Considering the uses of ekklēsia in the New Testament in an effort to determine potential for a "universal church" meaning.

1. EKKLĒSIA IN THE
NEW TESTAMENT

2. For Discussion
• WHAT?!
• Background: Meaning and context
• Ekklēsia before the New Testament
• Etymology of ekklēsia
• In Greco-Roman society
• In the Old Testament (LXX)
• Ekklēsia in the New Testament
• Summary of uses
• Non-universal uses
• Potentially universal uses
• Conclusion

3. WHAT?!
ἐκκλησία
Ekklēsia = “Church” = Universal (catholic) church?
• Where does this sense come from?
• Is it consistent in the NT?
• (Is it present even once in the NT???)
• How would 1st century readers/hearers have perceived
this word?

4. Background: Meaning and Context
• Ekklēsia = church (…right?)
• “Holy Spirit Greek”
• Prior, secular origins
• Sense, not (singular) meaning
• Words are important, but context is king!

5. Ekklēsia before the New Testament
• Etymology/Origins
• In Greco-Roman Society
• In the Septuagint (LXX)

6. Etymology/Origins
Ek + kaleō ⟹ Ekklēsia (to call out)
True or False?
Etymological Fallacy: Potentially occurs when you
reach back to the origins of a word to find its “true”
<1300s
timid
1300s
fussy
meaning.
E. g. “nice”
1400s
dainty
1500s
precise
1700s
agreeable
1800s+
kind
Orig. Latin nescire = not know (= stupid)

7. Etymology/Origins
• Ekklēsia ultimately from ancient root *qal meaning
“a summons to an assembly and the act of
assembling” (NIDNTT)
• The root for Hebrew qāhāl meaning “an assembly
of people” (TDOT)

8. Etymology/Origins
• Louis Berkhof (Systematic Theology)noted that
the term “church” can trace its origins back to the
Greek adjective kuriakos, meaning “belonging to
the Lord.”
• Used only twice in the NT (1 Cor 11:20; Rev 1:10)
• In neither NT instance does it have anything to do with
the body of believers
• What gives?!
• Meaning is never to be derived from a term alone, but
from its particular usage, which can change over time.

9. In Greco-Roman Society
Familiar civic function of the ekklēsia in the Greek
city-state:
• The assembly would gather to discuss suggested
changes in law, appointment of officials, internal and
external policies, and (in special judicial cases such as
treason) sitting in judgment
The ekklēsia is never found to be explicitly
associated with a religious function in Greco-
Roman society.

10. In the LXX – Lexical
Ekklēsia employed in LXX ~100 times
Two terms in Hebrew Scripture for the assembly or
congregation: qāhāl and ‘edah
• Qāhāl: More frequently used to refer to the congregation
in assembly or the act of assembling.
• ‘Edah: Used to refer to Israel in the aggregate, despite
any geographic separation.
If ekklēsia were to carry any universal overtones in
the minds of Jewish readers, which Hebrew term
would you expect to see translated into ekklēsia in
the LXX?
• In reality, ‘edah is never translated as ekklēsia in the LXX.

11. In the LXX – Theological
Do the ekklēsia in the LXX constitute some
theological significance, such as covenant renewal
with Yahweh?
• Those who answer in the affirmative would equate the NT
ekklēsia tou theou (assembly of God) with OT Israel
• Requires a “spiritual” reading of the OT
• Those who answer in the negative recognize that the Gk.
terms ekklēsia and sunagōgē are used almost
interchangeably in the LXX to refer to any sort of
gathering with no inherent theological implication

12. Summary of Pre-NT Uses
Neither Greco-Roman uses nor LXX uses of
ekklēsia carry any inherent religious or theological
meaning
Working early 1st century definition:
An ekklēsia is a geographically defined gathering
of people having a common goal or purpose.

13. Ekklēsia in the New Testament
117 instances in 114 verses
Category Passages
Local Assembly Mt 18:17 (2x); Acts 5:11; 8:1, 3; 11:22, 26; 12:1, 5; 13:1; 14:23, 27;
15:3, 4, 22; 18:22; 20:17; Rom 16:1, 5, 23; 1Cor 1:2; 4:17; 6:4;
7:17; 10:32; 11:18, 22; 12:28; 14:4, 5, 12, 19, 23, 28, 33, 34, 35;
16:19; 2Cor 1:1; Phil 4:15; Col 4:15, 16; 1Thess 1:1; 2Thess 1:1, 4;
1Tim 3:5, 15; 5:16; Philm 1:2; Heb 2:12; Jas 5:14; 3John 1:6, 9, 10;
Rev 2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14
Regional Assembly Acts 9:31
Group of Local/
Regional Assemblies
Acts 15:41; 16:5; Rom 16:4, 16; 1Cor 11:16; 16:1, 19; 2Cor 8:1, 18,
19, 23, 24; 11:8, 28; 12:13; Gal 1:2, 22; 1Thess 2:14; Rev 1:4, 11,
20 (2x); 2:7, 11, 17, 23, 29; 3:6, 13, 22; 22:16
Secular Civil Assembly Acts 19:32, 39, 41
Unclear Uses Matt 16:18; Acts 7:38; 20:28; 1Cor 15:9; Gal 1:13; Eph 1:22; 3:10,
21; 5:23, 24, 25, 27, 29, 32; Phil 3:6; Col 1:18, 24; 1Tim 3:15; Heb
12:23

14. Unclear Uses in the NT
Matthew 16:18
oikodomēsō mou tēn ekklēsian
• The first chronological use of the term, in terms of historical
events
• The personal possessive (“My”) is unique
• May have struck any Gentile readers as such
• May have struck Jews as significant in its parallelism to the LXX
ekklēsia tou theou
Conclusion: Likely significant.

