A Gathered People

Language is a funny thing. Over time, words change their meaning and outside influences alter how we understand words. Even our own Bibles have words that seem common to us that we have come to understand a certain way. In the case of our scriptures, it is sometimes important that we understand certain words and their original meaning. We should see how the changes and translations have colored our views and practice.

From People To An Institution

If you heard someone refer to “church” in the first century, they probably used the Greek word “Ecclesia”. This is exactly how the biblical authors used the word. But if you had been present at that time and heard that word, you would not have heard anything that fit the definition of the word we know as “church”. In the common language of Koine Greek, ecclesia means “a gathered people”. This is a collection of people who have been summoned out from their homes and into a public meeting. In fact, the literal and most widely accepted english equivalent is “congregation”. For centuries, this is how the word was used. God’s people were the “ecclesia”, the called and gathered people. It wasn’t until the rise of the Roman Catholic Church in the fourth century that this understanding began to change. As scripture was modernized into a common language translation, latin was the language of the day. Then followed the European translations over the next several hundred years. In the early 17th century, the two dominant political and religious forces were Roman Catholicism and Anglicanism (Church of England). With so much of the power of these institutions tied up in a symbiotic relationship with the state, the precise words of scripture suddenly mattered.

So, with the battles between Catholics and Protestants raging (and further wars brewing within the Anglican Church), work began on a common english translation of the Bible. The product of that effort was the King James Bible. In an effort to preserve the power of the church/state, the word “ecclesia” was translated into the more institutional term “church” to reflect not simply the congregation (as the Puritan tradition would have preferred) but rather the church/state institution that ruled everyday life. There have been thousands of changes to the KJV since 1611 but some key choices that were made in that translation have continued to influence how we read and understand scripture. One such decision was the translation of “ecclesia” as “church”.

Reclaiming Ecclesia

The understanding of church as an institution rather than as a gathering of people has remained a challenge even to this day. Consider how we would see ourselves or even our faith differently if this had not been done. Matthew 16:18 would sound very different if instead of “...build my church” Jesus had said “You are Peter and on this rock I will call my people”. Many of us often heard the saying “The church is the people, not a building”. That’s absolutely true. It is not an insignificant distinction. It is a meaningful fact that must be preserved lest we too fall into institutionalism like so many before us. Understanding what “church” truly is will lead to more effectiveness in our communities and a greater unity amongst believers just as Jesus Himself prayed for in the garden. May we never be nor seek to preserve an institution of man, but may we always be truly a gathered people called by God.

— Reflections appears regularly on the religion page. The column features a variety of local writers, coordinated through the Monroe Area Clergy Group. Derek Glover is pastor at Monroe Church of Christ.