202 – July 21 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

Oh, that I had another life to go to Africa

 

Alfred Saker, as an old emaciated missionary stood before a united assembly of Baptists in Glasgow, Scotland in 1879 and said, “Oh, that I had another life to go out to Africa. The field is white, and the multitudes are in darkness still.” The Dark Continent’s best-known missionary, David Livingstone, wrote concerning him, “Take it all in all, specially having regard to its many sided character, the work of Alfred Saker at Cameroons and Victoria is, in my judgment, the most remarkable on the African Coast,” having served on the Western Africa coast for 37 years. He was born on July 21, 1814 in Kent, England. He was a thin, frail boy from a large family. Though he loved reading it was necessary for him to enter the work force with his father as a millwright and engineer which served him well in Africa years later. He was saved at 16 years old when he wandered into a gospel service in Sevenoaks. He was baptized in 1834 in his hometown. Upon his father’s death, he moved to Devonport and in 1839 married Miss Helen Jessup. They offered themselves to the Baptist Missionary Society for service in Africa. In a group of eight they landed in Feb. 1844. One by one the others were forced to leave but Alfred, frail though he was, seemed to have inexhaustible energy. Though he suffered from fever and other diseases he persisted in working with the tribes at the mouth of the Cameroon River. In 1849 a church was formed. The Spanish Govern. Insisted that the Baptists depart so he led his entire church to Amboises Bay where they began a new colony with homes and gardens, etc. He translated the Bible into Dualla in 1862. He passed into the Lord’s presence in March 1880. His life’s text was, “For thou art with me.”

 

Dr. Greg J. Dixon: adapted From: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins/Thompson, pp. 298-300.

 

 

 

134– May 14 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

134– May 14 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

 

Remove Not the Ancient Landmark

 

Smith Creek Baptist Church was constituted on August 6, 1756, before the United States was a country (1776) and before New Market was a town, incorporated (1796). The area was originally known as the Cross Roads as two well-known Indian trails crossed here. It is the third “regular” Baptist church started in Virginia.

 

Three well-known men (Samuel Eaton, Benjamin Griffith, and the Preacher/Revolutionary War Chaplain, John Gano) were known to have preached here on occasion at least 11 years prior to our constitution. The charter members were the Aldersons, Newmans, and Harrisons. John Alderson had purchased approximately 200 acres from Samuel Newman northeast of Cross Roads and bordering the Smith Creek. The saints established their assembly on a portion of land donated by the first pastor, John Alderson, Sr. (1699-1781) and a portion of which was donated by Samuel Newman. The church having been built near Smith Creek, and the fact that they used the creek for baptism of converts, explains their name.

 

Anderson Moffett, the third pastor, was born in Fauquier August 28, 1746. He is best-known here because he began preaching at 17 years of age and preached 70 years, of which 50 were as Pastor at Smith Creek.  The stained glass window in the front foyer of the church is in memory of him. It is documented that he began preaching in the Valley in 1781

 

He also spent some time in the Culpeper jail. He died May 14, 1835. Pastor Moffett is buried in the family cemetery on Plains Mill Road, approximately 1.9 miles West from I-81 down highway 211 .6 miles to Plains Mill Road.

 

Dr. Dale R. Hart: Adapted from: History of Smith Creek Baptist Church: (www.smithcreekbaptistchurch.com/History.html)

 

 

THE GENERIC OR INSTITUTIONAL USAGE OF ECCLESIA

THE GENERIC OR INSTITUTIONAL USAGE OF ECCLESIA
LESSON 6

I.INTRODUCTION
A.We have before shown that 97 of the 115 times which “ecclesia” is used in the New Testament refer to the local, visible church.
B.The remaining 18 will be taken up individually in this lesson to show that the same meaning is retained, and to suppose that a new meaning is to be attached to ecclesia is wrong.
C.Overbey says, “Generally all scholars accept these ninety-two uses as meaning assembly. It should be stated here that the word ekklesia refers to a group of people organized to carry out some purpose that assemble from time to time. To be an ekklesia it need not be a continual assembly. Carroll well stated this when he was asked: ‘But if church means assembly does not that require it to be always in session?’ No ecclesia, classic, Jewish, or Christian, known to history, held perpetual session. They all adjourned and came together again according to the requirements of the case. The organization, the institution, was not dissolved by temporary adjournment’” (The Meaning of Ecclesia in the N.T., Overbey, p. 20).
D.Overbey again, “The common meaning of a word must stand in every place it occurs as long as it makes sense. When it fails to make sense then a new meaning or a rare meaning must be found in the context for the word. If a new or rare meaning will make sense in a given context we cannot accept it as long as the common meaning will also make sense” (Ibid, p. 22).
E.Warfield says, “The question is, after all, not what can the word be made to mean, but what does it mean . . . only if the sense thus commended to us were unsuitable to the context would we be justified in seeking further for a new interpretation” (Ibid, p. 23).
F.The principle is this: A NEW OR RARE MEANING IS NOT TO BE GIVEN TO A WORD JUST BECAUSE IT WILL MAKE SENSE IN CERTAIN PLACES. THE OLD MEANING MUST BE RETAINED.

