ECCLESIOLOGY-A STUDY OF THE CHURCH–By: Jarrell E. Huffman

ECCLESIOLOGY-A STUDY OF THE CHURCH
By: Jarrell E. Huffman

(1-7 LESSONS)

FOREWARD

Many books have been written concerning the church which Jesus established. Many of these books are good. As one investigates this field, however, there is always room to elaborate and expand.

Church truth has been greatly minimized in this present age. Only true Baptist Churches hold to the doctrine of the local, visible church. All others, including many “so-called Baptists,” accept the universal-invisible church “theory.”

Satan attacks the cardinal truths of the Word. He seeks to pervert, confuse, and minimize the fundamentals of the Scriptures. He has so successfully blinded the eyes of the masses, that only a very few know church truth.

The author was reared in a Missionary Baptist Church in Oklahoma. Early in life I heard church truth. During my studies at the Missionary Baptist Seminary of Little Rock, Arkansas, church truth was driven home. Having pastored five of the Lord’s churches in three states, I have become even more aware of the need for church truth to be believed and taught.

The past four years the author has instructed in the Illinois Missionary Baptist Institute of Washington, Illinois. At first, Ecclesiology was taught in connection with Bible Doctrine. Later, both of these courses were enlarged and divided.

The church which Jesus built is the greatest institution on earth. Founded by the Lord Himself, this institution is guaranteed perpetuity (Matthew 16:18).

It is both an honor and a privilege to be a member of one of the Lord’s churches. This book is sent forth to aid both the teacher and the student to better understand and appreciate the institution which Jesus purchased with His own blood (Acts 20:28).

INTRODUCTION

DEFINITION OF TERMS

Ecclesiology is a specialized study of the doctrines of the church. The study included the origin, the continuity, the nature, and the ministry of this blood-bought institution.

Etymology of the Word “ecclesiology”:

1.Ecclesia–assembly; congregation; church

2.Logos–word; study of

This study comprises one of the most important, yet sadly neglected, doctrines of the Bible.

THE NEED FOR THIS STUDY.

Never before in the history of the church has there been such a need of the Bible meaning of the Lord’s “church.”

G.D. Boardman, of last century fame, stated, “What is the church? Is the great problem of this century.” (Ekklesia The Church, Bob Ross, p.3).

Satan has chosen a few doctrines to specifically concentrate his energies on to pervert: Genesis account of creation, inspiration of the Scriptures, virgin birth and deity of Christ, salvation by grace, perseverance of the saints, and the church of the New Testament.

Tulga says, “The fundamentalists knew very well that many other spiritual movements had cooled off and departed from the faith, and they adopted many careful doctrinal confessions and required many signings, forgetting at times that eternal vigilance is the price of orthodoxy…they did not foresee that schools which they founded would be infected by the culture of their day, the natural tendency of the human mind toward philosophical theology, and the adoption of the popular notions of the hour. Many movements are lulled to sleep with the conviction that ‘it can’t happen to us’…church history records that every movement eventually diminishes in vigor and strength of conviction; that the truths held dynamically in the beginning eventually come to be held formally.” (Fundamentalism of Yesterday, The Evangelicalism of Today, and the Fundamentalism of Tomorrow, Chester Tulga, pp.7,8).

The controversy centers around the question: “What is the nature of the church?” “Is it local or universal, visible or invisible?” IT CANNOT BE BOTH.

The ordinances of the church—baptism and the Lord’s Supper–can never have their full meaning, if the nature of the church be not properly understood.

Scriptural exhortations:

II Timothy 4:3,4–“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”

Matthew 24:12–“And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.”

II Timothy 3:1–“This is known also, that in the last days perilous (difficult) times shall come.”

I Timothy 4:1– “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.”

Rev. 3:14-22– the whole spirit of this Laodicean age is characterized by apathy, indifference, luke-warmness, non-concern, and looseness–both morally and doctrinally.

SUGGESTED READING.

Ecclesia–the Church–B. H. Carroll

Ekklesia–the Church–Bob L. Ross

Theodosia Earnest, Vol. II–A. C. Dayton

LESSON 2

THE MEANING OF ECCLESIA

Definition of Terms.

