In the New Testament, the word “church” is used in six ways. One way the church was used was as a legal assembly of craftsmen that gathered together to make decisions as a trade union (Acts 19:23-41). The second way church is used is by referring to the gathering of the Israelites at Mount Sinai where God gave them His Law (Acts 7:38; Heb. 2:12). Furthermore, the same usage is found also in Hebrews 2:12 and Psalm 22:22, where the Israelites gather together at the Temple during the time that King David ruled Israel.
The third usage refers to the regularly scheduled, appropriately convened assembly of Christians (Matt. 18:17; 1 Corinthians 11:17-18; 14:4-5, 18-19, 23, 28, 34-35). In Matthew 18:17 the Christians met to render a decision about sin. In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul deals with a meeting of the “church” to eat the Lord's Supper. Furthermore, 1 Corinthians 14 refers to the gathering of the “church” for open discussion, with edification as the chief goal.
The fourth way that “church” is used is not so much as a meeting of believers but it was used to refer to rather the totality of Christians living at one place (Acts 8:1; Rom. 16:1; 1 Thess. 1:1 and Rev. 2:1, 8, 12, 18). The fifth way “church” is used refers to the assembly of believers that regularly gathered at a Christian’s home. These house churches, when considered as a whole, constituted the one city church in which they were located; though they may never have all met together (Rom. 16:5; 1 Cor. 16:19; Col. 4:15; Philemon 2).
The sixth way that “church” is used refers to the universal church of Christ. It is the total of all Christians who have ever lived, in all places and in all ages. A meeting of this universal church will not occur until the second coming of Jesus.
In Matthew 16:18 Jesus said, “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (JKV).”
The English word “church” is actually the Greek word “ekklesia.“ This Greek word is a secular word and it signifies political overtones and suggests decision making. So why did Jesus choose such a politically "loaded" word as “ekklesia,” rather than something like “synagogue” to describe His people and their meetings? Evidently, because Jesus intended for the meetings of Christians to parallel the meetings of the Greek legislators in the sense that believers are to decide things in their meetings and in the sense that any kingdom citizen could speak and propose matters for discussion.
Immediately after this, Jesus referred to the “keys” of the kingdom. Keys represent the ability to open and to close something, "kingdom" is a political term, and binding and loosing involves the authority to make decisions.
In reality, the church is not so much the coming together of God's people, it is what occurs when God's people come together. As professed Christians, we are authorized by the Lord Jesus to make decisions about the correct application of Scripture. We are expected by the Lord to enforce the law of Christ (within the family of God) and to deal with issues as they arise. This is a part of what is to occur in our open, participatory church meetings.
Problems must not be swept under the rug. Questions of correct conduct must be resolved. Of course, there will not be issues on the docket every week (or even most weeks), but God's people must ever bear in mind their obligation to function as an ekklesia when necessary.
This understanding of the full meaning behind ekklesia also has a direct bearing on church government. In its human organization, the church is not supposed to be a pyramid with power concentrated at the top in one or a few men. Decisions are not to be made behind closed doors and then handed down from on high for the church to follow. The church is not supposed to be run as a business. The church is rather like the senate or a congress in the sense that the assembly as a whole is to deliberate upon and decide issues. The church's leaders are to facilitate this process and to serve the church by providing needed teaching and advice, but they are not the church's lords.
In conclusion, allow me to ask, does the typical Christian church of today resemble this picture of what the original church portrays? Why not?
(Some quotes from: elseroad.com)
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