Church in Biblical History

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Schaff's Bible Dictionary

Definitions in Biblical History
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What is the Church?
CHURCH
The English word (like the similar terms in the Teutonic, Celtic, and Slavonic languages) is derived from a Greek word (?KvpiaKov?) meaning "belonging to the Lord" (Christ), "the Lord's house." Some derive it from a Celtic root meaning "round," because the temples in which the first Christian congregations gathered were circular. In the N.T. the original word is ecclesia, which means an assembly, either secular, Acts 19:32, or religious. Acts 2:47, etc. It is applied either to the whole body of believers in Christ, the Church universal. Matt 16:18 Eph 1:22, or to a particular congregation in a local sense, as "the church at Jerusalem," Acts 15:4; "at Antioch," Acts 13:1, "of the Thessalonians," 2 Thess 1:1, "at Corinth," 1 Cor 1:2. The original word is used only twice in the Gospels, each time by Matthew 1 Cor 16:18, where it means the Church universal, and Josh 18:17, where it means a local congregation. The evangelists usually employ the term "the kingdom of God" or "the kingdom of heaven" for the spiritual substance of the Church universal. The day of Pentecost is the birthday of the Christian Church. From small beginnings it has spread over all the earth and been the one permanent fact amid all temporal changes. To-day it is the foundation of true civilization, virtue, and religion. What the Christian Church condemns the world must eventually give up, for darkness cannot abide the entrance of light. A distinction must be made between the real Church of Christ, the genuine believers, and the outward organization, which comprises both true and false friends of Christ. To the former only do the promises belong. In the outward sense the Church is divided into various denominations, as the Baptist, the Congregational, the English, the Episcopal, the Greek, the Lutheran, the Methodist, the Moravian, the Presbyterian, the Reformed, the Roman, and other churches. But in the Bible the word is never used in a denominational or confessional sense, or in the sense of a church-building.

Bibliography Information
Schaff, Philip, Dr. "Biblical Definition for 'church' in Schaffs Bible Dictionary".
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