Today’s religious landscape is full of church buildings, like the synagogues, where God’s Word is opened and read. Yet, like the Jews of the first century who rejected Paul’s teaching, they continue to read but continue to reject its application. Our attendance in their gatherings is not giving acceptance to them any more than Paul’s…
For the first approximately two-hundred years of this new relationship in Christ (the ekklesia), there were no church buildings. Third-century apologist Minucius Felix wrote, “We have no temples and no altars.”[1] The people of God, though surrounded by pagan temples and Jewish synagogues, were the only people who did not erect sacred buildings for…
In this blog, we hope to show that the presence of saints was expected in certain households. The house was not only the place where brethren knew to be a place for prayer and fellowship, but it was also known by the enemies of Christ to be the expected location of gatherings in the name…
To read this blog in its proper context, I would advise reviewing the previous blog that explores the interaction of the saints in Jerusalem. The Bible emphasizes households of various saints and has repeatedly described them as the environment of fellowship among God’s people. Jonathan Reed, a professor of Religion at the University of LaVerne,…
Since the church did not meet in church buildings or temples, it is often assumed that the reason is only due to socio-economic stress or that they were restrained from outside pressures. As already noted earlier, there is no evidence for this conclusion and given the nature of the ekklesia, there is no reason to…
Acts 20 is thought to present evidence that counters the conclusion that the house was the center of activity among saints, saying that brethren met in an upper room (verse 8). First of all, those making the argument assume that the upper room is a rented public facility. As already pointed out, upper rooms were…
Shortly before the rebuilding of the temple, the Jews constructed huts, later called synagogues, for prayer while facing Jerusalem and reading the Scriptures. Even when the temple was rebuilt, some Jews disagreed with the reconstruction of the new temple, thinking that the temple should never be rebuilt. These “synagogues” began to be built 30 to…
There are no examples of separate buildings set apart for the worship of the church within the Roman Empire before the third century. Starting with a long Jewish history to the bringing in of the new covenant, we find examples of buildings set aside for worship. But, in the teaching of Christ and His apostles,…
The purpose of togetherness is the benefit of mutual encouragement. That this became the reason for their meetings is clear from 1 Corinthians 14:26. It reads, “When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening…
We see this pattern in the very beginning of the church in Acts 2. Believers understood the need to come together. 1) Acts 2:42, “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship…” 2) Acts 2:44, “Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common.” 3) Acts 2:46, “So continuing daily…