What did Jesus mean by “church”?
Question: In Matthew 18:17 Jesus uses the term “church.” Since the church was not started until after Jesus’ death and resurrection, what does the term refer to?
Answer: The word “church” in the New Testament comes from the Greek word, ekklesia, which means “to call out.” The only two references in the Gospels are from Jesus. Besides the one you cited, the other one occurs in Matthew 16:18.
It’s true that the church did not officially start until the Day of Pentecost, but since the church is based on the person and work of Christ, it really began with Jesus. He is the one who is “calling out” people who will call upon Him for salvation. All who do so are automatically members of the body of Christ through the baptism of the Holy Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 12:13).
When it comes to the church, there is the church invisible, comprised by all those who have trusted Jesus as Savior and Lord. And there is the visible church, comprised of those who gather together. Not all members of the visible church belong to the body of Christ, and not all who belong to the body of Christ gather physically in a church.
The bottom line is the church belongs to Jesus Christ (He says so in Matthew 16:18), and if we belong to Jesus, we are part of that invisible church. Of course, the visible church is important as well, because that’s where we worship the Lord, participate in the Sacraments (baptism, communion, marriage), learn about God’s Word, and engage in the church’s mission to the world. It’s also where we exercise our spiritual gifts as given to each believer by the Holy Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 12).
Someone responded to your post on my KOG BLOG!
1. Apostle Says:
September 21st, 2007 at 12:59 pm e
Kingdom Communication and The Church
Today I want to talk to you about Kingdom Communication. I truly believe that this is vital for every citizen of The Kingdom of God to understand! I will show you in the following scripture how the Church is to be built per Jesus’ instructions, and most importantly who is to build it. Before I do that I believe I should clarify and show you what the word “church” means; so that we can see what Jesus exactly meant when He said He would build His church.
The word “church” Is the Greek word “ecclesia”. Ecclesia means – The called out ones under authority
The ecclesia was not a church as we see it in the world today.
The church as we have it in the world today, divides the people by separated authority. Jesus said that man cannot have two authorities (Matthew 6:24). There can only be one authority and that is from heaven; even though man is an authority he is not rule over other men. He is instead to serve them as a representative of The Kingdom of Heaven.
The “ecclesia” as established by Jesus Christ is under one authority. In a Kingdom you can only have one King. Nominating another King is an act of treason high treason.
The Ecclesia in the Greek language has nothing to do with religion whatsoever. It is not a religious term but a governmental term of governmental service. Why is this important? It is important because Jesus came not establish a religion but a representative government called the Kingdom of God. In fact Jesus in His entire 3 1/2 year ministry preached nothing else!
The “ecclesia” in the time of Jesus was a governmental body of the Roman Empire. Every person in the Judea would have totally understood this term. The reason why they would understand this term is that every one of them without exception was subject to the Roman “ecclesia”.
When The Roman Empire took over a country they would establish “ecclesia”; a called out, governing body of authority. It would be a ruler-ship group of people that were called out under the dominion of Rome to institute the will and demands of The Roman Government. The “ecclesia” was responsible for training and equipping the new citizens, or servants with the will, rights, and privileges afforded to them by Rome.
As you can now see Jesus in the Following statement was not establishing a religious organization but a governmental body of ruler-ship, to equip the “newly acquired citizens” with ways of The King and His dominion. Notice He did not call them Christians here either! He called them Church “ecclesia”. With this explanation you should now understand why this term was very familiar to His disciples.
Follow along with me in Matthew 16:13-20 and you will begin to understand what Jesus was saying. My comments are bracketed for clarification.
Matthew 16:13-20 (King James Version)
13When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 15He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. (This was a Kingdom Communication) 18And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock (the rock, is the method of Kingdom communication) I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19And I will give unto thee the keys of The Kingdom of Heaven: (“keys” grant access to the King-Dominion) and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (This statement has been somewhat misunderstood in the religion of Christianity; it means that what you see in heaven is what shall be done on the earth (Matthew 6:10, Luke 11:2, John 5:36, John 9:4). Peter saw that Jesus was the Christ in Heaven so to speak, he responded to The Kingdom of Heaven’s communication about who Jesus was. Jesus then affirms this communication.) 20Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.
In final, Jesus came to establish a Kingdom through called out representative that would establish His ruler-ship in the citizens so that they could share His dominion. With this knowledge I believe that we have some reformation to do in what we call the church, because I’m not sure that Jesus would call what we have today “His Ecclesia”.