{"id":2113,"date":"2011-11-09T01:00:31","date_gmt":"2011-11-09T07:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/?p=2113"},"modified":"2015-03-13T15:35:58","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T20:35:58","slug":"church-beyond-the-local-gathering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/11\/09\/church-beyond-the-local-gathering\/","title":{"rendered":"Church Beyond the Local Gathering"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Part 12 of series:
\n<\/a>What is a Church?<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Church Beyond the Local Gathering<\/h2>\n

Before I finish my discussion of the meaning of the word ekklesia<\/em> \u2013 usually translated as \u201cchurch\u201d \u2013 in the New Testament, I need to say something about the use of ekklesia<\/em> in Paul\u2019s letters to the Colossians and the Ephesians.<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

Curiously, neither of these letters are addressed to an ekklesia<\/em> or to a group of ekklesiai<\/em> as is the case in Paul\u2019s letters to Corinth (both letters), Galatia, and Thessalonica (both letters). Colossians is addressed to \u201cthe saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae\u201d (Col 1:2), while Ephesians was sent to \u201cthe saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus\u201d (Eph 1:1). The greetings at the end of Colossians reflect the sort of tangible, actual-gathering quality of ekklesia<\/em> that we have seen before in Paul. He greets \u201cNympha and the ekklesia<\/em> in her house\u201d as well as the \u201cekklesia<\/em> of the Laodicieans\u201d (4:15-16).<\/p>\n

Yet earlier in Colossians we find a different nuance of ekklesia<\/em>. Let me quote several verses from the first chapter of this letter:<\/p>\n

15 \u00a0[Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; 16 for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers\u2014all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 He is the head of the body, the church<\/em>; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. (1:15-20; emphasis added)<\/p>\n

A few verses later Paul underscores this new sense of ekklesia<\/em>:<\/p>\n

I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ\u2019s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. (1:24)<\/p>\n

Ephesians takes this ball from Colossians and runs with it far upfield. In the first chapter, God raised and exalted Christ,<\/p>\n

22 And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. (1:22-23)<\/p>\n

In Ephesians 3, God reveals his wisdom \u201cto the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places\u201d \u201cthrough the church\u201d (Eph 3:10). He concludes the chapter with a stirring benediction:<\/p>\n

20 \u00a0\u00a0Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (3:20-21)<\/p>\n

Then, in Ephesians 5, ekklesia<\/em> shows up six times. Christ is \u201cthe head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior\u201d (5:23). The church \u201cis subject to Christ\u201d (5:24). Christ \u201cloved the church and gave himself up for her\u201d (5:25). Christ seeks \u201cto present the church to himself in splendor\u201d (5:27). He nourishes and tenderly cares\u201d for the church (5:29). Finally, like the unity between husband and wife, so it is with Christ and the church, something Paul refers to as \u201ca great mystery\u201d (5:32).<\/p>\n

The meaning of ekklesia<\/em> in Colossians and Ephesians has clearly moved far beyond the literal gathering of Christians in some location. Now the ekklesia<\/em> is the body of which Christ is the head. It appears to be some cosmic reality that transcends ordinary space and time, and that encompasses far more than a single gathering of believers. Paul seems to be envisioning some sort of \u201cgathering,\u201d now used metaphorically rather than literally, of all Christians on earth and in heaven. This ekklesia<\/em> has permanence in time like an actual body. An ekklesia<\/em> in the regular sense may come and go, but an ekklesia<\/em> as a body remains intact over time.<\/p>\n

The relationship of the church\/body in Colossians and Ephesians and the local church is not spelled out in detail. Though Paul uses ekklesia<\/em> in a new and greatly expanded sense, he can still refer, as I mentioned earlier, to the ekklesia<\/em> in Nympha\u2019s house (or that meets at her house, Col 4:15) and to the ekklesia<\/em> of the Laodiceans (4:16). His specific instruction that his letter be read \u201cin the ekklesia<\/em> of the Laodiceans\u201d suggests that Paul can still use ekklesia<\/em> in the ordinary sense of the tangible gathering. Yet, at the same time, the ekklesia<\/em> is also a much larger and more permanent reality. It is something that can be spoken of as a body, with Christ as the head.<\/p>\n

The use of ekklesia<\/em> in Colossians and Ephesians offers a fitting segue to the next image I want to investigate in this series on the church, the image of the body. To this I will turn in my next post.<\/p>\n

Appendix<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cBeautiful Church\u201d by Rev. E. L. Drown<\/p>\n

Beautiful Church of Christ below,
\nBeautiful in this world of woe,
\nBeautiful Gate to Heaven above,
\nBeautiful House of God I love;
\nHe, who was slain on Calvary,
\nHas built this beautiful Church for me.<\/p>\n

