RESTORING LAWFUL CHURCH WORSHIP
I. "Terms"

"And let all the congregation (synagogue, n.) hold assembly ("church", v.) at the door of the tent (tabernacle) of the testimony!" (Leviticus 8:3).

Abbreviations, "OT" = Old Testament; "NT" = New Testament.

While in the military I sought help from our ship's chaplain; I wanted to get from him a list of names of sailors and marines affiliated with the church of Christ so that we might meet, study together and weekly partake of the Lord's Supper while at sea. Later, while I was attending a study group of his, he jested that a religious group wanted to "restore the New Testament church." He quipped, "What about the church of the whole Bible?" This was followed by laughter.

These articles will deal with that subject: how to restore the church of the Bible. But first, let's define some terms; particularly, "church." Although the word "church" is not mentioned in the English OT (KJ version), rest assured that its term and concept is in the original language.ⁱ For example, we see a reference made by Stephen, the first martyred and inspired disciple preaching about Moses (OT), "This is that Moses, which . . . was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us" (Acts 7:37, 38). But what will concern us in our quest is whether that church "in the wilderness" is the same one in which Stephen was a member. And if it could be restored, how can it be done?

THE GREEK AND "CHURCH"

Why am I introducing Greek? It is chiefly because our word "church" is not only a derived Greek word in English but it is actually a different Greek word from that used by Stephen and others in the NT Greek. Confusing? Hopefully, I can explain what I mean.

ILLUSTRATION OF THE WORD BAPTISM. During the first century AD the Roman Empire's subject nations had their specific local languages and dialects. As English exists today internationally, a form of Greek was the universal language among the empire's aristocrats, diplomats, educators, students, traders, and travelers from about 300 BC [Thanks, Alexander!ⁱⁱ] to AD 200. ⁱⁱⁱ Hence, a bilinqual person in the first century (which included both Jew and Gentile) when hearing the word baptism immediately would picture the act of "immersion." They heard and understood that John was an Immerser and that Jesus' disciples immersed people in water. How did they know this? The Greek word for "immersion" was baptism [baptizō^G907]. When we read today in the twenty-first century that John baptized penitents we have to be told what that word baptize means. That's because the translators did not translate the word for us but just adopted^iv the first century Greek word for it.^v

TWO GREEK WORDS NEAR-SYNONYMS. Our lesson has to do mainly with two Greek words, near synonyms^vi that have to do with OT and NT use of "church": (1) sunagōgē^G4864 and (2) ekklesia^G1577. Both words mean basically the same: i.e., assembly. However, the first [sunagōgē^G4864] connotes a gathering or herding^vii, "a lead to"^viii assembly while the second [ekklesia^G1577] means a summoned assembly ("called out"). Both words are in the Greek OT (LXX) and NT.^ix The KJV NT translates sunagōgē^G4864 twice out of its 57 uses as (1) "congregation" in Acts 13:43 (Jewish religious gathering) and (2) "assembly" in James 2:2 (a "church" gathering). The remaining 55 uses are recorded as synagogue (which is actually an anglicized Greek word, synagogē^G4864 , 'assembly'.)^x

Both words are used together in certain passages in the OT such as Leviticus 8:3 "And let all the congregation^G4864 hold an assembly^G1577 at the door of the tent of the testimony!" and Proverbs 5:14, "I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation^G4864 and assembly^G1577." The Cambridge Bible comments "The words 'congregation' and 'assembly,' ... had come to be the common designation of Israel, as the people of Jehovah, the holy nation, separated from the abominations of the heathen. The Greek equivalents for these words became naturally the titles of the Church under its Jewish and Christian aspects."^xi

So like baptism [above], to the Greek speaking person in the first century^xii, the words ekklesia^G1577 and sunagōgē^G4864 pictured an activity; both meant an "assembly.^xiii" When they had read from the NT apostolic Greek Epistles or, the OT LXX Greek Bible (which was being used by Jews in their dispersion^xiv) the words meant to them "assembly."

CHURCH (EKKLESIA) IN THE OT. That's right; the first century's Jewish OT Greek version^xv used in first century Jewish synagogues (the Septuagint Version or "the LXX") contained ekklesia about 86 times^xvi compared to the NT Greek epistles with its approximately 118 times.^xvii The ABP+^xviii version's translators have translated the OT's ekklesia^G1577 into the English as assemblies every time except for the book of Ecclesiastes where they left it untranslated and have rendered it "ecclesiastic" ("the one who calls or addresses the assembly").^xix Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the title Ecclesiastes as a Greek word referring to a "participant in an assembly of citizens." Remember, the KJV does not directly use the LXX but uses the compiled Masoretic Hebrew version (940AD) source for its OT^xx; the translators do claim, however, to have critically double checked it with the more ancient Septuagint version.^xxi

OUR WORD "CHURCH." Oddly, the KJV translators adopted an Old English word "church" for 115 of the 118 NT uses of ekklesia. They did translate it "assembly" three times regarding the secular assembly in Acts 19:32, 39, 41.^xxii According to its etymology, "church" is an Old English word circe that meant "a place of assembly for the Lord"; i.e., "the Lord's house." It is thought to be derived from the Greek word kurios, "ruler, lord."^xxiii The KJV does not use the word "church" in the OT obviously because the English translators did not directly use the Greek version in its translation for the OT.

Technically then, the ekklesia^G1577 in the OT and NT are the same. For illustration, the KJV's Deuteronomy 31:30 is "And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation (ekklesia^G1577 ) of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended." Effectively, since ekklesia^G1577 = church = assembly = congregation, then we should be able to understand such a passage as “And Moses spake in the ears of all the church of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended”.

Holy convocations are specified in the Law. The English word convocation means "assembly called together for a meeting."   Its Greek equivalent is a form of klesia^G2822 which is the root of ekklesia (church) and it basically means "invited" or "called" without the "ek" ("ex"); i.e., "out."   Its meaning is still similar to synagogue and "church" (i.e., ekklesia) but with "holy" added. The assembly is "summoned" in holiness (sacred; set apart for special use by God) to worship God who is holy. Holiness meant that all had to have been purified personally to approach God. This would include washing clothes, etc. It was in connection specifically with the approach to hear God's message from His mountain. In the NT this word klesia is used eleven times for inviting: "many be called " (examples: Matthew 20:16; 22:14; Romans 1:1, 6, 7; 1 Corinthians 1:1, 2, 24) and saints (holiness) is sometimes supplied for the individuals; e.g., (1 Corinthians: "called to be saints").

WORSHIP IN THE CHURCH^G1577. For our purpose, we will investigate what God's "CHURCH" used in its worship with God's approval, whether in the Old Testament or the New. We must however approach our study acknowledging that Jesus specifically said that His CHURCH^G1577 would be distinguished as "My church" (KJV). His newly to-be-built CHURCH underscores a distinction between the CHURCH in the Old and in the New. Jesus promised "Upon this rock [that Jesus is the Son of God] I will build My CHURCH^G1577" (Matthew 16:18). 1. Jesus was going to build His church. 2. Consequently, the church that existed while Jesus preached was not the one that Jesus intended to build. We will come back to this point later.

If someone wanted to restore the church "in the wilderness" in our time, what would he be required to do?

Our next lesson will deal with "How-to-Restore- The- Church- In- The- Wilderness."

- Gaylon West

Throw Out the Lifeline