Some propose the idea that a universal church is nowhere taught in the Bible so that every reference to the church (assembly) is a reference to the physical gathering of people. Abrams writes,
“However, it can be argued that Matthew 16:18 is referring to Christ founding the institution of local churches, not to the establishment of a universal church. Christ could have used other words but instead used the word “ekklesia” which limited the meaning to an assembly that comes together. In Acts 9:31, ‘ekklesia’ is plural and is referring to local congregations geographically located “in all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria.”
Mr. Abrams believes that every time the word “ekklesia” is used, it refers to local assemblies. Still, Mr. Abrams has an institutional concept of the church instead of seeing the “assembly” to be a collection of saved individuals who are added and known by God (Acts 2:47, 5:14, 11:24). For him, the assembly must be physically assembled for it to be “the ekklesia.”
It is important that we do not change the meaning of ekklesia as it is used in the Scriptures in describing the assembly of God, i.e. the class of people known as God’s people, collected or added by Him. Whether referring to the “called-out” in general or in a given location, the word still refers to individual saints. Why must we insist that the definition be changed into an organization when it is further restricted to a geographical location? The list below will show that even when describing saints in a particular location, they are still the people. Over forty times, we see the use of the word in describing brethren in a specific location. For our purposes, we will notice that the same definition typically given the universal body of Christ is used to describe the church in a specific location. That definition is clearly shown to be individual Christians. Consider the following examples:
(1) Acts 8:1 speaks of the “called-out” (trans. church)which was in Jerusalem.” That this was not an organization is seen by the further description given by Luke when he writes, “Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem” (Acts 9:13). Here we the see in the context that the called out in Jerusalem was simply the saints living at Jerusalem.
(2) Even in Acts 8:3, Luke writes, “But Saul was ravaging the called out (translated, “church), and entering house after house, he dragged men and women…” The called-out was persecuted not as an assembly of believers gathered in one place but as individual men or women, who were taken away from their homes and scattered throughout the regions of Samaria and Judea. Thus, they can be scattered or gathered and still be the called-out because the church or “assembly” does not describe a corporate body identified by name, building location, and administrators. Mr. Abrams is incorrect to apply this term to a physical gathering in as much as the body of Christ does not describe the His physical body. The ekklesia is spiritual relationship and like a majority of words, physical descriptions were used to describe spiritual realities.
Since the church is a collection of individuals (collected by God), all the good that is done, and all preaching and teaching that is done by the called-out, is done individually. As individual members function in the body (Romans 12), the church is acting. Such individuals may act by themselves or in conjunction with others, but they are still acting in harmony with their relationship to Jesus.
Today, we hear preachers speak of it as if the church in Jerusalem was a local organization with church officials, structure and an operating fund through which the individuals may cooperate with other individuals after placing membership. Here, certain tasks are assigned, or delegated by the acting officials of the corporate body and certain programs of work begun under their oversight. They call the shots regarding who does what and who receives pay or compensation. Yet, we see a coalition of individuals in Luke’s Acts who are committed to Jesus Christ and who naturally form a network of individuals (a family).