“In 1525, William Tyndale translated the first printed Bible into English. He translated the word ekklesia as “congregation” or assembly. This was in direct contradiction to the Roman Church. At that time, the Roman Church feared that removing the word “church” from the Bible would threaten their authority and hierarchy. This was one of the major reasons Tyndale was killed and burned at the stake by the Roman Church in 1536. When King James authorized his translation of the Bible in 1611, eighty-four percent of the New Testament was translated directly from Tyndale’s Bible. But King James made one translation rule clear: ekklesia was to be translated “church” and not “congregation” or “assembly.”

King James was the head of the Church of England (the Anglican church) and all forty-seven translators were members. Once again, for political and control reasons, the King James Version of the Bible mistranslated the Greek word ekklesia to “church.” Since then, just about every English version of the Bible has kept to this translation of “church.””

— ONE: Unfolding God's Eternal Purpose from House to House by Henry Hon