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Subject: What/Who is the Church?
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 16:08:49 -0800
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From: Johan Van Rooyen
Subject: What is the Church?
To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
QAHAL
Congregation, assembly of the people called out by YHWH.
Translated as ekklesia in the Septuagint. The believer of
today, Jewish or Gentile, belongs to the same Qahal that
stepped out of the Ark, the same Qahal that stood tachat
(underneath; at the foot of) Mount Sinai, the same Qahal
that received the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) on Shavuot (Pentecost)
in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem), about 2000 years ago, when the
eschatological Qahal was empowered as the power of the
Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit( came upon
believers, giving them the firstfruits of the powers of the
Olam Ha-ba (Heaven). Jewish believers are natural members of that
cultivated olive tree, while Gentile believers have been
grafted into that tree.
Conceptual chaos regarding the term "church" prevails today.
The problem is that we develop our understandings from
translations, where the term "church" first appears in the
Apostolic Writings. Christian seminaries have historically
trained pastors to understand the "New Testament" scriptures
against a Hellenistic background, by looking at what the
terms meant in ancient Greek society. The conceptual
darkness is dissolved once we realise that the Apostolic
Writings are Jewish theological documents, passed to us in
Greek, the lingua franca of the day. Words should be
understood by asking, "what is the Hebraic concept behind
this Greek term, and how was it used:
(1) In the Tanakh (Jewish Scripture / OT), and
(2) By the ancient Jewish sages?"
How it was used in pagan Greek culture is usually quite irrelevant.
In this way, sound hermeneutics can restore our sense of continuity
with the community of Avraham avinu (our father Avraham).
Some authors prefer not to use the term "church" at all,
because it derives from paganism_it is etymologically
related to the temples of Circe (alias Kirke), the daughter
of the Sun-idol in Roman mythology.
In order to avoid conceptual chaos, we have used the terms
"congregation" and "assembly," and even Qahal in our study
monographs. Because language sets limits to the clarity of
our thinking, we should exercise extreme care to use
language correctly. Wrong terminology breeds wrong
concepts, wrong convictions and, ultimately, wrong
behaviour.
The following overview of the correct meaning of the term
Church is based on Dr John D. Garr's article, Upon this
Rock! published in Restore! Vol. 4 No. 3.
When Yahushua (Jesus) asked his talmidim (disciples) who they
understood him to be, Shim'on Petros (Simon Peter) answered him,
"Atah hu, haMashiach, ben El Chai"_"You are he, the Messiah, Son of
the Mighty One who lives." Knowing that the truth about his nature
had been revealed to this tempestuous talmid (disciples) by his
Father in Heaven, Yahushua (Jesus) replied,
Mattityahu (Mathew) 16:16-18
_Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of
she'ol shall not prevail against it."
Many have taken this statement to mean that "Jesus' mission
was to clean the religious slate and initiate and establish
something profoundly new and hitherto unheard of: the
Church. Those who hold to such a neo-Marcionist hermeneutic
typically say that "Jesus was terminating the dispensation
of the Law and announcing the creation of a new, vibrant
entity_the Church_a vibrant new faith and a new
'dispensation'_the dispensation of grace."
Is this true? How should we understand Yahushua's (Jesus) answer to
Shimon Kefa's (Simon Peter's) insight?
In order to understand what Yahushua (Jesus) said and did, we must
relate these words to their original context, to
Second-Temple period Judaism, to the life and practices of
first-century Israeli Jewry. We cannot understand these
words if we transplant them to gentile soil and to the
present century, for they were spoken by a Jew in the land
of the Jews to fellow-Jews. Only when we return to that
place, to that time and to that people, can we truly
comprehend the meaning and function of the Church.
The term church is both very familiar and very
misunderstood. What is the church? Who are part of it?
When did it begin? Where does it exist? How does it
operate? Why does it exist? These are the questions of
ecclesiology_the study of the church. It is essential that
we build our entire understanding of the concept Church from
analysing Scripture in its original intent and context. We
must turn to Scripture for our understanding of
ecclesiology. In analysing Scripture, however, we must be
careful that we engage in exegesis, not eisegesis. The use
of the latter has resulted in the maze of confusion on the
subject of the nature and mission of the church. People of
good intentions have read into the texts of Scripture the
meanings which their cultures, politics or other
environmental conditioning dictated. It is imperative that
we exegete the scriptural term church by literally "drawing
out" the meaning of the words and texts of Scripture.
