The Kirk is the Heart of Believers' Lives; the LXX > Masoretic

According Richard Horsley, it is utter myth that Jesus or his fellow Jews had any notion of separation of religion from state [1]. Horsley highlights that the Jerusalem Temple was indeed the heart of Jewish life at the time of the Messiah -- not merely Religious life, but also Economic and Political life as well. All Jews, including the Messiah and his followers (Mark 12:41-44), spent much time on the Temple grounds.

Now, bear in mind that the Messiah obviated the physical Temple "made with hands" and replaced it with a spiritual Temple made up of the Body of Believers in the Messiah (John 2:21), each of whom became by Belief a "living stone" (Matt 16:16-18 [2], 1 Peter 2:4-5) laid upon the foundation of the Messiah, as the Head Corner Stone, and his Apostles, as the first layer (Eph 2:20-22).

Thus, while the Messiah did sweep aside the old and corrupted Jerusalem Temple [3], he also replaced it with his own! Therefore, whereas the old physical Temple had been the heart of Jewish life, now the new spiritual Temple (of the "Body of Believers" in the Messiah) would become the heart of Believers' lives.

This line of thought is soundly backed up by the Septuagint (LXX) Old Testament (OT). For, the New Testament (NT) authors primarily used two words for the Kirk (Church) -- that is, the "Body of Believers" in the Messiah, or "Spiritual Temple" -- namely, "ecclesia" and "synagoge." But these words were used almost solely in the OT (as witnessed by the LXX) for Israel. Therefore, the NT authors' choice of these words can only mean that the Kirk and Israel are one and the same in their minds. In short, the true Israel -- the true "House of God" (1 Peter 4:17, Ephesians 2:19, Hebrews 8:10 & 10:21, 1 Timothy 3:15; see also Acts 2:36 & 7:42) -- is built upon fruit-bearing Belief, not Blood (Matthew 3:8-9).

Thus we see, anchored in the NT, a strong argument for the crucial importance of the Kirk in the lives of Believers. Indeed, just as the physical Temple had been the heart of Jewish life, so now the spiritual Temple (the Kirk) must be the heart of Believers' lives [4].

But yet the greatest proof of this crucial fact, the strongest link between the OT and the NT, itself comes from the LXX, thereby showing clearly the true weight of that version [5].

Footnotes:

[1] Jesus and Empire: The Kingdom of God and the New World Disorder
by Richard A. Horsley (This author is a Leftist, but with care you can cull out his politics and get down to his theology, which is most often good.)

[2] Understand that Simon's Confessional Statement, "You are the Messiah, the son of the Living God", is indeed the "bedrock" of Belief in the Messiah, for it is the very definition of who is a follower of the Messiah and who is not (see 1 John 2:22). That the Messiah "Christened" Simon, then and there, as "Kephas" meaning "Stone" is proof of the fundamental Orthodoxy of 1 Peter 2:5 and Ephesians 2:20-22. The Jesus Seminar explains:

Therefore, Simon "the Stone" is the example to follow -- Believe in Yehoshua as the true Messiah, and ye too become a "living stone" in the spiritual Temple of the "Body of Believers" in the Messiah.

[3] The Messiah swept aside the old Temple only after it rejected him. The timing of happenings in Matthew 21 are crucial. The Messiah first comes into Jerusalem in triumph and cleanses the Temple of its foul Mammon pollution (Matthew 21:1-13). The Priests, most likely afraid of the eager crowds (Luke 19:44), do not openly challenge the Messiah's authority and only ask him if he truly understands the Messianic implications of their shouts ("Hosanna to the Son of David"). The Messiah, in turn, quotes Lied (Psalm) 8:2, asking them if they truly understand the Messianic Prophecy fullfillments they are witnessing, even then, before their own eyes (lines 14-16). The Priests are silent, and after healing the needy, the Messiah leaves Jerusalem for the night (line 17) without dooming the Priests and their Temple.

When the Messiah comes back the next morning, however, he is straight away accosted by clearly unrueful Priests, who openly question his right to teach in the Temple (l.23). The Messiah one-ups them, asking them before the gathered Jews, about John the Harbinger, whom they do not openly acknowledge (ls.26-27a). The Messiah then trumps them again, telling them a riddle about two sons -- and dooms them by their own words (ls.28-32). And then the Messiah tells them yet another riddle about farm tenants -- and again dooms them by their own words (l.41), this time soundly, quoting Lied 118:22-23 in explicit acknowledgement of the Priests' rejection of his Messiahship (l.42). It is then that the Messiah tells the Priests that God's Reich will be taken from them and given to others -- to wit, those who bear Godly fruits (l.43). And indeed their Priestly standing is given over unto those who Love and Believe in the Messiah -- the aforesaid "Living Temple" of the "Body of Belivers" in the Messiah -- who become the true "Royal Priesthood" (1 Peter 2:9).

Throughout the next block (Matthew 22), the Messiah is again challenged by the Pharisees (ls.15-22), the Sadducees (ls.23-33), and the Pharisees again (ls.34-40). The Messiah answers all their askings, and then trumps them by asking them whether or not David is the Messiah's fore-father, an asking they cannot answer themselves (ls.41-46). The Messiah then dooms the Pharisees with "Seven Woes" (Matthew 23) and foretells the Temple's down-tearing (Matthew 24:1-2). Clearly, the doom of the Temple and its Priesthood came about because of their unBelief.

[4] And further must truly dwell within the mortal hearts of Believers (Hebrews 8:10).

[5] The Messiah came to bring all the "Lost Tribes of Israel" back together, and as such, his followers quoted from the LXX, then the standard version of the OT throughout the Jewish Diaspora, as against the Masoretic, which is solely a post-Christian textual tradition, coming -- as it seemingly did -- from the Council of Jamnia in about 95 CE under the auspices of the ever-infamous Emperor Domitian, who at that very time was hunting down John in the Patmos GULAG.