The Meaning of Ekklesia
First, we’ll look at the meaning of what Christ’s ekklesia is, we’ll look at the real thing first, then we’ll compare the legal fiction that’s being created as the substitute for Christ’s ekklesia. The word ekklesia is the original Greek Word, it was used in the Septuagint. So, the seventy-two translators that translated the Septuagint around 280 B.C. were very much aware of that word ekklesia. They used it in the Septuagint as a replacement of the Hebrew for the “congregation of Israel.”
Now, if we go to the modern word studies on ekklesia, they’ll always point to the secular meaning of the Greek, that it was a group of citizens called together. They rarely go to the original meaning. The first time it’s spoken in the New Testament, by Christ, is at Matthew 16:18, “…And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my ekklesia…”
When you go to Tyndale’s bible, which was the first English Bible, he translated ekklesia as “assembly.” In the George Ricker Berry Interlinear Greek/English New Testament (it’s a literal translation of the Greek into English), which was written in the late 1800’s, he translated ekklesia as “assembly,” and you won’t find the word “church” anywhere in there. Christ only used the word ekklesia three times. It’s not recorded in the book of Mark, John, or Luke. Matthew is the only one who recorded it.
In Strong’s Greek Concordance, the word ekklesia (word #1577) is defined as “an assembly,” and it’s from the word “ek,” (word #1537) which means “out of”; and the word “klesis” (word #2821) which means “a calling.” So ekklesia means to be called out, and obviously Christ is the one that’s calling us out. But is that the first time we were ever called out?
The apostle Paul wrote, “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you” (2 Corinthians 6:17). Now he’s quoting the Old Testament from Isaiah 52:11, so we were called out in the Old Testament. In the Septuagint, Isaiah 52:11 reads, “Depart ye, depart, go out from thence, and touch not the unclean thing; go ye out from the midst of her; separate yourselves, ye that bear the vessels of the Lord.”
So, when you go to the original Greek in the Septuagint and find out what those verses mean, you find out what you’re being called out of. And that’s what His ekklesia is, it is those who are called out.
When Isaiah says, “go ye out from the midst of her,” what does that mean? Well, when you go to the original Greek, “out from the midst” means “out from the center.” And the word “her” is from the Greek autos which means “self.” So basically, what this verse is saying is to depart and separate yourself from your self will (those wants of the world) and touch not the impure. So what we’re called out of is our self! We’re called out of the self-will and all of those things that have to do with the flesh. And that is His ekklesia.
This goes along with: Matthew 10:38-39, “And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” The apostle Paul said, “I die daily” (1 Corinthians 15:31). What this means is to do His Will, and crucify the deeds of the flesh, kill our old man.
So, there’s only one definition for ekklesia, and that’s “assembly” (or “congregation”). Now, how is it possible to take the word “church” (which means a physical structure) and insert it in there? Because the word “Church” does not mean “assembly” at all! It doesn’t even closely correlate.
ecclesia.org/truth/ekklesia.html
… do you still get that disconnect when you read the Book and when you read the teachings of “the men” who put that Book together?