The terms “church” and “assembly” are two English words used in the New Testament for a single Greek word in the original Greek New Testament manuscripts. The Greek term is –
Greek Term: εκκλησια
English Transliteration: ekklasia
Pronounced as: ek – la – see-yah
Strong’s Concordance # 1577
Number of occurrences find in the Bible:
In the KJV – 111 times as “church”
3 times as “assembly” (Acts 19:32, 39, 41)
In the NASB - 109 times as “church”
3 times as “assembly” (Acts 19:32, 39, 41)
2 times as “congregation” (Acts 7:38 & Hebrews 2:12)
In the Original Greek text – Ekklasia is used 114 times
It’s Greek Distribution:
Found In Matthew – 3x
Found In Acts -- 23x
Found In Epistles -- 68x
Found In Revelation – 20x
The Key Verse: Ephesians 1: 22-23
"And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to thechurch, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”
The English word church is a translation of the original Greek word εκκλησια. It occurs 114 times in the Greek New Testament.
It’s most basic meaning if forced to summarize in a single word would be “assembly” or “group.”
Lexical Definitions express it in a little greater detail: Compound root word:
Ek = ‘out of’, or ‘from’ or ‘out from’
Klasia = “to be called”
Thus the compound definition combined is: “to be called out of or to be called out from”
Thayer’s Lexicon generically defines it as:
“a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place.”
Thayer goes on to note:
#1. Among the Greeks as “as assembly of people convened at the public place of counsel for the purpose of deliberating.
#2. In the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint) of the assembly of Israelites.
#3. Any gathering or throng of men assembled by chance or by tumult (i.e. mob)
#4. In the Christian sense: an assembly of Christians.
In Acts, chapter 19 the preaching of the gospel by Paul had brought the entire city of Ephesus to a state of riot:
“Some were shouting one thing and some another, for the assembly was in confusion.”
See Acts 19:32.
In the above instance the word “assembly/ekklasia” could very well be translated as “mob” with no religious connection whatsoever.
The book of Acts does show, however, that this word – ekklasia – is used in a special sense as expressing the purpose of God in “taking from among the Gentiles a people for His name.” This expresses the etymological root of ekklasia, which is the compound word basically meaning “called out.” As we noted earlier above as the key verse, the word reaches its highest significance and speaks of the ekklasia as the “church, which is His body.” This means that the church is an – organism – not – repeat – NOT an organization – as Rick Warren and the Purpose Driven crowd tries to claim.
The word “ekklesia” or “church” conveys the idea of oneness as well as diversity as seen in the various gifts of its members.
This brings us to the question of: “What is church membership?”
Ist Corinthians 12:13 tells us that each believer becomes a member of the church by the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit who places us into this body upon the condition of faith in Christ’s crosswork as our substitute who takes the penalty of sin on our behalf, if we trust and believe that He is indeed our substitute if we choose to accept His work on our behalf.
Since it is the baptism of the Spirit that makes the church, one can determine the time of the birth of the church as the day of Pentecost since it is here that the baptism of the Spirit first occurs.
On this basis then we can note that the church is not an organization. The Church is not a building.
The Church is a group of individuals who believe in Christ’s crosswork death as a substitute on our behalf for the sin penalty. Becoming a member of the “ekklasia” or church is not accomplished by being baptized with water or by taking communion or singing songs in worship services or even attending church services. Becoming a member of the ekklasia or church occurs on the basis of belief in Christ. Signing a membership card does not make anyone a member of Christ’s ekklasia (church).
Ephesians 2:8-9 makes this crystal clear:
“For by grace are ye saved through faith, … not by works.”
Believing in faith that Christ died for our sins - on the basis of His cross-work death being given to us freely as a gift is what saves us and that when we believe this, at that moment of belief, the Holy Spirit baptizes us and we are placed into the "Body of Christ" and thus we become a member of of Christ's ekklesia (church).
