Devoted to the Propagation and Defense of New Testament Christianity
VOLUME 19
November 30, 1967
NUMBER 30, PAGE 1-2a

Meaning And Usage Of The Word "Ekklesia"

Cecil B. Douthitt

The Greek word "ekklesia" is composed of "ek", meaning "out", and "kaleo", to call. It literally means a called-out people or group. It appears 115 times in the New Testament, and is translated "church" 112 times, and "assembly" three times.

To Whom The Term Is Applied

In the New Testament the word is never applied to a sect, or a denomination, or a meeting house.

The apostles and other inspired writers used the four senses:

1. To designate all of God's people on the earth — that is, all who have been called out of the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of Christ. (Matt. 16:18; I Cor. 12:28; Eph. 1:22; 5:25; and other passages).

2. To denote one or more companies of Christians in particular localities (I Cor. 1:2; Acts 9:31; Gal. 1:2; and other passages.)

3. With reference to the congregation of Israelites under the Old Covenant. (Acts 7:38.)

4. With reference to a public meeting without respect to religious affiliations. (Acts 19:32,39,41; in these three verses the word "ekklesia" is translated "assembly", and has no reference to a religious group.)

Inspired writers could appropriately apply the word "ekklesia" to the people of God because in a figurative sense they had been "called-out" of the world — called out of the kingdom of darkness. (Col. 1:13; I Pet. 2:9; Jno. 15:19; 17:16.) The Israelites were called "ekklesia" — church — because they had been called out of Egypt. The mob in Ephesus was called "ekklesia" because it had been "called-out" by Demetrius to try to check the influence of Paul's teaching. (Acts 19:24,25.)

Modifiers Of The Word "Church"

Apostles and other inspired writers and speakers freely used, when necessary, descriptive adjectives with the word "church" to show clearly the sense in which they used the term. Here is an example: The expression, "the church of God which is at Corinth" is found in I Cor. 1:2. The clause, "which is at Corinth," restricts the meaning of the word in this passage to a company in Corinth and excludes all groups not in Corinth. The phrase, "of God," limits the meaning of the word as here used to a body of Christians and excludes all other companies or assemblies that might be in that city. By thus modifying the word "church" with this phrase and clause, Paul makes it clear in his use of the term in this passage he does not refer to all Christians everywhere, not to any institution, assembly, body or gathering that is not "of God", though such should be found in the city of Corinth.

In his use of the possessive pronoun, "my" in Matt. 16:18, Jesus shows that he referred to his own kingdom (established on Pentecost), and no to the congregation of Israelites in the wilderness nor to any church or "called-out" assembly of human origin. By the phrase, "of Christ", in Rom. 16:16, the Romans could understand they were being saluted by congregations of Christians as distinguished from all other "called-out" assemblies throughout the world.

Many other descriptive terms were used as modifiers by the apostles to show what they meant in their use of the ambiguous word "ekklesia"- church; such as, "of the living God" (I Tim. 3:15), "in the wilderness" (Acts 7:38), "of the Thessalonians" (I Thess. 1:1), "of the saints" (I Cor. 14 33), and "of the Gentiles (Rom. 16:40). These descriptive terms do not make different names out of the word they modify, for they all modify the same name — "church". That is, the expressions 'church of the saints", and "churches of the Gentiles", and "churches of Christ" (I Cor. 14 33; Rom. 16:4,16), are not three names; it is on one name — "churches" — with three different modifiers.

Other Names Denote God's People

Other names with their modifiers are used to denote and describe collectively the people of God, or the church; such as, the body of Christ (Eph. 1:22; Col. 1:18; I Cor. 12:27); the house of God (Heb. 3:6; I Tim. 3:15); elect race, royal priesthood, holy nation (I Peter 2:9); temple of God (I Cor. 3:16; 17; II Cor. 6:16); the tabernacle (Heb. 8:2; Heb. 9:11); the kingdom (Matt. 16:19; Jno. 3:5; Col. 1:13; Heb. 12:28; Rev. 1:6,9); the flock of God (Acts 20:28, 29; I Pet. 5:2-4); Israel of God (Gal. 6:16); the circumcision (Phil. 3:3); Abraham's seed (Gal. 3:7, 29); and others. All these are different names, and not the same name with different modifiers as is the case with the expressions "church of God", "church of the Thessalonians", and "church of Christ".