“The ekklesias of Asia greet you. Aquila and Priscilla greet you
heartily in the Lord, with the ekklesia that is in their house.”
(1 Cor 16:19, NKJV)
This verse (with the correct translation of ekklesia instead of church J ) is a beautiful example of how God practically manifests his Kingdom through His Body. Scripture is clear about this principle – “[W]here two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” (Matt 18:20). He guarantees any gathering in his name of having Him present, irregardless of whether it’s in the wilderness or in a coffee shop or in bed or in jail (in which case you may refer to it as a cell church J ). But this is not yet ekklesia. Ekklesia presupposes Body (Col 1:18 & 24) and Body presupposes three elements – Godly order, directed function and intimate fellowship. According to Acts 2:47 God adds to the ekklesia. Take note – GOD adds to HIS Body – it is not a matter in which man has a say. There is therefore no qualifying process or any exclusivity or membership application involved in belonging to an ekklesia. The only condition is that those joining must be “saved”. Thus – “[I]f you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Rom 10:9-10). That is all. No doctrinal beliefs, no prescriptions of legitimacy, no rituals, no traditions passed over from our fathers, no so called ‘complete doctrine of salvation’.
But this much is clear – if you are born in a garage, you certainly are not a car, and this analogy can be linked to our faith – if you are born as part of a faith community, you are not necessarily a part of it. For this reason the “church of the nation”-concept (propogated by the Reformed and AP-church) makes no sense.
But an ekklesia is not just a random group of people – they are characterised by Godly order. Acts 14:23 spells it out accordingly – “So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.” (Acts 14:23). The responsibility of these leaders is very important: “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” (Acts 20:28). [We’ll return to this later to examine it in more detail.]
This explains why when Paul writes to the churches in Corinth he addresses them according to their home fellowships, but also as part of the territorial ekklesia. Within particular geographical spaces there exist smaller clusters, but together they form the kingdom of God within a particular area, and bear the responsibility of governing over it. Paul describes this in 1 Cor 1:2: “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours”.
- Sela: Ponder Tit 1:5 within this light.
- Read: 2 Kings 11; Jer 12; 1 Cor 11
- Memorise: Jer 12:5a
- For a deeper understanding: Read Gene Edwards’ The organic church vs the “New Testament” church.