II.THE GENERIC OR INSTITUTIONAL USE EXPLAINED
A.Three terms:
1.Generic – Relating to or characteristic of a whole group or class; general.
2.Institutional – an organization as differentiated from other kinds of organizations.
3.Abstract – disassociated from any specific instance.
B.These terms illustrated:
1.Overbey says, “A word may be used generically. In such cases the word may be singular and yet not refer to any particular object of the class but to every object of that class. It is as if some object of the class were taken as a representative of each object of the class and whatever is said of this representative would apply generally to each object . . . In such cases the definite article with the word does not mean there is only one particular automobile singled out from the rest or that there is only one automobile in the world, but the article is called the generic article and distinguishes one class from another class rather than one object in a class from another object in the same class. We use words generically all the time and never think of it” (Ibid, pp. 24, 25).
2.He continues, “ ‘The’ with a singular noun sometimes indicates a class or kind of object. The scholar is not necessarily as dry as dust. The elephant is the largest of quadrupeds. The aeroplane is a very recent invention. Resin is obtained from the pine . . . The singular number with the generic ‘the’ is practically equivalent to the plural without an article” (Ibid p. 25).
3.BuellKadzee declares, “In this sense (generic or institutional) the word indicates a type of institution as differentiated from other kinds of institutions. Thus we speak of ‘the church’ as we do ‘the home’ or ‘the school’ . . . a good example of the Biblical use of a word this way is the word ‘man’ in Genesis 1:26. Here God says, ‘Let us make man in our image.’ Although Adam was the first specific example of this being, we understand the term ‘man’ to mean man in general, including all his race, rather than just the one individual man . . . Thus, by the word ekklesia Jesus could have been speaking of the type of institution He would build” (The Church and the Ordinances, Kazee, pp. 1, 2).
4.Roy Mason concurs, “The word (ekklesia) is used fourteen times to denote an institution. When it is used in this way it is, according to Dr. Carroll, used in either an abstract or generic sense. ‘This follows,’ he says, ‘from the laws of language governing the use of words. For example, if an English statesman, referring to the right of each individual citizen to be tried by his peers, should say: ‘On this rock England will build her jury, and all the power of tyranny shall not prevail against her,’ he uses the term jury in an abstract sense, i.e., in the sense of an institution. But when this institution finds concrete expression or becomes operative, it is always a particular jury of twelve men and never an aggregation of all juries into one big jury’ “ (The Church That Jesus Built, Mason, p. 29).
5.A.C. Dayton declares, “Christ did not refer to any particular individual local organization when he said ‘my Church.’ He did not mean the Church at Jerusalem or the Church at Corinth. Much less did her refer to all the churches combined in one great Church. But he simply used the word as the name of his institution.” (Theodosia Earnest, Vol. II, p. 100).
6.He continues, “. . . let me illustrate. You are a lawyer. A client comes to you for legal information. You tell him that the law is thus or so; and so ‘the court’ will instruct ‘the jury.’ What do you mean by the court? And what do you mean by the jury? Not any particular individual judge whom you may have in mind, much less all the judges in the world comprised in one gigantic ‘universal’ judge; but you mean any one of all the judges before whom the suit might be tried; and not any particular set of jurymen, much less all the jurymen in the world united in one vast conglomerate ‘universal’ jury; but simply that jury, whichever or wherever it may be, who may chance to be empaneled on the case. ‘The court’ is the name or title given to a certain official personage when engaged in the performance of certain official duties. ‘The jury’ is the name or title given to a certain official body or assembly, when employed in a certain official capacity. Now, as the courts and juries in the British empire transact business and administer justice by the authority of Queen Victoria, and in her name, they may very properly be called her court, and her jury, meaning thereby simply her institutions, organized by her authority for the transaction of this specific business in her name. The first courts and juries which were organized may have been dissolved; others may have followed, and, like them, have disappeared; but still the institution continues: the jury is still an essential part of the apparatus for the administration of justice . . . . And if I should say that the jury is ‘built’ upon the ‘rock’ of the constitution and that the councils of tyrants can never ‘prevail against’ or overthrow it, I should speak of it just as Christ did about his Church” (Ibid, pp. 100, 101).
7.Dayton further explains, “The principle . . . is the same as that on which the name of an individual is every day applied to the species, genus, or family, to which it belongs. As when we say of the oak that it is the most majestic of forest trees, we do not mean any one oak, nor do we mean all the oaks in the world comprised in one ‘universal’ oak. Each oak is still a separate and individual tree; but we apply the name of the individual to all the species – not considered collectively, as one great oak, but separately, as hundreds and thousands of trees, each having the same name.” (Ibid, p. 105).
C.Simple illustrations:
1.The “horse” is rushed into battle.
2.The “lion” is the king of beasts.
3.The “husband” is the head of the wife.
4.The “home” is the basis of society.
5.The “dog” is the most lovable of all pets.
6.The “oak” is the most majestic of all trees.
7.The “jury” is used in all Western courts of justice.

