Using Lexicons: A Word Study of “Church”

The word “ecclesia” has been said a few times on the podcast without any definition. We fix that in this episode. Matt Colby rejoins the podcast to talk about one of his favorite Bible study tools, the lexicon. As a practical example, we look up the word “church” in different lexicons to see what sort of definitions they provide. The Greek word for church is “ecclesia” and we delve into the significance of this word and why we prefer to say “ecclesia” instead of “church”.

Scripture mentions:

  • 1 Corinthians 11:18
  • Romans 16:5,23
  • 1 Corinthians 1:1-2 (key verse)

Lexicon resources mentioned:

Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words
https://www.amazon.com/dp/078526020X

Louw & Nida
Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1683072219

BDAG (Bauer, Danker, Arndt, Gingrich)
A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd Edition
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0226039331

The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (English, Hebrew, Aramaic and Aramaic Edition)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/9004100768

New Testament Words
by William Barclay (Author)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/066424761X