It has been almost three months since our congregation has assembled together physically for corporate worship, or prayer, or Bible study, or a pot-luck dinner. We have not shared face-to-face communion together, or celebrated water baptism, or dedicated children or held an open memorial service/funeral. This is what May, 2020 looks like during Covid-19 lockdown. Yet, we are still the Church. No, we do not stop being the Church because we can’t meet together. We meet together, because we are the Church.
Jesus anticipated the inevitability that his followers would face troubling times.
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” - John 16.33
Shortly after the resurrection, the early followers of Jesus faced troubling times. Deacon Stephen was seized and dragged before the Sanhedrin under charges of blasphemy against God, Moses and the Temple (Acts 6-7). In spite of Stephen’s inspired message, his fanatical opponents stoned him to death. In what might appear to be an insignificant footnote to the Stephen narrative is the brief mention of an approving witness. One of the most fanatical of the day was a Jewish militant named Saul of Tarsus.
“And Saul was there, giving approval to his death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.” - Acts 8:1-3
These early followers of Jesus went through a period of dangerous persecution. The LORD miraculously moved in Saul’s life, blinding him along the road to his next victim. Saul turned from his anger and sin, opened his heart to Jesus, and was filled with the Holy Spirit. The believers in Jerusalem were initially afraid to embrace Paul, but Barnabas vouched for Paul, who was then discipled and trained to faithfully live for Jesus and to defend his new-found faith.
“Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.” - Acts 9:31
Years later, when Paul heard of the troubles within the fellowship in the city of Corinth, he opened his epistle with –
“Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus
by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,
To the church of God in Corinth,
to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and
called to be holy,
together with all those everywhere
who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ — their Lord and ours.” - First Corinthians 1:1-2
In these three Scripture passages (Acts 8, Acts 9, & 1st Corinthians 1) most English Bibles prefer to translate the Greek text with the noun ‘church’. In modern times, this noun is usually understood to identify a religious group that is specifically associated with Christianity. This seems to be true of other modern languages also, as I looked through these verses in a sampling of languages:
French = église
Spanish = iglesia
Portuguese = igreja
Filipino = iglesia
Italian = chiesa
Polish = Kościół
Slovak = Kostol
Chinese = Jiàohuì
Korean = gyohoee
Russian = tserkov
Turkish = kilise
Swahili = kanisa
Arabic = kanisa
German = kirche
Danish = kirke
English = church
This list above shows how the receptor languages have sought to convey an ancient concept from a previous language into their modern context. The term written in the New Testament Greek is usually transliterated for English readers as ‘ekklesia’ (pronounced ek-klay-si-a). The term was widely used in Hellenistic society for at least 500 years before the birth of Jesus. The noun ekklesia is related to the verb kaleo, which means ‘to call out’. The proposition ek was used to mean ‘out, out of, from, among, by, through’ (meaning depended upon context and case).
I have taught Greek off-and-on since 1984, at collegiate and seminary level, as well as in the local church. I have observed a common first year Greek student mistake: to conclude that ekklesia means that the church is called out from the world. I have sat through more than a few sermons as a pastor challenged the congregation to avoid sin, avoid sinful situations, and avoid sinners because the church is called out from the world. I know that Apostle Paul did present the flee-and-pursue strategy on several occasions:
1Tim. 6:11 But you, man of God, flee from all this [evil stuff], and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.
2Tim. 2:22 Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
However, Paul’s flee-and-pursue strategy is not derived from the prefix added to the verb: ek + kaleo = called out. You cannot get there from here!
The earliest use of the term ekklesia in Hellenistic literature comes from the political records of ancient Athens. During 6th century B.C., as the Athenians were developing their initial principles and practices of democracy, every deliberative assembly was preceded by a herald who would weave through the city streets making a public announcement of the hour and location of the upcoming meeting. This was the call, or invitation going out. The citizens who heard the announcement and accepted the invitation and showed up at the meeting on time were declared to be the ekklesia of the polis / the assembly of the city. For the Athenians, they understood ekklesia to be the group of people who attended the meeting in response to the summons / those who assembled when called / the congregated / the assembly. The Athenian ekklesia did not exist for the sake of itself, but for a higher cause, a more enduring purpose. Their purpose was to implement the experiment of democracy, debating potential laws, voting on those laws, then putting those laws into practice. When the metropolitan population was around 50,000 people, about six thousand qualified citizens assembled 40 times each year as the ekklesia, or general assembly.
