the church
Acts 7:38
7:38 the church. The Greek for “church” is ekklesia, meaning the “called-out ones.” In Deuteronomy 18:16, right after Moses’ prophecy of the coming prophet, the word for “assembly,” referring to the whole assembled congregation of Israel at Mount Sinai, was translated ekklesia in the Greek Septuagint translation of the Old Testament. However, neither the nation Israel nor a local synagogue is ever called a “church” in the same sense as a local assembly of Christian believers.