Journal: Central Bible Quarterly
Volume: CENQ 04:2 (Summer 1961)
Article: 2 The Etymology And Use Of The Word “Church
Author: Anonymous

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CenQ 4:2 (Summer 1961) p. 11

2 The Etymology And Use Of The Word “Church

l. The meaning of the word “church”: The word “ecclesia” rendered “church” occurs 117 times in the Greek New Testament. Our Lord and the New Testament writers neither coined this word nor used it in an unusual sense. Like any other word, according to the laws of language, it might be used abstractly, generically, particularly, or prospectively, without losing its essential meaning.

Definition: In its primary meaning a “church” was an organized assembly, whose members were properly called out from their private homes or business to attend to public affairs; in all of its usages prescribed conditions of membership are implied, inferred, or expressed.

2. The application of this meaning, substantially, applies to all usages of the word “church”:

a. The ecclesia of a self-governing Greek state—Acts 19:39. (With townclerk, Acts 19:35, and deputies, Acts 19:38, as officers).

b. The Old Testament “ecclesia” or convocation of National

CenQ 4:2 (Summer 1961) p. 12

Israel—Acts 7:38. (Israel was called out of Egypt and assembled in the wilderness.)

c. The New Testament “ecclesia”—I Timothy 3:15, 16.

3. The New Testament usages of the word “church”:

a. The New Testament Church (Matt. 16:18, 19) which Christ promised to build was different from the Greek “ecclesia” or from the Old Testament ecclesia, but we assume the word itself retains (except in its accommodated usages to an irregular gathering, e.g., Acts 19:32, 41) its original and ordinary meaning.

b. Of the 117 usages of the word “church” in the New Testament all but five (Acts 7:38; 19:32, 39, 41; Heb. 2:12) refer assuredly to Christ’s ecclesia. Hebrews 2:12 can hardly be an exception since it is a quotation from the Old Testament, is prophetic, and found its fulfillment in New T...

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