The term “church” is the English translation of the Greek word ekklesia, and literally means the called out ones, or separated ones. The use of the Greek term prior to the emergence of the Christian Church is helpful in understanding the nature of the Church.

Two streams of meaning flow from the history of its usage that have bearing on the New Testament understanding of the church. First, the Greek term ekklesia, which means “called out”, was commonly used to indicate an assembly of citizens of a Greek city and is so used in Acts 19:32 & 39. Greek citizens were the elite, they held the political power and enjoyed great privileges, but they also had the duties of state and military service in protecting the people. (FOR Christians to put all emphasis on Church without maintaining focus on the purpose for which they gather, and the duties of their service to God, which is, to share and preserve the living gospel within the confines of their assemblies, is as absurd as the event in Acts when the citizens of Ephesus had gathered at a city assembly but did not even know why they had come together. It resulted in a tumult and chaos with no constructive business or result, except in an attempt to kill Paul.) The citizens who were quite conscious of their privileged status over/against slaves and noncitizens were normally called to the assembly by a herald and dealt in their meetings democratically with matters of common concern. When the early Christians understood themselves as constituting a church, no doubt exists that they perceived themselves as called out by God in Jesus Christ for a special purpose and that their status was a privileged one in Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:19). Second, the Greek term was used more than one hundred times in the Greek translation of the Old Testament which was in common use in the time of Jesus. The Hebrew term (qahal) meant simply “assembly” and could be used in a variety of ways, referring for example to an assembling of prophets (1 Sam. 19:20), soldiers (Num. 22:4), or the people of God (Deut. 9:10). The use of the term in the Old Testament in referring to the people of God is important for understanding the term “church” in the New Testament.

Thus all these groups were exclusive and “privileged” or allowed to be there because they conformed to all the requirements necessary for membership or admittance, and ability to perform the function or be useful to the purpose for which the called gathering was assembled. The defining requisites for membership among the church can be and must be summed up in the Gospel. Therefore the Gospel is all important.

The first Christians were Jews who used the Greek translation of the Old Testament. For them to use a self-designation that was common in the Old Testament for the people of God reveals their understanding of the continuity that links the Old and New Testaments. The early Christians understood themselves as the people of the God who had revealed Himself in the Old Testament (Heb. 1:1-2), as the true children of Israel (Rom. 2:28-29) with Abraham as their father (Rom. 4:1-25), and as the people of the New Covenant prophesied in the Old Testament (Heb. 8:1-13). As a consequence of this broad background of meaning in the Greek and Old Testament worlds, the term “church” is used in the New Testament of a local congregation of called-out Christians, such as the “church of God which is at Corinth” 1 Cor. 1:2, and also of the entire people of God, such as in the affirmation that Christ is “the head over all things to the church, Which is his body” Eph. 1:22-23.

Therefore the only real way to study the Church is to determine where and in what condition the Gospel was at all times. Where the Gospel thrives the Church lives, where the Gospel was perverted or lost, the Church suffered by degrees.

What the word Church means in the New Testament is further defined by a host of over one hundred other descriptive expressions occurring in relationship to passages where the church is being addressed. Three basic perspectives embrace most of these other descriptions. 1. The church is seen as the body of Christ; and a cluster of images exists in this context as emphasis falls on the head (Eph. 4:15-16), the members (1 Cor. 6:12-20), the body (1 Cor. 12:12-27), or the bride (Eph. 5:22-31). 2. The church is also seen as God’s new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), the new persons (Eph. 2:14-15), fighters against Satan (Eph. 6:10-20), or bearers of light (Eph. 5:7-9). 3. The church is quite often described as a fellowship of faith with its members described as the saints (1 Cor. 1:2), the faithful (Col. 1:2), the witnesses (John 15:26-27), or the household of God (1 Pet. 4:17).

Major Characteristics of the Life of the Church
The preeminent characteristic of the church in the New Testament is devotion to Jesus Christ as Lord. He established the church under His authority (Matt. 16:13-20) and created the foundation for its existence in His redeeming death and demonstration of God’s power in His resurrection. Christ’s position as the Lord evoked, sustained, and governed the major characteristics of the life of the church in the way members were admitted, treated one another, witnessed to His power, worshiped, and lived in hope of His return.

Persons were admitted to the local congregation only upon their placing their trust in Christ as Savior (Acts 2:37-42), openly confessing this (Rom. 10:9-13), and being baptized (Acts 10:44-48). Baptism or immersion in water was performed because Christ had commanded it (Matt. 28:18-20) and was itself a dramatic symbolic picturing of the burial and resurrection of Christ (Rom. 6:3-4). Joining the church made one a fully participating member in it, unlike many of the religious groups in the first century in which there was a substantial period of probation before full acceptance. Being born-again was the one and only prerequisite and there was no sacrament demanded for its reality in the believer’s life. When Christ accepted the person, the congregation did also, even though the members might be aware of weaknesses (Rom. 14:1-4).

