The best way to understand a word is to study its use. As to its usage, the word, ekklesia, appears in literature outside the New Testament letters that describe a class of people with the same craft, profession, or citizenry to conduct business. In the New Testament, the word is used by Luke to describe Israel in the wilderness (Acts 7), an assembly of people in Ephesus and a class of judges (Acts 19).[1]
- Townsmen of Ephesus
Acts 19 shows that the ekklesia was a collection of people of the same class, that is, people of the city of Ephesus. This assembly “had come together” (19:32). What were they before they came together? Were they not the people of Ephesus before they gathered or did they have to come together to be the city people of Ephesus? One can clearly see that the people of Ephesus were an ekklesia whether physically gathered or not. What made them this assembly or ekklesia was the the fact that they were all residents and citizens of the same city. They can come together or they can be dismissed (v. 35) and they are still the ekklesia. Acts 14:27 reads, “And when they (Paul & Barnabas) were come, and had gathered the ekklesia together, they rehearsed all things that God had done with them.” Paul could have accomplished the same thing individually and it still be said that he “rehearsed all things that God had done with them.” But, as he had done before the trip when the text tells us that he “met with the ekklesia,” he did the same when he returned. He “gathered the ekklesia together.” First, if the act of assembling is inherent in the word, it would seem redundant and non-sensical for Paul to talk about “gathering a gathering.” Second, if a church is only a church when they are gathered, what were they before they were gathered together? The “called out” by God is still the saved assembly whether they are all gathered physically or not. In the same way, the church in Jerusalem that was persecuted was still the church whether gathered or scattered (cf. Acts 8). These saints lived in Jerusalem before persecution arose (Acts 8). The Bible reads that the persecution was against the ekklesia and Luke explains that the ekklesia is composed of “men and women” who were taken from their houses. These “scattered” individuals of men and women (the ekklesia) went everywhere preaching the Word. Would you agree that you can hardly be physically gathered together when you are scattered? Did a group of individually saved people gather together to preach the word? Was there some church program of evangelism or did they not preach the word as each individual carried the message with them? Among those scattered to whom Peter writes, he speaks of this class when he explains,
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9, cf. Colossians 1:13).
2. Judges
After speaking of the Ephesians, he encouraged that ekklesia to allow the deputies to detain them for a lawful assembly (ekklesia) to convene and judge the matter. Similarly, this class called “judges” are another classification that hold one thing in common; they are judges. It is not required that these judges be gathered in order for them to be called judges or an ekklesia. Just as the people were the ekklesia whether they gathered or not, this class of judges were an ekklesia whether or not they were actually gathered to hear a case. It is true that their relationship and work would naturally form a class of individuals gathered together for a common purpose. It is inevitable due to the common task that binds them. But, they need not form themselves into an organization through which they work to be called an ekklesia.
3. Israelites in the Wilderness
The third example is seen in Acts 7 where Steven identifies an ekklesia as the Israelites in the wilderness (v. 38). It reads,
This is he (Moses) that was in the church (ekklesia) in the wilderness with the angel that spake to him in the Mount Sinai, and with our fathers: who received living oracles to give unto us.
Probably, the specific reference to Israel as an ekklesia has to do with the fact that God called His son out of Egypt (Mat. 2:15). God had chosen Abraham to be the father of Israel and the Israelites, a nation from among the nations. They were his possession and the result of His grace and power. That descriptive relationship was true of Israel whether they were gathered together in one place or not.