What is The Church?

Many people have the understanding that the church is a brand new entity, started from scratch after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, specifically at the event recorded in Acts 2 on the Jewish festival of Pentecost. Is that the position that is supported by scripture? Let’s take a look and find out.

The New Testament doesn’t describe a beginning for the group it calls the “church”. We are left to infer such things on our own. Probably one of the bases for thinking that it was started from scratch in the first century is Jesus’ statement to Peter, recorded in Matthew 16:18 (and only there) that “I will build my church.” The assumption is that he is speaking about creating this “church” from a state of non-existence.

The Greek word for “build” in this passage can refer to erecting something new. But it can also refer to continuing construction of something that already exists. An example of this is Romans 15:20 where Paul speaks of building on another man’s foundation.

There are also a couple of mentions of the word “church” in the New Testament that imply its previous existence. In Matthew 18:17 Jesus is talking to his disciples about how to deal with a brother who sins against you. He says to confront the brother alone, then with two or three others. If that doesn’t work, “tell it to the church”. That implies the existence of a church at this time.

Another passage that implies a far older origin for the church is Stephen’s speech in Acts 7:38 where he talks about Moses being with “the church in the wilderness”. (KJV) Some modern translations render this “assembly” because of their preconception of what the “church” is. But it’s the same Greek word, “ekklesia”, that is usually rendered “church”.

The Greek word is derived from a verb meaning “to call out”. So the church is “the called out ones.” It is used of both local gatherings, congregations, and also the worldwide collection of followers of God through Jesus. Incidentally, local gatherings are also referenced with the word “synagogue” as in James 2:2, also usually translated otherwise because of the translator’s presuppositions.

In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the word “ekklesia” occurs many dozens of times, usually to translate the Hebrew word “Qahal” referring to the congregation of Israel. One example of this is in Deuteronomy 9:10 referring to the assembly at Mt. Sinai for the giving of the Torah. It is also used in this sense in Deut. 18:16.

The gathering of Israel at Mt. Sinai was actually the first Pentecost. “Pentecost” is the Greek term for “Shavuot”, the biblical feast of weeks or sevens, based on counting seven weeks after first-fruits, which occurred around Passover. This feast is treated in the Bible as a harvest festival and is never specifically equated to the Sinai experience, but the chronology given in Exodus 19 seems to line up pretty closely. Additionally, the parallels with the Sinai experience lead me to think of the Acts 2 celebration of Pentecost as the Sinai of the New Covenant.

Most of the time, “ekklesia” was used in the Septuagint of the assembly of Israel, gathered as a nation. One example among many of this use is in I Kings 8:14 when Solomon is dedicating the temple. The word is used this way frequently in the historical books and the Psalms (e.g. 22:22).

Since Paul explains in his New Testament epistles that Gentile believers in Jesus are added to the covenant community of Israel (Rom. 11:17; Eph. 2:11, 13, 19; 3:6), it might be better to think of the “church” as the covenant community of Israel, to which Gentile believers in Jesus are added. The Gentile believers in the early second century made the mistake of ceasing to think of themselves as identified with Israel. It’s time we got back to the New Testament teaching of our identity in Jesus being connected with God’s covenant people, Israel.