[B-Greek] ekklesia(church)
Rick Seivert
rmooster at baldwin-telecom.net
Wed Jun 16 14:43:56 EDT 2004
I am new here and I did not now what is to be discussed and what is not to
be discussed. It seems to me that if we just limit our research to Greek
words and do not apply it first to a passage, and then to a bigger Idea, or
possition with explanation, formulating an opinion just because someone
might disagree or be offended, than I think we are caving in to those who do
not have the love of truth, sincerely.
I do have many other Greek tools than what I had showed earlier.
I will focus on the word Ekklesia
I have bibles translating this word ekklesia as "assembly," Rotherham's
Version is one of them, this is not the meaning of the Greek word used, it
is an incorrect translation,as is the word "church."
I am not claiming that EKKLESIA can mean a "secular governing body", I can
not find any other definition given for this word prior to Jesus Christ
using it in the New Testament, and when he used it for the first time it was
no longer going to be secular.
There has been a mistranslation with the word "church" in the New Testament
Greek.
"The English dictionary reveals that the English word "church" which is used
in our English Bible is taken from the late Greek word "kyridakon" not
"ekklesia." The Greek word "kyridakon" is not found in the New Testament and
only came into being in the 16th Century long after New Testament times.
Thus the English word "church" cannot be translated back into Greek because
there is no word in the New Testament Greek that is the equivalent of the
understanding of the English word."
Liddell and Scott show quite clearly that at Athens, the word was employed
as follows: "an assembly of citizens summoned by the crier, the legislative
assembly"
In Greek culture, an ekklesia was a political assembly. By the fifth century
B.C. ekklesia had come to mean an official gathering of the full citizens of
a Greek city-state (polis) who were called together to make political and
judicial decisions. The Greeks never used ekklesia to refer to religious
fellowships.
Expository Dictionary Of Bible Words, by Lawrence O. Richards, Zondervan
Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI)
http://www.land.netonecom.net/tlp/ref/ecclesia/ecclesia2of3.shtml
Acts 14:27 And when they were come, and had gathered the church (ekklesia)
together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them,
You don't gather something together that supposedly already means a
"gathering," or an "assembly." What they are trying to make this word out
to be is impossible
Hebrews 12:23 To the general assembly and church (ekklesia) of the
firstborn, which are written in heaven,
They are trying to claim that the word ekklesia means "assembly" only, and
then there was another general assembly? Well, the ekklesia was the
"legislative assembly" or the "body politic" those of whom were qualified to
vote, "the called out ones" or the "elders," and then there was the rest of
the people, the general assembly (family or friends),
An ekklesia or 'calling out' was not just an assembly. The words agora and
paneguris as well as heorte, koinon, thiasos, sunagoge and sunago can all
mean an assembly.
.
The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites (eds. Marian Holland
McAllister, Richard Stillwell, William L. MacDonald) alphabetic letter A
With the new division, the membership of the boule was increased to 500, 50
from each tribe. The boule prepared drafts of the laws which were debated
and ratified by the ekklesia, which had become the sovereign body.
Can anyone show me a different meaning that this word had at the time?
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