ecclesia

To understand what a word really means, we should look at its history. The word translated Church in the New Testament is the Greek word, ecclesia. Liddell and Scott's Greek English Lexicon (Harper & Brothers, New York, 1846) is considered by many scholars one of the best ever published. This lexicon states that the primary meaning of ecclesia is, "an assembly of the citizens summoned by the crier, the legislative assembly.''

In the Greek city states, such as Athens and Corinth, the citizens of the city could be called together to debate and vote upon a particular issue. This is the original secular meaning of the word.

Another way to discover what a word means is to break it apart and examine the meaning of its parts. The word, ecclesia, is a combination of two words, ek and klesis. Ek means "out of, from within.'' Klesis means "a calling.'' It can be used of a legal summons to court or an invitation to a feast.

Putting the two words together, you have "out of calling.'' It can be clearly seen how this came to be used of an assembly of citizens. The citizens of the city were called out from among all who might live in the city to attend the meeting. Many of the residents in the city would not be citizens and therefore would not be part of the ecclesia or assembly of citizens.