A WORD ABOUT CHURCH

That word, "church," gets thrown around a bunch.  It has come to have many meanings.  In its broadest meaning, we use it as a synonym for religion.  We also use it to designate a building dedicated for the instruction and practice of a religion.  A worship service is also called church.  

Those are okay uses for the word, but I  need to point out that we also use the word to mean the people who follow a religion, whether it's a local or worldwide group.

Do those other uses match what the Bible means when that word appears on its pages?  No.  Not at all.

When ever "church" appears in the English Bible, it is always a translation of the Greek word "ekklesia."  Ekklesia refers to people, especially citizens, that have been called out to assemble for a purpose.  At no time does it refer to a building or a religion.

You might be thinking, "So what?  Why is this information important?"  It is important so that we don't misinderstand God's Word.

So, why do we use "church" to mean so many different things?  Some of the words in Christianity have been taken from the Greek New Testament and transliterated into English, such as "baptism" and "Christ."  Why didn't that happen with Ekklesia?  Where did "church" come from?

The English word "church" does come from a Greek word, but not "ekklesia." The original Old English word was "chirchon." It came from the Greek, "kyriokos.". That word comes from two root words that mean "lord" and "house." So, it means "lord's house."

I surmise that once Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire, the government let Christians use government facilities, or even gave them buildings. Some of those buildings where called "basilicas" in Greek. That word means, "king's house."

Since Greek was the predominant language of early Christians, they changed basilica to kyriokos.  Then any building used for Christian worship became kyriokos.  The word then migrated through other European langues, including German, "kirche."