Ekklesia - Church at any level
I’ve included two paragraphs from a portion of Wayne Grudem’s systematic theology dealing with “church.” It is interesting to me because while the title retains the two normal categories that most systematic theologies use, “local and universal,” Grudem argues that the term church (ekklesia) can legitimately be used for a group of believers at any level from the house church to the church universal. He writes:
3. The church is local and universal
In the New Testament the word “church” may be applied to a group of believers at any level, ranging from a very small group meeting in a private home all the way to the group of all true believers in the universal church. A “house church” is called a “church” in Romans 16:5 (”greet also the church in their house”), 1 Corinthians 16:19 (”Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord”). The church in an entire city is also called “a church” (1 Cor. 1:2; 2 Cor. 1:1; and 1 Thes. 1:1). The church in a region is referred to as a “church” in Acts 9:31: “So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was built up.” Finally, the church throughout the entire world can be referred to as “the church.” Paul says, “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Eph. 5:25) and says, “God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers …” (1 Cor. 12:28). In this latter verse the mention of “apostles,” who were not given to any individual church, guarantees that the reference is to the church universal.We may conclude that the group of God’s people considered at any level from local to universal may rightly be called “a church.” We should not make the mistake of saying that only a church meeting in houses expresses the true nature of the church, or only a church considered at a city-wide level can rightly be called a church, or only the church universal can rightly be called by the name “church.” Rather, the community of God’s people considered at any level can be rightly called a church. — Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology. Leicester: Inter-Varsity, 1994
I’m interested in knowing what happens if we think of church at the level of the entire city or the region. What happens to passages like 1 Cor 12: 12-31 which speak of the church as a body made up of many parts? We usually think of the passage referring to individuals that use their gifting in the context of their local church. How do things change if when we think of the church of the city as the context?