As previously stated, most scholars agree that the English word “church” comes from a Greek word (kuriakos) which means “the Lord’s ” with the word house usually understood.

The Etymology: “Literal Sense of the Word”

Ek—out of

Kaleo—to call

Hence, a “calling out.”

Overbey says, “Since the word church is a very broad term having many possible

meanings and ekklesia is a much narrower term we must be careful in our study least we bring the present meanings of church into ekklesia as found in the New Testament” (meaning of Ecclesia in the N. T. , Overbey, p.E).

Quoting F. J. A. Hort, Overbey says, “The reason why I have chosen the term ecclesia is simply to avoid ambiguity-two or more-meaning vague. The English term church, now the most familiar representative of ecclesia to most of us, carries with it associations derived from the institutions and doctrines of later times, and thus cannot at present without a constant mental effort be made to convey the full and exact force which originally belonged to ecclesia” (Ibid).

Overbey again, “The word church should not be in our English versions today to represent ecclesia. Its appearance in the N. T. , we believe, has obscured the true meaning. The word church was not used in Tyndale’s, Coverdale’s, and Crammer’s Bible” (Bid).

Hort says, ” ‘Congregation was the only rendering of ekklesia in the English New Testament as it stood throughout Henry VIII’s reign, the substitution of ‘church’ being due to the Genevan revisers; and it held its ground in the Bishop’s Bible in no less primary a passage than Matthew 16:18 till the Jacobean revision of 1611, which we call the Authorized Version” (Ibid.).

Overbey again, ” In fact it is very likely it would not have appeared in the King James Version were it not for the 15 rules King James sent to the translators which were to guide them in their work. Rule 3 states, ‘The old ecclesiastical words to be kept, viz., the word church not to be translated congregation” (Ibid., p.9).

I.K. Cross says, “In Acts 19:39-41 the term is used twice. Once to refer to the ‘lawful assembly’ which was called out to the citizens of Ephesus to handle legal matters in the city. The other to refer to the assembly that had been called together to run Paul and his companions out of town. In either case the assembly, or ecclesia (for this is the word used here), was a called out group, called together for a specific purpose, and local in nature. This was the common usage of the term and always the proper definition of an ecclesia. THIS IS WHAT OUR LORD SAID HE WOULD BE BUILDING.” (Canadian Baptists, Cross, p.7).

Cross continues, “If Jesus Christ had intended to build another kind of company there were other words in the language He could have used. He could have used the word ‘Synagoga’ a term without such limitations and yet designating an assembly. It would certainly have been more fitting for a ‘universal company’. He could have also used the word ‘panagris’ if he had a solemn assembly in mind of a massive and festal nature. But these were rejected in favor of the most limiting term in the Greek language with reference to an assembly; a term that can only be properly interpreted as an assembly local in nature” (Ibid.).

Cross in another place says, “The word ‘ecclesia’ is more than a mere assembly. The word is really a compounding of two words. ‘Kaleo’, to call; and ‘ek’, meaning out, or literally ‘to call out’. Thus, and ‘ekklesia’ is a Called out assembly, implying some conditions. The Lord did not call all Christians in the area that cared to assembled into His ‘ekklesia,” but he was very selective about it in Matthew 4:17-22; Matthew 9:1; John 1:43-44 and on until he had 120 in that assembly by the time he went back to the Father. I Cor. 12:28 says that ‘God hath set some in the church (ekklesia)…,’ not all. The same passage states that He wet the apostles in the ‘ekklesia,’ and on the occasion when the apostles were chosen there was quite a congregation of disciples present of whom he chose the apostles–and Paul says the apostles, not the crowd, were set in the ‘ekklesia'”(Landmarkism on Trial, Cross, p.7).

Overbey concurs, “To change the meaning of a word you must have good evidence that the speaker or writer of that word intended it that way. A basic principle that all scholars recognize is that a word must retain its usual meaning as long as the word used makes good sense that way. Only when it will not make good sense are we allowed to give it a new or rare meaning. If we apply this principle in this passage (Matthew 16:18), we will see that ‘assembly’ makes good sense so we cannot agree with those who would try to change the meaning here” (Brief History of the Baptists, Overbey,pp.26,27).

