It is important to note that Barna & Viola (the authors) seem to be anti-church in my opinion, and I have tried to cut through a lot of there rantings about how we all need to leave our churches and join/start house churches.
With that being said, if you've ever wondered why we have church buildings when the Acts church only met in homes. Then this is the blog for you.
Many claim that we get our church buildings and altars from the Jewish temples. Well this is may be true, but unlikely. Mainly because by the time that the first church buildings were being built the number of Christians who were born Jews was incredibly small in comparison to the number of Gentile Christians (former Pagans). So, these Gentile Christians used the only frame of reference they had for their buildings and early practices, paganism.
Another important note is that both Judaism and Paganism were centered around three main components; temples, priests and sacrifices. In His perfection, Jesus Christ fulfilled all three, so there isn't a "need" for any of them when you are a follower of Christ.
Fun Facts...
- "Ekklesia" (Greek for church) was never used in the New Testament to refer to a building.
- House of Dura-Europos (AD 232) was a home remodeled for Christian gathering. It is the earliest one excavated to date.
- In the 3rd Century, the pagan custom of having meals for dead family and friends at their graves, carried over to the Christians and the first martyrs. The meals became Communion.
- Over time, they began building small monuments over the graves of the martyrs. The monuments got bigger and became shrines as they began to look at these sites as "holy".
- Constantine (ca. 285-337) converted to Christianity, still under heavy debate, and wanted to make it an equal and legitimate religion to Judaism and Paganism. The main difference in his eyes was that they had no temples and the other two did.
-Constantine began building churches on top of the already existing shrines and naming them after the martyrs (e.g. - St. Peter's on Vatican Hill, St. Paul's Outside the Walls, Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and The Church of the Nativity)
- Since these sites were now considered holy, church-goers had to have a purification ceremony to be able to enter (a pagan tradition)
- The architecture was a duplication of the Roman Basilicas (the buildings used by the senate)
- These designs are still employed today.
+ Raised platform for the clergy/senate
+Altar in the center table or chest that held the martyr's bones
+ Eucharist (bread and cup) was on the table. Now considered a holy ceremony because of the pagan meal practice
+ Cathedra (large chair) for the bishop or judge
+ Surrounded by rows of smaller chairs for the elders/senate members
Sound familiar, go into any traditional church and you will probably see the large chair for the pastor and smaller ones for his staff. There is usually a communion table as well.
Chapter 2 coming soon...
peace
