Acts 7: 38

Acts 7: 38

….the church (ekklesia) in the wilderness….

“…..the congregation in the wilderness….”    ESV

“…..the assembly in the wilderness….”          JND

“…..the chirche in wilderness….”                    WYCLIFFE

Ekklesia is translated church consistently in the Authorized Bible, with one exception at Acts 19: 32, where we read the assembly was confused.

This is very instructive and reveals the beauty and accuracy of our English Bible. This is  that ekklesia is not specifically an ecclesiastical term. The assembly in Acts 19 was not Christian .but they were “called out and gathered together” in order to riot. 

The Spirit of God, overseeing the English translation of our Bible, gave us “church” , a word preserved, but now abused, to establish a spiritual meaning.

The AV translators did not coin the word church. Wycliffe (translating from Latin) used chirche, which meant “God’s people”  That’s what they were: called out of Egypt, and led by,  the Angel of the Lord in a congregation, heading for the promised land.

“church” means essentially “God’s people” though in modern times it has become a much abused term. If we abandon its use then we ought also to abandon another abused term,”Christian”

More about “Church” v. “Assembly”

(This article was first published in WaymarksNo.28, 2002)

What word best translates ekklesia? The word I find written in my God-given Bible, of course! There the matter rests for the believer. I read “church” and argument ceases. But we like to assure readers that we do not rest on any bigotted, blind-faith traditionalist untutored biased assumption concerning the word of God.

We are told that the word “church” has been abused and it is better therefore to use the word “assembly”. But the name “Christian” ( a name given by God to those who belong to Him through faith in Christ) is abused, so ought we not to use it? Many other Bible words are abused.

A writer asks,

where does the word church come from? The word is from the Greek “kyriakon doma” or “kyriakon oikia” which means lordly house or lordly place. These Greek expressions never occur in the original manuscripts as representing the assembly. Of course, the word “church” occurs many times in the Authorized Version, but the choice of word to represent “ekklesia” tells us more about the preferences of the translators to use language that reflected their religious affliliation at the time, namely the Church of England. ¾ E Ritchie; Assembly Testimony; Nov/Dec 2001; p141.  

We have no sympathy for the C of E. But God used some of these men in a mighty way to produce the English Bible.

In Learn Ancient Greek, Peter Jones points out that “church” ultimately [my italics] derives from kyrios, “lord”, through “kyriakon doma” “house belonging to the lord”, which was taken up by the Saxons on the continent, who brought it to England, where it emerged as “cirice” in the language of our ancestors the Anglo-Saxons, out of which “church” evolved. (p115).

Ritchie implies that the translators read into the Greek some words not found in any Greek manuscript. If our faithful translators had found the words “doma” or “oikia” in the Greek text replacing “ekklesia”, we can be sure that the English word house would have appeared in the reading. In any case these words are never translated “place”!

The AV translators, reading “ekklesia” used the modern form of  the Anglo-Saxon “cirice”, which is church

And does the word house only speak of bricks and mortar? The Lord said to the nobleman, thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house. John 4:53.

The word church means “The Lord’s house” that is, the “Lord’s people”, gathered out and gathered to. Every believer knows this.

The word assembly was used by Darby not so much as to speak of those called out from the world but to distinguish those separating from Christians not holding the same views of ecclesiastical order. 

But our brethren are corrupting the word of God, an error far more serious than that of supporting one man financially to pastor the local church. 

More re Alan Dawson

The trial of Alan Dawson at the Manchester Crown Court has revealed the low level of moral responsibility and the low level of spiritual intelligence of the leadership  in the church where Dawson was also an elder. This is Mauldeth Road Gospel Hall Assembly

Dawson was found guilty of seven sexual assaults and one charge of rape .He was sentenced to 16 years in jail.

He raped a young girl in his basement, who reported this to the church elders. Dawson, a married man, said they had been having an affair. This did not appear to trouble the elders too much and a meeting was held between themselves, the young girl, and Dawson, in Dawson’s own home.

We suspect that the young girl was at first not believed. This is Brethren practice when young girls report molestations to their elders. But Dawson broke down, and on his knees with much weeping begged the girl for forgiveness.

He had complained, when his fellow elders questioned him over an earlier offence  that “Satan had got hold of him”.  These men accepted this incredulous nonsense.  They thus showed themselves devoid of spiritual intelligence. James tells us when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin (James 1: 15) These Bible teachers seem unaware of this. They are also devoid of moral responsibility. Dawson was not to be held responsible for his own actions

Indeed this young girl was subjected to emotional bullying at their bizarre meeting. She was told if she did not forgive Dawson, God would not forgive her .The girl, under pressure, said she forgave him.  There was no evidence of repentance on Dawson’s part. Not then, not at the trial, nor now. This evil man still protests is innocence.

The demand for forgiveness indicates the  spiritual bankrupty of this elder. His words are Brethrenese  and mean “young woman, bow to us or you will go to hell” These words were intended to draw a line under the case,.They probably had some bearing on Dawson’s victim that it took several more decades before she was able to report it to the police.

See report in Manchester Evening News 25 Sep 2015