The way in which members of the church were called on to treat one another was modeled by what God had done in Christ for the Church. They were to forgive one another (Col. 3:12-14) and to love one another (Eph. 5:1-2; 1 John 3:16) because God had done this for all of them in Christ. This foundation for Christian fellowship gave ultimacy to its requirements that reflected on each church member’s relationship with God (1 John 2:7-11).

Members of the church were called on to demonstrate the power of Christ’s redemption in their own lives by exemplary conduct, embracing every area of life (Rom. 12:1-13:7; Col. 3:12-4:1). The overcoming of sins in the lives of Christians was a witness to the redeeming power of Christ in action in the community (Gal. 5:22-26), and the sins to which the communities were prone were clearly identified and challenged (Gal. 5:19-21). The Christians were expected to adopt a new lifestyle wherever it was appropriate to their commitment to Christ (Eph. 4:17-24).

The worship of the early church demonstrated the lordship of Christ, not only in the fact that He was extolled and praised but also in the fact that worship demonstrated the obligation of Christians to love and to nurture one another (1 Cor. 11:17-22; 14:1-5). In distinction from worship as it was practiced in the pagan cults of Greece and Rome, Christian worship not only stressed the relation of a person to the Deity but went beyond this to stress that worship should edify and strengthen the Christians present (1 Cor. 14:26) and should challenge pagans to accept Christ (1 Cor. 14:20-25). Christian worship was often enthusiastic and usually involved all Christians present as participants (1 Cor. 14:26). This openness both inspired creativity and opened the way for excesses which were curbed by specific suggestions (1 Cor. 14:26-33a; 1 Tim. 2:1-10) and by the rule that what was done should be appropriate to those committed to a God of peace (1 Cor. 14:33a).

All of these characteristics of the life of the church existed in the context of an urgency created by the awareness that Christ was going to return (1 Thess. 1:9-10). Christ’s return would bring judgment to the unbelievers (1 Thess. 5:1-10) and thus made witnessing to them an urgent concern. 

How central this belief was to the early church is illustrated by the fact that the Lord’s Supper, which they observed at His command was seen as proclaiming “the Lord’s death till he come” 1 Cor. 11:26. The return of Christ was to result in glorious joy and the transformation of the Christians, a hope that sustained them in difficult times (2 Thess 1:5-12).

Ordering of the New Testament churches A striking feature of the order, as opposed to organization, of the early churches, is that every member of the church was seen as having a gift for service which was to be used cooperatively for the benefit of all (Rom. 12:1-8; 1 Pet. 4:10). Paul used the imagery of the human body to illustrate this unique feature of the church’s life, stressing that every Christian has a necessary function and a responsibility to function with an awareness of his or her share in the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12-31). In the context of this strong belief that every member has a ministry, certain persons were designated to fulfill specific tasks in relation to the functioning of the church such as apostles, bishops, elders, and deacons. As these offices are examined, it is important to remember that the order of the early churches was not necessarily the same in every locality. A large church would need more functionaries and works and helps than a small one, and the presence of an apostle or his designated representative would cause the other leaders in a given church to be seen in a different light. In addition to these variables, the church was in a period of rapid growth; and as it responded to the needs of ministry, roles or offices, such as the appointment of the seven in Acts 6:1-7, were created to enable the church to fulfill its ministry in Christ.

“Apostle” usually designated one appointed as the authorized representative of Jesus Christ, and the term in the New Testament is most frequently applied to one of the Twelve (Acts 1:15-26) or to Paul (Gal. 1:1-24). The term was occasionally used in a wider sense to indicate the validity and importance of one of the early church’s leaders, such as James (Gal. 1:19) or Barnabas (Acts 14:4; compare Rom. 16:7); but there is no hint in the New Testament that an apostle could appoint a person to succeed himself and establish a continuing line. The office is, in fact, seen as foundational in the church’s history and not as continuing (Eph. 2:20).

Bishops and elders had quite similar responsibilities; and Paul, addressing the elders in Acts 20:17, stated that they were bishops or overseers (v. 28). Usually, however, the term “bishop” is in the singular (1 Tim. 3:1), and the term “elders” is plural (Jas. 5:14) as a specific church is addressed. The responsibilities of a bishop are described in 1 Tim 3:1-7 and Titus 1:7-9. He is described as representing the church in a way which would suggest that each church had one designated leader who functioned much in the way a contemporary pastor does.

