THE NON CHRISTIAN USAGE of Ekklesia (church).

In Search of the Universal Invisible Church
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by
Elder Milburn Cockrell
Former Pastor - Berea Baptist Church
Mantachie , Mississippi​

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Chapter I​

THE MEANING OF ‘EKKLESIA’​

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THE NON CHRISTIAN USAGE of Ekklesia (church).​

In order to discover the primary and literal meaning of the Greek word ekklesia,
let us look carefully at its non- Christian usage in Acts 19 .

"For the assembly (ekklesia) was confused" (Acts 19:32 ).

Acts 19:39 says: "It shall be determined in a lawful assembly" (ekklesia).

Acts 19:41 declares: "He dismissed the assembly" (ekklesia).

Hence we see the competent scholars of the King James Version believed that the literal meaning of ekklesia was "assembly."

They did not translate it "the called out."

Wickcliff (1380) translates these three passages "church."

Tyndale (1534), Cranmer (1539), the Geneva Bible (1557), and the Rhemish Version (1582)
all translate the word in Acts 19 "congregation."

The New International Version, the New English Bible, The New Testament by Charles Williams, the Twentieth Century New Testament, the Centenary Translation, the Judaean New Testament, the Weymouth Version, Moffatt's version, and the Emphasized Bible all translate all three verses in Acts 19 as "assembly."

The Amplified New Testament translates verse 39 and 41 "assembly," but in verse 32 it is "gathering."

The New Berkeley Version translates verse 32 and 39 "assembly," but in verse 41 it is "gathering."

The New Testament in Basic English has "meeting"
and so does the Good News for Modern Man
(a version which is so bad it ought to be called bad news for any man).

None of these translate ekklesia "the called out." If as our opponents claim the word means "the called out," why did not any of these scholars so translate?

Yet they say all scholars agree with them! The word ekklesia does not mean "the called out."

It means "assembly," "congregation," "gathering," or "meeting."

This literal and primary meaning precludes the so-called universal, invisible church.

There is no such thing as an assembly that cannot assemble or a congregation that never congregates. The meaning of the word prohibits such a meaning.

The universal, invisible church has never assembled and never will on this earth in this gospel age. Hence such a thing is a mere concept of the mind, having no real existence in time or place.

One time in the New Testament the word church ekklesia is applied to the congregation or assembly of Israel in the wilderness: "This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina , and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us" (Acts 7:38 ).

The congregation in the wilderness was not a church in the New Testament sense. But it was a local, visible body of people in one place.

There was no universal, invisible congregation of the Israelites.

This cannot mean "the whole number of regenerate persons from Pentecost to the first resurrection," nor can it mean "the whole number of the elect, the have been, are, or shall be gathered into one."

Ekklesia (church) retains its primary and literal sense of assembly or congregation.

 

I'm looking at the Bible.

 

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ITS PLURAL USAGE

The word Ekklesia in the plural form occurs 36 times in the Greek New Testament (Acts 9:31; 15:41; 16:5; Rom. 16:4, 16; I Cor. 7:17; 11:16; 14:33-34; 16:1,19; II Cor. 8:1, 18, 19, 23-24; 11:8, 28; 12:13; Gal. 1:2, 22; I Thess. 2:14; II Thess. 1:4; Rev. 1:4, 11, 20; 2:7, 11, 17, 23, 29; 3:6, 13, 22; 22:16).

So far as I know no one has yet invented the doctrine of the universal, invisible churches.

Therefore, the plural tolerates nothing but the local idea. It leaves no place for either the universal, invisible church of the Protestants, or the universal visible church of the Catholics.

These 36 plural usage's confirm the literal and primary sense of the word is correct.

This leaves 75 other passages.


Some make a big to do over Acts 9:31 .

They contend the Greek text has the word church in the singular here. It is true that Greek copies vary between "churches" and "church."

The Alexandrian copy, the Latin Vulgate, the Syriac, the Ethiopic Version, and some others read in the singular number. However, the Textus Receptus has "churches."

I believe this is the proper original text, and I will leave the matter there. But even if one receives the translation of "church" rather than "churches," he does not have a universal, invisible church.

Instead, he would have a provincial use of the word church, a thing which would favor the meaning of the word church as held by the Catholics.

THE CHURCH IN A CERTAIN PLACE

Twenty times the word church is used in the singular number, and it points to a church which meets in a certain place. These passages are as follows:

"The church which was at Jerusalem " (Acts 8:1).
"The church which was in Jerusalem " (Acts 11:22 ).
"The church that was in Antioch " (Acts 13:1).
"The church at Cenchrea" (Rom. 16:1).
"The church that is in their house" ( Rom. 16:5).
"The church of God which is at Corinth " (I Cor. 1:2).
"The church which is in his house" (Col. 4:15).
"The church of the Laodiceans" (Col. 4:16).
"The church of the Thessalonians" (I Thess. 1:1).
"The church of the Thessalonians" (II Thess. 1:1).
"The church in thy house" (Phile. 2).
"The church of Ephesus " (Rev. 2:1).
"The church in Smyrna " (Rev. 2:8).
"The church at Pergamos" (Rev. 2:12).
"The church in Thyatira" (Rev. 2:18).
"The church in Sardis " (Rev. 3:1).
"The church in Philadelphia " (Rev. 3:7).
"The church of the Laodiceans" (Rev.3:14).

These verses most certainly refer to a local church, an assembly of people who meet in a given locality, a body of baptized believers.

There is no such thing as a universal, invisible church which meets in a certain place.

A church which gathers in a certain place is both local and visible.

This leaves 55 more verses to consider.

LOCATION IN THE IMMEDIATE CONTEXT

In 23 other passages the word church is located in a certain place in the immediate context. These verses are as follows:

"The Lord added to the ( Jerusalem ) church" (Acts 2:47 ).
"Fear came upon all the ( Jerusalem ) church" (Acts 8:3).
"As for Saul, he made havock of the ( Jerusalem ) church" (Acts 8:3).
"His hands to vex certain of the ( Jerusalem ) church (Acts 12:1).
"But prayer was made without ceasing of the ( Jerusalem ) church" (Acts 12:5).
"And being brought on their way by the ( Antioch ) church" (Acts 15:3).
"They were received by the ( Jerusalem ) church" (Acts 15:4).
"He ... saluted the ( Jerusalem ) church" (Acts 18:22 ).
"Called the elders of the (Ephesian) church" (Acts 20:17 ).
"The church that is in their house" ( Rom. 16:5). The name of this church is uncertain, but it was local for it met in a house.
"Least esteemed in the (Corinthian) church" (I Cor. 6:4).
"Despise ye the church of God " (I Cor. 11:22 ). Paul called the Corinthian church by this title in I Corinthians 1:1.
"He that prophesieth edifieth the (Corinthian) church" (I Cor. 14:4).
"The (Corinthian) church may receive edifying" (I Cor. 14:5).
"The edifying of the (Corinthian) church" (I Cor. 14:12 ).
"In the (Corinthian) church I had rather speak" (I Cor. 14:19 ).
"Let him keep silence in the (Corinthian) church" (I Cor. 14:28 ).
"For women to speak in the (Corinthian) church" (I Cor. 14:35 ).
"Let not the (Ephesian) church be charged" (I Tim. 5:16 ).
"In the midst of the ( Jerusalem ) church will I sing praise unto thee" (Heb. 2:12 ).
"Thy charity before the (Ephesian) church" (III John 6).
"I wrote unto the (Ephesian) church" (III John 9).
"Casteth them out of the (Ephesian) church" (III John 10).