Word Information
Word: Ekklēsia (Gk)
English: Church
Source: Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, Strong’s Concordance
Author: Joseph H. Thayer, James Strong
Definition
“A calling out, i.e. (concretely) a popular meeting, especially a religious congregation (Jewish synagogue, or Christian community of members on earth or saints in heaven or both):—assembly, church.”
The word “church,” which is derived from kupuakôç, kuriakôs, “of or belonging to the Lord,” represents in the English Versions of the Bible of the New Testament the Greek word ἐκκλησία, ekklēsía.
Ekklēsia, the Greek word for church, originally meant an assembly called out by the magistrate, or by legitimate authority. It was, in this last sense, that the word was adapted and applied by the writers of the New Testament to the Christian congregation.
What Is The Church?
Just like Israel was called out of Egypt, the congregation/church are those who have been called out of the world to be a part of God’s divine plan on earth. In Acts 7:38 [“This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us.], the word ‘congregation’ is ekklēsia. The church is God’s household. (1 Timothy 3:14-15). One of the simplest ways to see the church is as a building of the Lord. Not in terms of a physical structure, but a building of ‘living stones’.
Matthew 16:15-18
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
This passage defines what the basic structure of the church is. Peter is the Greek word ‘petros’, meaning a stone. While ‘rock’ is the Greek word ‘petra’, meaning a mass of rock. So Jesus was actually saying, “You are Peter – a stone who is to be built with others into the basic structure of this rock, and this rock is the foundation of the church, the ecclesia.” The church that the Lord Jesus is building is a structure of living stones founded upon a rock!
Ephesians 2:19-21
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
1 Corinthians 3:11
No one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 2:4-6
So as you come to Him, a living stone rejected by men but chosen and priceless in God’s sight, you yourselves, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood and to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it says in scripture, “Look, I lay in Zion a stone, a chosen and priceless cornerstone, and whoever believes in Him will never be put to shame.”
Sizzling Sunday: 4 December 2022
Sizzling Sunday 019
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