The word church must be understood in the light of the New
Testament Greek term ekklesia, which refers to an assembly
or gathering of people. This brings us to a crucial
hermeneutical pitfall. The very worst, the most disastrous
eisegetical turn to make at this stage, is to follow the
following recipe for exegetical shipwreck:
Premise 1
The term Church is used exclusively in the NT.
Premise 2
Jesus established the Church.
Premise 3
To establish the meaning of the term church, one has to
analyse the use of the term ekklesia in classical and Koine
Greek.
The ecclesiology of many Christian denominations, especially
those where scholarship of the Hebrew language is sadly
lacking, is based on the above "3-premise shipwreck."
Why is the above method in error? How then, should we
proceed?
The correct premise for an exegetical analysis of the term
church is that the use of technical terms in the Greek New
Testament (GNT) is based on the use of these Greek terms in
the Septuagint and other Greek manuscript translations in
common use in Late Second Temple Period Judaism. As a
corollary (associated truth), it follows that an exegesis of
a technical term such as ekklesia, we should first of all
ask "Which Hebrew word was translated by that Greek word in
the Septuagint?" Next, we should study the meaning of the
corresponding Hebrew word(s) in the Hebrew Scriptures to
determine its meaning in the GNT. Because a Hebrew
undertext and thought-world underlies the text of the GNT, I
can think of few things as pointless as being a scholar of
Biblical Greek without simultaneously being a scholar of
Hebrew. The text of the GNT is something that should be
penetrated to uncover the underlying Hebrew lifeworld.
We begin to discover the meaning of the secular Greek term
ekklesia when we turn to the Hebrew word or words which were
rendered ekklesia by the translators of the Septuagint.
According to tradition, seventy Jewish scholars based in
Alexandria, Egypt, translated the Hebrew Scriptures into
Greek in the third century BCE to enable the Hellenised Jews
in the diaspora to read the Scriptures in the lingua franca
of the Mediterranean Basin. These scholars used the Greek
word ekklesia to translate the Hebrew word qahal, which
means "congregation, assembly." Qahal is a derivative of
qol, the word for voice. Ultimately, it refers to the
summoning of an assembly or to the act of assembling. This
term is generally used in Scripture to refer to the assembly
of the people of Israel, e.g. qahal Yisrael_assembly of
Israel, qahal YHWH_assembly of YHWH, and qahal Elohim_the
assembly of Elohim. The people of Yisrael are sometimes
referred to as the qehillah, from the same root. As said,
the word qahal is usually rendered ekklesia in the
Septuagint. The important point is that the exegesis of the
term ekklesia in the GNT should therefore be based on the
use of the term qahal in the Hebrew Scriptures. Failure to
do so, inevitably results in a perverse "splitting up" of
concepts, in the creation of a new pseudo-concept, in
creating a false dichotomy and discontinuity in
salvation-history.
In Scriptural language then, the "church" is the assembly of
all who respond to the call to enter into a covenant
relationship with Almighty YHWH. "Church" is not
exclusively a "New Testament" term, for the origin of the
term is found in the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew
Scriptures, which the writers of the GNT used. The word
which the apostles used to express their corporate identity
was the same as that which had been used by the people of
Israel since the exodus from Egypt. This is why Stephanos
calls Israel "the church in the wilderness" in Acts 7:38 and
why Hebrews 2:12 quotes Psalm 22:22: "I will declare thy
name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will
I praise thee" as "I will declare thy name unto my brethren,
in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee."
This is also why Hebrews 12:23 uses "general assembly" and
"church of the firstborn" as virtually synonymous, in the
characteristic style of Hebrew parallelism, which rhymes
thoughts, not words.
The authors of the apostolic writings understood that the
word ekklesia translated the Hebrew qahal and meant the
assembly or congregation of YHWH. For Yahushua (Jesus) and the
sh'liachim (apostles) there was absolute continuity between
the congregation of the pre-Messianic past and the Messianic
future, the church of the Hebrew Scriptures and the church
of which we read in the apostolic writings. The qahal of
the Messianic age is an empowered qahal_empowered by the
Ruach HaQodesh. Yahushua called unto him whom He would,
trained twelve talmidim (students; apprentices under
discipline) to be the leaders of His empowered qahal. He
brought the qahal of YHWH to its intended state, a state of
partaking of the firstfruits of the New Covenant which was
sealed in His own shed sacrificial blood.