III.SUGGESTED READING
A.Ecclesia – the Church – B.H. Carroll
B.The Meaning of Ecclesia in the N.T. – Overbey
C.Theodosia Earnest, Vol. II, – Dayton
D.The Church That Jesus Built – Roy Mason
E.The Church and the Ordinances – Buell Kazee
F.Ekklesia – the Church – Bob Ross

THE LOCAL VISIBLE CHURCH ONLY LESSON 5

THE LOCAL VISIBLE CHURCH

I.STATEMENT OF FACTS.
A.The word “ecclesia” is used 115 time in the Greek N.T.
B.The ways it is translated:
1.Church – 112 times.
2.Assembly – 3 times.
3.The word “church” in I Peter 5:13 is supplied by the translators, and is not in the original Greek.
C.Of the 112 times the word ecclesia is translated ‘church or “churches” it definitely applies to the N.T. Organization, except in one case – Acts 7:38, Here the reference is to Israel assembled in the wilderness.
D.The following breakdown will prove:
1.That 93 of the 111 times ecclesia definitely refers to local congregations.
2.That the remaining 18 times ecclesia refers to the Lord’s church in the institutiona, generic, or abstract sense (lesson 6).

II.SURVEY OF THE REFERENCE TO LOCAL CHURCHES.
A.The Church at Jerusalem”
1.Acts 8:1; Acts 11:22; Acts 15:4
2.Acts 12:1; Acts 15:22 – proved by the passage.
B.The Church at Antioch (Syria):
1.Acts 11:26; Acts 13:1; Acts 14:27
2.Acts 15:3 – by context.
C.The Church at Cenchrea – Romans 16:1
D.The Church at Corinth:
1.I Cor. 1:2; II Cor. 1:1;
2.Romans 16:23 – written from Corinth.
E.The Curch at Laodicea – Col. 4:16; Revelation 3:14
F.The Church at Thessalonica – I Thess. 1:1; II Thess. 1:1
G.The Church at Ephesus – Revelation 2:1; Acts 20:17
H.The Church at Smyrna – Revelation 2:8
I.The Church at Pergamos – Revelation 2:12
J.The Church at Thyatira – Revelation 2:18
K.The Church at Sardis – Revelation 3:1
L.The Church at Philadelphia – Revelation 3:7
M.Churches in houses – Romans 16:5; I Cor. 16:19; Philemon 2; Col. 4:15
N.Plural usages:
1.In Syria and Cilicia – Acts 15:41
2.In Galatia – I Cor. 16:1; Galatians 1:2
3.In Asia – I Cor. 16:19; Rev. 1:4; Rev. 1:11; Rev. 1:20 (twice); Rev. 2:7; Rev. 2:11; Rev. 2:17; Rev. 2:23; Rev. 2:29; Rev. 3:6; “Rev. 3:13; Rev. 3:22.
4.In Macedonia – II Cor. 8:1
5.In Judea – Gal. 1:22
6.In Judea, Galilee, Samaria – Acts 9:31
7.In Lystra, Iconium, Antioch – Acts 14:23
8.Of the Gentiles – Rom. 16:4
O.Proof by context:
1.Jerusalem – Acts 2:47; Acts 5:11; Acts 8:3; Acts 12:5; Acts 18:22 (not at Caesarea); I Cor. 15:9; Gal. 1:13; Phil. 3:6.
2.Corinth – I Cor. 11:18; I Cor. 11:22; I Cor 14:4; I Cor. 14:5; I Cor. 14:19; I Cor. 14:23; I Cor. 14:28; I Cor. 14:35; I Cor. 6:4; I Cor. 14:12.
3.Asia – Acts 16:5; Rev. 22:16
4.Judea – II Cor. 8:19; II Cor. 8:23; II Cor. 8:24; I Thes. 2:14.
5.Macedonia – II Cor. 11:8
P.Churches at any given place:
1.I Cor. 4:17; Phil. 4:15; James 5:14; II Cor. 8:18; III John 6; III John 9; III John 10; Matt. 18:17 (twice); Romans 16:16; I Cor. 7:17; I Cor. 14:33; II Cor. 11:28; II Cor. 12:13; II Thess. 1:4; I Tim. 3:5; I Tim. 5:16; I Cor. 11:16; I Cor. 14:34.

