The Lost Word of the Bible— “Ekklesia”
By: Steve Simms
Article here: https://stevesimms.wordpress.com/2015/07/09/the-lost-word-of-the-bible-ekklesia/
A foundational word of the Greek New Testament was lost when the Bible was translated into the English language. That word is ekklesia. How was it lost? And what does it mean?
There are two ways to move a word from one language to another: 1) Translation — to take a word in one language and express its meaning in another language; and 2) Transliteration — to spell a word written in one language’s alphabet in the alphabet of another language.
However, instead of either translating or transliterating the word ekklesia into the English language Bible, most translators completely left it out and replaced it with another word that has a different meaning — the word church. Here’s how that happened. (However, Spanish language Bibles did transliterate the word ekklesia into Spanish as iglesia. And English language theologians have transliterated it for non-biblical use as ecckesiology and ecclesiastical.)
In 1525, one of the first people to translate the Bible into English, William Tyndale, translated the word ekklesia as congregation. However, in 1611 the translators of the King James Version of the Bible chose to completely drop the Greek meaning of ekklesia and to replace it with the English word church which has a different meaning. Since then, most English translations have followed the King James example and used church to replace the meaning of the word ekklesia.
Let’s look at the meanings. The English word church comes from the Middle English chirche from the Old English cirice, both of which mean a religious building or religious place or “the Lord’s house.”
However, the Greek word ekklesia, now lost to most English Bibles, has a completely different meaning than the word church. Ekklesia literally means “the called out ones.” It also was the proper name of the governing bodies of independent Greek city-states. These bodies (Ekklesias) were open, participatory, interactive assemblies that gathered to conduct city business.
Taking both meanings into consideration, the New Testament definition of ekklesia would be “an open, participatory, interactive assembly of people called out of self-focus and into the pursuit of God’s business”. Since there is no single English word that conveys the Greek concept of ekklesia (assembly or gathering or congregation come closest but they leave out the participatory and interactive nature of ekklesia), perhaps we should do what the Spanish Bible translators did and restore the lost word by incorporating it into English in its transliterated form — ekklesia.
“I will build My ekklesia.” –Jesus in Matthew 16:18
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Called Out: Now What? 
Mac Nelson
July 12, 2015
I am one of the called out ones, and am so thankful to Yahowah for freeing me from bondage. It is like He has given me a new life. I will not be part of the harlot church system ever again. But what about fellowship? My fellowship is so much sweeter alone with Yahowah and Yaosha than it ever was with people who are well meaning, and I love them, but are blinded by Satan. I was going into Walmart the other day when I saw a poster for a new movie called “Minions.” I already had somewhat of an idea of what that term meant, but it kind of stuck in my mind, so when I got home I looked up it’s meaning to understand it better. I found that a minion is nothing more than a yes-man, a follower or underling of a powerful person, especially a servile or unimportant one. A lackey, hireling, stooge, toady, a nameless faceless servant. And that a minions only importance is from the person who orders him around. Suddenly I realized that Satan uses minions to accomplish his purpose. For he must have been quite jealous when he was ignored and hated by those who followed Jaosha. (Jesus’ name in Hebrew)
So Satan came up with a plan to destroy the souls of those whom Yahowah (God’s name in Hebrew) had called to be part of His family. He invented a new religion so deceptive that it would fool over 99.9 % of the people who sincerely wanted to do the will of Yahowah. He needed someone to be his spokesman for this new religion, and since Jaosha had His apostles, he figured he needed at least one apostle of his own. He saw that Saul of Tarsus was already a persecuter of Yahoweh’s people, breaking into homes and binding men and women to be thrown into prison, and that he was filled with such hatred that he consented to the stoning of Stephen. So Satan must have thought,…. I can use a man like this!
Jaosha told His disciples, “…..I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. So Satan appeared to Saul as a blinding light on the road to Damascus, and called him to be his apostle. Then Saul was commisioned by Satan to auther the magna carta of his new religion: a ‘new covenant’ that would do away with God’s Covenant; the very Covenant God said was to be everlasting and to a thousand generations. [Gen. 17:7, Deut. 7:9, Psalm 105: 8] Paul proposed the idea that Yahowah had come up with a better plan of a “new and improved covenant,” and since any good pitchman knows that labeleing something ‘new and improved’ will appeal to the masses, Paul tried to impress them by teaching them that his new covenant was superior to Yahowah’s Everlasting Covenant. I can see him using the catch phrase, ” Change you can believe in!” Wait, wasn’t that Obama’s campaign slogan in ’08? …yes,….. yes it was,…..well, ….moving on,…… Faith is belief in what you don’t understand. Knowledge is understanding what you believe, thereby making faith an impoverished substitute for knowing. Paul taught that knowledge ‘puffeth up’, thereby making ignorance a virtue. Then Paul taught that faith produces righteousness …..”the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.” Romans 4:2-5, [ it’s kind of like Paul was saying, …..”just believe what I tell you, go to church every week, give your money, and don’t ask questions, because if you question anything that I say, it shows your lack of faith, which means you are UNRIGHTEOUS !!” ] But Yaosha seems to teach the opposite: “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink . . . And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal” Matthew 25:41-46. It seems here that Yaosha taught that our righteousness depends very much on our efforts (good works and keeping the commandments). Satan’s new religion was taking shape, but it was still missing one thing. He needed a whole bunch of yes men, lackeys, and hirlings; in short, he needed minions to give voice to his new religion. And he keeps calling new minions/preachers every day, and every day they keep bowing to him and saying, “Yes Sir”,… and thereby sell their souls to Satan,…. for a life of ease and gain. Shalom, Mac
P.S. Moral of story: If you listen to minions, you will become one!
amongtheforgotten
July 16, 2016
Paul is not and was never a minion. Not sure how you came up with the scenario above but no Christians I know subscribe to it. Salvation is by grace through faith, though that does not negate every Christians responsibility to obey God as they are led of the Spirit. Returning to, or living in the Old Covenant or by law is strictly forbidden by God- the book of Hebrews makes this quite clear and are the judgments associated with doing that.
I believe it was also Paul who said I die daily and labor more than anyone else desiring to see Christ manifested in His flesh. He lived what He heard from heaven, not from men and died as one who testified regularly to the merits of Christ. May we do likewise.
Loretta
October 14, 2016
amen amongtheforgotten.
Andy
March 13, 2019
Actually, the new covenant is the renewal of the old covenant in the heart. The new covenant is also with the House of Israel and the House of Judah (Jeremiah 31:31). The word “ekklesia” is used in the Septuagint many times, mostly where the Hebrew word “qahal” is found. It is the congregation of assembly of Israel that Jesus is talking about. As Gentiles, we are grafted into Israel (Romans 11), but not a replacement of Israel.
Sarah
June 22, 2021
I believe that especially in this times and seasons, God is calling us our of the church into ekklesia. The community needs to experience Yahweh. People need to have an encounter with our good Shepherd.
Loretta
June 23, 2021
Yes Sarah, thank you!
knowthebiblebetter
February 26, 2022
It’s great to know that some gentiles are getting it. It is indeed the renewed Covenant , not A new one . Just like the renewed monthly moon , not a brand new moon. It’s been there for thousands of years. Yahoveh took the Covenant he made with Israel and made it better.