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When we speak of the church we find that like many words today, the word church
means different things depending upon the context in which it is used and the
particular bias of the hearer. Is it just a matter of semantics with all the meanings
being correct? Or have the issues been confused through the redefining of words,
so that a false reality has been substituted in the place of God’s purpose for His
people? These questions have been on my mind for some time now and, through
seeking understanding in prayer, study, and discussions with others, I believe God
has brought me some clarity on this issue. I would like to share this with you. Before
continuing please ask the Lord for discernment to know whether this teaching is His
truth or is it simply the teaching of man. Wherever we find the word “church” in our
English New Testament (NT), it appears there as a direct translation of the Greek
word ekklesia. However the word church actually finds its root in the Greek word
kuriakon because the Roman Church which ruled exclusively for over a thousand
years, substituted a Latin rendering of kuriakon for ekklesia. The Greek kuriakon
takes the word kurios (lord) and makes it the possessive noun “the lord’s”, showing
ownership of anything dedicated or belonging to the Lord. It is actually used twice in
the NT “The Lord’s supper” II Cor 11:20 and “The Lord’s day” Rev 1:10.
Webster’s Dictionary, 1828
"Church," n. [Sax. Circe, circ or cyric; Scots, kirk, which retains the Saxon
pronunciation; D. Kerk; G. Kirche; Se. Kyrchia; Dan. Kirke; Gr. Kuriokon, a temple of
God, from kuriakos, pertaining to a Lord, or to our Lord Jesus Christ, from kurios, a
Lord;
Encyclopedia Britannica, 1911
CHURCH (according to most authorities derived from the Gr. kuriakon , “the Lord’s
,” and common to many Teutonic, Slavonic and other languages under various
forms— Scottish k-irk, Ger. Kirche, Swed. k-irka, Dan. kirke, Russ. tserkov, Buig.
cerkova, Czech cirkev, Finn. kirkko, &c.), a word originally applied to the building
used for Christian worship, and subsequently extended to the Christian community
(ecclesia) itself. Similarly the Greek word ecclesia, “assembly,” was very early
transferred from the community to the building, and is used in both senses,
especially in the modern Romance and Celtic languages.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.
CHURCH
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English chirche, from Old English cirice, ultimately from Medieval Greek
kurikon, from Late Greek kuriakon (duma), the Lord's (house), neuter of Greek
kuriakos, of the lord, from kurios, lord.
YEAR VARIOUS FORMS OF THE WORD
1600 church becomes common spelling during long process of standardization.
1500 church, churche, chirch, chirche, chyrch, chyrche, cherche
1400 churche, chirch, chirche, chyrch, chyrche, cherch, cherche
1300 churche, chirch, chirche, chyrch, chyrche, cherch, cherche
1200 churche, chureche, churiche, cherche, chereche, chyrche, chyreche,
chireche, chiriche, chirche
1100 chirche, chiriche, chireche, chyreche, chyrce (Middle English thru 1500)
1000 cirice, cyrice, circe, cyrce, kirk (Old English/Anglo-Saxon period 600-1100)
300+ kirika, kerika (W. German/Old Saxon—Pre-English period)
200+ kyriaka/kuriaka, kuriakon (Greek)
I am writing so that you may know how you should conduct yourself in the house of
God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. 1 Tim
3:15
When you read this verse it is obvious that the church is the house of God, i.e. the
church building. And when you consider the history of the word it is just as obvious,
that it is no accident that this meaning is being conveyed. Before the Bible was
translated into English, this word church true to its original root kuriakon was
already carring the external meaning, of “the Lord’s house”. Today church is still
understood for the most part as an organization to which we belong through
membership, or a building we call “The Church”, “The House Of God” or “His
Temple.” We may even call the room we assemble in to worship “The Sanctuary”
meaning a holy place where we are closer to God. And since it is these buildings
and the institutions that maintain them that make up the “church, then it follows that
we must have membership in one of them in order to be in the church, right?
NO! It can not be stressed to strongly that it is not the word kuriakon that appears in
the original Greek scriptures. No! the NT writers chose to use ekklesia because it
defines those called out of the world, to assemble in Christ; “But you are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you
should proclaim the praises of Him, who called you out of darkness into His
marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God”. I
Pet. 2:9.
Consider the following examples of Scriptural evidence. The first is from the William
Tyndale translation of 1525. Tyndale labored to give the people the word of God in
their own language that was free from the institutional bias of his day. He was the
first to bypass the the authorized Latin translation and translated his English NT
directly from the Greek manuscripts. And for his labor of love to the people he was
burned at the stake by the Institutional Church.
William Tyndale Translation.
"thou mayst yet have knowledge how thou oughtest to behave thy silfe in the
housse of God which is the congregacion of the livinge God the pillar and grounde
of trueth." I Tim 3:15
The Greek interlinear. 1577
oíkoo Theoú anastréfesthai heétis estín ekklesia Theoú
the house of God, to behave thyself which is the assembly God,
Thayer's Greek Lexicon.
Strong's # 1577-- ekklesia
From a compound of # 1537- ek (out) and a derivative of # 2564- kaleo (to call)
A gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place, an
assembly.
a) An assembly of the people convened at the public place for the purpose of
deliberating.
b) The assembly of the Israelites
c) Any gathering or throng of men assembled by chance, tumultuously
d) In a Christian sense:
1) An assembly of Christians gathered for worship in a religious meeting.
2) A company of Christian, or of those who, hoping for eternal salvation through
Jesus Christ, to observe their own
religious rites, to hold their own religious meetings, and to manage their own affairs,
according to regulations
prescribed for the body for order's sake.
3) Those who anywhere, in a city, village, constitute such a company and are
united into one body.
4) The whole body of Christians scattered throughout the earth.
5) The assembly of faithful Christians already dead and received.
The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology. (ekklesia)
Centuries before the translation of the OT and the time of the NT, ekklesia was
clearly characterized as a political phenomenon, repeated according to certain rules
and within a certain framework. It was the assembly of full citizens, functionally
rooted in the constitution of the democracy, an assembly in which fundamental
political and judicial decisions were taken… Paul always understands ekklesia as
the living, assembled congregation. This is expressed particularly in 1 Cor. 15 (vv.
4f., 12, 19, 23, 28). It is only in the meeting and living together of the members that
love, described in 1 Cor. 13 as the supreme gift, can be made real, just as it is only
in this way that the other God-given gifts can be recognized and acknowledged.
The NT never says to greet those who come to your church but it does say to greet
the ekklesia that meets at your house. Rom. 16:4, 5 Col. 4:15 etc. Beloved there is
a huge difference between these two. Whether speaking of the local ekklesia (those
gathering together locally) or the universal ekklesia (all the people of God) this is
the context in which ekklesia is used through out the NT. We need to closely
examine our history to understand what happened to create a mindset that
supported such a misleading translation of ekklesia, which many Bible translators
agree, should have been translated “assembly” or "congregation". This error has
brought much confusion to God’s people, by giving validity to the false concept of
the ekklesia being some external entity to which we must be joined.
This article is taken from "THE 96th THESIS" a study on the paradigm shift that has
occurred between the NT assembly and the Institutional Church.
BACK TO THE ARTICLE INDEX.
THE HISTORY OF THE WORD CHURCH