We conclude that Reformed theology is correct in tracing
"Church history" all the way back to the time of the exodus
from Egypt (or even before that). In contrast,
Dispensationalism misuses the term church. Their theology,
with its stark ChurchIsrael dichotomy, was developed from
English translations of Scripture, so that they fell into
the disastrous hermeneutical trap by assuming premises 1 to
3 detailed on page above.
Dr John D. Garr continues,
The term church, then, might more accurately be translated
congregation [or assembly]. Perhaps if the Archbishop of
Canterbury's instructions to those who created the
interpretation of the Bishops' Bible that came to be known
as the Authorised King James Version of the Scriptures had
not proscribed [ruled out] the use of congregation in
deference to the ecclesiastical term church, generations of
Christians in English-speaking nations would have understood
the church as the congregation of [Elohim], a perpetuation
of the congregation of Israel in complete continuity. Then,
we might have more readily understood that Paul's olive tree
metaphor in Romans 11 reveals Israel, into which Gentile
branches were grafted to share in the roots and fatness of
Judaism. We would also have understood the church as the
continuation, not replacement, of Israel and the new
covenant as a renewed covenant as Hebrews 8:10-11 reveals.
So who are the assembly, the congregation? Who are the
people who comprise the assembly of those who are called out
to be in covenant with YHWH? The answer was very clear in
the Hebrew Scriptures: it was the entire assembly of the
descendants of Avraham through Yitzchak and Ya'akov who made
the exodus from Mitzrayim and stood tachat (at the foot of;
literally: underneath) Mount Sinai, and it was all of their
subsequent offspring who held fast to the covenant. While
all of the children of Yisra'el was denominated and arranged
accordingly around the tent of meeting in the wilderness,
they were collectively considered the qahal, the "assembly
of YHWH." All of Israel was the qahal, the ones called out
to enter into covenant with YHWH. All of Israel, therefore,
was the qahal in the wilderness. Those who became
unfaithful to the covenant and fell into gross sin, were
"cut off" from the qahal.
The answer is equally clear in the Apostolic writings. Just
as the qahal of Israel was immersed into one corporate body
unto Mosheh in the cloud and in the sea (1Corinthians 10:2),
so all believers have been immersed by one Ruach HaQodesh
into one body (1 Corinthians 12:13), and buried and raised
with Messiah by immersion in a Miqvah (Colossians 2:12).
This includes everyone who have been called out: "There is
one body, and one Spirit, even as you are called_"
(Ephesians 4:4). It is a calling into covenant with
Almighty YHWH. All believers are, corporately, the adopted
children of YHWH, betrothed to one husband (2 Corinthians
11:2).
The Christian denominations that teach that "the Church"
began on the day of Pentecost are correct, but they talk
about the wrong Pentecost! The qahal did not begin on
Pentecost at Mount Zion in Acts 2. It began on Shavuot
(Greek: Pentecoste) at Mount Sinai in Exodus 19.
Yahushua's statement "I will build my church" means that He
would empower and restore his qahal. Yahushua's brother
Ya'akov, Nasi of the Netzarim Beit Din (President of the
Ruling Council of Messianic Yehudim) in Yerushalayim, quoted
Amos 9:11-12 in connection with the work of the Messiah,
Acts 15:16
After this I will return, and will build again the sukkah of
Dawid, which is fallen down; and I will build again the
ruins thereof, and will set it up.
Yahushua came to restore and perform the work of redemption
so that the qahal could be empowered by the Ruach HaQodesh.
He overcame death, so that the qahal can, in Him, have
victory over death. He is the representative one; the qahal
is the represented many. He is the bearer and bestower of
the Spirit; His qahal receives of the anointing that is upon
Him. Yahushua never intended to destroy or put aside what
the Father had been moulding among the people of Yisra'el
for many centuries. He did not come to terminate the past
and start a discontinuous new entity. His work is to
restore the house of Dawid that lay in ruins. Not to
displace it.
Why is the above information generally not taught in
Christianity? The answer lies in the domino effect and in
human nature. The facts that we are grafted into the same
qahal that stood tachat Har Sinay, that Messiah Yahushua was
rigorously Torah-observent, upsets the status quo and
people's psychological laziness. It holds as a corollary
that we should reform, and drastically so. Once the domino
of a new entity called the "Church" is disproved and topples
over, we need to rid ourselves of a great many associated
untruths: pagan holy days, the horrific pagan names with
which we dishonour Almighty YHWH, and more_ It also entails
that we should re-institute the celebration and keeping of
the Shabbat and the Appointed Times of Almighty YHWH. Not
to earn salvation, but as the lifestyle of the redeemed.
