A word behind the word
Ekklesia, the Word for Church
The Greek word ekklesia, translated church, is used more than a hundred times in the New Testament. It refers to an assembly or gathering of people, and understanding its ordinary meaning clears up a common confusion about what church actually is.
“And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”Matthew 16:18
What the word actually means
What the word actually means. In everyday Greek, ekklesia meant an assembly, a group of people called together. In Acts 19 the word is used three times for a civic gathering in Ephesus, including a riotous mob and a lawful assembly, and the KJV there renders it assembly rather than church. That ordinary usage matters: an ekklesia is a gathering of people. When the New Testament calls believers the ekklesia, it means the assembly of those belonging to Christ, whether a local congregation, as the church which was at Jerusalem in Acts 8:1, or the whole company of God's people, as when Ephesians 5:25 says Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it. Crucially, ekklesia never refers to a building in the New Testament. It refers to people. The Septuagint used ekklesia to translate the Hebrew qahal, the congregation or assembly of Israel gathered before the Lord, which gives the word its rich biblical background as the covenant people assembled.
The myth to clear up
The myth to clear up. A popular teaching breaks ekklesia into its parts, ek meaning out and kaleo meaning to call, and concludes that the church is by definition the called-out ones, a special separated remnant, and builds a whole doctrine on that etymology. This is a classic case of reading meaning from a word's roots rather than its use, the etymological fallacy. In actual usage ekklesia simply meant an assembly or gathering; the Ephesian mob in Acts 19 was an ekklesia and was certainly not a called-out holy people. The idea that Christians are called out of the world is genuinely biblical, taught plainly in passages like 1 Peter 2:9, but that truth does not come from dissecting this Greek word. The sober correction: the church is the assembly of God's people belonging to Christ; teach that from usage, and let the doctrine of being set apart rest on the many verses that actually state it.
How the word opens onto Christ
How the word opens onto Christ. The church is not a human club but Christ's own assembly. He said in Matthew 16:18, I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. It is his by purchase: Acts 20:28 speaks of the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. It is his by love: Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it, in Ephesians 5:25. And it is his by union, for the New Testament calls the church his body, and he the head, in Colossians 1:18. So the gathering of believers exists only because Christ called it into being and holds it together. When the people of God assemble, whether two or three in Matthew 18:20 or a great multitude, they gather around and belong to him. The church is not defined by walls or programs but by the risen Lord in whose name it meets and to whom it belongs.
Questions people ask
Does ekklesia mean a church building?
No. In the New Testament ekklesia always refers to people, an assembly or gathering, never to a structure. The same Greek word is even used for a civic crowd in Acts 19.
Is it right to say the church means the called-out ones?
The idea that believers are set apart from the world is biblical, taught in verses like 1 Peter 2:9, but it does not come from breaking the word ekklesia into its parts. In usage the word simply means an assembly.