Origen on Ekklesias
Origen was a leader among believers a couple of centuries after the birth of Jesus.
As a portion of a treatise he titled, “Against Celsus,” (Origen Book III, 29-30) he wrote what I have quoted below. It is a contrast between the ekklesias that were local representations of the governments of men and the local ekklesias that represented the Kingdom of God. Clearly, the word “church” is not a reasonable substitution for either group, and “ekklesia” is not a word that should today be mistranslated by the word “church,” as James 1 of England commanded of the hirelings he employed to make an English translation of Scriptures.
“But the God who sent Jesus dissipated all the conspiracies of the demons, and made the Gospel of Jesus to prevail throughout the whole world for the conversion and reformation of men, and caused ekklesias to be everywhere established in opposition to those of superstitious and licentious and wicked men; for such is the character of the multitudes who constitute the citizens in the ekklesias of the various cities. Whereas the ekklesias of God which are instructed by Christ, when carefully contrasted with the ekklesias of the districts in which they are situated, are as beacons in the world; for who would not admit that even the inferior members of the ekklesias, and those who in comparison with the better are less worthy, are nevertheless more excellent than many of those who belong to the ekklesias in the different districts?
“For the ekklesia of God, e.g., which is at Athens, is a meek and stable body, as being one which desires to please God, who is over all things; whereas the ekklesia of the Athenians is given to sedition, and is not at all to be compared to the ekklesia of God in that city. And you may say the same thing of the ekklesia of God at Corinth, and of the ekklesia of the Corinthian people; and also of the ekklesia of God at Alexandria, and of the ekklesia of the people of Alexandria. And if he who hears this be a candid man, and one who investigates things with a desire to ascertain the truth, he will be filled with admiration of Him who not only conceived the design, but also was able to secure in all places the establishment of ekklesias of God alongside of the ekklesias of the people in each city. In like manner, also, in comparing the council of the ekklesia of God with the ekklesia in any city, you would find that certain councilors of the Church are worthy to rule in the city of God, if there be any such city in the whole world; whereas the councilors in all other places exhibit in their characters no quality worthy of the conventional superiority which they appear to enjoy over their fellow-citizens. And so, too, you must compare the ruler of the ekklesia in each city with the ruler of the ekklesia of the city, in order to observe that even amongst those councilors and rulers of the ekklesia of God who come very far short of their duty, and who lead more indolent lives than others who are more energetic, it is nevertheless possible to discover a general superiority in what relates to the progress of virtue over the characters of the councilors and rulers in the various cities.”