People can tolerate change, but hate being changed. All too
few have the guts to make the paradigm shift, and to ask in
brokenness of spirit, "How then shall we live?"
==================================================
Submitted by Johann van Rooyen, South Africa
**********************************************************************
From: Eddie Chumney
To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject: Understanding the Biblical term "Church"
UNDERSTANDING THE BIBLICAL TERM CHURCH
The word translated as "church" in the NT is the Strong's Word
1577. It is the Greek word "Ekklesia". In the Thayer's Greek Lexicon
of the New Testament, the Greek word "Ekklesia" / church means"
--- An assembly of people called out
The Hebrew equivalent for "Ekklesia/church" is Kahal. It is the
Strong's word (6951).
In Acts 7:37-38, it is written:
"This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A
prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren,
like unto me; him shall ye hear. This is he, that was in the CHURCH
(1577/Ekklesia = Hebrew Kahal) IN THE WILDERNESS with the angel which
spake to him in the Mount Sinai, and with our fathers: who received
the lively oracles to give unto us"
Acts 7:37-38 is quoting Deuteronomy 18:15-16
Deuteronomy 18:15 -16
"The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of
thee, of thy brethren, like unto me: unto him ye shall hearken.
According to all that thou desirest of the Lord thy God in Horeb
(Mount Sinai) in the DAY of the ASSEMBLY (6951 / Kahal = Ekklesia in
Greek and church in English) ..."
Three times in the book of Deuteronomy, God calls the event at
Mount Sinai as the "DAY of the ASSEMBLY" (Ekklesia in Greek and church
in English).
Deuteronomy 9:10
"And the Lord delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the
finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words,
which the Lord spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the
first (the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai) in the DAY OF THE
ASSEMBLY (6951/ Kahal = Greek Ekklesia / 1577 = English Church)"
Deuteronomy 10:4
"And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten
commandments, which the Lord spake unto you in the mount out of the
midst of the fire in the DAY OF THE ASSEMBLY ( (6951/ Kahal = Greek
Ekklesia / 1577 = English Church) and the Lord gave them unto me"
Deuteronomy 18:16
According to all that thou desirest of the Lord thy God in Horeb
(Mount Sinai) in the DAY of the ASSEMBLY (6951 / Kahal = Ekklesia in
Greek and church in English) saying, Let me not hear again the voice
of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that
I die not."
The word church in Greek is "Ekklesia" which means: an
ASSEMBLY of people. In the OT, the equivalent word in Hebrew is
translated in the King James Bible in Deut 9:10, 10:4 and 18:16 as
ASSEMBLY. It could be equivalently translated as CHURCH.
The word church (Ekklesia in Greek / Kahal in Hebrew) means a
CALLED OUT assembly of people separated from the world and the world's
ways unto God. These CALLED OUT ASSEMBLY (church) people were to be a
HOLY PEOPLE (Holy in Hebrew means to be separated or sanctified from
something) unto God. This was the commissioning of the nation of
Israel (church / Kahal or Kehilat (congregation)) when God gave the
Torah to His people. In Exodus 19:5-6 it is written:
"New therefore if ye will obey (8085 / SHEMA ... Deut 6:4) my voice
indeed and keep my covenant (Torah) then ye shall be a PECULIAR
TREASURE (5459) treasure unto me .. and you shall be a HOLY (6918)
NATION (1471 = Hebrew is GOY defined in the Strong's as a 'foreign
nation; hence a Gentile)"
In Deuteronomy 7:6 it is written:
"For you are a HOLY PEOPLE unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God has
chosen thee to be a SPECIAL (5459 = Peculiar Treasure 5459 in Exodus
19:5) people unto Himself, above all people that are upon the face of
the earth"
At Mount Sinai, God entered into a marriage contract with
the nation of Israel who became a KAHAL (assembly) / Kehilat
(congregation) of people in the DAY of the KAHAL (assembly / church)
at Mount Sinai. In Jeremiah 2:2-3 it is written:
"Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord: I
remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine ESPOUSAL
(bethrothal ... the first of two step in the Jewish wedding process),
when you went after me in the wilderness (became the bride of God at
Mount Sinai) in a land that was not sown"
The marriage contract between God and the nation of
Israel in the day of the ASSEMBLY (Kahal or Kehilat / congregation =
Greek / Ekklesia = English church) was the Torah. So, the marriage
contract between God and the nation of Israel / church / assembly was
the Torah.