Roy Mason asserts, “…I submit the proposition that the church that Jesus founded was the local assembly, and that to use the word ecclesia to designate a ‘universal’ or ‘invisible’ church is to pervert its meaning, and to fall into serious error” (The Church That Jesus Built, Mason,p.26).

Mason also says, “The word ecclesia rendered ‘church’ in English translations, was not a new word coined by Jesus, but a word already in current use at that time and moreover a word the meaning of which had become definitely fixed and established” (Bid p.27).

A.C. Dayton said, “The Greek ‘ekklesia’ consisted of certain individuals, who, when assembled and organized, constituted an official body for the transaction of such business as might come before them. It was not merely an assembly, but an official assembly, consisting of persons specifically qualified, and who had each his specific rights and duties as a member of the ekklesia. It was not every resident in the city who was, strictly speaking, a citizen; nor was it every citizen who was a member of the ekklesia to which was intrusted the management of public business; but the ekklesia were called out from the mass…Every assembly was not an ekklesia, nor was every ekklesia and ekklesia of Christ” (Theodosia Earnest,pp.72,73).

Again, “The Greek ‘ekklesia’ was an assembly of called and qualified citizens, invested with certain rights, and registered in the city records” (Bid, p.129).

IMPROPER MEANINGS ATTACHED TO ECCLESIA.

The worship service (in contrast to Sunday School).

The clerical profession ( so used in most modern terminology).

Building in which Christian assemblies meet:

Dayton says, “…history informs us that the Christians had no such buildings (church-houses) for some two hundred years after this, (the time of the apostles), but continued to meet from house to house, or in the Jewish synagogues, or wherever they might. And the word (ekklesia) is never used in the New Testament, or any other Greek book written before of during the time of the apostles, to signify a house or building” (Bid, p.81).

This usage, so common even among those who know the truth, has come about by an original misconception of the word ekklesia.

All of one denomination:

That each denomination is a “branch” off the one big church.

Thus, the “Methodist Church,” the “Presbyterian Church,” etc.

Historical sense–the whole field of ecclesiastical activity in history since the days of Jesus here on earth–“the church in history.”

Model sense:

Terms like “a scriptural church” “church of the N. T. ,” etc.

These terms are not unscriptural as far as teaching, but the terms themselves are found nowhere in the Bible.

Universal, invisible sense:

That all the saved are in the mystical body, the church.

This theory is dealt with thoroughly in a further lesson.

From the modern usage of “church” one can easily see that the vast majority of those who use the word are totally ignorant of the Greek ekklesia.

QUOTES FROM RECOGNIZED SCHOLARS.

Liddell and Scott (lexicon)–“An assembly of people called together; an assembly called out.”

Dean Trench–“Ekklesia, as all know, was the lawful assembly in a free Greek city of all those possessed of the rights of citizenship, for the transaction of public affairs” (Synonyms of the N. T. , p.17).

Edward Robinson–“Ekklesia, a conviction, assembly, congregation. In the literal sense a popular, or rather assembly, composed of persons legally summoned” (Lexicon)

H. Strong—“Ekklesia signified merely an assembly, however gathered or summoned. The church was never so large that it could not assemble” (Systematic Theology).

Vincent—“Originally an assembly of citizens, regularly summoned” (Word Studies in the N. T. )

Thayer—“Take the entire range of Greek literature in all its dialects, secular and sacred, and there is not one passage in which ecclesia means an invisible and universal spiritual assembly” (Lexicon).

Alexander Campbell—“Ekklesia literally signifies an assembly called out from others and is used among the Greeks, particularly the Athenians, for their popular assemblies, summoned by their chief magistrates and in which none but citizens had a right to sit. By inherent power it may be applied to any body of men called out and assembled in one place. If it ever loses the idea of calling out and assembling, it loses its principal features and its primitive use” (Ekklesia–The Church, Ross, p.7).

LESSON 3

THE MEANING OF ECCLESIA IN THE CLASSICAL GREEK

Definition Of Terms.

The New Testament was written in the KOINE or “common” Greek.

