‘Church’ is not in the New Testament!

Before you get angry at me :-), I am not against the Church—that is, the worldwide followers of Yeshua. But words are important. As someone who wants to reach Jewish people with Yeshua, I don't want to put a stumbling block before them—except Yeshua himself. So...with that in mind.

Did you know that the King James Version was not the first English translation of the Bible? The Tyndale Bible was translated in 1526 and the Wycliffe Bible predates that. What is interesting is that Tyndale never translated the Greek word ecclesia as church, but congregation (congregacion). He does use the word church twice, but only in reference to pagan Temples (see Acts 14:13, 19:37). Ecclesia is not used in either of these verses. So, according to Tyndale, a congregation was People who were Holy and churches were Buildings for Religious Purposes, including pagan temples.

Churches are Buildings

The Greek word for church is kyriakos and appears in the New Testament only once (1 Cor. 11:20). It is the first part of the phrase The Lord’s Supper. It is an adjective (not a noun) meaning “belonging to the Lord.” Sometime in the 300s, people began to refer to buildings where believers met as kyriakos or churches (About the time when the anti-Semitic Roman Emperor Constantine began building structures for Christians). And then, the body of believers themselves started to be called ‘the church.’ Of course, in popular vernacular, most of the world associates churches with buildings.

The fact that "church" (kyiakos) does not appear in the New Testament (in connection with the body of believers) must be the reason Tyndale refused to use it. Young’s Literal Translation (1862) correctly translates ecclesia as assembly, not church. However, when King James authorized a new translation (1611), one of the rules was that the ecclesia would not be translated congregation, but church. Why? Maybe because they wanted to be consistent with common practice, or maybe it was more sinister—was the congregation too Jewish? Let’s remember they also translated Yeshua’s brother Jacob as James. Then again, Tyndale also translated Jacob as James (Iames).

Ecclesia (the word that is translated as church in your Bible) is not a religious word. In Acts 19, it refers to a town council. In verses 32, 39, and 41, the KJV correctly translates the word as assembly, referring to the meeting of the council. However, the more than 100 other times that ecclesia appears in the New Testament, translators simply changed the word to kyriakos or church. In the same way that believers were part of The Way. Way, though a general word, becomes a specific word—a proper noun.

Ecclesia simply means “those called to a regular gathering.” For years, believers have said it means “Called out ones” — called out from the world. While I like that, in truth, it means called out to gather for any purpose, as in Acts 19. Is it possible that the New Testament seeks to elevate the meaning of ecclesia, adding a spiritual definition? Remember, when the writers had to come up with words to communicate New Testament truths to the Greek-speaking world, they only had Greek to draw from.

Kehila—Community

The Hebrew Word used for ecclesia in my Hebrew NT is kehila, or Community/Congregation. This, in my opinion, is a much better word because the community is people no matter where they meet. The New Testament congregation is a spiritual house made of people. As Simon Peter says, “You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house” (2 Pet. 2:5). In addition, as pointed out by one of my readers, the Old Testament book that we call Ecclesiastes (from ecclesia) in Hebrew is Kohelet. Kohelet comes from the word kehila or kahal (gathering; audience).

When James speaks of the gathering of believers, he uses the Greek word synagōgē or "synagogue" in English (James 2:2). Community is also a more Jewish-friendly term. Most Jewish people would not step foot in a church, but they might come to your community or gathering (especially if the meeting is in a non-religious building, like a home). And they would definitely feel at home at what James calls a synagogue!

I am not maintaining that there was a conspiracy (although there may have been), but rather that because ecclesia was not a religious word and the new word church did have a religious connotation, it became the dominant word. However, I think that the word ecclesia (assembly) is a perfect word because, at the end of the day, the body of believers is a living community of people, not a building, and that is the word in the New Testament, not church.

Is this really a big deal?

As long as we know to whom we are referring, the people of God, then maybe not. But the confusion that remains today over whether the church is a building or a group of people stems from the fact that kyriakos are buildings, not gatherings, while the ecclesia is a group of people. In addition, because the construction of historic church buildings (that the New Testament never encourages us to build) is so closely connected with Christian hatred towards Jews, the less charged word—community, may be preferable.*

You tell me. Do you think it is a big deal? Use the comments area below to share your answer. 

Footnote: William Tyndale died for his faith, as he was executed in 1536, while the KJV had the backing of King James… who do you think would have been more honest in their translation?

*Nothing wrong with buildings; I am referring to the massive monumental churches of Europe.

Originally published April 10, 2013