Ekklésia - The Assembly of God

The use of the English term ‘church’ or ‘ekklésia’ is derived from the “assembly of Yahweh” gathered for worship in the Hebrew Bible.

The use of the term “assembly” in the New Testament is based on the language and imagery of Israel when the nation assembled before Yahweh for worship. The Greek noun translated as “church” in many English translations of the Bible is ‘ekklésia’, which means “assembly, congregation, convocation.”

In secular Greek, this noun often referred to an assembly of citizens gathered to conduct the affairs of politics and government. However, that is not the sense found in the Greek New Testament.

[Church Prayer - Photo by Pedro Lima (Brazil) on Unsplash]

The term ‘ekklésia’ (εκκλησια) occurs only twice in the four gospel accounts, and both times it is heard on the lips of Jesus. Thus, its original application to congregations of disciples can be traced to the Nazarene (Strong’s Concordance - #G1577):

• “And I also say to you, that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my assembly [‘ekklésia’], and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it” – (Matthew 16:18. See also Matthew 18:17).

The term occurs over one hundred times in the Greek New Testament. Most often, it is applied to individual congregations of believers in particular locations. However, it is the Apostle Paul’s usage of ‘ekklésia’ that is the most distinctive and instructive.

First, the Apostle employs both the singular and plural forms of ‘ekklésia’ when he applies it to local groups of believers, but he does so with discrimination. Invariably, when referring to a local congregation, he uses the singular form (e.g., the “assembly in Corinth” - 1 Corinthians 1:2, 1 Thessalonians 1:1).

Second, when Paul refers to two or more congregations as a group, he uses the plural form of the noun. Thus, for example, to the assembly of Corinth, he writes that God is not “a God of confusion, but of peace, as in all the assemblies of the saints.” To the believers of Rome, he states that “all the assemblies of Christ salute you” – (1 Corinthians 14:33, Romans 16:16, 1 Thessalonians 2:14).

This does not mean that each city church is independent of the others, nor that each congregation maintains its own doctrinal traditions and practices. But each assembly represents the church of Jesus Christ assembled for worship in its respective location.

Several times, Paul describes the local congregation as “the assembly of God,” and collectively, he labels all his congregations the “assemblies of God.” This use echoes language from the Old Testament - (1 Corinthians 1:2, 10:32, 11:16, 1 Thessalonians 2:14).

THE ASSEMBLY OF YAHWEH

The Hebrew Bible frequently describes the people of Israel when they were gathered before the Tabernacle as “the assembly of Israel.” The Bible portrays the nation of Israel from that period as a pilgrim people, and the Tabernacle was a portable tent-shrine that accompanied the nation on its journey to the Promised Land.

Several times, when Israel was assembled before the Tabernacle for worship, it is called the assembly or the convocation of Yahweh - the ‘qahal Yahweh’. For example:

• “So will it be yours to keep until the fourteenth day of this month, then will all the convocation of the assembly of Israel slay it between the two evenings” - (Exodus 12:6).

• “And no man will be in the tent of meeting when he comes in to make a covering by propitiation in the holy place until he goes out. So will he put a covering about himself and about his household and about all the assembly of Israel” - (Leviticus 16:17).

• “Neither he that has been mutilated by crushing, nor he that has had his privy member cut off will enter the assembly of Yahweh. A bastard shall not enter the assembly of Yahweh. Even to the tenth generation will none of his enter the assembly of Yahweh” - (Deuteronomy 23:1-2).

• “I will declare your name to my brethren. In the midst of the assembly [‘qahal’], I will praise you” - (Psalm 22:22. See also Hebrews 2:11-12).

The ancient prohibition that prevented anyone in a ritually unclean state from participating in the assembly of Yahweh and its worship rituals is echoed in several of Paul’s declarations about proper and improper behavior in the church of Jesus Christ. For example:

• (1 Corinthians 11:22) – “What! Do you not have houses for your eating and drinking? Or the assembly of God do you despise and put to shame them who have nothing? What am I to say to you? Shall I praise you? In this, I praise you not.”

• (1 Corinthians 14:34) – “As for the women, in the assemblies, let them be silent, for it is not permitted them to speak, but let them be in submission, even as the law declares.”

• (1 Timothy 3:15) – “But if I should tarry that you may know how it behooves you in a house of God to behave, the which is an assembly of a living God, a pillar and basis of the truth.”

Rather than ritual impurities as defined by the Levitical regulations, Paul is concerned with conduct that occurs in the congregation of the saints. Immorality and disruptive behavior must not be allowed among believers when they gather for worship, not that such behavior is tolerable in other circumstances.

In the New Testament, the “church” or “assembly” is not a building or the designation for a sect or denomination, but the local congregation of saints assembled before the Lord for worship.

God has spoken with great finality in Jesus Christ. His Covenant Community is founded on the person, teachings, and deeds of Jesus of Nazareth, especially his Death and Resurrection. Jesus is the Son who brings the covenant promises given to the Patriarchs and the nation of Israel to their intended conclusions – (1 Corinthians 15:3-9).

• “Many parts and many ways of old, God, having spoken to the fathers in the prophets, upon the end of these days, has spoken to us in a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the ages, who being the eradiated brightness of his glory, and the precise impress of his essence, and upholding all things by the utterance of his power, having achieved the purification of sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become, by so much, nobler than the angels, as much as, he has inherited a surpassing name” – (Hebrews 1:1-4. Note the allusions to Leviticus 16:16-19 and Psalm 110:1).

• “But you have come to mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, and to an assembly of the firstborn [‘ekklésia’], who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Abel” – (Hebrews 12:22-24).

• “And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the assembly [‘ekklésia’], who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might become preeminent” – (Colossians 1:17-18).

[Note: Text printed in small capital letters represents quotations of or verbal allusions to the Hebrew Scriptures]

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SEE ALSO:

• One New Man - (Through his Death and Resurrection, Jesus founded one new covenant community, One New Man, to whom we are united by faith – Ephesians 2:11-22)

• My Witnesses - (The Spirit equips and emboldens the Church to bear witness to Jesus, especially concerning his sacrificial death and resurrection from the dead)

• To the Assembly - (The Thessalonians received the Gospel of Christ in tribulation yet remained faithful while eagerly anticipating the return of Jesus – 1 Thessalonians 1:1-7)

• A Assembleia de Deus - (O uso do termo em português 'igreja' ou 'ekklésia' é derivado da "Assembléia de Javé" reunida para adoração na Bíblia hebraica)