1 Timothy 3:15– Ecclesia of the living God (2)

Yet if I should be tardy, that you may be perceiving how one must behave in God’s house, which is the ecclesia of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth.

The word ‘ecclesia’ (literally ‘out-calling’) was the common designation of a popular assembly in the Greek language. For example, when the people of Israel were in the wilderness (Acts 7:38), but also when the ecclesia or people’s assembly of Ephesus is mentioned (Acts 19:32, 39, 41). At a people’s meeting the entire nation does not necessarily have to be present, but the entire nation is formally represented there.

When Scripture calls a gathering of believers an ‘ecclesia’, it is an honorary title. For even if only two or three are gathered together (compare Matt. 18:20), the whole people, or all who belong to the ecclesia, are counted present. Hence, Scripture never speaks of a “local church” (or “home church”) as distinguished from the “worldwide church.” Because every ecclesia is by definition an assembly of officially all the people.

However great the decline in Christendom may be, “the ecclesia of the living God” is an enduring reality. It is found where believers are seated together on the “base of truth.” And are also standing for it like a pillar!

Delen: