Bible Lexicons

ἐκκλησία , -ας , ἡ

(< ἐκ -καλέω ),

[in LXX chiefly for H6951, otherwise for one of its cogn. forms;]

1. prop., an assembly of citizens regularly convened (in Thuc., ii, 22, opp. to σύλλογος , a concourse): Acts 19:32; Acts 19:39; Acts 19:41.

2. In LXX of the assembly, congregation, community of Israel (Deuteronomy 4:10; Deuteronomy 23:2, al.): Acts 7:38, Hebrews 2:12 (LXX).

3. In NT, esp. of an assembly or company of Christians, a (the) church;

(a) of gatherings for worship: 1 Corinthians 11:18; 1 Corinthians 14:19; 1 Corinthians 14:34-35;

(b) of local communities: Acts 8:3, 1 Corinthians 4:17; with name added, Acts 8:1, Romans 16:1, 1 Thessalonians 1:1, al.; pl., Acts 15:41, 1 Corinthians 7:17; τ . Χριστοῦ , Romans 16:16; τ . Ἀσίας , 1 Corinthians 16:19; τ . ἁγίων , 1 Corinthians 14:33; εἰπὸν τ . ἐκκλησία , Matthew 18:17 (but v. Hort, Ecclesia, 10); of a house-congregation (DB, i, 431a), Romans 16:5, 1 Corinthians 16:19, Colossians 4:15, Philemon 1:2;

(c) of the whole body of Christians: Matthew 16:18, 1 Corinthians 12:28, Ephesians 1:22, Philippians 3:6, al,; τ . θεοῦ , Acts 20:28 (Κυρίου , T, R, mg.), 1 Corinthians 15:9, Galatians 1:13, 1 Timothy 3:15; ἐ . προτοτόκων ἀπογεγραμμένων ἐν οὐρανοῖς , Hebrews 12:23.

SYN.: συναγωγή G4864, q.v. (v. Tr., Syn., § i; DB, i, 426; Hort, Ecclesia, esp. 4 ff., 107 ff.; Hamilton, People of God, ii, 37 ff.; reff. s.vv. " Church," "Congregation," in DB and DCG; Cremer, 332).

For the Biblical history of the word ἐκκλησία, which meant originally any public assembly of citizens summoned by a herald, it is sufficient to refer to Hort, The Christian Ecclesia, p. 1 ff. It is the LXX term for the community of Israel, whether assembled or no. In the Gospels the word is confined to Matthew 16:18; Matthew 18:17, where it denotes Christ’s new ἐκκλησία, as distinguished from the old. Deissmann (LAE p. 112 ff.) has emphasized the significance of the fact that the Latin-speaking people of the West, to whom Christianity came, did not translate the word, but simply borrowed it, and cites an interesting bilingual inscr. of A.D. 103–4, found in the theatre of Ephesus, which refers to the gift by a Roman official of a silver image of Artemis (cf. Acts 19:24) and other statues—ἵνα τίθηνται κατ᾽ ἐκκλησίαν (cf. Acts 14:23) ἐν τῷ θεάτρῳ ἐπὶ τῶν βάσεων, or, in the parallel text, ita ut [om]n[i e]cclesia supra bases ponerentur. Other reff. to ἐκκλησίαι in the theatre at Ephesus will be found s.v. θέατρον. For the ";inclusive"; as distinguished from the ";exclusive"; character of the Greek ἐκκλησία (cf. Hicks CR i. p. 43), we may cite the case of an ἐκκλησία summoned at Apamea—ἀγομένης πανδήμου ἐκκλησίας, which the editor Cagnat (note on IV. 791.7) describes as ";concilium totius populi Apamensis, civium cum Graecorum, tum Romanorum"; : see also Ramsay C. and B. ii. p. 465, where the inscr. is dated as perhaps of the time of Vespasian and Titus. MGr ἐκκλησ (ι)ά.

 

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