Church and Temple in the New Testament

Abstract

At the time when the early church came into existence, there were three different contexts in which the Jews engaged in what we may call religious activities. 2 The first of these was the temple. Although Jews lived in many places, some of them hundreds of miles from their homeland, most of them recognized only one temple, in strict fulfilment of the divine command in Deuteronomy 12; it was in Jerusalem and it was staffed by priests and Levites from the tribe of Levi. 3 The temple was a large outdoor enclosure divided up into concentric courts; within the central area to which only the priests were admitted was the main altar on which sacrifices were offered, and the actual offerings were carried out by the priests, although the ordinary people were present as onlookers and could engage in prayer during the ritual (Lk. 1:10). The purpose of the sacrifices was varied; some of them were what we might call public ones, offered on behalf of the people as a whole, but the vast majority were private ones, offered by individuals for various personal reasons. 4 The second context of religious activity was the synagogue. Meetings were held principally on the Sabbath, and they were characterised by the offering of prayers to God, _________________________ 1 The Manson Memorial lecture delivered in the University of Manchester on 2nd November, 1989. An earlier version of the lecture was given as the Annual Lecture of the Bible Training Institute, Glasgow, on 20th June, 1988. Among T.W. Manson's works there are two which are particularly germane to our topic: The Church's Ministry (London 1948); Ministry and Priesthood: Christ's and Ours (London 1958). 2 R.T. Beckwith, 'The Daily and Weekly Worship of the Primitive Church in relation to its Jewish Antecedents', EQ 56 (1984) 65-80. 3 There were, however, other Jewish temples where sacrifices were offered during this period. See M.E. Stone, Scriptures, Sects and Visions (Oxford 1982) 77-82. 4 E. Schürer, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ II (Edinburgh 1979) 292-313, gives an excellent detailed account.