—After the regular organization of the Israelitish commonwealth,
although Moses transacted all public business with the chiefs, he is
uniformly represented as speaking unto all Israel. This form of speech
was not to be misunderstood by the Jews. They had not learned to deny
that principle upon which the represented identify with the
representative. Deut. xxix. 14, 15, 25. When Moses was about to give
his last advice to the Hebrews, he summoned the KEL before him. Deut.
xxxi. 30. In this instance, the word unquestionably signifies a
representative body. My reasons for considering it so, are,
1. The obvious meaning of the passage. Ver. 29. “Gather unto me all
the _elders_ of your tribes—that I may speak these words in _their_
ears.”—ver. 30. “And Moses spake in the ears of all the קהל—the words
of this song.” The KEL of Israel are the elders and officers met
together.
2. It is impossible it can be otherwise. Moses could not speak in the
ears of all Israel, except by representation. No human voice can
extend over two millions of men.
3. Upon the principle of representation Moses uniformly acted. He
instructed the elders, and the elders commanded the people. Deut.
xxvii. 1. “_And Moses, with the elders of Israel, commanded the
people_.” Without multiplying texts, I refer the reader to Exod. xii.
3. “Speak unto all the _congregation_ of Israel”—verse 21. “Then Moses
called for all the _elders_ of Israel.” Even in the most solemn acts
of religion, the elders represented the whole congregation. Their
hands were placed upon the head of the bullock which was offered to
make atonement for the whole congregation. Lev. iv. 15. And that the
reader may not be without an instance of the use of the word KEL, in
the most abstract form which can exist upon the representative
principle itself, I refer him to Gen. xxviii. 3. Here it is applied to
a single individual. Higher than this, representation cannot be
carried. Ver. 1. “Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him”—ver. 3. “That
thou mayest be a KEL.” Jacob was a KEL, as the representative@ of a
very numerous posterity.
6. The word is used to signify a council—an assembly for deliberation
and judgment. Gen. xlix. 6. The patriarch speaks of Simeon and Levi,
these two are a KEL. It is, indeed, a representative one. Verse 7. “I
will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.” This could
have been said of the two sons of Jacob, only as including their
posterity.
This KEL was however a council. They consulted and determined to
destroy the Schechemites. The assembly was a conspiracy. The
Septuagint renders the word by Συστασις.
The KEL in which Job cried for redress, could not have been the church
of Israel, but a court of Judicature. Job xxx. 28.
Solomon, acquainted with the laws of Israel, must have referred to the
power of Judicatures, in detecting crimes, when he spoke of the KEL,
in Prov. xxvi. 26. and v. 14.
The KEL, to which Ezekiel refers, xvi. 40. and xxiii. 45-47. cannot be
mistaken. The prophet himself expressly says this KEL would sit in
judgment, try, and decide, and execute the sentence, upon those who
came before them, In these verses, the Septuagint renders the word by
Οχλος, and our translation of it is company.
By the law of God, regular courts of jurisprudence were established
among the Israelites. In no instance was the whole body of the people
to be judges. Deut. xvi. 18. The rulers in each city, the officers of
justice, are uniformly called elders, and unto these elders met in
council, is every case referred. He must be, indeed, little acquainted
with the law given by Moses, who is ignorant of this fact. See Deut.
xxi. xxii. and xxv. chapters.
These elders met in council. To them the name _Presbytery_ was applied
in latter times. Moses and the prophets use the names KEL and OD-EH.
These words are used indiscriminately in the Old Testament. It is to
be observed, that they are translated in the Septuagint, generally by
ecclesia and synagoga. This phraseology is adopted in the New
Testament. The New Testament writers use the Septuagint translation of
the scriptures in their quotations from the Old Testament.
Nehemiah summoned before the council the nobles and rulers who
transgressed the law. Neh. v. 7. They exacted usury for their money,
and are to be tried by the competent authorities. The word קהל, in
this verse, we translate assembly, and the Septuagint reads Εκκλησια.
Compare Numb. xxxv. 24, with Deut. xix. 12, and it will appear, that
the congregation which judicially tried the man-slayer, is the
_Ecclesia_ of elders. See also Josh. xx. 4. “He shall declare his
cause in the ears of the _elders_”—ver. 6. “And stand before the
_congregation_ for judgment.”
The word Εκκλησια, in the New Testament, is not, any more than its
correspondents in the Old, confined in its application to a popular
assembly. It signifies a tumultuous mob, Acts xix. 32. and the city
council, Acts xix. 39. This sense of the word is justified by the best
Greek authors. Consult Passor, who quotes Demosthenes and Suidas, in
defence of this application. Hence, the verb Επικαλεο is, in the
middle and passive voices, to appeal from an inferior to a superior
Judicatory. “Plutarch,” says Parkhurst, “several times applies the
verb in the same view.” Acts xxv. 11, 12, 21, 25. See also Chap. xxvi.