III.QUOTATIONS BY SCHOLARS.
A.These previous parts have covered 97 (4 plus 93) of the 115 times ecclesia is used in the Greek N.T. (the remaining 18 will be covered in the next lesson – the generic use of ekklesia).
B.Overbey says, “Every time ekklesia appears in the New Testament it makes sense translated according to its common menaing of assembly” (The Meaning of Ecclesia in the N.T., Overbey, p. 44).
C.Again he says, “In approaching the N.T. We see that the word is admitted by all to have this mianing (assembly) in about ninety places. The other times it is used there is a difference of opinion. Some contend for assembly, others for a new meaning best described as the universal invisible church. How can we tell which is correct? The principle is used that says the common meaning will not make sense if we are permitted to assume it has a new meaning. Following this principle we find that the word assembly makes sense in every contested passage so that any new sense must be rejected” (Ibid, pl 46).
D.I. K. Cross says, “We here charge that there is no such thing known in the New Testament as a church that includes every saved man on earth. This is the family of God, but never the church of the New Testament” (Canadian Baptists, Cross, p. 5).
E.A. C. Dayton declares, “Each church was complete within itself – independent of all earthly control, and subject only to the law of Christ” (Theodosia Earnest, Vo. II, p. 116).
F.J. R. Graves said, “The proof given that the very work Ekklesia (an assembly) denotes a complete church, equally implies its independency, i.e., that it is dependent upon no other body for its existence or self-perpetuation, or the discharge of all the functions and trusts of a Church of Christ” (The New Great iron Wheel, Graves, p. 134).
G.Graves again, “I have shown that the idea of a great Universal Invisible Church , or a Visible Universal Church composed of all the visible churches, or, as some claim of all baptized, independent of local churches, can not, by any fair exegesis, be found” (Seven Questions and Answers to Church Authority, Baptist Examiner, p. 37).
H.S. H. Ford asserts, “It should be remembered that by church, Baptists mean what the New Testament teaches – a local, real congregation of baptized believers united together for God’s service” (Ibid).

I.H. E. Dana says, “This matter of qualification for citizenship was quite important, for many residents of such a city had no place in the Ekklesia … The term referred to a body of persons having definite qualifications, assembled to carry out certain organized aims on democratic principles. So there wre elements pertinent to its (Ekklesia) New Teatament meaning.
1.The assembly was local;
2.it was autonomous;
3.it presupposed definite qualifications;
4.it was conducted on democratic principles” (The Church, L. L. Clover, p. 94).
J.Overbey says, “Jesus used the word ‘church’ twenty-three times, twenty times in Revelation, and three times in Matthew. Twenty-two times there is agreement among all that the word means assembly. It is either plural or the context is very clear so that there can be no doubt in any mind that he is speaking of a local, visible body. Matthew 16:18 is the only place where some think it has a new meaning. But if Jesus used the word twenty-two times and there is no question concerning its meaning then it seems that we must believe that the one remaining place has the same meaning” (Brief History of the Baptists, Overbey, p. 26).
K.Boyce Taylor asserts, “ . . . The Etymology of the word ekklesia makes it of necessity a local churhc” (Why Be a Baptist, Taylor, p. 47).
L.Armitage concurs, “In the apostolic age the church was a local body, and each church was independent of evgery other church. The simple term ecclesia designates one congregation, or organization assembly, this being its literal and primal meaning . . . It follows, then, that the New Testament nowere speaks of the ‘Universal, Catholic, or Invisible Church,’ as indicating a merely ideal existence separate from a real and local body . . . A local churhc fully expresses the meaning of the word ‘ecclesia’ wherever it is found in Holy Writ” (History of the Baptists, Armitage, pp. 118-120).

