The Word "church" - Why And When

[AccountDeleted]

In the Bible, Jesus talks about Peter being the rock upon which He will build His church, and there are many other references to the word "church" in the Bible. When and why did this word come into use since the Jews referred to their places of worship as synagogues or temples?

I am just curious and not sure where to find the answer to such an obscure question. Anyone here know for sure??

[CatherineM]

Keeping in mind that the word "Church" is an English word that come from a German or Slavic word based on the original Greek word for "of the Lord." Someone whose Greek is better than mine could probably explain it better.

[StColette]

Catherine is correct about the Greek. I know the words used in the Bible for Church are Oikodomeo and mou. Oikodomeo means a building or to build from the very foundation and mou means of me. So it's a building of the Lord.

The following is from the Webster dictionary:

Etymology:
Middle English chirche, from Old English cirice, ultimately from Late Greek kyriakon, from Greek, neuter of kyriakos of the lord, from kyrios lord, master; akin to Sanskrit śūra hero, warrior

Date:
before 12th century

[StColette]

I received the following from Aloysius I believe he's definitely on the right track.

[quote]since I'm not a scholar... haha... sorry to bother.... but, it seems to me the Greek word used in Matthew 16:18 is ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑ, meaning "assembly"... ΟΙΚΟΔΟΜΕΩ was the verb about building the "Ecclesia"... it seems the English word "church" may come etymologically from "of the Lord" but the word used by Christ was "ecclesia" meaning "assembly"... and "assembly" was a way used to describe the religious group of people in Old Testament times as well I think, so it has precedent and shows how Our Lord is building a new Israel because He's making a new "assembly"[/quote]

God Bless,
Jennie