II Thessalonians 1
1 Paul and Silas and Timothy to the assembly1 of [the] Thessalonians in God our father and [in the] Lord Jesus Christ: 2 Grace to you and peace from God [the] father and [the] Lord Jesus Christ.3 We ought to be thanking God always concerning you, brothers, just as it is fitting, because your faith super-grows and the agape-love of each one [of you] all to one another increases, 4 so that we ourselves are boasting in you among the assemblies1 of God concerning your endurance and faith in all your persecutions and distress which you endure, 5 evidence of the just judgment of God, to the end that you be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, to the end that you be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, [for] which you also suffer, 6 since [it is a] just [thing] for God to repay affliction to those afflicting you, 7 And to you who are afflicted, [there will be] rest with us as the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with angels of his power, 8 with fire of flame, giving vengeance to those not having known God, and to those not obeying the good-news of our Lord Jesus, 9 who will undergo2 destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, 10 when he come to be glorified with his holy [ones] and to be marveled at by all those having believed—because our testimony among you was believed—in that day. 11 For which [reason] we also pray always concerning you, in order that our God make you worthy of [this] calling, and fulfill all desire for goodness and [the] work of faith in ability, 12 that the name of our Lord Jesus be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and [the] Lord Jesus Christ.
1EKKLESIA (εκκλησια) from "called out". Appears 114 times in the N.T., but only in two places in the Gospels ( Matt.16:18 (twice) and Matt.18:17 (twice)). It's worth noting that when Jesus uses the term EKKLESIA, Christian community as we know it didn't yet exist—there were only the disciples. EKKLESIA is apparently different from 'synagogue' (SYNAGOGE (συναγωγη) which occurs 56 times in the N.T.) EKKLESIA is used in secular Greek literature of a popular assembly 'called to assemble', and also of those 'called' to a cult. EKKLESIA is used frequently in the N.T. outside of the Gospels to refer to Christian communities, but in Acts.7:38 it is used of the people of Israel led through the desert by Moses, and in Acts.19:32 ff. of a secular assembly. Thus, all told, the common translation of EKKLESIA as 'church' doesn't really reflect 1st century usage—it seems to mean more like 'a group of people assembled for some specific purpose'.
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