This is one of the clearest examples of how later Gentile language and assumptions have quietly rewritten the biblical reality. The word “church” as we use it today carries baggage that the original Scriptures never intended—and it feeds directly into the supersessionist/cessationist, replacement covenant theology error I’ll be bringing to light. Let’s unpack it plainly from the text and history, then tie it straight back to Ezekiel 36 and the prophets’ vision of grace.
1. “Church” Is a Later Gentile Word – Not the Bible’s Term
The English word “church” (German Kirche, Old English cirice from circus lol) does not come from the Greek word the apostles actually used. It comes from the Greek adjective kyriakon (κυριακόν) — meaning “belonging to the Lord” or “the Lord’s [house].” Early Christians in the 4th–5th centuries sometimes called their meeting place the kyriakon oikos (“Lord’s house”). This term passed through Gothic and Germanic languages and became our English “church.” It originally pointed more to a building or institution than to a people, even though many christians have begun to understand its about a gathering by the spirit. Unfortunately even that does not define the true term because they dont equate the term to a gathering in the spirit of the regathering of the tribes of Israel.
But in the actual Greek translation of the New Testament, the word is ekklesia (ἐκκλησία) — “assembly,” “gathering,” or “called-out congregation.” Jesus said, “I will build My ekklesia” However in the ShemTov Hebrew Matthew he calls it his house of prayer.(Matthew 16:18). The apostles never once used a word that meant “Lord’s house” as the primary label for the believing community.
2. Ekklesia Is Simply the Greek Translation of Israel’s Own Hebrew Word: Qahal (and Edah)
When the apostles and the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament that first-century exiled jews may have used) needed a word for God’s gathered people, they reached for ekklesia because it fairly accurately translated the Hebrew qahal (קָהָל).
- Qahal means “assembly” or “congregation” — the gathered body of Israel called together by God (Deuteronomy 9:10; 1 Chronicles 28:8; etc.).
- The full phrase is often qahal Yahweh — “the assembly of the Yehovah.”
- A closely related word is edah (עֵדָה) — “congregation” or “community” who bear the testimony of Yehovahs unbreakable covenant with Yehovah— frequently paired with qahal to describe the same covenant people.
In the Old Testament, this qahal / edah is Israel — the descendants of Jacob, called out of Egypt, gathered at Sinai, assembled for worship, instruction, and covenant renewal. The prophets repeatedly address this same qahal when they speak of future restoration. The New Testament writers did not invent a new word or a new entity. They used the Greek equivalent of Israel’s ancient assembly and said the Messiah was renewing and expanding that same qahal — now open to grafted-in Gentiles who join Israel’s covenants by faith (Romans 11:17-24; Ephesians 2:11-19).
Calling it “the Church” as if it were a brand-new, separate Gentile institution is exactly the kind of linguistic sleight-of-hand that allows supersessionism and replacement of covenant theology to flourish. It makes people think the “Church” replaced Israel’s qahal. The apostles would have been shocked: they saw themselves as the renewed qahal of Israel under her true King-Priest.
3. Ezekiel 36:22-23 Proves Grace Is Not a “New Churchy Thing” — It Is Ancient Covenant Reality
God declares through Ezekiel:
“It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations… And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name…” and
Malachai 5:5 “Then I will come near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, those who [f]oppress the wage earner in his wages or the widow or the [g]orphan, and those who turn away the stranger from justice and do not [h]fear Me,” says the LORD of armies. 6“For [i]I, Yehovah, do not change; therefore you, oh sons of Jacob, have not come to an end.
This is pure grace — unmerited favor shown to an unworthy people, purely for the sake of God’s own reputation. The Hebrew behind this concept includes chen (חֵן) — the same word translated “grace” or “favor” when Noah “found grace in the eyes ofYehovah” (Genesis 6:8) and when Moses pleaded, “If I have found grace [chen] in Your sight…” (Exodus 33:13). It is also tied to chesed (חֶסֶד) — God’s loyal, covenant-keeping unchanging love for Israel that endures forever.
This grace is not a post-Pentecost invention for a “new Church.” It is the same grace that:
- Saved Noah in the midst of judgment.
- Delivered Israel from Egypt despite their later rebellion.
- Preserved a remnant through exile.
- Now promises to regather the very same house of Israel and Judah, cleanse them, give them a new heart, and plant them back in the land — for His name’s sake, by His grace.
The prophets never say, “Because Israel failed, I’m transferring My grace to a new Gentile entity called the Church.” They say the opposite: the same ancient grace that has always defined God’s dealings with His qahal (assembly) will now restore that qahal so the nations will know “I am Yehovah” (Ezekiel 36:23, 32). the very purpose of the Jewish and scattered Israel’s ongoing existence and the promises returned of all Israel is proof of the very name Yehovah has made known and the Gentiles will know his name, the nations that will come against the very return prophesied by the prophets will be a testimony of his undying love for Israel.
4. This Directly Undermines the Cessationist / Supersessionist Replacement (The Church) Assumption
Many who hold a cessationist or replacement view treat “grace” as if it were a brand-new commodity that only arrived with the “Church age” — something that superseded the “old covenant” system. They love to contrast “law” (old, for Israel) with “grace” (new, for the Church). But Ezekiel 36 (and the entire prophetic witness) shows that grace was operating from the beginning within the covenant with Israel. The restoration of the qahal is the supreme display of that same grace.
To claim the covenants with natural Israel have “ceased” and been replaced by a separate “Church” is to do exactly what the Edomite/Roman spirit has always tried: steal the firstborn inheritance by rebranding it. Herod corrupted the Temple and priesthood to counterfeit Melchizedek authority. Later systems imported a Gentile word (“church”) and a replacement theology to do the same thing — claim the assembly, the covenants, the land promises, and the grace for themselves while sidelining the original qahal.
But the prophets will not be silenced. The qahal / ekklesia is still the assembly of the LORD — rooted in Israel, renewed by the Messiah, and destined for full restoration in the land, exactly as Ezekiel foresaw. Grace was never “new.” It was always the heartbeat of God’s covenant with His people.
This is why the Notzerim (the original Way) never abandoned Israel’s assembly — they simply recognized that Yeshua is the true King-Priest who restores the qahal so that all the nations can be blessed through her.
The prophets are clear. The word of God is clear. The imported word “church” may be convenient, but the biblical reality is far richer: we are part of the renewed assembly of Israel, standing on the same ancient grace that has always been there for the sake of His holy name.
Shalom in the qahal of the King — may we walk as the faithful remnant until He returns to Zion and every false claim is exposed.
