Church

And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.

Matthew 16:18

Ekklēsia is the assembly of those God has called out — His gathered people, local and universal, not a building.

In the Bible

The New Testament uses ekklēsia for a congregation meeting in a particular house or city and for the whole company of Christ's people across time. It is consistently a people rather than a place, and Paul can call it Christ's body and His bride.

Where the word comes from

Ekklēsia comes from ek, “out of,” and a form of kaleō, “to call” — the ordinary Greek word for a civic assembly of citizens summoned out to decide public business. The Septuagint had already used it for the qahal, the assembled congregation of Israel, so the first Christians inherited a word that meant both “town meeting” and “the LORD's assembly.”

What the original language adds

Because English “church” now names a building or an institution, it hides what the Greek says plainly: the word describes people assembled. There is no New Testament sentence in which you could go to the ekklēsia and find it empty.

Did you know

Ekklēsia (G1577) appears 115 times in the New Testament, and gives English “ecclesiastical” — while the Spanish iglesia and French église come from the same word.

Why it matters

Calling the church an assembly of the called-out grounds its identity in God's initiative rather than in human association: it exists because He summoned it. Paul's images — body, temple, bride — then make belonging to it inseparable from belonging to Christ.

Apply it

Think of church as people you are joined to rather than a service you attend. Reach out this week to one member of your assembly you would not otherwise have spoken to.

Strong's 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)

Where it appears

• And great fear came over the whole church and all who heard about these events.

  Acts 5:11

• I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church in Cenchrea.

  Romans 16:1

• 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:

  1 Corinthians 1:2

• Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia:

  2 Corinthians 1:1

• and all the brothers with me, To the churches of Galatia:

  Galatians 1:2