The Church of Christ: Yesterday and Today. . .

THE SYNAGOGUE AS THE CRADLE OF THE CHURCH

The synagogue became the cradle of the church. Without it the church universal, humanly speaking, would have been impossible.—Alfred Edersheim

It is generally agreed that the synagogue arose in Jewish history during the years of captivity in Babylon. When the temple was destroyed in 586 B.C., the people were separated from the ritual and formality of their institutional worship. In a foreign land they remembered the words of their prophets, that God cared more for the heart than for sacrifice, and so they turned to study and prayer. Psa. 137 describes their frustration as it tells of how “Beside the streams of Babylon we sat and wept at the memory of Zion, leaving our harps hanging on the poplars there.” They could no longer go to the temple, so they turned to house meetings, sharing and praying together, holding out hope that God would one day return them to their home. This was but a remnant of the faithful, of course, but they began a practice that developed into the synagogue, which became the cradle for the Church of Christ. Even when the Jews returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple in 515 B.C., the synagogue had played such a crucial role that it gained a place of its own, independent of the temple. By the time of Christ these meeting places had sprung up all over the Roman Empire, everywhere the dispersing Jews had settled. Josephus assures us that there were 482 in Jerusalem alone.

This is an amazing thing in God’s providential care. There is nothing in the Old Covenant scriptures about the synagogue. No prophet told of its coming, and its existence cannot be traced to any explicit instruction from God. Yet its place proved to be so significant to the community of believers in Jesus as well as to Israel that we can only conclude that it arose with heaven’s intention. Jesus did not only not disapprove, but made ample use of it, as Matt. 4:23 indicates: “He went round the whole of Galilee teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom and curing all kinds of diseases and sickness among the people.” Abram Leon Sacher, president of Brandeis University, in a recent history of his people, describes the significance of the synagogue. Writing of the exile in Babylon, he says:

It was during this period too that the institution of the synagogue developed, destined to survive until the present time. Bereft of Temple and of religious centers, each little community created its own meeting place. The exiles would congregate, usually on the sabbath, to hear their elders read to them the prayers which had been handed down by tradition. Alms would be distributed, and perhaps there would be instruction in the ritual that was practicable in a strange land. When the exile was over, the synagogue was brought back to Palestine. And when national life was again snuffed out, the synagogue went with the wandering Jews into every corner of the globe. All through the ages there was never a place where Jews could not meet to keep alive the faith of their ancestors,

And Sacher could have added that these far-flung synagogues became the cradle for many a congregation of Christians throughout the empire. The scriptures make it clear that the envoys of Jesus made ready use of them in the proclamation of the gospel. Acts 13:5 tells of how Paul and Barnabas went into the synagogues of the Jews after landing at Salamas, and verse 14 of the same chapter gives some description of the method they used: in Antioch of Pisidia they went to the synagogue on the sabbath and took their seats. The leaders then invited them to speak, saying, “Brothers, if you would like to address some words of encouragement to the congregation, please do so.” This would be unlikely in a clergy-centered modern church, but it would have been common in a primitive congregation, due in part to the influence of the synagogue.

Acts 14:1 tells of the apostles preaching in a synagogue in Iconium with such effectiveness that “a great many Jews and Greeks became believers.” Paul had a great ministry in Berea, where the people were “more noble” than in Thessalonica and “received the word with all readiness of mind” and “searched the scriptures daily, whether these things were so.” The record says that many Jews became believers as well as many upper class Greeks. And all this took place in the synagogue. It is noteworthy that Luke tells us that “they visited the Jewish synagogue as soon as they arrived” (Acts 17:1 0) . Greeks attended the synagogue as “God-fearers,” people sympathetic with Judaism. There is evidence that Paul was as interested in reaching them as he was the Jews. Acts 14:17 has him addressing these people as “fearers of God” as well as addressing “men of Israel.” Acts 10:2 describes Cornelius as being of this class.

Almost certainly many of these synagogues became Christian, while surely there were still many more believers in Jesus who remained within the context of synagogue life. It is no accident that Jas. 2:2 would say, “Now suppose a man comes into your synagogue. . .” Among the hundreds of synagogues in Jerusalem it is highly likely that many of them became Messianic. The ministry of Stephen as described in Acts 6:8-15 would suggest this.

The synagogue was not only the cradle of the church in terms of providing the immediate prospects for conversion to the faith, but also in terms of serving as a kind of guideline for the worship, function and organization of the new community. It were as if God brought the synagogue into existence to serve as a stepping-stone between the formality of the temple and the simplicity of the church. Too, the synagogue, unlike the temple, could be adapted to any situation and any culture. It could “go” with the Jews wherever they went, and it required only ten heads of a family, preferably men of leisure, to get one organized. If the number were fewer, then it would still be a “place of prayer” (Acts 16:13).

The organization is basically what we find in the primitive congregations. The “elders of the Jews” (Lk. 7:3) were the leaders of the synagogues as well as the local Sanhedrin (the court). The “ruler of the synagogue” (Acts 18:8) was the officer who presided over the meetings and was a kind of general supervisor (a deacon?) subject to the elders. He would also act as the school-master when the synagogue served also as a school, which was usual.

The qualifications for the elders was remarkably like those laid down by Paul for the elders in the church. They were to be irreproachable in behavior, including their family; they were to be humble, modest, simple and neat in dress, not self-assertive. Knowledge of the scriptures was a special requirement, and they were duly examined in the word before they were ordained to office. They were elected by the people making up the synagogue (and not by the existing elders, as is common these days), sometimes for life and sometimes for a limited term.

