person of Jesus of Nazareth, who would soon return in full Messianic glory. They regarded themselves as the true Israel reformed by Jesus the Messiah. From the first they regarded themselves as a supernatural society, formed by the act of God. The new Israel owed its existence to the divine choice as did the old. It was not in any sense a society founded by men for their own edification. We do not know at what stage the term ‘church’ (ecclesia) was adopted. It is found first in 5:11. In the Greek