15. Unclear Uses in the NT
Acts 7:38
tē ekklēsia en tē erēmō
• NT Church = OT Israel adherents like this verse
• Refers to the gathering of Israel (“day of the assembly”) at Mt.
Sinai in Deuteronomy 9
• Two elements opposing a theologically significance
1. That “day of assembly” referred to by Moses in Dt 9 was gathered in
idolatry (golden calf)
2. In Hebrew Torah, Moses could have used “day of assembly” earlier in
Dt 4:10, but does not (though LXX translators add it)
Conclusion: Not significant.

16. Unclear Uses in the NT
Acts 20:28
tēn ekklēsian tou theou
• In support of a universal sense:
1. Potential parallel in this “farewell address” to the Ephesians and
Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians, where Paul’s use of ekklēsia is
pregnant with universalism
2. The relative clause (“which…”) seems to be suggest a universal
church
• In opposition:
1. Potential parallels are by no means certain (esp. considering the
debated addressees of the letter to the saints “in Ephesus”)
2. Tou theou could have been added to remind Ephesian elders just
whose church it was they were shepherding
3. References to “the flock” in vv. 28-29 constrain the scope
Conclusion: Not significant.

17. Unclear Uses in the NT
1 Cor 15:9 (cf. Gal 1:13; Phil 3:6)
tēn ekklēsian tou theou
• In support of a universal sense:
• Acts 8:1-3, the record of his persecutions, speaks ambiguously of the
scope
• In Acts 9, Jesus says He is being persecuted—does that necessarily
indicate a universal sense?
• Paul’s use of tou theou in 1 Cor 15:9 & Gal 1:13 indicates divine
possession (cf. Mt 16:18, discussed above)

18. Unclear Uses in the NT
1 Cor 15:9 (cf. Gal 1:13; Phil 3:6)
tēn ekklēsian tou theou
• In opposition of a universal sense:
• Due to ambiguity, we cannot rely on Acts 8:1-3 to help
• When He asked, “Why are you persecuting me?” Jesus may have
been responding corporately to a “partitive” offense
• Despite grammatical efforts to squeeze a universal sense out of Acts
8:1-3, we have no way of knowing for certain which sense Paul
intended
Conclusion: Indeterminable.

19. Unclear Uses in the NT
• Ephesians 1:22; 3:10, 21; 5:23-32
eis Christon kai eis tēn ekklēsian
• Key theme for all these passages = “mystery”
• This mystery is the fact that Gentiles and Jews, previously animus to
one another, have been brought together in the church, in the
assembly of Christ.
• Eph 3:2-6, “…by revelation there was made know to me the
mystery...that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of
the body”
• This mystery of the church is that it is the body of Christ, where all
believers are one in Him and indivisible from one another
Conclusion: Significant.

20. Unclear Uses in the NT
Colossians 1:18
hē kephalē tou sōmatos tēs ekklēsias
• In support of a universal sense:
• Col 1:18 occurs in the middle of a highly Christological passage in
which Christ is described as being the all of everything
• There is a grammatical equivalency between “body” and “church” so
that Christ is head of the body, which is the church
• It does not say “He is also head of the body and the church”
Conclusion: Significant.

21. Unclear Uses in the NT
Colossians 1:24
ho estin hē ekklēsia
• In support of a universal sense
• Proximity to previous Christological passage (see discussion of 1:18
above)
• Opposing a universal sense
• “I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake” constrains the scope to local
believers
• v25 (ESV) reads “…for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of
which I became a minister…” This indicates a focus on a local ministry.
Conclusion: Insignificant.

22. Unclear Uses in the NT
Hebrews 12:23
kai ekklēsia prōtotokōn
• Heb 12:22-24 demonstrates a contrast between the “assembly
in the wilderness” and this new assembly
• “assembly of the firstborn” is the possessive equivalent to “My
church” in Mt. 16:18
• This letter being written to a specific body of believers actually
supports a universal sense:
• “But you [local] have come…to the assembly [universal] of the
firstborn”
• First encounter of the descriptor “enrolled in heaven,” indicating
a special class
Conclusion: Significant.

23. Reevaluating the Approach
WAIT! Have we been going about this all wrong?!
Here’s what we’ve been doing:
• Look at each verse and decide if ekklēsia is used
universally.
But remember! To the early 1st century person
living in the Roman empire, there was no universal
sense to the word ekklēsia! Perhaps we should
have been doing this:
• Look at each verse and decide if ekklēsia cannot be used
in its known sense, leaving open the possibility for this
new sense.

24. Conclusion
• Words are important, but context is king
• Think and discuss: Any instances where ekklēsia
cannot be local, regional, secular assembly, where
there are no other options than “universal church”?
• Read: Enrich your understanding by learning about
the cultures in which the text was written
• Rome and Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilizations
by Martin Goodman
• An Introduction to the New Testament, Vols. 1-3
by D. Edmond Hiebert
BONUS!
A sure cure for insomnia:
https://shepherdstheologicalseminary.academia.edu/SteveYoung