IV.SUGGESTED READING.
A.Ecclesia – the Church – B. H. Carroll
B.Why Be a Baptist – Boyce Taylor
C.Ekklesia – the Church – Bob Ross
D.Meaning of Ecclesia in the N.T. – Overbey
E.Seven Questions and Answerw as to Church Authority – Baptist Examiner
F.The Church – L. L. Clover
G.The Origin of Baptists – S. H. Ford
H.Theodosia Earnest, Vol. II – A. C. Dayton.

SUMMATION: The various verses used to try and prove a universal invisible church keeps changing as the correct usage is shown to be always local and visible. Each verse has been addressed and shown the proper usage. There is not, with proper usage and context, any where a universal invisible church can be found in scripture. A hard heart and will-ful desire will resist the truth and destroy even more doctrine in their error.

Chester Tulga, New Testament Baptists and the Nature of the Church

“There is no actual functioning universal church, whether invisible or visible, in existence today. Nowhere is such an idea taught in the new Testament. All redeemed men and women of all ages, whether on earth or in heaven, belong to the family of God (Eph. 3:15). Every born-again believer is in the kingdom of God (John 3:5). But only baptized believers in the fellowship of a local body, having the New Testament as its law and only law, belong to a functioning New Testament.” W. R. White (Baptist Distinctives, p. 53)

“Is it not an historical fact that, since Protestant Pedobaptists invented this idea of a now-existing, invisible, universal, spiritual church, reverence and honor for God’s New Testament particular church have been ground to fine powder between them as between the upper and nether millstones?”

“Today when one seeks to obtain due honor for the the particular assembly, its ordinances, its duties, is he not in many cases thwarted in measure, or altogether in some cases, by objections arising from one or ther other of these erroneous views?” B. H. Carroll (Baptists and their Doctrines, p. 56)

Chester Tulga sees the difference between Catholic and Prostestant as a desire to appear dis-similar in doctrine of the church. To accomplish that the Catholic doctrine of a universal visible church has been changed by the Protestants to a universal invisible church thereby deposing the Pope.

“The doctrine of the nature of the church underlies the differences between New Testament Baptists and those who hold to the Reformed Theology. This was made clear in the time of the reformation in the wide rift between the Anabaptists and the leaders of the Reformation. ” Chester E. Tulga (New Testament Baptists and the Nature of the Church. pg. 1).

Simply stated: there were not any baptists in the early 1900’s that believed in a universal invisible church. The reason being; the Bible does not support such a doctrine.

LESSON 4

THE USE OF ECCLESIA IN THE SEPTUAGINT

I.DEFINITION OF TERMS.
A.The Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament.
B.This translation was made approximately 285-246 B.C. By 72 Jewish schololars living in Alexandria.
C.The notation (LXX) is used extensively in referring to this translation.

II.TESTIMONY OF SCHOLARS
A.In the Septuagint ekklesia is used about 100 times.
B.In the Hebrew (language of the O.T.) two words were used to refer to the gathering together of the people of Israel – ‘edhad and qahal.’
C.Of these two words Hort says, “Neither of the two Hebrew terms was strictly technical; both were at times applied to very different kinds of gatherings from the gatherings of the people, though qahal had always a human reference of some sort, gatherings of individual men or gatherings of nations. The two words were so far coincident in meaning that in many cases they might apparently be used indifferently; but in the first instance they were not strictly synonymous. ‘Edhah’ (derived from a root “y’dh used in the Niphal in the sense of gathering together, specially gathering together by appointment or agreement) is properly, when applied to israel, the society itself, formed by the children of Israel of their representative heads, whether assembled or not assembled. On the other hand qahal is properly their actual meeting together: hence we have a few times the phrase qehal ‘edhah the assembly of the congregation” (The Meaning of Ecclesia in the N.T., Overbey, p.12).
D.Vitringa says, “Synagogue always means an assembly gathered together, but not necessarily joined by any bond of union. Eclesia, Kahal, always denotes some multitude which constitutes a people bound among themselves by law and obligation” (Pillars of Orthodoxy, Bogard, p. 410)/
E.Dana says, “In it ekklesia was used to translate the Hebrew word quahal which means an assembly, convocation or congregation” (Overbey, Op, Cit.,p. 13).
F.Dana also says, “The Old Testament and Jewish literature nowhere use ekklesia where it may justly be construed as ‘spiritual Israel’” (Op, Cit.).
G.Carrol says, “By an inductive study of all the ecclesia passages, you will see for yourselves that in the Septuagint it never means ‘all Israel whether assembled or unassembled, but that in every instance it means a gathering together, as assembly” (Ecclesia-the Church, Carroll, p. 44).