The marriage contract was broken. The words of the
marriage contract (Torah) was meant to be written upon the HEART of
each member of the assembly / church / nation of Israel. But, it was
broken because it was written on a HEART OF STONE. A heat of stone
BREAKS the Torah. In Zechariah 7:11-13 it is written:
"But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and
stopped their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their
HEARTS as an ADAMANT STONE, lest they should hear (SHEMA ... Deut 6:4,
Mark 12:28-30) the TORAH and the words which the Lord of hosts hath
sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great
wrath from the Lord of hosts. Therefore it is come to pass, that as he
cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear
saith the Lord of hosts"
So, a STONY HEART refuses to obey and follow Torah. By doing
so, the marriage contract between God and the church / Kahal / Kehilat
/ nation of Israel was broken.
Therefore, God has to issue a RENEWED contract. This
renewed contract would also be Torah based. It would be a TORAH
written upon a HEART OF FLESH so that the church / Kahal / Kehilat /
nation of Israel would KEEP the Torah of God.
In Hebrews 8:8 it is written:
"For finding fault with THEM (the people who had the TORAH written
upon a HEART of STONE), he saith, Behold the days come, saith the
Lord, when I will make a new (renewed in Hebrew) covenant with the
house of Israel and with the house of Judah (the two houses of God
called ISRAEL). Not according to the covenant that I made with their
fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of
the land of Egypt, because they CONTINUED NOT in my covenant, and I
regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I
will make with the HOUSE OF ISRAEL after those days, saith the Lord: I
will put my TORAH into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and
I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people"
So, when was the "church" first established? It was at the FIRST
PENTECOST (SHAVUOT) at Mount Sinai. This day was called the DAY of the
ASSEMBLY (Deut 9:10, 10:4, 18:16) which is the Hebrew word for the
Greek word CHURCH (Acts 7:37-38).
So, what happened in Acts 2 if this was NOT the birth of the church
but rather the birth of the church was at Mount Sinai? In Acts 2, God
wrote the TORAH upon the HEARTS of His people through the power of the
indwelling Holy Spirit / Ruach HaKodesh. In Ezekiel 36:26-27, it talks
about God replacing the STONY HEART (who breaks the Torah of God) with
a HEART OF FLESH (which keeps the Torah of God) as it is written:
"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put WITHIN
YOU (Acts 2): and I will TAKE AWAY the STONY HEART out of your flesh,
and I will give you a HEART OF FLESH. And I will put my spirit WITHIN
YOU (Acts 2): and cause you to WALK in my statutes, and ye shall KEEP
my judgments (Torah) and do them"
Who is the church?
In summary:
#1) The church (Kahal / Ekklesia) was first established at Mount
Sinai (Deuteronomy 9:10, 10:4, 18:16, Acts 7:37-38)
#2) The church (Kahal / Ekklesia) was given the commissioning of
being a Holy people separated from the ways of the world unto
God (Exodus 19:5, Deuteronomy 7:6)
#3) This Kahal / church was called the nation of Israel (Ex 19:3) 4)
#4) This Kahal / church consisted of a MIXED MULTITUDE (both Jews and
non-Jews) who came out of Egypt (Exodus 12:38) whom God asked
to become a HOLY (6918) NATION (goyim --- a term used for
non-Jews)
#5) The church / (Kahal / Ekklesia) / nation of Israel entered into a
marriage contract with God at Mount Sinai. The marriage
contract is called a Ketubah which was seen to be the TORAH.
(Jeremiah 2:2-3, Exodus 19:8, 17)
#6) The marriage contract (TORAH) was broken by the church / Kahal /
Ekklesia because it was written upon a HEART OF STONE which
breaks the Torah of God (Zechariah 7:11-13)
#7) God promised a new (renewed) marriage contract with the church /
Kahal / Ekklesia which would be TORAH BASED (Jeremiah 31:33,
Hebrews 8:8-10) by giving the INDWELLING Holy Spirit (Ruach
HaKodesh) so that God's people would have the power to KEEP
the Torah of God and His commmandments (Ezekiel 36:26-27)
**************************************************************************
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7th MILLENNIUM PROPHECY CONFERENCE
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