Abstract

This white paper examines the New Testament concept of the Church (ekklesia) in light of its historical and theological roots in both Greek political usage and the Old Testament depiction of the “congregation of Israel.” By exploring how the early Church understood itself in relation to both the civic Greek ekklesia and the covenantal assembly (qahal or edah) of Israel, this paper aims to illuminate the continuity and discontinuity between Israel and the Church, emphasizing the implications for ecclesiology, identity, and covenantal responsibility in the New Testament.

1. Introduction: The Need for Historical-Theological Clarity

The identity of the New Testament Church has often been shaped more by later theological systems than by a robust engagement with the biblical texts in their original contexts. To truly understand the early Church’s self-conception, it is essential to examine the Greek term ekklesia as used in the Greco-Roman world, and how it was appropriated in the Septuagint (LXX) to describe the assembly of Israel. This dual background shaped how the apostles understood the Church, not as a novelty divorced from Israel’s story, but as a continuation, expansion, and deepening of God’s covenantal plan through Christ.

2. The Greek Ekklesia: Civic Assembly and Political Agency

In classical Greek usage, ekklesia referred to the assembly of free male citizens in a city-state, particularly in democratic Athens. It was not a religious term per se, but a political one: the ekklesia was summoned to deliberate, vote, and collectively govern the polis. Participation in the ekklesia was both a right and a responsibility of citizenship. It implied not merely attendance, but active engagement in the life of the community.

The word thus carried connotations of public identity, political involvement, and deliberative authority. In choosing ekklesia as the Greek rendering of Israel’s assembly, and in continuing to use it in the New Testament, the term brought with it implications of gathered identity, shared purpose, and participatory function.

3. The Old Testament Congregation: Qahal and Edah

The Hebrew Bible refers to the collective people of Israel with terms such as qahal (assembly) and edah (congregation). These are used throughout the Torah and historical books to refer to the gathered people of God, particularly in covenantal or worship contexts. At Mount Sinai, Israel was called together as a covenant assembly (qahal Yahweh), receiving both the Law and a national identity under God’s rule (Exodus 19; Deuteronomy 4:10).

The Septuagint rendered both qahal and edah as ekklesia in many instances, thus linking the idea of Israel’s covenantal assembly directly to the Greek concept. Importantly, this linguistic choice shaped the early Jewish and Christian imagination about what it meant to be God’s people: a gathered community under divine authority, accountable to the covenant, and distinct from the surrounding nations.

4. The Use of Ekklesia in the New Testament

In the New Testament, ekklesia is used to describe the community of believers in Jesus Christ. Jesus himself uses the term in Matthew 16:18 (“on this rock I will build my ekklesia”), indicating an intentional formation of a new assembly. Paul, especially in his epistles, refers to local congregations as ekklesia, as well as the universal body of believers.

What is notable is that the term is not used to describe a building or mere gathering, but a people—a called-out body, summoned into covenantal fellowship and purpose. The New Testament Church is portrayed as the continuation of the assembly of God’s people, now reconstituted around the Messiah. In Acts 7:38, Stephen refers to Israel at Sinai as “the ekklesia in the wilderness,” underscoring the continuity between Israel’s covenantal identity and the Church’s self-understanding.

5. Continuity and Discontinuity Between Israel and the Church

The use of ekklesia in both the Septuagint and the New Testament suggests strong continuity: the Church is not a new idea divorced from Israel but a fulfillment and transformation of it. Believers in Christ are “grafted in” to the existing people of God (Romans 11), and Peter describes the Church using covenantal language once reserved for Israel: “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” (1 Peter 2:9, echoing Exodus 19:6).

Yet there is also discontinuity. The Church transcends ethnic and national boundaries in a way that Israel, defined as a specific people descended from Abraham, did not. Furthermore, the indwelling Spirit democratizes covenant participation in a deeper way than the Old Covenant, fulfilling Joel’s prophecy that “I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh” (Joel 2:28; Acts 2:17).

6. Ecclesial Implications: Identity, Governance, and Mission

The Church as ekklesia is not a passive audience but an active body of covenantal participants. Like the Greek assembly, the Church is summoned to deliberate, bear responsibility, and enact the will of its head—Christ. This has implications for how leadership is structured, how discipline is maintained, and how mission is pursued.

Moreover, the Church is not an escape from the world, but a visible manifestation of God’s kingdom, testifying to His rule by how it assembles, worships, lives, and witnesses. As the ekklesia tou Theou (church of God), the community bears a public identity shaped by both covenant faithfulness and redemptive calling.

7. The Eschatological Assembly: Toward the Greater Congregation

The New Testament closes with the vision of a final ekklesia, the great multitude gathered before the throne (Revelation 7:9). Here, the Church universal fulfills the promise made to Abraham of a people as numerous as the stars and as diverse as the nations. The final ekklesia is not only the fulfillment of the covenant with Israel but the destiny of all the called-out ones who have responded to the invitation to covenant with God through His Son.

This eschatological vision highlights the enduring relevance of the term ekklesia—not as an institutional structure, but as the living, covenantal assembly of God’s people in every age, drawn together by the Spirit, shaped by the Word, and oriented toward the kingdom.

8. Conclusion: The Church as the Assembly of the Covenant

In summary, the New Testament Church draws deeply from both the political resonance of the Greek ekklesia and the theological weight of the Hebrew qahal. It is the gathered people of God, not merely attending services but participating in the divine mission. The Church is neither a replacement of Israel nor a completely separate entity, but the organic unfolding of God’s covenantal plan—rooted in the past, responsive in the present, and radiant in its future hope.

A proper understanding of ekklesia challenges modern churches to recover their covenantal and communal identity, moving beyond consumer-driven models to a biblically grounded vision of a called-out, Spirit-led, covenant-keeping people.

References

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