III.CONCLUDING REMARKS
A.Because of the fact that the Hebrew word “quahal” sometimes means the whole Israelitish people and is sometimes translated by ekklesia, it has been mistakenly concluded that ‘ekklesia’ must have the same breadth of meaning as ‘quahal’.
B.Ecclesia never translates ‘edhah, the broad term.
C.Carroll says, “The testimony here is univocal. It is as solis as the Macedonian phalanx.” (Ibid, p. 52).

ADD TO THE END OF LESSON 1

NOTE: There is an effort today to say that the translators of the King James Bible did some shoddy translation in the formidable effort of taking the Greek and Hebrew into English. I disagree with those that would make such a statement. What I see is an issue of clarity. There are many different assembies. There is only one assembly that is the LORD’S. (So Johnny was walking down the street and met Billy. Billy asked Johnny where he was going and Johnny replied, “to the assembly.” Billy said, “ oh, to the baseball players assembly.” No to the LORD’S assembly.) Read the instructions given the translators about the terms or words to be used. Now show me that Hebrew or Greek scholar that knows 17 different Oriental languages, or that is so conversant in Greek that they keep their daily journal in that language or at the age of 5 was reading Greek and Hebrew. I am not trying to marginalize the study of Greek or Hebrew but express the thought that 4 years of Greek study does not create a scholar that is equivalent to those that translated the King James Bible. A friend of mine began a translation of Bible that would be more accurate than any before. He soon realized that the King James he held in his hand was the most accurate available. Yes, the word Church is good enough for me. I can explain this word just as well and teach it as I can explain assembly and it not being just any assembly but the LORD’S assembly.

ECCLESIOLOGY (A Study Of The Church) Lesson 3

LESSON 3
THE MEANING OF ECCLESIA IN THE CLASSICAL GREEK

I.DEFINITION OF TERMS.
A.The New Testament was written in the koine or “common” Greek.
B.The Koine differs in many respects to the modern or classical Greek.
C.Classical Greek refers basically to the ancient Greek tongue which found its roots in the Indo-Germanic family of languages.
D.The Koine age is approximately 300 B.C. To 500 A.D. Classical Greek is thought of as preceding the Koine; modern Greek is thought of as succeeding the Koine.

II.TESTIMONY OF SCHOLARS.
A.Dana says, – “In classical use ekklesia meant ‘an assembly.” It was derived from a combination of Greek root and prefixed preposition, the resultant meaning of which was ‘to call out.’ It was commonly used in reference to bodies of qualified representatives ‘called out’ for legislative functions” (Meaning of Ecclesia in the N.T., Overbey, p. 10).
B.Ewing writes, – “In every case, the word means an organized body, in opposition to a casual meeting…” (Ibid).
C.Liddell and Scott – “An assembly of the citizens summoned by the crier, the legislative assembly” (Ibid).
D.Seyffert’s Dictionary: – “The assembly of the people, which in Greek cities had the power of final decision in public affairs” (Ibid).
E.Thomas – “It was the organized assembly of the authorized voters of the local community met to transact business of common concern. It corresponded to the town-meeting of New England of later days” (Ibid).
F.Overbey says, “A distinction should be maintained between the etymology of a word and its meaning at some particular time in history. Sometimes the two are the same; many times they are quite different. ‘Hussy’ came from ‘huswife’ which means housewife; today it means a worthless woman or girl, or a pert girl. ‘Constable’ came from ‘comes stabuli’ which means attendant of the stable; today it means a peace officer. ‘Ekklesia’ came from ‘ekkletos’ which means called out but in the times prior to the New Testament it meant assembly or called out assembly. To say it means the called out is not correct” (Ibid p. 11).
G.Broadus writes, – “The Greek word ekklesia signified primarily the assembly of citizens in a self-governed state, being derived from ekkaleo to call out; i.e., from their homes or places of business, to summon, as we speak of calling out the militia. The popular notion that it meant to call out in the sense of separation from others is a mistake” (Ibid).
H.F. J. A. Hort says, – “There is no foundation for the widely spread notion that ekklesia means a people or a number of individual men called out of the world of mankind” (Ibid p. 11).
I.Prof. Royal of Wake Fores College said, – “I do not know of any passage in classical Greek, where ekklesia is used of unassembled or unassembling persons: (Why Be a Baptist, Taylor, p. 45).

