Where did all these churches come from?
Did Jesus of Nazareth get them started?
I say to you [Simon], that you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church [ekklesia]; and the gates of hell [Hades] shall not prevail against it."
[Matthew 16:18]
This is an ancient quote in English translation which appears in our Bibles today. In the year 425, εκκλησσιαν was translated to Latin as "ecclesiam". Around the year 1382, John Wycliffe rendered ecclesiam as "chirche" within his Middle-English Bible translation. William Tyndale would render it "congregacion" on or about the year 1525. The Geneva Bible in 1560 has the modern spelling, "Church", as also does the Bishop's Bible from 1568. Certain believers of the time, known as Puritans, suggested to King James VI & I, that a new translation of the Bible was needed, the king agreed, and provided a set of rules, including instruction to guarantee "church" be used for εκκλησσια.
...a story within the story that may help to explain how church developed, and why.
It Becomes of What It Is Made
Church or "chirche" bears the meaning: of the Lord. "We are the church", as to mean: We are of the Lord. Church may refer to a group, family or an association; a building or a function, etc. This is different from the meaning of ekklesia [alt, ecclesia]: people by YHVH God called out as coming together to address specific, concurrent developments. One early example of ekklesia in Christ being recorded in Acts 11:21-26, where Barnabas is sent to Antioch, to look for Saul.
Jesus had taught in the synagogues [a word that means: to be leading together], and His followers set out to do much more the same. However, their amazing reports and new teaching didn't set well among the older Jews, and, frankly, they were becoming unwelcome. Why didn't the disciples later form their own synagogues? If Jesus had asked, they surely would have built them. Remarkably, what He brought was greater than what the old synagogue & temple system could accommodate. By the coming of His Spirit, God had made the new believers in Jesus into a community; His family.
In the power of God, as from Acts 15, ekklesia triumphant & glorious in resolution of a difficult controversy: the Way for people of the nations to also be coming in to the Kingdom of God. However, just five chapters forward, and Paul would be warning of certain events that would follow his own departure.
The Seven Report
Near the year 95, our Lord accounts for His εκκλεσια in 7 selected city-regions:
[Revelation of Jesus Christ, from chapters 2&3]
εκκλεσια @ Ephesus has left First Love || return
εκκλεσια @ Smyrna
εκκλεσια @ Pergamos with eating food sacrificed to idols;
εκκλεσια @ Nicolaitan teachings || repent
εκκλεσια @ Thyatira tolerating Jezebel
εκκλεσια @ Sardis || strengthen the things that remain
εκκλεσια @ Philadelphia
εκκλεσια @ Laodicea being lukewarm & presumptive
εκκλεσια @ || be zealous/alive therefore; repent.
Except at Smyrna & Philadelphia, weakness is cited. Early indications in what would arise elsewhere and over time from neglect of His holiness.
Watchers Becoming Managers
Endowed for the members of His ekklesia, is a stewardship: οικονομος; an aide to administer what is nominative for the Household [Luke 12:42; I Corinthians 4:1-2; Titus 1:7; I Peter 4:10]. Where a faithful steward is present, needs are anticipated as the house remains secure for the Master. Stewardship is the wise and responsible watchfulness of something entrusted to one's care, while management becomes the actions or skill of controlling and making decisions.
Ignatius Theophorus of Antioch, an overseer/bishop (early second century) wrote letters to ekklesia while on his way to be killed/martyred at Rome. Letters sent to the Ephesians, Magnesians, Trallians, Romans, Philadelphians, Smyrnaeans, and to Polycarp (a bishop at Smyrna) that reveal concern regarding faithfulness of the ekklesia. His prescription: let nothing be done without the bishop. And to Polycarp, he writes, Let nothing be done without your consent. Instead of apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, [ref: Ephesians 4:10-12] Ignatius emphasized in his letters a three-fold tiered ministry of bishop, priest and deacon.
timeline 105-150 Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans [chapter 8, verse 2]:
"Wheresoever the bishop shall appear, there let the people be; even as where Jesus may be, there is the universal Church. It is not lawful apart from the bishop either to baptize or to hold a love-feast; but whatsoever he shall approve, this is well-pleasing also to God; that everything which you do may be sure and valid."
timeline 180 Irenaeus of Lyons [book 3, chapter 3]:
bishops as successors of the apostles
timeline 258 Cyprian of Carthage [ref: Treatise on the Unity of the Church]:
"No one can have God for his Father, who does not have the Church for his mother."
[ref: Bishop, Priest & Deacon]
Not only in Rome... More than a few watchers were becoming managers; controlling and making decisions that would amend what they had received, thereby moved in form & practice away from being called to come together as His ekklesia; resolving instead to be of the Lord. To be "church".
Rome West and Constantinople East
The wisdom of Gamaliel [Acts 5] often absent among those who look to be managing people of the Lord. The full consensus that arrives among His ekklesia, increasingly estranged. The ekklesia called out by God, now as a sometimes persecuted minority proximal to an executive-majority -- for whom the people of the Lord would hold to represent heaven, apostles or Christ among them.
Becoming more centralized and with a heart toward Simon Peter, church begins formally to be led from Rome. East & West lacking agreement upon tradition, drawing many toward the city Constantinople; thus preparing a pattern for progressive factions.
His Court and The Courtyard
All chosen-and-choosing Y'shua/Jesus the Messiah-Christ, being present and enabled, form & inform ekklesia as from the household of the One God, YHVH. Synagogues and churches gathered with their human managers, being drawn to the courtyard of the King of Kings.
Finding Church
The task of receiving & teaching a mixed group; church or churching over time has favored a more, or less, liturgical function. Broad similarity may be noted with ancient synagogues and/or with Paul of Tarsus during his mission at the School of Tyrannus [Acts 19] in the ancient city of Ephesus.
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