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What does word Church mean ??
- Thread starter dan p
- Start date
hansolooo
tolerant
Well you already answered the first question, Greek for Church is Ekklesia which means assmebly, congregation, institution, organization, or corporate body.
What exactly are you wanting to know? You already the know the meaning of the word, are you asking what the necessities for a 'church' are in Christianity?
What exactly are you wanting to know? You already the know the meaning of the word, are you asking what the necessities for a 'church' are in Christianity?
Smoke
Done here.
Strictly speaking -- etymologically and historically -- the ekklesia or assembly means the people and the kyriakon or church means the building. But those meanings were blurred even before English was really English.
Originally, an ekkelsia was not a religious assembly but a political assembly. So, the early Christians used ekkelsia in a metaphorical sense to denote their assemblies. That, by the way, is about all I can recall of my undergraduate course on the early church, which I took 35 years ago.
wordmagnifiedabovenames
Active Member
As far as I recall, when Jesus used the word "ekklesia" (firstly in Matt 16,) He was using the term from the Greek political system to as an anology for his Kingdom (among all the other things going on in that chapter.)
In the city-states in Greece there were the people "demos", who were the general public. Every so often (the men at least) they were all allowed, or called to vote on certain things to do with the running the city. It's from there that English get the term "democracy." For whatever reason, typically only a small subset of the demos actually responded to the call/turned up to vote/speak on the particular issue in question, and this subset was called the "ekklesia."
Jesus was using the term to indicate that although the genreal public, not just the social elite, not just the educated, not just those in positions of power etc. were invited to be part of the Kingdom, there would be only be a relatively small subset who would actually respond to the invitation.
As for what the "church" is supposed to look like and do etc. I'd suggest doing a word study on the Greek word "koinonia."
In the city-states in Greece there were the people "demos", who were the general public. Every so often (the men at least) they were all allowed, or called to vote on certain things to do with the running the city. It's from there that English get the term "democracy." For whatever reason, typically only a small subset of the demos actually responded to the call/turned up to vote/speak on the particular issue in question, and this subset was called the "ekklesia."
Jesus was using the term to indicate that although the genreal public, not just the social elite, not just the educated, not just those in positions of power etc. were invited to be part of the Kingdom, there would be only be a relatively small subset who would actually respond to the invitation.
As for what the "church" is supposed to look like and do etc. I'd suggest doing a word study on the Greek word "koinonia."
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Hi hansolooo , I read the Church means KURIAKOS which is found in 1 Cor 11:20 and in Rev 1:10 , which means " I belong to the Lord ".