One of the complaints that I have had in response to my writing is that there is no gathering or assembling with Christians if you do away with the church and scheduled religious services. This cannot be further from the truth. It is true that there is no neat cookie-cutter religion that allows for the…
At the start of this century, I began to write on matters concerning the church. I first thought that nothing I wrote would be anything that someone else has not already addressed and done well. I realized that while many had taken the task, it did not fully represent what I believe about the church….
There are more words for love than just one in the Greek language. This is pure love unattached to carnal definitions of lust or passion. The unique thing about brotherly love, which comes from the Greek present active indicative, phileo is that it describes the relationship between those who have a common family bond. Some…
A related concern would be the influence of the gossip in the home. Younger widows learn to be idle going around to the houses. This passage takes on a greater significance if we can imagine the houses as a place of fellowship and a young sister comes to the door as a tattler and busybody…
As you retire to the comforts of home, can there be any doubt that this was the forum of fellowship, tender affection (Phil. 2:1), encouragement, and teaching among Christians? This is the forum for the application of Heb. 3:11-12, Hebrews 10:24-25, and a host of the “one another” passages. The lifestyle of the early Christians…
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,…
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,…
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…