I was recently given some materials about using “church” in the name “Church of Christ”. Apparently, this information came from another congregation, whose minister has been known to be very determined to prove a point or very legalistic. The congregation is also the “Church of Christ”. The question is using “church” instead of “body of Christ” as the Greek translation has “body” instead of “church.” I understand that “church” means “body,” but does this influence the fact? I guess translation from Greek to English there seems to be some misunderstanding.<\/p>\n\t
First, let’s briefly address the idea of “legalism.” It has become popular, especially among the denominations, to condemn the idea of proving a point by the Scriptures. And really, it is not hard to understand why, when your ideas are based on subjective feelings and broad, general references to the Scriptures, you don’t want those ideas examined in detail because they won’t stand. See “Legalism: The Un-Sin<\/a>” for an introduction to the topic and then read through the lesson “Should We be Picky?<\/a>” for more details.<\/p>\n Many people “run” when someone starts announcing Greek definitions and detailed arguments. But Greek can be misused. So let’s see if the arguments you heard match what is in the Scriptures.<\/p>\n “The churches of Christ greet you<\/em>” (Romans 16:16). The Greek word in this verse is\u00a0ekklesiai<\/em>. The base word is ekklesia<\/em>\u00a0and the ending means the word is in its plural form and that it is the subject of the sentence. Put simply, the word\u00a0ekklesia<\/em>\u00a0means “assembly.” Some translate it literally as “the called out” as in those who have been called to gather.<\/p>\n “And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all<\/em>” (Ephesians 1:22-23). This particular verse uses both “church” and “body” to describe the same organization, showing that they are equivalent. The Greek word for “body” is soma<\/em>. It basically means the same thing as “body” in English. While the church (the called out or the assembly) and the body both can refer to the same organization established by Christ, it does not mean that the two words mean the same thing.<\/p>\n The multiple descriptive terms help us understand something which one word or phrase cannot fully capture. Just as I may be called a man, a father, a preacher, an elder, a Tae Kwon Do instructor, and much more; each is an accurate description of me but none fully and completely by itself captures who I am. The person wanting to call the church only “the body” is limiting himself and missing the full depth of the descriptions of Christ’s body.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I was recently given some materials about using “church” in the name “Church of Christ”. Apparently, this information came from another congregation, whose minister has been known to be very determined to prove a point or very legalistic. The congregation is also the “Church of Christ”. The question is using “church” instead of “body…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[448,76],"class_list":["post-7063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-church","tag-terminology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":67110,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-the-churches-of-christ-the-only-correct-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":7063,"position":0},"title":"Are the churches of Christ the only correct church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 19, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi Jeffery, In the article \"Wasn't Babel the city of Eridu?\" you mentioned, \"You will not find any claim that the churches of Christ are the only correct church on this site.\" Do you no longer believe in the one true church? I understand that not every church with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27182,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-is-the-church-both-the-body-of-christ-and-the-bride-of-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":7063,"position":1},"title":"Why is the church both the body of Christ and the bride of Christ?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 10, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Please, why is the church called the body of Christ and at the same time called the bride of Christ? Thanks. Answer: People are known by a variety of names and titles because one name doesn't completely describe a person or his relationship with other people. I'm known as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2327,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-do-the-churches-of-christ-insist-that-their-name-is-scriptural\/","url_meta":{"origin":7063,"position":2},"title":"Why do the churches of Christ insist that their name is scriptural?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 22, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why does the \"Church of Christ\" insist that their name is scriptural when it cannot be found anywhere in the Bible? The church is referred to as the \"church of God\" eight times in the Bible, but never is it called the \"church of Christ.\" The verse they use\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39593,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-choose-the-wrong-church-to-attend-as-a-christian\/","url_meta":{"origin":7063,"position":3},"title":"Can you choose the wrong church to attend as a Christian?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 3, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear sirs, I thank you for your site. It has been a great source of information as a new believer. Although I always considered myself a Christian, I never truly understood its true meaning until starting and completing, cover-to-cover for the first time, the Bible last year culminating in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":85064,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/will-only-members-of-the-church-of-christ-be-saved\/","url_meta":{"origin":7063,"position":4},"title":"Will Only Members of the Church of Christ Be Saved?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeff Cavender via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 15, No. 1, March 31, 1989 While talking to some friends, I stated that I attended worship services at a local church of Christ when one of them asked, \"Is that the group that believes that only the members of the church of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49869,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-scriptural-for-a-church-to-use-committees-to-make-decisions-for-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":7063,"position":5},"title":"Is it scriptural for a church to use committees to make decisions for the church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 9, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day brother, I'm a member of the church of Christ. Is it scriptural for congregations of the Lord's church to have committees? I mean committees like evangelism committee, building committee, edification committee, visitation committee, benevolence committee, counseling, and disciplinary committee, etc. Thanks in anticipation. Answer: In the Bible,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7063\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}