OLD
TESTAMENT AND CHRISTIANITY

The followers of Jesus seem to have described themselves by various names in early days. Many of these names were redolent of Old Testament phraseology. “The saints” or “holy people” was a common name, implying that they regarded themselves as the pious remnant or true Israel … They themselves constituted a separated “synagogue” or community within the larger community of Judaism. But while the term “synagogue” enjoyed some currency among them for some decades, it was gradually ousted by its synonym ekklesia – church… In the Septuagint, ekklesia was used to render the Hebrew word qahal , the “congregation” of Israel, the nation in its theocratic character, organized as a religious community. The choice of this term was a further indication of the early Christians’ conviction that they were the legitimate successors of the true Israel, bound by God to himself in covenant-relationship from the days when Israel first became a nation.

F.F. Bruce