The Koine differs in many respects to the modern or classical Greek.

Classical Greek refers basically to the ancient Greek tongue which found its roots in the Indo-Germanic family of languages.

The Koine age is approximately 300 B.C. to 500 A.D. Classical Greek is thought of as preceding the Koine; modern Greek is thought of as succeeding the Koine.

TESTIMONY OF SCHOLARS.

Dana says, “In classical use ekklesia meant ‘an assembly.’ It was derived from a combination of Greek root and prefixed preposition, the resultant meaning of which was ‘to call out.’ It was commonly used reference to bodies of qualified representatives ‘called out’ for legislative functions” (Meaning of Ecclesia in the N. T. , Overbey, p.10).

Ewing writes, “In every case, the word means an organized body, in opposition to a casual meeting…” (Bid).

Liddell and Scott–“An assembly of the citizens summoned by the crier, the legislative assembly” (Bid).

Seyffert’s Dictionary: “The assembly of the people, which in Greek cities had the power of final decision in public affairs” (Bid).

Thomas: “It was the organized assembly of the authorized voters of the local community met to transact business of common concern. It corresponded to the town-meeting of New England of later days” (Bid).

Overbey says, “A distinction should be maintained between the etymology of a word and its meaning at some particular time in history. Sometimes the two are the same; many times they are quite different. ‘Hussy’ came from ‘huswife’ which means housewife; today it means a worthless woman or girl, or a pert girl. ‘Constable’ came from ‘comes stabuli’ which means attendant of the stable; today it means a peace officer. ‘Ekklesia’ came from ‘ekkletos’ which means called out but in the times prior to the New Testament it meant assembly or called out assembly. To say it means the called out is not correct” (Bid, p.11).

Broadus writes, “The Greek word ekklesia signified primarily the assembly of citizens in a self-governed state, being derived from ekkaleo to call out; i.e., from their homes or places of business, to summon, as we speak of calling out the militia. The popular notion that it meant to call out in the sense of separation from others, is a mistake” (Bid, p.11).

F. J. A. Hort says, “There is no foundation for the widely spread notion that ekklesia means a people or a number of individual men called of the world of mankind” (Ibid,p.11).

Prof. Royal of Wake Forest College said, “I do not know of any passage in classical Greek, where ekklesia is used of unassembled or un-assembling persons” (Why Be A Baptist, Taylor,p.45).

Suggested Reading.

Ecclesia–the Church–B. H. Carroll

The Meaning of Ecclesia in the N. T. –Overbey

Theodosia Earnest, Vol. II, –Dayton

The Church That Jesus Built–Roy Mason

The Church and the Ordinances–Buell Kazee

Ekklesia–the Church–Bob Ross

LESSON 7

THE EIGHTEEN DISPUTED PASSAGES EXPLAINED

MATTHEW 16:18.

Here speaking of the “kind” of institution He would be building

Jesus used “ecclesia’ twenty-three times-twenty times in Revelation and three in Matthew. Scholars agree that twenty-two of these refer to local churches. Why should this verse be thought to have a different meaning?

Here Jesus guarantees the perpetual existence of His Church in the institutional sense.

A play in the Greek by Jesus on the words “petros” (pebble, small stone) and “petra” (massive ledge, boulder) is seen. The church is built upon the “petra” (Jesus and His doctrine), not on “petros” (Simon Peter as the Catholics teach).

Overbey says, “If man would say today, ‘I shall build by grocery store’ there would certainly be no misunderstanding as to what he meant by grocery store. To every mind a local, visible, building where food stuffs are sold would come to mind. A new meaning would certainly not be considered by any person. If the person who said it had in his mind of building a store incorporating some of his own ideas that would make it a distinct kind from all the other kinds of grocery stores in the world and planned to have a chain of them throughout the area eventually his statement would still make good sense” (Meaning of Ecclesia in N. T., Overbey, pp. 38, 39).

ACTS 20:28

Speaking specifically to the church at Ephesus.

This expression could be said of any local assembly.

