The Word Church
Throughout New Testament the word church was used. What does
it mean?
Etymologically speaking, the word church means “house of the Lord.” The modern word church is a direct descendant of the Old English word cirice or circe. The first recorded use of the Old English word is from the thirteenth century, and it could refer to either a body of Christian believers or to the place where they gathered.[i]
Ekklésia: Ek means out; Kelesia
means called. This means called
out. This word is used for those who are called out. In Grecian times this
word is used for specific assembly, or political assembly or people who are
called out, re-elected, selected , and chosen to be part of the assembly.
They had great power in local assembly. That is how God has called us. He called, selected, put us in church in every community where we are. We have as The Body of Christ, has great authority in spiritual realm and also in natural realm. This is what the word church means.
Usage: The word ἐκκλησία appears frequently in the New Testament, where it is used to describe both local gatherings of Christians and the universal body of believers. It is employed in various contexts, including the assembly of Israelites, the Christian church as a whole, and specific …[ii]
Word Origin: Derived from the root verb קהל (qāhal), meaning "to assemble" or "to gather." Corresponding Greek / Hebrew Entries: • G1577 (ἐκκλησία, ekklēsia): Often translated as …[iii]
The
price of our salvation: The Church was birthed; and this costs God
everything; His Only Son! It does not cost humanity anything; but The Church
only had to follow what Jesus said!
When God created the heavens, the earth, the beauty around us, the rivers, the lakes, the sun, the moon, the stars, then angelic beings it costs Him nothing. But, when He created the human being it cost Him everything to save our soul. Most importantly of all, God gave His breath to man in the Garden of Eden. The most precious thing to God is the human life.
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul; Gen. 2: 7.
“The implication, readily seen by any Hebrew reader, [is] that man was specially created by God’s breathing some of His own breath into him.” (Boice)
Then after the Fall because of God’s great love, He gave His precious Son, for each one of us, to save us from the bondage of sin and death.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life; Jn. 3: 16.
It
is a distinctively Christian idea that God’s love is wide enough to embrace all
mankind.” (Morris)
God
patiently comes to the sinful man, to the random heart, working with us
patiently, daily in-fact. When we
receive this beautiful thing of salvation, we have to renounce SELF! We have to
say no to sin, and repent. Then we become the part of Church! Church is the Bride
of Christ.
[i]https://www.gotquestions.org ›
meaning-of-church.html What is the meaning and origin of the word church
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