III.SUGGESTED READING.
A.Ecclesia – the Church by B. H. Carroll
B.Meaning of Ecclesia in the N. T. by Overbey

ECCLESIOLOGY (A Study Of The Church)

I.DEFINITION OF TERMS.
A.Ecclesiology is a specialized study of the doctrines of the church. The study includes the origin, the continuity, the nature, and the ministry of this blood-bought institution.
B.Etymology of the word “ecclesiology”:
1.Ecclesia – assembly; congregation; church
2.Logos – word; study of
C.This study comprises one of the most imlportant, yet sadly neglected doctrines of the Bible.

II.THE NEED FOR THIS STUDY
A.Never before in the history of the church has there been such a need of the Bible meaning of the Lor’s “church.”
B.G. D. Boardman, of last century fame, stated, “What is the church? Is the great problem of this century.” (Ekklesia The Church, Bob Ross, p. 3).
C.Satan has chosen a few doctrines to specifically concentrate his energies on to pervert: Genesis account of creation, inspiration of the Scriptures, virgin birth and deity of Christ, salvation by grace, perseverance of the saints, and the church of the New Testament.
D.Chester Tulga says, “The fundamentalists knew very well that many other spiritual movements had cooled off and departed from the faith, and they adopted many careful doctrinal confessions and required many sighnings, forgetting at times that eternal vigilance is the price of orthodoxy… they did not forsee that schools chich they founded would be infected by the culture of their day, the natural tendency of the human mind toward philosophical theology, and the adoption of the popular notions of the hour. Many movements are lulled to sleep with the conviction that ‘it can’t happen to us’…church history records that every movement eventually diminishes in vigor and strength of conviction; that the truths held dynamically in the beginning eventually come to be held formally.” (Fundamentalism Of Yesterday, The Evangelicalism of Today, and the Fudamentalis of Tomorrow, Chester Tulga, pp. 7,8).
E.The controversy centers around the question: “What is the nature of the church?” “Is it local or universal, visible or invisible?” IT CANNOT BE BOTH.
F.The ordinances of the church – baptism and the Lord’s Supper – can never have their full meaning, if the nature of the church be not properly understood.
G.Scriptural exhortations:
1.II Timothy 4:3,4 – “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and athey shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”
2.Matthew 24:12 – “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.”
3.II Timothy 3:1 – “This know also, that in the last days perilous (difficult) times shall come.”
4.I Timothy 4:1 – “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart form the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.”
5.Revelation 3:14-22 – the whole spirit of this Laodicean age is characterized by apathy, indifference, likewarmness, non-concern, and looseness – both morally and doctrinally.

III.SUGGESTED READING
A.The meaning of Ecclesia in the New Testament – Eddward Overbey
B.The Church That Jesus Built – Roy Mason
C.The Origin of Baptists – S. H. Ford
D.Theodosia Earnest – Volume II – A. C. Dayton
E.Baptist Succession – D. B. Ray
F.Concise History of Baptists – Orchard
G.The Curch and the Ordinances – Buell H. kazee
H.Alien Baptism and the Baptists – Nevins
I.The Baptist Story – A. A. Davis
J.The Church – L. L. Clover
K.Brief History of the Baptists – Edward Overbey
L.John’s Baptism – J. R. Graves
M.N. T. Baptists and Infant Sprinkling – Chester Tulga
N.Case for Dispensationalism – Chester Tulga
O.Seven Dispensations – J. R. Graves
P.independence of the Local Church – Chester Tulga
Q.Southern Baptist Convention – A Study in the Development of Ecclesiology – William Wright Barnes
R.The Baptist Heritage – Holliday
S.History of the Baptists – Thomas Armitage
T.The New Great iron Wheel – J. R. Graves
U.Truth About Conventionism – I. K. Cross
V.World System and the Social Gospel – S. E. Jones
W.Trilemma – J. R. Graves
X.Communism, Democracy, and Catholic Power – Paul Blanshard
Y.American Feedom and Catholic Power – Paul Blanshard
Z.First Baptist Church in America -Graves and Adlam
AA.Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History
AB.The Letters to the Seven Churches – Ramsay
AC.The Patmos Letters – Tatford
AD.The Churches of the New Testament – McDaniel
AE.Repent or Else – Vance Havner
AF.Seven Churches of Revelation – Ford
AG.Why Be a Baptist – Boyce Taylor
AH.Pillars of Orthodoxy – Ben Bogard
AI.Ecclesia – the Church – B. H. Carroll
AJ.Ekklesia – the Church – Bob Ross
AK.The Glorious Church – Roy M. Reed
AL.God’s Plan With Man – A. J. Kirkland
AM.Seven Questions & Answers as to Church Authority – Baptist Examiner
AN.Origin and perpetuity of the Baptists – Baptist Examiner
AO.The New Testament Church – A Local Body – A. J. Kirkland
AP.Biblical Proofs for identifying the True Church – L. D. Forman
AQ.The Trail of Blood – J. M. Carroll

