From New Testament Synagogue to Home Assembly

It can be confusing. After the birth of the assembly of Christ; seemingly, Christians just start meeting without any planning or protocol. They just start “doing church.” Unfortunately, the fact that the New Testament assembly was essentially Jewish for a number of years was a shocking revelation to me. Folks can say all they want about Baptists correcting Reformation anti-Semitism—it just isn’t so. Baptists have done nothing to preserve the Jewish roots of the church, and more than likely, the overall ignorance concerning our Jewish roots is foundational to most of the problems we see today within the Evangelical church. A proper understanding of the New Testament assembly model is critical to our philosophy of ministry.

Acts 10 and 11will give you a good perspective on how Jewish the church was—the Gentiles were recognized as part of the same body with much controversy and ado. Once you understand this, it is assumed that New Testament believers simply followed the form of worship that they were already accustomed to. Let’s not forget; for many Jews, the birth of Christ’s assembly was a major event, but not a conversion for them. Many were already born again before the cross (see John 3). So, what you see in New Testament assemblies was pretty much what was going on in the Jewish synagogues prior to Pentecost.

Therefore, it is no surprise to see the apostolic church ministering at the temple, in synagogues, and in homes. It was a natural transition, and a reflection of what had been happening at Jewish synagogues.

The synagogue is a concept that began sometime prior to the exodus. An Old Testament word search of “elder” makes it abundantly clear that elders led groups of people within Israel. During the exodus, the tabernacle was the primary focus for ritual, and God’s people were divided into small groups of learning overseen by elders. Again, a simple word search and observance of how the word is used in the Old Testament makes this abundantly clear. Though these small groups served many critical functions, the primary focus was that of learning. Traditionally, the synagogue is known as Bet Midrash (house of study), Bet Tefillah (house of prayer), and Bet Knesset (house of assembly).* Today, many synagogues have floor plans that accommodate these major ideas; a room for assembly, a room for prayer, and a room for study.

This is a longstanding tradition, and consequently, we see the same pattern in the book of Acts. Certainly, the concept of synagogue was institutionalized, and the first century was no exception. The first century synagogue, numbering around 400 in Jerusalem alone, was a combination of politically well-connected and highly structured centers and less formal home assemblies that were strictly that of the laity.** Along with being well connected with state politics, many of the institutionalized synagogues integrated Greek and Roman paganism into Judaism. † Due to the traditional Jewish mentality in regard to synagogues; i.e., the term “small sanctuary” was used interchangeably between the assembly and the family, ** the assemblies were unaffected by these unfortunate integrations if they chose to be, and many were.

Note: Christ’s assembly grows from 120 to 3000 in one day according to Acts 2:41, and in the following verse we read, “And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” Where to put all of these people and what to do with them was of no issue, they merely returned to their existing assemblies, primarily in homes, and continued in the synagogue tradition. Acts 2:46 makes it clear that they met at the temple and had fellowship meals in their homes which would have also included teaching, prayer, the remembrance, and a departure with the singing of a hymn. The so-called last supper would have been very indicative of what went on during these assembly/synagogue meetings.

But also remember, the Jews that made up the apostolic assembly were VERY aware that the temple was temporary. In fact, after the destruction of the temple in 70 AD,

Following the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in the year 70 C.E., the rabbis decided the home would be the mikdash m’at—"small sanctuary"—a holy place responsible for fostering the family's spiritual life.††

In addition, Christ’s ministry probably produced many solid synagogues prior to Pentecost.

This model continued predominately for the next 200 years, and there is no reason to think that Christ prescribed any alternatives.

Paul

Notes:  

*George Robinson: Essential Judaism; Pocket Books 2000, p. 46.

**Louis H. Feldman and Meyer Reinhold: Jewish Life and Thought Among Greeks and Romans; Augsburg Fortress 1996, p. 68.

†Louis H. Feldman and Meyer Reinhold: Jewish Life and Thought Among Greeks and Romans; Augsburg Fortress 1996, p. 73.

