Matthew 16:18
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
The purpose of this article/teaching is to examine and test the use of the common word most everyone knows today ..... the word is church.
To be clear the New Testament bible was first spoken by, or to men who knew Greek as their language. The original manuscripts were in Hebrew and Greek. It then had to be translated into English and other languages so it could be read. This article is about one such translation situation and the use of the word 'church'.
Is the word church a true and biblical description of the body that Christ said He would build in Matthew 16?
Or is it "man's own version of truth" via a poor perverted translation effort meant to control and deceive?
Is there a better meaning and a greater understanding His born from above people should grasp from the Holy Word to describe His New Testament body?
We think so.....
We will attempt to answer those questions. Our article on the NT body characteristics will shed more light what the body of Christ really looks like and what is to be; per the written Word of God. Here is the link for it: http://spiritandtruthdiscernment.blogspot.com/2014/04/characteristics-of-new-testament-body.html
The two words we will focus on for this study/teaching will be the words: church and ekklesia.
(In most modern English translations the word ekklesia was replaced with the word church and it has been accepted as accurate truth, but is it?)
Lets begin:
The word Church
As you read the most popular bible translation today (the King James bible) you will see the word church is used often, 112 times to be exact in the New Testament. Here is one example:
Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
Acts 2:47
Again is that really an accurate translation from the original Greek language the word ekklesia? We at dontperish will admit we have been taken in by this false way and we need to correct it and teach people biblically lest we be false teachers. In the past, we used the word church to represent Christ's true body. You will find articles where we used the word church often and we will now need to adjust/edit them for the truth sake. Why? It is the truth and so we repent of it, our digging and testing has revealed this to us but God gets the glory... via His spirit and Word.
Now to set the point up, here is an example of using the word church....
If you said to someone who was from another country; 'I am part of the "church" of Christ' and they did not full understand all English; they might go to a English dictionary to learn what the word church really means. Here is what they would find in a Websters dictionary.
church:
a building for public and especially Christian worship. 2 : the clergy or officialdom of a religious body. 3 often capitalized : a body or organization of religious believers: as a : the whole body of Christians b : denomination
Sadly, using the word church; that person from another land would be thinking that you are either a building, a denomination or a man made religious organization/service united with all claimed Christian bodies. Is that really correct for the true New Testament holy body Christ ordained? Or is that a description of false man made religion both Christian and non that we repented of and left? Based on the fact that we at dontperish.com strive to teach exactly what the bible says and keep the NT church model, it would be a lie and sinful to describe Christ's true body as those things linked to the word church. Why you may ask?
1) God does NOT dwell in buildings made by hands so religious buildings are of man today.... not of God.
see Acts 7:48
2) Man made names and denominations are divisive and sinful per God's Word.
See 1 Corinthians 1.12
3) Christ's true church is NOT a organization at all and He is its head ... not any man or group!
see Colossians 1:18
Important note:
If we read Mark 7:6-9 we see that Jesus Himself exposed man made false religious traditions so it cannot be accurate to call His Holy body a man made system. Today the many false ways of denominational evangelical religion like Christmas, easter, worldly music, carnal evangelistic ways and false easy believe gospels are not of God but of sinful man.
As you can see the word church is NOT a good word to use to describe Christ's true body. How did this happen? How were we all fooled for so many years?
Man made ways and religion has a way of deceiving you does it not? Colossians 2:8 tells us this:
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
If we look back in history about the early 1500's we see the first English bible translated by William Tyndale. He never used the word church but he translated ekklesia into 'congregation'. He saw how the ill power of the false lifted up clergy/religious systems had wrongly usurped over people in their pews and over the truth of the bible. He sought to correctly show God's true NT body vs man made false religion of his day.
He used the term congregation:
an assembly of persons : gathering; especially : an assembly of persons met for worship and religious instruction
While it was a better more biblical translation of ekklesia by Tyndale then the word church used later, in truth it still misses the full mark as we will show you as we go on.
*** It should be noted....
Tyndale was eventually hunted down and then burned alive at the stake by who? The religious leaders of the day who claimed God. They killed him for going against the MAN ruled clergy/state united church and for striving for the whole truth of Gods Word and Christs true New Testament body. We can appreciate his plight as we have not been killed for our faith yet; but when we stand against man made religion today, we see the anger and hatred for God's full truth as it exposes them and their sins. (See Hebrews 4:12) It was murderous men who founded the denominations of today that had such sinful ways. (See Luther and Calvin both murderous hateful men / we teach about them on our teaching blog.) So before you take these things lightly and mock our teaching as a vain struggle with mere words; you should know men of old died cruelly in the past in defense of holy scripture over those who choose to pervert the truth. This is serious as words do matter.