Overbey says, “The reason for finding a new meaning here would be due to the fact this church is said to be ‘purchased with his own blood,’ a statement thought by many to be too great to be said of any local church….Why can’t it be stated that Jesus purchased with His blood an organized group of professed believers in the Lord Jesus Christ? This does not exclude other churches of believers or individuals from making the same statement…’Purchased by His blood’ can be stated of every New Testament church and every individual believer…” (Ibid, p. 30).

Ross says, “…Paul’s statement is addressed to the elders of the church of Ephesus (Acts 20:17). He tells them to take heed unto themselves and ‘to all the flock.’ That could possibly be a universal, invisible flock…” (Ekklesia–The Church, Ross, pp. 20, 21).

I CORINTHIANS 10:32

Specifically spoken to the local church at Corinth.

This can be said of any local church; thus, a new meaning cannot be given here to Ecclesia.

I CORINTHIANS 12:28.

Again, the verse is addressed to the local church at Corinth.

Ross says, “Prior to 12:28, the word ‘ekklesia’ is used in the epistle eight times and the meaning is clear in every instance (see 1:2; 4:17, 6:4, 7:17, 10:32, 11:16, 18, 22). Why should it be thought that the apostle suddenly gave a new meaning to the word never before heard of, in 12:28, and that without any notice or explanation? (Ibid, p. 21).

Overbey says, “The argument as usually stated is that apostles were not officers of a local church but their ministry was for all of the churches. So the word church cannot refer to a local group but must refer to something much bigger, a universal church that would include all believers. The idea that this passage is relating (to) the officers of the church is completely without basis. The context indicates that these various things set in the church are best described as gifts. These gifts were necessary for the work of the Lord’s church. Some were only necessary for a short time, others for the entire history of the church…Apostles were needed t establish them and give them initial direction that was not needed later…We believe the word church is used generically in this passage and the Scriptures are telling us of the gifts the Lord placed in that institution that its work might be properly carried on…These gifts were placed in that kind of institution rather than in every particular church for the benefit of all” (Overbey, op. Cit., p. 31).

I TIMOTHY 3:15 Paul has here in mind the local church at Ephesus.

Dana says, “The figure ‘household of God’ can be regarded in two ways. It may be considered from the viewpoint of its consistuency, or from the viewpoint of its function. The former would require it to apply to all children of God; the latter to any group of God’s children. The function of a household is to offer support and fellowship to its inmates. Any local ekklesia did this for its members” (Ibid, p. 29).

EPHESIANS 1:22. Ephesians and Colossians both speak of the church as the “Body.”

Paul again is writing to the local church at Ephesus.

Ross says, “Paul clearly uses the figure ‘body’ to exemplify the unity of a church and the importance of every member, even the most feeble. He was not intending to give a meaning to ‘ekklesia that the word did not posses.” (Ross, op. Cit., p. 23).

Joseph Cross asserts, “The church is a body; but what sort of a body is that which can neither be seen nor identified? A body is an organism occupying space and having a definite locality. A mere aggregation is not a body; there must be organization as well. A heap of heads, hands, feet and other proper place and pervaded by a common life” (Ross, p. 24).

Christ is the Head of every one of His churches, just as He is the Head of every individual man (I Corinthians 11:3).

We have here the generic use of the word and the definite article.

COLOSSIANS 1:18. The same argument here as for Ephesians 1:22.

Christ is the Head of the church institutionally which means that He is the Head of every local church.

COLOSSIANS 1:24. The same argument as previously.

Paul speaks of the “body” which belongs to Christ by purchase.

EPHESIANS 3:10. Again, the verse is addressed to the local church at Ephesus.

Dayton says, “Suppose a friend in England should write to me that he is about to publish a new history of the steam-engine, ‘ in order that unto kings and princes, in their palaces and on their thrones, might be known through the engine the manifold skill of the inventor:’ what would you think of that man’s common sense, even though he were a Doctor of Mechanics, who should insist upon it, that though the steam-engine was a definite and well-known machine, and there were a vast multitude of separate and distinct steam-engines, yet there must also be, in some way or other, a vast conglomerate ‘universal’ engine, consisting of all the steam-engines in the world united into one…” (Theodosia Earnest, Dayton, Vol. II, pp. 120, 121).

EPHESIANS 3:21. Written to the local church at Ephesus.