RE: KINDS OF BAPTISTS AND THEIR ORIGIN

Jesus baptised by John the Baptist by going all the way under the water and coming back up out of the water. Yet the name Baptist did not come from John the Baptist. We find co-operation of churches in the New Testament. Acts 8:14 reveals the church of Jerusalem co-operating in Samaria where Philip was preaching the gospel and souls were being saved and baptised. We find Peter going to the Gentiles and some circumcised believers were with him when he preached and souls were saved and Peter asked the circumcised believers from the church in Jerusalem if they would forbid the baptising of these believers. The church in Jerusalem sent Barnabas to the church in Antioch for the purpose of co-operation.

1. ASSOCIATION BAPTISTS, A.D. 33.

Examples of the co-operation and association that existed in these first century (A.D.) churches are found int the book of Acts and also referenced in II Cor. 8:19-23.
Co-operation with a minimum of inter-church organisation has characterised Association Baptists in history and no doubt accounts for so little being known of their associational work of the past, though no doubt such existed.

2. AMERICAN BAPTIST ASSOCIATION, 1905.

This work began with the Baptist General Association, 1905, which was a perpetuation of associational principles practised by Baptists of many association through the centuries. The name was changed to American Baptist Association in 1925, when the Baptist Missionary Association of Texas came into this work.

3. AMERICAN BAPTIST CONVENTION, 1814.

Was organised as the Baptist General Convention and became known as the Triennial Convention. A split came in 1844 which resulted in the Southern Baptist Convention in 1845. Thus, those of the North came to be known as Northern Baptists. The Northern Baptist Conventions was adopted as the name of this group in 1907, and in 1950 they officially changed their name to the American Baptist Convention.

4. NORTH AMERICAN BAPTIST ASSOCIATION, 1950.

This resulted from a split in the American Baptist Association. Several issues brought on the split. One was the matter of representation. The American Baptist Association had always left it to the representing church as to whom they would choose to represent them. Some sought to change this, and also sought to change the matter of voting to proxy voting by non-represented church. This had never been the practice of the ABA. Still another issue seemed to be the matter of Seminaries and schools. Some thought they should not be churched-owned, but owned by the Association.

5. SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION, 1845.

This was a split from the Triennial Convention over the slavery question. They held to all the evils of convention-ism: money basis of representation, boards to hire and fire missionaries, pressure programs, interference in local church affairs.

6. NATIONAL BAPTIST CONVENTION (AFRICAN-AMERICAN), 1880.

7. FREEWILL BAPTISTS, 1770, FOUNDED BY BENJAMIN RANDALL.

8. GENERAL BAPTISTS, 1714.

9. NATIONAL BAPTIST EVANGELICAL LIFE AND SOUL SAVING ASSEMBLY OF U.S.A., 1921.

10. NATIONAL PRIMITIVE BAPTIST CONVENTION OF THE U.S.A. (AFRICAN-AMERICAN), 1907

11. NORTH AMERICAN BAPTIST GENERAL CONFERENCE (GERMAN), 1860.

12. PRIMITIVE BAPTISTS (HARDSHELL), 1825-1832, FOUNDED BY PARKER.

Most of these have deviated from the truth of God’s Word to such a great extent that some would not be recognized as a Baptist church and others have lost their candlestick and can no longer be considered the “CHURCH THAT JESUS BUILT.” To be a true New Testament Church they must maintain the doctrines that Jesus, Paul and the Apostles delivered to the Churches.Technorati Tags: Jesus, Paul, apostles, churches, New, Testament, promitive, hardshell, general, assembly