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Theophile2 -> RE: The word "Church" is not in scripture. (8/9/2008 8:11:04 AM)
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Am I to understand that you take umbrage with the way the Greek is translated into English?
Have you taken a look at the etymology of the word "church"?
quote:
Middle English chirche < Old English ċiriċe (“‘church’”), from West Germanic *kirika, from Ancient Greek κυριακόν (kuriakon), neuter form of κυριακός (“‘belonging to the lord’”) from κύριος (kurios), “‘ruler, lord’”). For vowel evolution, see bury. Greek κυριακόν (kuriakon) was used of houses of Christian worship since circa 300 AD, especially in the East, though it was less common in this sense than ἐκκλησία (ekklēsia), “‘congregation’”) or βασιλική (basilikē), “‘royal thing’”). An example of the direct Greek-to-Germanic progress of many Christian words, via the Goths; it was probably used by West Germanic people in their pre-Christian period. Also picked up by Slavic, via Old High German chirihha (compare Old Church Slavonic црькъі (crĭky), Russian церковь (cérkov’)). Romance and Celtic languages use variants of Latin ecclesia.
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/church
Mirriam-Webster's third definition of Church:
quote:
3 often capitalized :a body or organization of religious believers: as a: the whole body of Christians b: denomination <the Presbyterian church> c: congregation
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/church
quote:
Though some persons have tried to see in the term ἐκκλησία a more or less literal meaning of ‘called-out ones,’ this type of etymologizing is not warranted either by the meaning of ἐκκλησία in NT times or even by its earlier usage. The term ἐκκλησία was in common usage for several hundred years before the Christian era and was used to refer to an assembly of persons constituted by well- defined membership. In general Greek usage it was normally a socio-political entity based upon citizenship in a city-state ... For the NT, however, it is important to understand the meaning of ἐκκλησίαa as ‘an assembly of God’s people.’
In the rendering of ἐκκλησίαa a translator must beware of using a term which refers primarily to a building rather than to a congregation of believers. In many contexts ἐκκλησίαa may be readily rendered as ‘gathering of believers’ or ‘group of those who trust in Christ.’ Sometimes, as in 1 Cor 1.2, it is possible to translate ‘Paul writes to the believers in Christ who live in Corinth.’ Such a translation does, however, omit a significant element in the term ἐκκλησίαa, in that the sense of corporate unity is not specified.
Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament : Based on Semantic Domains, electronic ed. of the 2nd edition. (New York: United Bible societies, 1996, c1989), 1:125-126.
quote:
[The] political usage is present also in Acts 19:39, which refers to “the regular assembly” of the inhabitants of Ephesus. In a wider sense the word can be used for any public assembly; thus in Acts 19:32 it is used of an “assembly” “in confusion,” which had come together in the theater at the urging of the silversmiths of Ephesus (cf. also v. 40).
In the overwhelming majority of the NT passages, ἐκκλησία is used as a fixed Christian term and is to be translated with congregation or congregational assembly or c(C)hurch. Distinguishing among passages that use ἐκκλησία with these different meanings is possible only within limits. The distinction between congregation/ church (the body of Christians at a specific place; Germ. Gemeinde) and Church (the supra-congregational association of God’s people or the totality of all Christians; Germ. Kirche) is foreign to the NT. Closely related is the fact that early Christianity did not conceive of ἐκκλησία primarily as an organizational, but rather as a theological entity.
In a series of passages which reflect the earliest Christian usage, we see the phrase ἐκκλησία τοῦ θεοῦ, “church of God” (1 Cor 1:2; 10:32; 11:22; 15:9; 2 Cor 1:1; Gal 1:13; pl. in 1 Cor 11:16, 22; 1 Thess 2:14; 2 Thess 1:4) ... wherever it appears by itself as an ecclesiological term, is to be understood as an abbreviation of the original term ἐκκλησία τοῦ θεοῦ. That is, the more precise designation with the genitivus auctoris “of God” is to be assumed.
Horst Robert Balz and Gerhard Schneider, Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, Translation of: Exegetisches Worterbuch Zum Neuen Testament. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1990-c1993), 1:411-412.
May you continually be blessed in your study of the Word of God.
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