Word ecclesia used generically and truth fits each local assembly.

Dayton says, “I take up a book written by some great admirer of the drama, and read, ‘Let the poetry of Shakespeare be honored in the theatre by managers and actors even to the end of time…’ the term ‘ the theatre’ used in this connection, can mean no less than this great world-embracing establishment…” (Ibid, p. 121).

EPHESIANS 5:23, 24, 25, 27 (four). Addressed to the local church at Ephesus.

The truth can be applied to each local assembly.

Primary thought here is marriage, not the church.

If “church” is universal, so must be the “man” and “woman”.

The words “man” and “woman”, and “church” are used abstractly or generically; thus, no particular husband or wife is named, and no certain church is named.

Dayton says, “As the ‘wife’ does not here mean all wives in one, so ‘the church’ cannot mean all Churches in one.” (Ibid., p. 126).

EPHESIANS 5:29-32 (two).

The local church at Ephesus is meant; however, the truth is applicable to every true New Testament church.

The same arguments fit here as in the previous verses in Ephesians.

HEBREWS 2:12.

Reference here is to Jesus singing in church-Matthew 26:30.

Jesus sang in the church when He gave to it the second ordinance.

Done on the night of the institution of the Lord’s supper; thus, the church was local and visible.

HEBREWS 12:23.

Overbey says, “We do not deny that all the saints will assemble together in Heaven at times for various purposes but only deny that the word ekklesia is ever used to refer to such” (Overbey, op. Cit., p. 41).

Some such as B. H. Carroll take this to mean the “Glory Church,” that is, the “church in prospect.” However, this is not the case.

Terms here used:

Ecclesia–assembly

Paneguris–festal gathering of large proportions.

Take the whole passage–Hebrrews 12:22-24: “But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly (paneguris) and the church (ecclesia) of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.”

THE R.S.V. has this verse, “…But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the first-born…”

THUS, ECCLESIA IS HERE AN ABSTRACT REFERENCE TO THE CHURCH AND THE PANEGURIS IS REFERRING BACK TO THE INNUMERABLE COMPANY OF ANGELS.

Quotes from scholars:

Berry (Interlinear Greek-English New Testament) says, “And to myriads of angels, (the) universal gathering (paneguris); and to (the) assembly (ekklesia) of the firstborn (ones) in (the) heavens registered.”

Alford (New Testament for English Readers) says, “The difficult question of punctuation has been dealt with in my Greek Testament. The matter would be unintelligible to the English reader. It is enough to say that the writer begins with the innumerable company (literally myriads), in order afterwards to say of what these myriads consist. Adopting then this arrangement, the verse will stand- and to myriads (the word commonly used of the angelic company surrounding Jehovah), the festal host (so the word imports) of angels, and the assembly of the firstborn which are written in heaven.”

Vincent (Word Studies) says, “…to myriads or tens of thousands stands by itself, and festal assembly goes with angels.”

Ironside, “The expression translated ‘general assembly’ undoubtedly refers to this angelic company and not that which follows, and is better rendered ‘ a full gathering'” (Hebrews and Titus, p. 163).

Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary: “…The jubilant full company (such as were the Olympic games, celebrated with joyous singing, dancing, etc.)applies better to the angels above, ever hymning God’s praises, than to the church…”

W. Pink (Hebrews) says, “It is clear, then, that the ‘general assembly’ has no reference to the church; rather, it refers back to the angels.”

Concluding remarks:

The overwhelming evidence stands with those who accept ecclesia as always meaning an “assembly” or “congregation.” The burden of proof lies with those who would make it to mean a universal assembly in certain disputed passages.

If all scholars admit that Jesus meant a local assembly in twenty-two of the twenty-three times He used the word, why should anyone presume that the one place (Matthew 16:18) means something different?

In all of these 18 disputed passages the meaning of a local assembly fits. These are simply the generic usage of the word which is common in everyday speech.

AFTER ALL, IT IS NOT WHAT CAN A WORD BE MADE TO MEAN, BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN!

Sermons by Art Davison

ECCLESIOLOGY-A STUDY OF THE CHURCH–By: Jarrell E. Huffman

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