Is the Church Irrelevant?

[Ben1445]

LOL, well that's just rich. Considering how legalistic you are about everything, I'm assuming that you're involved in some IFB circus somewhere, of which I want no part of.

1 John 2:19
They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

 

[Ben1445]

Who was the author of Hebrews' target audience? Was Jews who were under Roman persecution and were tempted to go back to animal sacrifices, or was it Christians who were skipping church because they wanted to sleep in on Sunday?

I'm hoping at least one person can be honest about this.

So was he encouraging them to maintain the temple and not forsake their previous system or not?

 

[Ascetic X]

Who was the author of Hebrews' target audience? Was it Jewish believers who were under persecution and were tempted to go back to animal sacrifices, or was it Christians who were skipping church because they wanted to sleep in on Sunday?

I'm hoping at least one person can be honest about this.

Acts 2:46

And continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,

 

[Ben1445]

Considering how legalistic you are about everything,

I exhorted you to show up to a physical meeting of believers and that makes me a legalist??

What can I say?

 

[Stopgap]

1 John 2:19
They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

So what? I don't see how gathering in businesses is a genuine form of assembly to begin with. Maybe it works for you; maybe you can overlook the numerous problems that go along with it. Maybe you can chew the meat and spit out the bones, as they say. But it doesn't work for me.

So was he encouraging them to maintain the temple and not forsake their previous system or not?

Yes! It had nothing to do with church attendance as western culture has defined it.

I exhorted you to show up to a physical meeting of believers and that makes me a legalist??

It could potentially make you much worse than that.

I'm not going to say this about you specifically because that would be against the rules, but I have to be brutally honest. Anyone who teaches that gathering in a building is the absolute standard has turned the building into an idol and is therefore lost.

Do with that information what you will.

 

[Stopgap]

Acts 2:46

And continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,

It was in the temple courts, not in the temple itself. Other translations make that very clear.

 

[Ascetic X]

It was in the temple courts, not in the temple itself. Other translations make that very clear.

Acts 2:46

And continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.



The assembling was in the temple and in homes. Where does your assembly meet for worship?

 

[Stopgap]

The assembling was in the temple and in homes. Where does your assembly meet for worship?

Are you first going to acknowledge that your translation of choice might be cause for confusion in this discussion?

 

[Martin Marprelate]

Not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together is not necessarily referencing temple worship. Early believers assembled primarily in homes.

Hebrews 10:25

I'm sure they often did meet in homes, not necessarily by choice. But the church in Corinth did meet together on a regular basis. 'When you come together as a church.' ( 1 Cor. 11:18). I assume that they met in a hall somewhere as the Ephesian believers did (Acts 19:9). When they became too large for the hall, they seem to have planted a church in Cenchrea, one of the ports of Corinth (Rom. 16:1).
The idea that all 1st Century churches were exclusively house churches does not commend itself to me. I doubt that many houses were big enough.

 

[Ascetic X]

I'm sure they often did meet in homes, not necessarily by choice. But the church in Corinth did meet together on a regular basis. 'When you come together as a church.' ( 1 Cor. 11:18). I assume that they met in a hall somewhere as the Ephesian believers did (Acts 19:9). When they became too large for the hall, they seem to have planted a church in Cenchrea, one of the ports of Corinth (Rom. 16:1).
The idea that all 1st Century churches were exclusively house churches does not commend itself to me. I doubt that many houses were big enough.

The church was an assembly of called out believers, gathered as a family of God. So it makes sense that they would meet in homes. Homes would be safer than in a hall or a designated church building, as persecution raged.

The church in a city like Ephesus could assemble in several different homes, not necessarily one large facility.

Romans 16

3Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, 4who have risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them. 5Greet also the church that meets at their house.




I am not convinced that the lecture hall or school of Tyrannus served as a location for the worship and fellowship of the church assembly. It seems to be a place where Paul gave speeches, possibly training pastors and evangelists.


Acts 19:9

But when some of them stubbornly refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way, Paul took his disciples and left the synagogue to conduct daily discussions in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.