Jesus said we live by every word from the mouth of God
Matthew 4:4
In 1611 King James of England had his own version of the bible translated and history (as well as many others) that shows he, like other rulers, was interested in the religious people of that day "being under his total authority as King". (He had thrown out the roman pope and James wanted to be a pope onto himself it appears.) If you read the bible, you will clearly see Christians serve God first and are not to place a man made King above the Lord; so this was very sinful of him. Acts 5.29
While the KJV is not a bad translation in general, it must be tested as we do with every thing.
1 Thessalonians 5:21 says to test everything.
There is evidence that King James instructed the translators / encouraged them to use words like "church" (a man made religious organization/building) so James could indeed rule over them more easily. Using the word church meant people would willingly gather 'at' and 'to' the state run man made religion vs unto Christ alone in holiness. It gave man/King James the power over God and the Word and it was shameful no doubt.
Keep in mind the reformation had just happened in 1513 and the strength of man made denominational religion/traditions of clergy class men was growing. Men were seeking ways to control the masses unto them just like the pagan pope had controlled people in the dark ages to himself. It is easy to rule over people who sit in religious buildings and obey the Kings "hireling lording over pastors" in weekly ritual religion. But it is far harder to rule over God's true holy people who are scattered, reject those false man made ways and just "BE" the obedient body of Christ (ekklesia) house to house in daily life; just like the first century saints did. (That is what we model by the way; it is the true body of Christ.)
We still see much evidence of this false religion even today as churches are
indeed run by men, united with the state/worldly, built for sinful man not God, 30,000 unbiblical denominations have spread all over made of men not God, they use compromised/sinful ways to attract people and they are still often placing themselves under the rule of Kings and governments like in America via 501c3 rules, which is all done for money.
Having said all of this we think it makes a clear case for the word "church" to NOT be a good choice or description of Christ's true body at all. We have shown both the word itself and the reason for using it is NOT of God. His true NT body is FAR different, pure, in all truth and holy vs man made religion/churches that we see.... amen?
If you need a reminder why, as we said:
God is not in a building today
His people are not of the false religious systems of man who do error/sin
His true body is not run / lorded over by men who control it all from a pulpit, the state or via bloated organizations.
In truth, the word they used in no way means what the biblical word does so it is a lie as we will show you.
Before we leave the word church and move on to the accurate meaning of Christ's body; let us remind you where the English word church comes from as it may surprise you!
Church ...
comes from the word kuriakee and it eventually came to mean house/place of the lord because of man's religious building centered mindset. (God no longer dwells in buildings, amen?)
But in its original form as far back as the Goths it was kirk, meaning a circle. Yes, occult druid pagan religions were the first churches and they did their false ways in church circles. Witches, new age pagans and satanists still use these circles today and they are are also called CHURCHES as they sign up for their 501c3 title with the state run government.
More reason to leave the word church behind for Gods ekklesia and His glory.... we would say!
On to the word Ekklesia and how it is better translated in English for deeper truth as we will show you.
In the original language the word ekklesia is used 115 times in the NT word. Remember every time KJV says church it is the word ekklesia.
In Matthew 16:18 Jesus said He would build his ekklesia (not church) so what does this word really mean?
In Strong's the word is described this way:
ek #1537 means: out of, and kaleo/klessis #2564/#2821 means.... a calling to
So in truth.... the word ekklesia means to be; called out of and to.
This fits perfectly with the command to be holy in 1 Peter 1:15 and Hebrews 12:14
Holy means to be set apart for God
(Called out ekklesia and set apart holy ones to God, do you see a pattern here?)
God's Word gives us patterns and examples often:
*Israel was always called out to be of and for God alone
*How about Jesus calling the 12 disciples out of the world and their lives to Himself to follow Him? Another perfect example of called out ones to God.... amen?
Never called out to man but to God alone!
Here is a question to ask yourself, have you been called out?
But called out of what you may ask and to who?
We believers who have by faith, repented and are born from above (see the gospel here: http://www.dontperish.com/the-gospel.html) are His true ekklesia/body. We are called unto Christ and His ways. We are not a man made church but a people made new by His spirit, called out of all sin, the fallen worlds ways and false man made religious systems/churches to be His pure, holy, obedient bride.
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.