32. and xxviii. 19.
In the application of Ecclesia to the christian church, which is the
most common use of it in the New Testament, it signifies the whole
church militant—all the elect of God—private societies of
believers—single organized congregations—several congregations united
under a Presbytery—and church _rulers_ met in Judicatory.
1. The church militant is an Ecclesia. Matt. xvi. 18. and Acts ii. 47.
“The Lord added to the church daily.”
2. The whole body of elect and redeemed sinners. Eph. v. 25. “Christ
also loved the church, and gave himself for it”—ver. 27. “That he
might present it to himself a glorious church.”
3. Two or three private Christians, met for prayer and conference, or
living together in a family, are an Εκκλησια. Acts xiv. 23. “They had
ordained them elders in every church.” The Ecclesia, or Church,
existed prior to its organization, by the election and ordination of
rulers. It existed, in this sense, even in private houses. Rom. xvi.
5. and Col. iv. 15.
4. The word signifies an organized congregation. Acts xiv. 23. The
Ecclesia did not cease to be one, when presbyters were ordained to
teach and to rule in the congregation.
5. The word is applied to several congregations regularly
presbyterated. There is nothing to render this application improper.
It is no abuse, in any language, of a generic term, to apply it to any
collection of the individuals belonging to that genus, in a connexion
which manifests the restriction. The church of Christ in Philadelphia,
is all Christians in that city, although there should be one hundred
congregations in it. The church in Corinth, is as intelligible a
phrase as the church in the house of Nymphas—The church on earth, or,
the church in glory. This application is not only just, but
scriptural. The saints in Corinth were one Ecclesia. 1 Cor. i. 2. But
in Corinth were several congregations. There were more Ecclesias than
one, xiv. 34. Corinth was a city of great extent, wealth, and
population. In it were several heathen temples, dedicated to different
pagan divinities. There were upwards of a thousand prostitutes
attending at the temple of Venus. In this city, Paul met with uncommon
success in preaching the gospel. Here he abode nearly two years.
Considering the rapidity with which the gospel was then spreading,
attended with miraculous power, is it reasonable, that in Corinth
there was yet but one congregation of professed Christians? In the
present day, without any supernatural, or even uncommon success, it is
not singular for a preacher, in a large city, to collect in a few
years a congregation of religious professors. At the first sermon of
Paul, numbers were converted. After this, the Lord informs him, he has
“much people in this city.” Here were several pastors—public officers
with a diversity of tongues, suited to the wants of the church; yet,
when Paul wrote his epistle, all the congregations, although differing
about the merits of their respective founders, are called one
Ecclesia. In a similar sense is the word applied to the church at
Ephesus, at Antioch, and Jerusalem.
6. Εκκλησια is applied to an _assembly_ of elders. Matt. xviii. 17.
The constitution of the Jewish courts is known. Each synagogue had its
elders and officers. The inferior courts were subordinate to the
Sanhedrim. Never were cases decided by the populace. Our Redeemer
spoke in the common language of Judea. He referred to the synagogue
court. When translated into Greek, what other name should be given to
this Judicatory, than the one given, Ecclesia? There is no
misunderstanding of this text, by one who impartially considers the
connexion. There are in the church authorized _rulers_, distinct from
the _ruled_. The rulers, and not the ruled, must ultimately determine
controversies. To officers, was committed the power of the keys—the
power of binding and loosing; and this _Ecclesia_, ver. 17., has the
power of _binding and loosing_, ver. 18.—and it may consist even of
two or three persons, ver. 20. The whole passage is a directory for
the application of ecclesiastic power conferred upon church officers.
Ch. xvi. 19. I shall close this note, by a quotation from the lectures
of Dr. Campbell, of Aberdeen. It must appear extraordinary from the
pen of such a scholar. “But in any intermediate sense between a single
congregation and the whole community of Christians, not one instance
can be brought of the application of the word Εκκλησια, in sacred
writ. If any impartial hearer is not satisfied on this point, let him
examine every passage in the New Testament, wherein the word we render
church is to be found; let him canvas in the writings of the Old
Testament every sentence wherein the correspondent word occurs, and if
he find a _single passage_, wherein it clearly means either the
priest-hood, or the rulers of the nation, or any thing that can be
called a church representative, let him fairly admit the distinction
as scriptural and proper.”