the Christians whom Christ called together. Further, ecclesia was the common word used in translating kahal into Greek. The Christians were the new kahal or congregation of God, the true Israel.

To ascertain what this word ecclesia names we need not go beyond the Septuagint and the New Testament. Indeed, New Testament usage must be decisive. It is ample.

The studies of such men as Sohm and Hatch and Hort and Lindsay and Bannerman and many others make it unnecessary to examine this usage afresh. Lindsay bases his classification of usage on Hort. Hort finds eleven shades of meaning. Lindsay uses a fourfold classification. Bannerman reduces all to three groups. Two usages suffice for our classification.

The word, church, as used in the singular and in the plural in the New Testament makes evident that The Church is, in the universal and ideal sense, nothing other than the total number of disciples or Christians, who are also the heirs to God's salvation. In its secondary sense, both in the singular and in the plural, it designates a particular company, larger or smaller, of God's children who come together in the fellowship of Christian faith, hope and love. In this latter sense a church and the churches are manifestations of the One True Church.

"Ecclesia" always names an assemblage of people. It is so used of the mob in the circus at Ephesus (Acts 19:32, 39, 41). Calvin interpets ecclesia in Matt. 18: 17 as the synagogue of the Jews. Acts 7:38

refers to the people of God, Israel in the wilderness. Otherwise, ecclesia in the New Testament names Christians as these are regarded as one body in Christ Jesus, or any number of Christians, in some particular locality, either thought of as an associated body, or as met together for worship.

The cases where ecclesia names the mere assemblage for worship are few, hardly requiring separate classification in I Cor. II: 18, "When ye are come in church," "en ecclesia" is adverbial for, "when ye are come together as a church for worship," so also in I Cor. 14: 19, "I would rather speak five words intelligently in the church," is "en ecclesia"; and in I Cor. 14:4" edifies the church." The sense is the

temporary meeting together of Christians.

For understanding, it is not necessary to find more than two usages of the word ecclesia in the New Testament, whether singular or plural; namely, where the word names the body of Christians conceived as a totality, a whole; and where it names the Christians. of a particular locality, be it large or small.

That is, ecclesia always names either all Christians, or some Christians as one in Christ Jesus, one in faith, hope and love. That Christians should not form a church is never suggested as a possibility. Where Christians are, there a church is of necessity, and there also The Church is manifest. Christians of necessity constitute a church and The Church. These two facts are of great significance.

The Church is the total number of those "who are in Christ Jesus "(1 Thess. 2: 14), The Church is mani

fest in a church, which is a body or association of Christians in a locality, be it country, city or house.

The cases in which The Whole Church is spoken of are few and should be noted.

In Acts 5:11, 8 : 1, 8: 3, reference is not made to The Universal Church, but only to that portion of the body of Christians which was in Judea. The same is true all through the book of Acts (as in Acts 15: 3, 4); not even is Acts 20: 28, "to feed the Church of God' an exception, but here we have an illustration of the second usage, in which the local church is regarded as a manifestation of the Church of God, as is said, "the Church of God which is at Corinth" (1 Cor. 1:2; 2 Cor. I: I).

The whole, universal Church, as distinct from its manifestation (second sense) in a church, is spoken of only in the letters to the Ephesians (eight times); to the Colossians (twice) and in 1 Tim. 3: 15. Heb. 2: 12 and Heb. 12: 23 probably should be included. In these passages, ecclesia names the body, the total number of the new humanity redeemed in Christ the Head. This is the universal, ideal sense of The Church, corresponding to the "Israel of God" of the Old Testa

ment.

When Christ says, "On this rock I will build My Church" (we assume these words to be genuine although Reville and others assign fair reasons for disputing them), He refers to the structure of human souls which He proposed building upon God, the everlasting foundation. This Church is not regarded as an organized society, as we shall see, but all the faithful

who constitute Christ's Church are to be built into the Kingdom of God. Dr. Briggs' suggestion is (" Messiah of the Gospels," p. 191), that Jesus meant by "Kahala" here, "I will build My Kingdom," and that Kingdom and church are identified in this passage. The idea is true enough that what Jesus calls His Kahala or ecclesia is nothing else than the constituent members of the Kingdom of God who are such because they accept Him as Christ. "My Church" here means the "habitation of God, through the spirit" which He was building. Jesus will build again God's tabernacle. The "house of God," both that called Israel and this new house into which the old elements are to be brought, are His work. Jesus regards the true Israel as henceforth His, He has come to claim them and will save them, He is God's shepherd, the true shepherd of the sheep. He will build again God's tabernacle. This figure of a building is amplified in Hebrews 3: 1-6. "Consider Christ Jesus. This man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. He that hath built all things is God. Moses was faithful as a servant; but Christ as a son over His own house; whose house are we."

Thus The Church, the tabernacle, the temple, the house which Jesus Christ is building, is the one house of God in which Moses was a servant. (See also Ps. 74: 2 and Acts 20: 28.)

The second sense in which church is used, is to name any local body of Christians, who because they

are, and so far as they are, Christians are one body. That this is true is immediately apparent. Out of the one hundred and ten times that the word ecclesia (singular and plural) is used concerning Christians, excepting ten (see Lindsay), the word does not name the one whole church but a local society.

There are the churches of God (1 Thess. 2: 14; I Cor. 11:16). There is not one church in Asia, but many (1 Cor. 16: 19). Not one in Rome, but more (Rom. 16:16). There are many Gentile churches (Rom. 16:4). In Galatia the number is plural (Gal. I : 2). Even in Judea there are "churches" (Gal. I:22), which are "in Christ." These are distinct, or the plural would not be used. The churches are one in God, in Christ, not one in Galatia, as an organization. "The churches of Judea have rest." There is a church in the house (meeting in the house) of Philemon. Each of the cities of Asia has a church. Paul is burdened with the care of the churches. Yet, each of these churches may be called The Church of God. Indeed, if not representing The Church of God, it is not a church of God. But, it must be instantly added, there is never in the apostolic usage the slightest notion that a church is the total of The Church, but simply a manifestation of The Church.

We might regard this as a third sense: when a church is distinctly made representative of the whole Church, as "The Church of God which is at Corinth," "I persecuted The Church of God." But, as there cannot be a church which is not a manifestation of The Church, this is not a third sense. The thought is ex