On the Ekklesia and the Capital C Church

On the Ekklesia and the Capital C Church
Bernard Pyron

John Wyclife, of Yorkshire, England, translated the first Bible into English in 1382, not from the original languages, but from the Latin. Wyclife translated the Latin word ecclesiam into chirche (in old English spelling):
But then William Tyndale in his 1526 New Testament translated ekklesia as congregation, except for Acts 14: 13 and Acts 19: 37 where he used churche, meaning a pagan place of worship. Tyndale broke with Catholic tradition and used congregation for ekklesia something which might have contributed to his being strangled at the stake by the Catholics.
And after the death of John Calvin, Theodore Beza in 1556 returned to the use of church to translate ekklesia - and the Geneva Bible followed him, using church instead of congregation.
Any doctrine is established by the original meaning of the Hebrew or Greek words used to express that doctrine. A translation into English should not change that doctrine. Strong's Exhaustive Concordance defines ekklesia, number 1577, as "a calling out, i.e. (to) a popular meeting, especially a religious congregation..."
The Catholic Church - the original Capital C Church - redefined the ekklesia. The doctrine of what the Church is, with its clergy who rule over the beliefs and sometimes the behavior of the church members, was changed as the word used for the assembly of believers began to be called the church.
When Theodore Beza, an early Calvinist, supported the burning of the anti-Trinitarian Michael Servetus (died 1553), he showed his view that the Church should be an organization which rules over men. Beza, contrary to I Peter 5: 2-3, had the Calvinist Church rule by constraint and to lord it over the people, contrary to scripture (I Peter 5: 2-3)..
Christ said he came to bring life and it more abundantly. John 10: 10. And when in Luke 9: 54-46 James and John wanted Christ to call down fire from heaven to kill people in a village, Christ "...rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. "
The Calvinists under Beza acted against a major change between the practices of the Old Covenant and those of the New Covenant in the burning to death of Servetus. Christ made it clear that his people are not to murder people because the people reject Christ -or Christ's doctrines.
Theodore Beza did not have the Holy Spirit leading him because in wanting to burn Servetus to death he was acting contrary to the spirit of the Gospel given by Christ. Yet, Beza established for the Reformation the idea that the church should be an institution to rule over those claiming to be Christians.
The redefinition of the ekklesia into the Capital C Church with its ruling clergy made the ekklesia more prone to influences from the things of the world. "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." I John 2: 15 and "...know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." James 4: 4
Those who do not have the Holy Spirit leading them live in the state of the natural man of I Corinthians 2: 14, who does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, and cannot know them.
The natural man without the leading of the Spirit of God is an earth dweller.
Look in a good concordance for earth dweller, or dweller or earth, and find that Revelation 13: 14 says of the second beast that he "...deceiveth them that dwell on the earth...saying to them which dwell on the earth, that they should make an image (eikona) to the beast, which had the wound by the sword, and did live."
In Revelation 13: 6 this part, or head, of the first beast whose deadly wound was healed is said to open "...his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven."
Unless it is pointed out that the phrase "dwell on earth" or "earth dwellers" is used many times in the New Testament, most people will not begin to suspect that the "earth dwellers" refers not just to all who are living on earth, but to those who are not born again (John 3: 1-6) and are in the state of the natural man, without the Holy Spirit. Those who dwell in heaven in Revelation 13: 6 are those who are led by the Spirit of God.
Thanks to Chris Ardern for his Bible study on the use of earth dwellers a few days ago. Like a quarterback handing off the football to a running back, when some of us post a new insight, we can then take that "football" and run with it down the field. And maybe someone who reads our posts will take the "ball" father - so long as running that new insight into another doctrine of absolute truth does not happen.
Luke 21:35: "For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth."
Revelation 3:10: "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth."
Revelation 12:12: "Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time."
There are several other texts which use "earth dwellers" or similar phrases to indicate those who are spiritually in a condition of the natural man, the earth dweller.
But look at Revelation 14:3: "And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. " The remnant, the 144,000, is said to be redeemed from the earth, meaning they are transformed into "heaven dwellers," those led by the Holy Spirit, who are born again in Christ Jesus.
"Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: " Ephesians 2: 5-6
The "heaven dwellers" sit with Christ in spiritual high places, that is, having Christ in them, they are raised up spiritually to a high level.
The Capital C Church is an organization which claims to be spiritual, but it incorporates things of the world, and can make those under its influence the "earth dwellers," who do not sit with Christ in heavenly places. Sitting with Christ in heavenly places is metaphoric, and does not literally mean only being up in the clouds or out in space somewhere sitting with Christ. Your location in the creation when you sit with