Finding Jesus in the Bible…So We Can Follow Him in Life
Bible Reading Plans
- Plan One: New Testament Only
- Plan Two: New Testament + Psalms
- Plan Three: New Testament + History
- Plan Four: The Entire Bible – Year 1 of 3, Year 2 of 3, Year 3 of 3
Don’t know which plan? Go to A Christ-Centered Bible Reading Plan: Quick Start.
Extras
Verse of the Day, Audio Capsule, and Video Minute
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The One True Church
Chapter 13 – The Word “Synagogue”
During the 1st century – the time when the New Testament texts were being written – there was another Greek word in use that was roughly synonymous with “ekklesia.” That word was “sunagoge” – sometimes rendered “synagoge.” This is the Greek word from which the English word “synagogue” comes. (Similarly, “ekklesia” is the Greek word from which the English word “ecclesiastical” is derived.)
In our minds, the words church and synagogue mean very different things – but not in the minds that wrote the Bible.
During the 1st century, “ekklesia” and “sunagoge” both meant “assembly, congregation, or gathering” to those speaking Greek. These two words were so close in meaning that they could be used interchangeably in the New Testament.
Consider, for example, the following passage from the letter James wrote to his fellow believers. The Greek word that has been translated as “assembly” in this passage was “sunagoge.”
James 2:1 My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism.
James 2:2 For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes,
James 2:3 and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,”
James 2:4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?
James is using the word “sunagoge” to describe a Christian gathering. This illustrates the interchangeability of “church” and “synagogue” in the Greek language during the 1st century.
There are, however, two exceptions to the interchangeability of “church” and “synagogue” in the New Testament.
Because the Greek word “ekklesia” was not considered a religious term in the 1st century, it was used to describe secular assemblies or gatherings as well as religious ones. Consider the following example from Luke’s description of a civic gathering in the city of Ephesus.
Acts 19:32 So then, some were shouting one thing and some another, for the assembly was in confusion and the majority did not know for what reason they had come together.
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Acts 19:39 “But if you want anything beyond this, it shall be settled in the lawful assembly.
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Acts 19:41 After saying this he dismissed the assembly.
The Greek word being translated as “assembly” in all three instances was “ekklesia” – the word that English New Testaments usually translate as “church.”
Because English translators know that modern people have a conception of the word “church” that is distinctly religious and, specifically, Christian, they adjust their translations accordingly.
Recall a verse I showed you in the previous chapter. In it, the Greek word “ekklesia” was translated as “congregation” rather than “church.”
Acts 7:38 “This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness together with the angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers; and he received living oracles to pass on to you.
What the English translators are doing is similar to what they were doing in James 2:1-4 above: preserving the modern conception of the word “church” as exclusively Christian by avoiding a translation that could call that conception into question.
To sum up: In modern times, the word “church” calls to mind only Christian things, and “synagogue” calls to mind only Jewish things, but in Bible times these two words were synonyms and simply meant “assembly, congregation, or gathering. That is, the two words were used interchangeably, and neither was restricted to a religious context – much less a Jewish or Christian one.
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