2 Corinthians 6:17
(See other verses like Romans 12:2, Colossians 2:8, Luke 13:3, 1 John 2:15 and James 4:4 )
The point is that Christ's body is made of those people who are called out of the world, sin and all false ways to God and they do not keep man made religious ways or its lies. They CANNOT be a church at all in the truest sense.
Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
Of course we know from the Holy Word that the called out ones (ekklesia) will also gather together for fellowship together if they have each other. We see this when we see gathering in the Old and New Testaments and thus the Word congrate/congregation is also part of a more accurate meaning then the word church; as Tyndale knew. (called out ones to Christ do gather)
I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
Psalm 22:22
This ekklesia/calling out of (then assembly / congregation) is the biblical and correct meaning for Christ's true body. It is a far cry from the word "church" wrongly placed in the KJV and other English versions that really means a building, a denomination, a religious service, organization or in the very beginning of the English language .... a pagan circle church of false rituals. It was used to deceive and control NOT to further God's kingdom so we stand against it.
The truth cannot be denied about the word church. Some historians have called it the word that changed the world.
It is fallen man in his hunger for power and control that perverted God's Word using a lesser term for deceit ( using the word church vs called out ones.)
Rest assured God's Word can be trusted but we must test what man has done (translations) to keep it pure and accurate... amen?
We need to point out that religion of man (churches) lift up those men, false traditions, buildings and systems. But the called out ones (ekklesia) are focused totally on Christ/truth alone.
How wonderful and freeing it really is!
We at dontperish have a mission involving this topic,
Regarding the use of the word church; we must repent, change and take every thought captive for Christ.
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
2 Corinthians 10:5
We must retrain our minds, our words and our theology to match the truth; lest we be hypocrites. We will flush it out of our vocabulary and replace it with a more truthful meaning for His glory. The word church is now only meant for man made religion in general while His called out ones ( ekklesia/body ) is for true His born from above obedient holy saints who serve Him alone in truth.
To put it simply:
*church means.... buildings/systems/organizations and religion made of man
or
*ekklesia means called out holy ones of Christ's true body who obey and follow Him alone.
We know which ones we want to be on judgement day!!!!!! :)
Note: We are not saying if you use the word church your not of God. No not at all. We have used it in our ignorance for a long time, not doubt. What we are saying is by learning, repenting, understanding and grasping the truth with its deeper meanings; you will see the divine difference between man made religion/lies and the holy body Christ died for. He shed His blood for this body so getting it right means EVERYTHING!
*Are you part of the church in America or around the globe meaning man made buildings and religious ritual ways/lies that have left the truth of God?
Or.....
*Are you part of the "called out ones" (ekklesia) who congregate together (if you have others) and have left all false ways to cling to Christ and keep His Holy body that He formed in the first century and who He will return for in the end of days?
Which one are you today and then ask yourself, will it affect your eternal destiny?
If it is the church ( buildings and man made denominational systems) that you keep and belong to today; please read Matthew 7 and the warning about those who do religious ways but Christ will turn them away into hell. Why, because they were lawless and followed not His ways but their own man made ways and lies.
Matthew 7
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
(iniquity means lawless/unbiblical ways )
We were there once and we left it all. We really want better for you so please read the bible truth at our teaching blog about the true called out body and let us know how we can assist you in God's Word, out of mans religion and into His true called out body.... (the ekklesia of Christ)
If you are united to a church of man (made of men) you are most deceived as we were for years. The good news is that you can repent / turn. If you are His ekklesia (called out ones) you hear His voice and follow it by obeying all of His Word. See John 10:27
We praise God for you all.
We hope the next time you hear the word "church" this teaching makes you ponder truth over false ways of man. After all Jesus is the truth see John 14:6, so why would we settle for anything less? If you are His called out one by faith and new birth you should feel an amazing thankfulness to be one of His own. If you are of man made religion; in love you need to repent while you still can and get into the light and truth lest you become a Matthew 7 example.
This is a serious matter and not merely mincing over words. People in man made pews often believe whatever they are told and they get deceived. True saints of God are Bereans see Acts 17 and test everything for Gods glory.
Unless you are born into God and keeping that obedient ekklesia/body life as fruit your really His you will perish / die in your sins!
He has made a way for you, He has called out men to repent. Will you seek out the truth today? We pray you do!
We, the true ekklesia (His called out ones) are here to help you.
See our teaching site here:
http://spiritandtruthdiscernment.blogspot.com/
God be praised
www.dontperish.com