Ekklesia DOES mean "A called-out Assembly." The NT merely adopted this Greek word, that at least as far back as the Third Century BC, always meant to them, "The governing body of that particular LOCAL city-state." The NT is full of epistles that were addressed to LOCAL churches or some LOCAL individuals within a LOCAL church. It wasn't until later on, i.e., when the Roman(-sized) Emperor Constantine his "vision" of a universal, "invisible" body (With either him or one of his "representatives" presiding.). We do an injustice to the NT when we decide to take what it says & apply a rather distinctly defined entity & apply it in a context that that word never intended. EX: The word "car." Would a police officer pull over a "Universal Car" for speeding? I'd like to be at that local traffic court to see that defendant plea his case about that! We who are saved have been adopted into God's "Family," not into some worldwide church. When you go to your local church, do you sit next to EVERY person who's been saved? Now, to me, that'd have to be a rather long pew. It is an injustice, IMHO, to "spiritualize" a specific Greek word to make that word describe something that Greek-speaking or writing never intended. The Apostle Paul likened a NT church to a human body, not some collective physical entity. This doesn't mean that some other church(es) cannot come together to, say, support a missionary or some movement that's dedicated to some noble goal--they not only CAN, but they SHOULD. John in Revelation mentions the "Nicolaitans." That Greek word is formed from two separate Greek words= "Nico" which means "Victory" & "Lao" which means the "Laity." Hence we understand that even in John's day there were some who wanted to be victorious over "the common folk." IMHO, it didn't take too long for some to have such selfishness to apply Peter as THE head over what Jesus was erecting: viz., His LOCAL group of born-again believers whose foundation was Him, NOT Peter. If someone wishes to consider the word "church" as something that the NT never intended it to be, I won't dis-fellowship with that person. We've got so much in common + so much that's still undone to get into a frazzle over his/her understanding of the Greek....It's STILL Greek to me! Let's keep our eyes on the One who freed us from sin's penalty & obey what we have been commanded to do!!