Beautiful Round, our Festival year,
\nBeautiful all its scenes appear,
\nBeautiful Feast, when Christ was born,
\nBeautiful light the Easter morn;
\nWith Christmas wreaths, and Easter Flowers,
\nThank God, this beautiful Church is ours!<\/p>\n

Beautiful Baptism, Christ its light,
\nBeautiful Infants, robed in white,
\nBeautiful Chants, we love to sing,
\nBeautiful Hymns to Christ our King;
\nThe path that Saints and Martyrs trod,
\nThe Church that leads us home to God.<\/p>\n

Beautiful Church of Christ, our King,
\nBeautiful offerings let us bring,
\nBeautiful lives, the Church to adorn
\nBeautiful love, to Heaven\u2019s First-born;
\nWith hearts of faith the Saviour see.
\nCome to this Beautiful Church with me.<\/p>\n

From The Sunday-School Service and Tune Book, ed. John C. Hollister (New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1863) p. 155.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Part 12 of series: What is a Church? Church Beyond the Local Gathering Before I finish my discussion of the meaning of the word ekklesia \u2013 usually translated as \u201cchurch\u201d \u2013 in the New Testament, I need to say something about the use of ekklesia in Paul\u2019s letters to the Colossians and the Ephesians. Curiously, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16470],"tags":[484,16596,16529],"class_list":["post-2113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church-what-is-a-church","tag-church","tag-church-in-ephesians-and-colossians","tag-what-is-a-church"],"yoast_head":"\nChurch Beyond the Local Gathering<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Part 12 of series: What is a Church? Church Beyond the Local Gathering Before I finish my discussion of the meaning of the word ekklesia \u2013 usually\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/11\/09\/church-beyond-the-local-gathering\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Church Beyond the Local Gathering\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Part 12 of series: What is a Church? Church Beyond the Local Gathering Before I finish my discussion of the meaning of the word ekklesia \u2013 usually\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/11\/09\/church-beyond-the-local-gathering\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mark D. Roberts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-11-09T07:00:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-03-13T20:35:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/files\/2011\/11\/Sunday-school-tune-book-51.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark D. Roberts\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark D. Roberts\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/11\/09\/church-beyond-the-local-gathering\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/11\/09\/church-beyond-the-local-gathering\/\",\"name\":\"Church Beyond the Local Gathering\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-11-09T07:00:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-03-13T20:35:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/62d6e44442f2a635357a90482770f712\"},\"description\":\"Part 12 of series: What is a Church? Church Beyond the Local Gathering Before I finish my discussion of the meaning of the word ekklesia \u2013 usually\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/11\/09\/church-beyond-the-local-gathering\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/11\/09\/church-beyond-the-local-gathering\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/11\/09\/church-beyond-the-local-gathering\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Church Beyond the Local Gathering\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/\",\"name\":\"Mark D. Roberts\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/62d6e44442f2a635357a90482770f712\",\"name\":\"Mark D. Roberts\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f811422ff59bfbbc4d6c185240a11129?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f811422ff59bfbbc4d6c185240a11129?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mark D. Roberts\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/author\/markdroberts\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Church Beyond the Local Gathering","description":"Part 12 of series: What is a Church? Church Beyond the Local Gathering Before I finish my discussion of the meaning of the word ekklesia \u2013 usually","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/11\/09\/church-beyond-the-local-gathering\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Church Beyond the Local Gathering","og_description":"Part 12 of series: What is a Church? Church Beyond the Local Gathering Before I finish my discussion of the meaning of the word ekklesia \u2013 usually","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/11\/09\/church-beyond-the-local-gathering\/","og_site_name":"Mark D. Roberts","article_published_time":"2011-11-09T07:00:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-03-13T20:35:58+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/files\/2011\/11\/Sunday-school-tune-book-51.jpg"}],"author":"Mark D. Roberts","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mark D. Roberts","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/11\/09\/church-beyond-the-local-gathering\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/11\/09\/church-beyond-the-local-gathering\/","name":"Church Beyond the Local Gathering","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-11-09T07:00:31+00:00","dateModified":"2015-03-13T20:35:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/62d6e44442f2a635357a90482770f712"},"description":"Part 12 of series: What is a Church? Church Beyond the Local Gathering Before I finish my discussion of the meaning of the word ekklesia \u2013 usually","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/11\/09\/church-beyond-the-local-gathering\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/11\/09\/church-beyond-the-local-gathering\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/2011\/11\/09\/church-beyond-the-local-gathering\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Church Beyond the Local Gathering"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/","name":"Mark D. Roberts","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/62d6e44442f2a635357a90482770f712","name":"Mark D. Roberts","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f811422ff59bfbbc4d6c185240a11129?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f811422ff59bfbbc4d6c185240a11129?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mark D. Roberts"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/author\/markdroberts\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/109"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2113\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}