SERIES IV.5: THE LANGUAGE OF LINEAGE โ DIDACHE
Assembly โข Called Out โข Church
Before closing our examination of the Didache, we should pause over one of its most important words: โChurch.โ A word that has been chopped and screwed by modern institutional traditions finding it's heretical definition from the foundations of Catholicism. The English word conceals the Greek term แผฮบฮบฮปฮทฯฮฏฮฑ (ekklesia), which lexically refers to an assembly, congregation, or gathered community. The word is formed from แผฮบ (ek, โout of/fromโ) and ฮบฮฑฮปฮญฯ (kaleล, โto callโ), giving the familiar expression โcalled out.โ While โcalled outโ should not be treated as the complete lexical definition of ekklesia, the biblical concept of God calling a people out is explicit throughout Scripture. This distinction is important because the Didache has repeatedly described its ekklesia through the language of David, the vine, scattering, gathering, the heart, โus,โ and the Kingdom. Before we carry the word Church into our examination of the Ante-Nicene Fathers, we must first understand the biblical vocabulary behind the word itself.
Greek nounแผฮบฮบฮปฮทฯฮฏฮฑr
ekklesia
โassembly / congregation / gathered communityโ
Prefixแผฮบ
ek
โout of / fromโ
Verbฮบฮฑฮปฮญฯ
kaleล
โto callโ
Etymological formationแผฮบฮบฮปฮทฯฮฏฮฑ
ekklesia
โassembly / called-out gatheringโ
The New Testament itself gives us an important example:
This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sinaโฆ
โ Acts 7:38
The ekklesia in this passage is Israel in the wilderness and any attempt to mold it into modern church doctrine is blasphemy at best. The word therefore was not inherently restricted to a later institutional Christian body we see today of "all nations" and "all races".
The New Testament also explicitly describes Godโs people as those who have been called out:
But ye are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.
โ 1 Peter 2:9
Peter does not merely echo the covenant language of Sinai; he quotes its defining phrase directly:
a royal priesthood, and an holy nation.
โ Exodus 19:6 LXX
a royal priesthood, an holy nationโฆ
โ 1 Peter 2:9
The Greek phrase "ฮฒฮฑฯฮฏฮปฮตฮนฮฟฮฝ แผฑฮตฯฮฌฯฮตฯ ฮผฮฑ, แผฮธฮฝฮฟฯ แผ ฮณฮนฮฟฮฝ" is shared directly between the two passages. Peter then immediately describes this people as those whom God has "called out of darkness into his marvellous light." Thus, the biblical picture is not merely of people who believe something individually, but of a people called, separated, and assembled by God. This brings us back to the Didache 9.4 where the writer explains the church is scattered aboard like bread and gathered from the ends of the earth.
And again in another place:
Remember, Lord, your Churchโฆ and gather it from the four winds, sanctified for your kingdomโฆ
โ Didache 10.5
The Didache therefore describes its แผฮบฮบฮปฮทฯฮฏฮฑ through the language of a people scattered, gathered, made one, and brought into the Kingdom as we spoke of earlier. We should therefore establish this vocabulary before examining how the later Fathers speak of the Church. โChurchโ is not and never mean to be defined as a modern institutional label placed upon the text; its underlying language is that of an assembly, and Scripture itself gives us a people who are called out, assembled, scattered, and gathered by God whom only the chosen people of God, the great race of Israel, called out, set apart and holy among all nations of the world. The Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands.
Ad fontes.
IV.4
Beginning of Series IV
