Is One Christian A "Church"?
The New Testament meaning and usage of the word "church" is misunderstood widely. English dictionaries define words according to their present day usage; that is, dictionary definitions are determined by the way words are used today, rather than by the way inspired writers used them.
People today use the word "church" in many senses contrary to its New Testament meaning. The application of the word to only one person is an erroneous usage, and it sometimes leads to harmful conclusions. Some who think that such an application can be made will ask in apparent sincerity, "Since one Christian may be the church in a certain place, what is it that a Christian can do that a congregation cannot do?" They think "it is a foolish thing to try to separate Christian work from church work, because the church is composed of Christians, and what Christians do, the church is doing," according to their erroneous and illogical thinking.
The word "church" in the New Testament is never used to designate only one person. Like the words "flock," "group," "herd," etc., it is a collective noun and, therefore, is not susceptible to individual application.
He who does not know that one cow is not a "herd," that one quail is not a "covey," that one goose is not a "flock," and that one Christian is not a "church" is very much in need of some lessons in grammar and the use of words. In 1 Timothy 5:16 the word "church" is used in contradistinction to the designation of an individual Christian, "the woman that believeth."
A brief dissertation on the New Testament meaning and usage of the word "church" may be helpful in the formation of a correct and scriptural conception of the nature and work of the kingdom of Christ.
The word "church" is a translation of the Greek word "ekklesia." This word appears one hundred and fifteen times in the Greek Testament, and is translated "church" one hundred and twelve times, and "assembly" three times. It is composed of two Greek words "ek," meaning "out," and "kaleo," meaning 'to call." Its literal meaning is a called out people or group, and it is used in four distinct senses in the New Testament.
1. Eighteen times in the New Testament it is used to designate all the saved on the earth; that is, all who have been called out of Satan's kingdom into the kingdom of Christ. In the term 'church" in Matthew 16:18, Jesus included every Christian on earth. Paul used the word in this universal sense when he said that Christ is "head over all things to the church." (Eph. 1:22.)
2. Ninety three times "ekklesia" is used in the Greek Testament with reference to one or more companies of Christians in particular localities. The First and Second Corinthian letters are addressed to the "church of God which is at Corinth," meaning only the people of God in that city. In Acts 9:31 it is used to designate or indicate God's people "throughout Judea and Galilee and Samaria." "The churches of Galatia" as used in Galatians 1:2 and 1 Corinthians 16:1 means all the local congregations in the region of Galatia.
3. Once it is used to designate the congregation of Israelites who were given the law at Sinai. (Acts 7:36.) The Israelites had been called out of Egypt, and the
"church in the wilderness" was an appropriate appellation for them.
4. Three times the word "ekklesia" is used with reference to a public meeting without respect to religious affiliations. (Acts 19:32, 39, 41.) In these three verses the word is translated "assembly," and has no reference to God's people.
Since one Christian is not and cannot be a church in the Bible sense of the word, it does not follow necessarily that "what a Christian does, the church is doing." What a Christian does cannot be attributed to the church, except when that Christian is acting as agent, or messenger, or appointee of the church. One Rotarian is not a Rotary Club, and what a Rotarian does cannot be ascribed to the Rotary Club, unless that Rotarian is acting as agent or delegate or duly appointed representative of the club.
Two men own and operate a shoe store. Both are members of the church, members of the Rotary Club and members of the Democratic Party. Is their work of selling shoes "church work" or "club work" or "party work"? Or, is it all three in one?
Selling shoes, owning and operating grocery stores and secular educational institutions are "good works" for individual Christians, but they are not "good works" assigned by the Lord to the churches, and the churches should stay out of every form of secular business for profit, and they should keep these firms and organizations out of their budgets.