On this rock will I
build my church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. Matthew
16.18
Ever wonder where the church of Jesus Christ originated. Some people believe
it began here. This is the first use of the word Ecclesia appears in
the New Testament. The word itself is interesting because it means literally
"the assembly of those who have been called out" or simply "the called out
ones."
The word refers to the form of government found throughout the Greek
city-states of the second and third centuries B.C. which continued in many
even under Roman rule. To varying degrees the city-states were participatory
democracies. That is that the citizens of the town met in large assemblies to
transact the business of the town. An assembly of this sort was called an
ecclesia.
The derivation of the word itself came from the fact that everyone living in
the city was not a citizen. Only free men of a certain age who could trace
their linage back to an original founder of the city or who had been granted
citizenship as a special honor was a citizen. When an ecclesia was to
be called, a crier would be sent through the town calling for the citizens to
come to the agora or city square where they would transact business which
would affect all the other residents of the city.
When Jesus says He will build a church, He is not talking about founding a
religious order or building a physical structure. What He is talking about is
founding a new spiritual government which would do battle with the forces of
Hell itself. He is talking about a people who would be "called out" of the
masses of peoples of this world to be citizens of a country which is not of
this world.
And He gives them special authority. He says, "I give to you the Keys of the
Kingdom of the heavens; and whatever you bind on Earth shall be bound in the
heavens; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in the heavens."
(Matt. 16.19) What He is saying is that He is turning over part of the
spiritual government of this world to His church -- His called out ones.
Acting by His name and in His will they can hold at bay the forces of evil.
Why does He give us this authority? Because of our lineage. We are "heirs of
the father and joint-heirs with the son." We are a "royal priesthood and a
Holy nation." In short, we are Children of the Living God. Who would deny
citizenship to someone with a heritage like that?