Greek · Strong's G1577
ἐκκλησία
ekklēsía (ek-klay-SEE-ah)
noun, feminine
Assembly — the called-out people of God; the church.
Ekklēsía is built from ek ('out of') and kaleō ('to call'). In secular Greek it meant the called-out citizen assembly of a city. The Septuagint used it to translate the Hebrew qahal — Israel gathered before the Lord. The New Testament adopts it for the universal body of Christ and for every local congregation.
Jesus is the first to use the word in the Gospels: 'I will build my church (mou tēn ekklēsían), and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it' (Matthew 16:18). The book of Acts and the epistles trace the birth and growth of these assemblies across the Roman world.
Common English renderings
- church
- assembly
- congregation
Key verses
"And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it."
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"praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to them day by day those that were saved."
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"and he put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all."
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"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for it; that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the church to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish."
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"and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works; not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day drawing nigh."
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