Something for Frank

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Something for Frank

Forum: Theological Expressions
Re:

Helping My friend RTC to see. (frank)
Date: 2001, Apr 24
From: RTC

Hopefully this will help you to concede : ) Both literary and nonliterary evidence points to the domestic residence as the venue for early Christian gatherings. This pattern is affirmed in Acts, where we read that the first believers met together in private homes, and in Paul’s letters we find that the new communities that the apostle established were centered in homes. The gathering of Christian believers in private homes continued to be the norm until the early decades of the fourth century, when Constantine began erecting the first Christian basilicas. For almost three hundred years the believers met in homes, not in synagogues or edifices constructed for the sole purpose of religious assembly. The assembly of Christians in house churches was not fortuitous. Four reasons suggest themselves for the choice of the house as a meeting place. First, the “upper rooms” and domestic residences were immediately available. Second, the domestic structure provided a relatively inconspicuous meeting place. Although the house setting was not a guarantee against persecution (see Acts 8:3), in the early years when persecution was a threat, Christians used discretion in their choice of meeting place. Third, the Jews in Palestine and the Diaspora assembled in house synagogues. Since most of the early believers were Jews and God-fearers, it is not difficult to envisage the Christian communities adopting Jewish patterns, particularly since many of the activities in the house church resembled those of the house synagogue. Fourth, the “house” provided the necessities of a Christian gathering, most importantly, the facilities needed for the preparation, serving and eating of the Lord’s Supper. Acts gives us the picture of early believers regularly gathering in homes and “upper rooms” (Acts 2:46; 5:42; cf. Acts 1:13, 15–16; 20:7–8). Two possibilities present themselves: that the early community rented a room that was part of a domestic residence or that a Christian benefactor and homeowner set aside a room, or an entire level of rooms, for the early community’s use. There is evidence from Second-Temple Pharisaism confirming that second-floor halls and dining rooms () were used as a place of study and  or meetings of the “brotherhood”. In Acts 12:12 Peter, having been delivered from prison, goes to the house of Mary mother of John Mark, where many of the believers were gathered praying. Presumably this was a house regularly made available to the community. The incidental details suggest that this house was not part of an  or “apartment” complex, but was a large house with a gateway that acted as a buffer between the street and the inner courtyard and rooms. (FRANK, NOTE THIS) Luke never portrays the entire post-Pentecost community gathered in one place. If we are to understand the number three thousand as in any sense an accurate count of these believers (Acts 2:41; cf. Acts 4:4; 5:14; 6:7), they obviously could not have gathered under one roof. Peter’s own instruction to the group assembled in Mary’s house suggests the reality of multiple places of meeting: they were to report his release to James and “the brethren” (Acts 12:17), who were presumably meeting elsewhere. Various places in Acts 13–28 and in the Pauline epistles refer to private domestic residences that were used as venues for Christians to gather and where the traveling apostle found hospitality (see 1 Cor 16:19; Col 4:15; Philem 2; Rom 16:5). In Luke’s selective recounting of Paul’s mission and establishment of churches throughout the Roman Empire, we find Paul consistently converting a homeowner who is capable of benefaction, including the provision of a house for Christian assembly (e.g., Lydia, Acts 16, and Titius Justus, Acts 18). This was important, for the predominant domicile in urban areas was the insula, or apartment complex: only 3 percent of the population lived in a domus, or house. The disproportionate number of insulae is probably evidence of the relatively high cost of housing. Owning a fine house and property was one of the leading indicators of wealth and status. Thus the conversion of a household or householder was a strategic means of establishing the new cult in unfamiliar surroundings, and the household remained the soundest basis for the meetings of Christians. We should reasonably assume that at Corinth, for example, Aquila and Priscilla would have opened their house to the Christian community. When they move on with Paul to Ephesus (Acts 18:18), we find them with a “church in their house” (1 Cor 16:19), and when they later reestablish their residency in Rome (Acts 18:1–2), they again have a “church in their house” (Rom 16:3–5). Martin, Ralph P.; Davids, Peter H., Dictionary of the Later New Testament & Its Developments, (Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press) 2000, c1998.