Over the next few centuries other Hellenistic cities embraced the term ekklesia as a useful way to identify a general assembly, gathering, or other large group. When the Spartan nobility wanted to wage war, they announced the Spartan gathering– when the soldiers assembled the nobility declared the meeting to be the warrior ekklesia, they received their orders, organized their groups, then dismissed the ekklesia. The moment the Spartan ekklesia was dismissed, it ceased to exist: from that moment on the collection of soldiers was designated as the Spartan army.
There are a few documents that show some trade guilds used the term ekklesia in reference to a gathering of their group. Gatherings of trade groups would have been opportunities to share recent developments in their vocational field, but such assemblies would have been closed to the public in order to maintain trade secrets.
Against this background, we can see that the term ekklesia was used to designate a group of people attending a meeting who shared a common purpose, or a common activity, or a common vocation.
Ekklesia of citizens
Ekklesia of soldiers
Ekklesia of legislators/judges
Ekklesia of trade guilds (builders, architects, physicians, midwives)
Factors that these ancient assemblies had in common:
#1 » the summons was normally initiated by a respected leader (king, governor, general/ military commander, president of a trade guild, or some other influential person in that society)
#2 » when the people assembled, the leaders would communicate the purpose of the summons, & the goal of their assembly» intended accomplishment or outcome for the assembly.
Therefore, prior to the New Testament: ekklesia = the group assembled in response to a call in order to accomplish a common purpose.
In the Greek text of the Book of Matthew, we discover Jesus borrowed this secular/ political term when he responded to the awesome confession that Peter made,
“you are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God . . . And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my ekklesia /church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” - Matt. 16:18
This is the first of 114 occurrences of ekklesia in the New Testament. Let’s not look at all of them right now, just a couple.
“Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send greetings.” - Rom. 16:16
“To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours” - 1Cor. 1:2
In the initial uses of ekklesia in the New Testament record, we see several relationship modifiers: Jesus speaks of “my ekklesia”, Paul to the Romans writes of “all of the ekklesia of the Messiah”, and to the Corinthians writes “to the ekklesia of God”. Most of the other occurrences of ekklesia lack these specific modifiers, but it is safe to conclude that they are implied. In time, the church has taken on qualities and purposes not seen in other ancient ekklesia that existed before the Resurrection.
We know that the term ekklesia existed prior to the birth of our Messiah (in political, military & vocational contexts). We know that the New Testament found that term appropriate and useful to identify the people who followed the Messiah. Before the church ever had cathedrals, or basilicas, or denominations, or by-laws, we were declared to be:
ekklesia = the group assembled in response to a call in order to accomplish a common purpose.
What sets us apart is –
1) Who called us, and
2) The common purposes granted to us by the One who called us!
When the ancient political and military meetings occurred, they were together the ekklesia. However, from their perspective when the meeting was dismissed, the ekklesia no longer existed. But, when the trade guilds called an ekklesia gathering, they still considered themselves members of their exclusive ekklesia even after they went their separate ways. The ekklesia of Athens considered themselves as mere citizens prior to the gathering. At the start of the meeting, the presiding leader declared they were transformed into lawmakers. They would all offer an oath in the name of their presiding leader to faithfully fulfill that charge. When the meeting was dismissed, they magically turned back into citizens who could no longer make laws binding upon the city. The ekklesia of Sparta invited citizens to a meeting to transform them into warriors. Theirs was a gathering in order to conduct a mass commissioning of soldiers. Therefore, the gathering of the ekklesia was viewed as an initiation service, or transformation from what they were to what they next needed to be.
Paul may have had transformation in mind when he wrote,
“For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” – 1st Corinthians 12:13
The people of Corinth were not body of Christ before they responded to the Gospel. Then, by the power of the Spirit of the Holy God they were changed, initiated, transformed from what they were into what they next needed to be. The ancient ritual that included immersion in water was the outward sign to commemorate initiation into a new community or renewed relationship with others.
According to Paul, we are the church that has been called by God to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. The LORD has not called us out of the world, but has sent us into the world as salt, and light. This world is decaying and is in need of preservative and flavoring. The world is dark and is in need of illumination. We are supposed to keep our distance, no holding hands, no hugging, no greeting one another with a holy kiss, even if they did in the early church. Well, the early church did not have FaceTime, or Zoom, or chat rooms, or livestreaming, or Message rooms. Use the tools you have. Until we are able to gather together again for corporate worship, seek every appropriate opportunity now to safely, respectfully and joyfully be salt and light. Be the Church!