Deacons were required to be exemplary Christians like bishops (1 Tim. 3:8-13). Since their duties are not specified and they are usually listed with the bishops, it is usually assumed that deacons devoted themselves to the larger work of the local church, assisting in whatever ways were most appropriate to the local congregation of Christians as the seven did in Acts (6:1-7). The order, rather than organization, of the early churches was not governed by a rigid plan that each church had to follow. The guiding principle was that the church was the body of Christ with a mission to accomplish, and the church felt free to respond to the leading of the Holy Spirit in developing a routine or order, not so much a human structure, that would contribute to its fulfilling its responsibilities (Rom. 12:1-8; 1 Cor. 12:4-11; Eph. 4:11-16).

The main structure, if it could be called such, was assembling together in the name of Christ as full-fledged, equal citizens of the Kingdom of God, to worship God, for the Gospel’s sake, and for the promotion of the salvation of every member of the body. By faith each member was expected to assemble, striving to love one another and knowing that wherever two or three gathered together in His name there he would be also. As eagles flocking to the body, they could spiritually and in all reality, feast on His body and drink His life-giving blood. This was in the spirit of the ekklesia, or ‘the called out ones’, just as the Greek world had acted out in their worldly culture which provided the name ‘church’ for Christ’s believers. They had been exhumed from the world and risen into the life of Christ. They had been removed, ‘called away from, and separated’ to God.

The Growth and Expansion of the Early Church
Jesus taught His disciples that by following Him they were to be involved in a movement that would continue (Matt. 16:13-20; John 14:12-14), but it was after the resurrection of Jesus that the mission of the church really began (Matt. 28:16-20; John 20:19-23; Acts 1:6-11). The earliest Christians were Palestinian Jewish followers of Jesus and found it difficult to witness to non-Jews (Acts 10:1-48). The bridge to the Gentiles was the Hellenistic Jewish Christianity, which sprang into existence with the conversion of Jews from the dispersion who were visiting in Jerusalem and converted at Pentecost (Acts 2:5-47). These Jews whose residence had been in the cities of the Roman Empire were called Hellenistic because they were generally more open to the Greco-Roman culture than their Palestinian colleagues. They spoke and wrote Greek as their primary language, gave their children Greek names (such as Stephen which means “crown” in Greek), and were more willing to relate to Gentiles. It was this group of the early Christians that was the major channel in spreading the gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 19:11-26). It was also the phenomenon of persecution of the early Jewish Christians in Jerusalem, Stephen, Peter, James) that sent them from their comfortable place in Jerusalem into the rest of the world to preach the Gospel in Antioch, Babylon, Africa and other far-flung places of the Roman Empire, including Rome and the Far East. Ironically, God used persecution to further the Gospel and spread it far and wide among the Gentiles. The thousands of converts who had sold their property to live communally had nowhere to live once they were rooted out by persecution and were forced to ‘go into all the world’. The spread of the Gospel through the dispersal of the early church at Jerusalem was so great, in fact, that Paul could tell the Colossians twenty years hence, that the Gospel had gone into all the world. (Col. 1:6) Christ was to be a light to the Gentiles as Isaiah had seen, and so the move into the world had to be able to relate to the Greeks and the rest of the Gentile nations as well. Paul said he became all things to all men for this reason: that some could be saved (1 Cor. 9:18-22).

Paul was a Hellenistic Jew (Acts 21:39); and when he became a Christian, he was called to and accepted a ministry to the Gentiles (Acts 22:21; Eph. 3:1-13). Significantly, he inaugurated his ministry of founding new churches from the base of a church composed of both Gentiles and Hellenistic Jewish Christians (Acts 11:19-26; 13:1-3). Paul’s strategy was to visit synagogues in the cities of the Roman Empire and to proclaim Jesus as the Christ (Acts 18:5). The usual result was that some Jews and some Gentiles who were interested in Judaism (called God-fearers, Acts 18:7) believed in Christ, were expelled from the synagogue, and formed the nucleus for a growing church (Acts 18:5-11; 19:8-10). Be persecuted and expelled, once again was the idealistic catalyst of church expansion, and even, spiritual growth in the individual members of the body. The Acts of the Apostles gives only a glimpse of the early Christian heroes and heroines with a focus on Peter, Paul, and a few others (Acts 18:1-4, 24-28). There were, however, many heroic Christian witnesses unknown to us who first carried the gospel to Rome (Acts 28:14-15) and to the limits of the Empire in India, Egypt, and the outlying areas of Europe. Each of the twelve apostles has traditions and fables surrounding their evangelistic expeditions and ministries. Each one is supposed to have died a glorious martyr’s death which only furthers the cause of Christ and the disseminating of the Gospel throughout the world during the first thirty years of the Church’s existence.

Special thanks to Harold S. Songer for the meat of this article.