The Christian Church Before the New Testament
If you were living in first century Palestine, you were either a Jew, or a Gentile. What's a Gentile? Right, a non-Jew. As the work and ministry of Jesus grew in his community and beyond (Judea and Galilee), word of mouth spread quickly. Was this the Messiah that some of the OT prophets might have been talking about? As far back as Deuteronomy 18:15, Moses says, "The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people; you shall heed such a prophet." So the idea of a "sent one" coming to restore Jerusalem and the temple (which had been destroyed twice now) was not a new idea and belief.
If you were living in Palestine in the 1st century, you would have been part of a mixed community - a community of Jews and Gentiles, living and working, doing the things of daily life at the time. And as the word spread that Jesus was in the neighborhood, people began to pay attention. Was this Jewish rabbi the "anointed one" as many had foretold? And as citizens of the Roman Empire, generally, the people in power tolerated the Jews in their midst. Mostly. But life wasn't so great. For them, or for their Gentile counterparts.
Skip over his life and death and resurrection to roughly the year 30 AD, post resurrection, and many Gentiles were attracted to the life and teaching of Jesus - his message of hope, and inclusion, and forgiveness, and life beyond the misery that many knew all too well. A message of hope. But, so were many Jews at the time. That's right. Many Jews had heard and even seen Jesus' ministry, and became "believers", if you will. Remember the stories of the temple leadership who continually tried to trick Jesus the good Jew, into doing something "illegal" on the Sabbath? The Jewish community knew all about Jesus, both what they liked, and what they didn't like. So, small communities of believers, both Jewish and Gentile, would gather together to worship. Gather in houses. In temples even. But, there was no "New Testament", only the Hebrew bible. The Old Testament.
Think about it for a minute. These earliest worshipers were a combination of Jews, Gentiles, and what some would call Jewish Christians - Jews, but converting or converted to the message that Jesus had preached. There was no Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. There was no Romans, or Galatians to read and study. They were all years away, at least from being written down. So, what did they read? The Hebrew Bible - the Old Testament. The Psalms. The prophets - Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others. But mostly, they heard the good news of Jesus through the spoken word - the oral tradition. From the disciples. From the Apostles themselves. From the Apocrypha - the so-called "intertestamental period between the Old Testament and the New Testament. And there were some "gospels", none of which, of course, made it into the bible as we know it. You may have heard of the gospel of Judas. Who'd buy that book?!
So, hanging around in this period, as the Christian "church" was finding its way, with Jews and Gentiles, and this new group known as Jewish Christians, were the Saddiccees, who were the authorities on the Torah (first 5 books of the bible), and who were a priestly group, dedicating themselves to life in the temple. These were the real insiders back then.
Then, there were the Pharisees - you've heard of them. These guys were the experts in the written law according to Moses, and interpreted the law. You recall the Pharisees often trying to catch Jesus doing inappropriate things on the Sabbath to prove that he wasn't the Messiah.
My best advice here is to read Acts, Chapters 1-4 to get some background. Luke, the writer, clearly gives us the best possible glimpse of what this early church might have looked like, and what they did as they gathered for worship. Read below Acts 2:41-47. Notice that the pattern of worship is very similar to today's. See below. Peter's preaching, but the disciples were all in attendance in this gathering this day:
So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
43 Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. 44 All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45 they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
See the pattern - teaching and fellowship; breaking of the bread and prayers; gathering possessions (think offering) and sending stuff out into the community to those who had need. Just like our present day worship pattern - we GATHER; we hear texts read (WORD); we pray, have an offering and communion (MEAL); and we send one another out with a prayer and a blessing, as what we gather each Sunday goes out to the wider community. Patterns as old as the church itself. This is beautiful text, this description of the earliest Christian church, and an amazing story. Read it again and again to get the full impact of it all.
So, what texts did the earliest church read? Now you know. Amen.