What Is The Church?

WHAT IS THE CHURCH? Our English word “church” is translated from the Greek word evkklhsia (ekklesia). It is a compound word made up of the joining of two Greek words.

Ek (ek): “Out of”

Kalew (kaleo): “To call.” The resulting word describes a called-out assembly. It can refer to a secular assembly, a legal assembly, or to a religious assembly. It is the last usage that we normally see in the New Testament when we hear the word “church.” As such, it can refer to four different types of church.

1. The Local Congregation.
This is the most common use of the word in the New Testament. It refers to the gathering of people into a local congregation. In 1 Corinthians 1:2, Paul addresses his epistle to the church of God which is at Corinth.

2. The Universal Church.
This speaks of the complete body of Christ, made up of all believers throughout the world and throughout all time. Ephesians 1:22 speaks of the universal church when it describes Jesus being the head of the church (see also Ephesians 5:23-24). In the same way, Ephesians 3:10 speaks of the manifold wisdom of God being given to the church.

3. A Group of Local Congregations.
The word “church” can be used of a group of local congregations in a particular area that goes beyond a single group of people.

Acts 9:31 tells us how the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace.[2] It might be argued that these local congregations were merely the local manifestation of the universal church.
[2] This reading is generally preferred to that of the Textus Receptus which reads “churches,” making it plural. The Jerusalem Church was of a size that made it obvious that it met as a number of congregations, yet it is described in the Bible as a single church.

House churches met as a part of the local church (1 Corinthians 16:19; Romans 16:3-5; Colossians 4:15-18; Philemon 1:2).