Ekklesia

Occurrences in Scripture

Ekklesia occurs a little over 100 times in the New Testament, mostly in the Pauline Epistles and in Acts.

• Gospels: The word appears only twice, both in Matthew. In Matthew 16:18 Jesus says to Peter, "upon this rock I will build my church." In Matthew 18:17, concerning a brother who has sinned, Jesus instructs, "tell it unto the church."
• Acts: The word refers to local communities of believers, such as those in Jerusalem and Antioch. In Acts 7:38 the people of Israel in the wilderness are called "the church in the wilderness." In Acts 19 the word is used in its ordinary sense for an assembly of the citizens of Ephesus; the New Korean Revised Version renders it in 19:39 as "civic assembly" (KJV: "a lawful assembly").
• Pauline Epistles: The word refers to the community in a single city, as in "the church of God which is at Corinth" (1 Corinthians 1:2). It can also denote a gathering that meets in a single household, as in Romans 16:5. In Ephesians 1:22–23 and Colossians 1:18 it signifies the whole church, with Christ as its head—that is, the body of Christ.

Background and Original Language

Ekklesia is formed from ek ("out") and kaleō ("to call"). In the city-states of ancient Greece it was an everyday term for the public assembly of citizens who had been summoned.

The Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, frequently rendered the Hebrew qahal ("congregation," "assembly") as ekklesia. An example is the congregation of Israel, rendered "assembly" in Deuteronomy and elsewhere. Qahal was also sometimes translated synagōgē, the word from which synagogue derives.

Meaning Across Scripture

The early Christians called their gatherings ekklesia. Many scholars see in this name a self-understanding as a community in continuity with the congregation of Israel assembled before God in the Old Testament. In the New Testament the word refers not to a building but to the people who gather. It is used with varying scope, from a household gathering to a local community to the entire body of believers of all ages.

Interpretation and Points of Debate

• The interpretation "those called out": Sermons often explain the word from its etymology as "a company called out of the world." Some scholars point out, however, that in the everyday usage of the time the word simply meant "gathering" or "assembly," and that caution is therefore needed in deriving its meaning from etymology alone.
• The rock of Matthew 16:18: The Catholic Church identifies the rock as Peter and understands this as one of the grounds for the papal office. Protestants generally interpret the rock as Peter's confession of faith or as Christ himself.
• Local church and universal church: Drawing on New Testament usage, the Congregationalist and Baptist traditions emphasize the autonomy of the local congregation. The Presbyterian tradition, by contrast, also stresses that local churches form one church joined together through presbyteries and general assemblies.
• Visible and invisible church: The Reformed tradition distinguishes between the two in the Westminster Confession of Faith.

In the Korean Church

Korean Bibles translate ekklesia in most cases as gyohoe ("church"). In preaching and Christian education the word is frequently cited to explain that "the church is not a building but the gathering of those who have been called." Some churches and groups also include "Ekklesia" in their names. Theologically, the word is treated as the starting point of ecclesiology.