating that women should be allowed to speak up
more in our assemblies or that it is just old fashioned or
archaic to prohibit them from doing so. I hear many
today claiming that we have just "misinterpreted" the
Scriptures in this matter and decide that instead we need
to adhere to a "new" or "enlightened" interpretation.
Let us be content to follow the things that God has
revealed for us to participate in as Christians whether we
are assembled "in the church" or not assembled "at
home." Let us also be careful to maintain the distinctions
that the Scriptures make between the two.
http://biblestudy.bragwell.com/chhome.html
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