From: Juan Stam (jstam@una.ac.cr)
Date: Sun May 09 1999 - 22:23:24 EDT
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<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=2>Greetings from Costa Rica after a long silence!
I was off the list for some time because of computer problems.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>My impression is that in the early Pauline epistles
"ekklesía" referred to the act or event of gathering in
assembly (1 Cor 14), which I understand was the basic meaning of the term in
Greek political life: a herald convoked the people to a "town
meeting".</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>In his book THE MISUNDERSTANDING OF THE CHURCH, Emil Brunner
insisted on this meaning of the term and argued that our modern word
"Church" is so radically different from the original sense, that
when we wish to refer to the original meaning we should not say
"church" but "ekklesia" and save "church" only for
its modern meaning.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>Thanks for a good question, Tony, and best wishes! Juan Stam,
Costa Rica<BR></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><B>-----Original Message-----</B><BR><B>From:
</B>Tony Calman <<A
href="mailto:tcalman@optusnet.com.au">tcalman@optusnet.com.au</A>><BR><B>To:
</B>Biblical Greek <<A
href="mailto:b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu">b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu</A>><BR><B>Date:
</B>Sunday, May 09, 1999 8:37 PM<BR><B>Subject:
</B>Ekklesia<BR><BR></DIV></FONT>
<DIV><FONT size=2>
<DIV><FONT size=2>I have been considering the difference between a
"congregation" and a "church" (if any)? The hebrew words
qahal or edah seems to be translated by the word ekklesia in the LXX, which
is often translated by the english word congregation. I wonder if there is
any difference. Perhaps congregation is used to describe the local church
and "church" sometimes used to describe the universal church, but
not always. Paul writes to the ekkesia but most bible translations used the
word "church".</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Any comments?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Tony Calman<BR>Westview Baptist Church<BR>"people
learning to live Jesus' way"<BR><A
href="mailto:tcalman@optusnet.com.au">tcalman@optusnet.com.au</A></FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>
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