Biblical Profile: The Church

The Church

The church is the community of those who recognize the lordship of Christ and submit to him (Eph 5:21-24). In the Greek world, the word translated “church” (Greek ekklēsia) designated an “assembly” of people such as a regularly summoned political body or simply an informal gathering (e.g., Acts 19:32, 39, 41). Similarly, in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) the term is used to refer to the assembly of Israel (e.g., Deut 31:30). In the New Testament, ekklēsia is used to refer to (a) the entire body of Christ in the world (e.g., Matt 16:18; Eph 1:22); (b) all the believers in a given locale (e.g., Acts 9:31; 1 Cor 1:2); or (c) an individual local congregation that gathers regularly for worship, instruction, fellowship, and prayer (e.g., Rom 16:5; see Acts 2:42).

The New Testament uses a number of images to describe the church:

The Israel of God—the “new people of God” (Gal 6:16) who belong to him (1 Pet 2:9-10) and who are his “holy priests” to do his work in the world (1 Pet 2:5, 9)