There was a complete absence of anything similar to the modern clergy-man or resident minister.. Priests were sometimes present, and they might give a closing priestly benediction or address the congregation along with others, but they did not control the service. It was opposite to the temple in this respect, for it could and did get along beautifully without priests.

The renowned scholar R. T. Herford, in his Judaism in the New Testament Period, speaks of this.

There was not, until modern times, any regular preacher at any given synagogue... The synagogue has never recognized anyone as having such power as that of a priest who administers a sacrament in the Christian church. . .

Neither of these (officers) held a position even remotely resembling that of a clergyman or minister in the Christian church. The whole congregation were lay men, there was no clerical order, still less a priestly one, and whatever was done in the course of the service was done by members of the congregation, and could be done by anyone of them. (p. 164, 169)

Rabbinic literature preserves one amusing practice of those rabbis who visited the synagogues, expecting to be called on to say a word. It was understood that they would refuse when first asked, but equally understood that they expected to be asked a second or even a third time, when at last they would speak their wise words. Apparently Jesus and the apostles ignored all this when they were asked, but they were something other than clergymen! The synagogue gives us something odd: laymen inviting visiting clergy to address their service. It seldom works the other way, that’s for sure.

Synagogue worship was almost precisely what we find in the earliest church, excepting of course the Lord’s Supper and prayers to or in the name of Jesus. They had prayers, praise, reading of the scriptures (Old Covenant scriptures of course), exhortations, and maybe almsgiving (Matt 6:22). We cannot be sure that either in the synagogue or in the churches there was anything similar to a regular collection. As many as seven men might do the reading. If the exhorter or teacher were especially knowledgeable, there would be a question and answer period. Translations were also common, for a traveling teacher might speak only Hebrew or Aramaic, and so his words would have to be translated in those synagogues using the language of that particular culture. Some renowned teachers would have their own translators with them, being suspicious that what the local translator said was other than what he said!

And there was one interesting difference in that a synagogue would likely have a room for corporal punishment. Since the elders were also judges of the local Jewish community (not the Roman or whatever), they sometimes sentenced one to be flogged. The servant of the synagogue would attend to this back in the “bawl room.” Not a bad idea for us, come to think about it.

And they used their building. They met regularly on Monday and Thursday as well as the sabbath, along with all sorts of festive occasions; and it served as a daily school as well. It was usually built of stone. The doorway would have such ornamentation as a seven-branched candlestick or an open flower between two Paschal Iambs. Inside would be a chest for the scriptures, near which sat the elders and other honorable ones (Matt 23:6). In the center would be an elevated desk where both the reading and teaching took place. The benches would form a semi-circle around the reader, with men and women separated. Visitors and God-fearers would sit in the back.

It was into such a synagogue that our Lord entered in his native Nazareth (Lk. 4:1 6), where he had worshipped and been schooled as a boy. While it was to become a custom, this was his first visit to a synagogue since beginning his ministry. Because of what they had heard about his work in nearby Capernaum, they were curious about him, being all the more reason why he would be called upon to read and say a word, once he had entered and taken a seat amongst the others—almost certainly not one of the chief seats!

The servant of the synagogue went to the chest against the back wall, next to the elders, opened it and removed the scroll of Isaiah. He walked back to the desk where Jesus was now standing and handed it to him. Jesus “found the place,” which was Isa. 61, that just happened (God’s wonders are seen in little things as well as big) to be the reading assignment for that day. Once he had read, he sat down to make his comments. All this was regular procedure in a Jewish synagogue, Except this time it was the Messiah himself who had been called on to read and teach, and he showed them that he himself was the fulfillment of their own scriptures.

Jesus could speak in the synagogues because they were free institutions, unshackled by clerical power. We see this also in the primitive congregations of believers. The church at Rome was able to instruct one another (Ro. 15:14) and the Corinthians were told “At all your meetings, let everyone be ready with a psalm or a lesson or a revelation” (1 Cor.14:26). Heb. 10:24-25 indicates that those believers stirred each other to love and good works in the various meetings they shared together. This is synagogue stuff, with the believers gathered with their elders, teaching and edifying each other from the word. Emil Schurer, the great German Jewish scholar, writes of this in his The Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ.

The peculiarity here is, that just for the acts proper to public worship, the reading of the Scriptures, preaching and prayer, no special officials were appointed. These acts were, on the contrary, in the time of Christ still freely performed in turn by members of the congregation, on account of which Christ was able, whenever He came into a synagogue, to immediately address the congregation. (Vol. 3, p. 62)

This is what we are asking for the Church of Christ today, that it be free in its ministry as were those ancient synagogues that became the nurseries for the earliest churches. Our churches today are more like the temple in its ministry than like the synagogues or the primitive congregation, controlled as they are by professional staffs. If Jesus walked into any of our assemblies and sat down, he would remain seated, if it took being called on to move him. Nobody is called on hardly ever, not even traveling teachers, for it is understood that the hired functionary is always to be doing his thing.

We lose so much with this kind of system. Our brothers and sisters have so much to share with us. The “pool of knowledge and experience” that is always there in a community of people is virtually wasted. The system turns our congregations into mere auditors and spectators rather than participants. Even the elders are strangers to most members, for they do not sit before the community as its teachers, as they did in the synagogues of the Jews and finally in the synagogues of the Messiah. As the synagogues were kept small and numerous, we would do well to do likewise, so that the warmth, friendship, love, and sense of family community could be enjoyed as it was then.

There is some concern these days about the pattern for the church. It is evident enough that we have far more pattern than we are following. One is made to wonder is we really want to follow the scriptures, or if we had rather go our own way, according to our own traditions. I for one would like to see a few of our churches reflect the ways of those old synagogues. Then if the likes of Jesus should come around, we can hear what he has to say!—the Editor