Why is Ekklesia still translated as "Church?"

[other one]

28 minutes ago, Vine Abider said:

50k quotes!?  I am impressed!  That would make how many books I wonder?

So since you planted that seed, have I not been respectful?

And that doesn't even count the 10 thousand or so in the original "Is it just me" thread.    Lot of years since 2004. That thread did make a book.   It had over 100 thousand posts in it and at one time I printed the entire thread out.   (worked for xerox so prints cost me nothing)    It was larger than my Bible.

[Alive]

5 minutes ago, Vine Abider said:

You'll probably just warrant a salute, right?

Nah---this is a strictly merit based thing. How often can you cause an Arminian to study more.

[other one]

25 minutes ago, Alive said:

I only have 9.4 thousand. I bow to your 50K.

LOL

You are not that old in Worthy years though.

[Vine Abider]

10 minutes ago, other one said:

And that doesn't even count the 10 thousand or so in the original "Is it just me" thread.    Lot of years since 2004. That thread did make a book.   It had over 100 thousand posts in it and at one time I printed the entire thread out.   (worked for xerox so prints cost me nothing)    It was larger than my Bible.

So you have a day job too!?  Wow!

[Vine Abider]

2 minutes ago, other one said:

You are not that old in Worthy years though.

Does that mean he's not counted worthy?

[other one]

1 minute ago, Vine Abider said:

So you have a day job too!?  Wow!

I retired in 2009 after 38 years at Xerox as a customer service engineer.   My day job has been keeping up with a wife and carrying her all over the country 25 weeks a year.  Well up until covid hit.  We stopped long drive trips in January 2020.

[other one]

4 minutes ago, Vine Abider said:

Does that mean he's not counted worthy?

No, just means he hasn't had the time to post any more than what he has.   And why we shouldn't be comparing people by numbers.

[Vine Abider]

48 minutes ago, other one said:

No, just means he hasn't had the time to post any more than what he has.   And why we shouldn't be comparing people by numbers.

But I thought whoever had the most numbers got something big in heaven! 

OK, maybe since I'm the OP, I should kinda/sorta steer this thing back to the topic at hand . . .

 

[David1701]

On 11/29/2022 at 4:40 AM, Vine Abider said:

The King James translators (and others) used "church" for "ekklesia," when it literally should have been translated "assembly" or "congregation."  Ekklesia means, "called-out gathering" in Greek, so why did they use this word church?  The answer is that the word was derived from the German word "kirche," which meaning pertained to the physical building.  By using church instead of the more appropriate congregation or assembly, the state religion, headed by the English monarchy, could more readily control the physical property, which was also the reason the Roman Catholic Church preferred to use church.

Therefore, the early translator, William Tyndale, refused to use the word church, to the ire of the English church/king and the RCC. The below is from here: https://www.christianstudylibrary.org/article/william-tyndales-concept-church

People now refer to the church, in perhaps most instances, as the building.  It's commonly heard, "Oh what a nice looking church!" Also said often is, "We're going to church," but this typically means they are going to a building . . .  Ironically, in this respect, people are actually right to use church as in many cases they probably do mean the physical building!

So I've often wondered why modern translators still go with the word church.  To me, it's an egregious error, as it just promulgates the original deviation, instead of accurately translating ekklesia as congregation (or assembly or gathering)!  Why is that?

It's probably because of tradition and common usage, which is not a valid excuse.

There is another issue, and that is that, by using "church", instead of congregation, the idea of a national, or international, denomination is not quashed, which it would be, if the word were translated correctly.

It's interesting that "ekklesia" (congregation) is never used in the plural in a town; but, it is always used in the plural in a region.  The implication is that there should only be one "ekklesia" in any given town or village, but regions could have many.

Edited November 30, 2022 by David1701

[Vine Abider]

2 minutes ago, David1701 said:

It's interesting that "ekklesia" (congregation) is never used in the plural in a town; but, it is always used in the plural in a region.  The implication is that there should only be one "ekklesia" in any given town or village, but regions could have many.

That's a great observation!  Yes, as I see it, there is only one church per municipality. Even though we have a lot of different denominations, etc., it is one body.  Even though the expression s not one locally, it doesn't mean that we're not one in Spirit, and should accept and fellowship with one another accordingly.