†† Jewish Home & Community: My Jewish Learning.com; Online source | http://goo.gl/N6Udu6

paulspassingthoughts | January 28, 2014 at 6:18 pm | Tags: Christianity, Church, Judaism | URL: http://wp.me/pmd7S-2Ln

Mind the Gap

Mind the Gap

If you have ever been to London, you are familiar with the “tube,” London’s expansive underground transport system.  Once there, a constant refrain - over loudspeakers and on signs - is “Mind the Gap.”

The line is so ubiquitous, and so closely tied to London’s ethos, that the phrase has become one of the more popular for tourists to buy on t-shirts.

The “gap” to be “minded,” of course, is that which exists between the train and the platform so that you don’t get your foot caught between the two.  If you don’t mind the gap, your foot will fall through the crack.

So “mind” it.

There are, of course, many “gaps” to be mindful of.

For example, many are keenly aware of the gaps that exist in their life between income and expense, or calories ingested and calories burned.  The worst would have to be the gap between knowing and doing.  For no small reason has it been said that the longest journey anyone will ever take is the 18 inches between our head and our heart.

But often overlooked are the gaps plaguing the church.

Here are six to consider:

1.       The gap between evangelism and discipleship.  The biblical dynamic between evangelism and discipleship is, of course, anything but a dichotomy.  We are to engage in both.  But in practice, many churches put their energies in one or the other.  Even more troubling is how they pit one against the other, as if God made it an either-or.  (He didn’t).

2.       The gap between growth and assimilation.  Some call this the gap between growing larger and smaller at the same time. If not “minded,” the “back door”, as they say, is left wide open.  But it’s more than the “back door.”  If it’s all growth, there is little community.  But if there is an emphasis on community alone, then the church turns inward and growth becomes stagnant.

3.       The gap between cultural relevance and orthodoxy.  Let’s put this more simply:  this is the gap between being “in” the world and “of” it.  In truth, most seem to err on the side of being more “hip” than holy, contemporary than faithful, trendy than Trinitarian.  In other words, “relevance” tends to win.  It is as if the point is to win the world’s favor, as opposed to winning the world’s soul.  But on the other side are those who wield their claim to historic truth like a baseball bat, failing to see that while the message is timeless, the method of presenting it is not.  The balance is clear: connect with the mission field of our day while remaining steadfastly tied to the apostolic truths.

4.       The gap between our community as Christ-followers and our community with those outside of the faith.  This gap is relational, and speaks to the cloistered life of many faith communities from the world they claim they want to reach.  We live in Christian cliques, holy huddles, gospel ghettoes, and wonder why we aren’t reaching more people for Jesus.  But even more, our community as Christ followers is often divorced from the community of those we are most wanting to reach.  The point of being “salt” is that we are applied directly to those areas most in need of a preservative to stop the spread of decay. This is more than cultural – it is primarily relational.  No Christian should be separate from a non-Christian in need of the gospel.  If you are, you are not sufficiently “in” the world.

5.       The gap between the vision of community in the Scriptures and the reality of our day.  We’ve all heard the line that Sunday morning at 11 a.m. is the most segregated hour in our nation.  But I am increasingly convinced that the issue is less racial than it is socio-economic.  Regardless, whether a mix of black and white, rich or poor, young or old, the gap is that there isn’t often much of a mix.  Here is the dream of Jesus:  when you walk into a church on Sunday morning, you will see young and old, black and white, male and female, lost and found…all hoping for a glimpse of the truth, a taste of the eternal, a sense of the grace.

6.       The gap between vision and leadership.  Most leaders are visionaries, but not all visionaries are leaders.  I’ve never met a pastoral team yet that couldn’t tell me something of their vision.  The breakdown was between vision and practice, vision and reality, vision and execution.  Let me put the “gap” this way: if someone were to offer you $1 million dollars, but to receive it you had to be able to explain exactly where it would go, and why it would matter… would you get the money?

So…

…are you minding the gaps?

James Emery White

Editor’s Note

James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, NC, and the ranked adjunctive professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, which he also served as their fourth president.  His newly released book is The Church in an Age of Crisis: 25 New Realities Facing Christianity (Baker Press).  To enjoy a free subscription to the Church and Culture blog, log-on to www.churchandculture.org, where you can post your comments on this blog, view past blogs in our archive and read the latest church and culture news from around the world.  Follow Dr. White on twitter @JamesEmeryWhite.