Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text: Ideas
The customs, offices and ideas a first reader knew without being told, what each meant then, and the nearest thing you already know.
House churches
For their first three centuries Christians met in homes, the way some Jewish groups and private clubs did. A host with a large house gave the church its room, its table and often its protection.
The Bible study meets in the Johnsons' living room because they have the biggest house and the longest table. The first Christians had no church buildings. They met in the homes of members who had room, often the better-off ones, for meals, prayer and teaching. Poorer Jewish groups and private associations did the same. In a big city there were several house churches at once, each gathered round a different household.
In the first three centuries churches met mainly in homes, as some other associations did, which was cheap and at times safer. Poorer Jews who could not afford a synagogue building did the same. The house of Mary in Acts 12:12-13 had an outer gate, a servant girl to keep it and room for a crowd further in. That marks a fairly wealthy family, probably in Jerusalem's Upper City near the temple. Large upper rooms were also found in the wealthy Upper City. The ESV Study Bible observes that believers went on owning homes and meeting in them after the sharing of Acts 2, pointing to Romans 16:5, 1 Corinthians 16:19, Colossians 4:15 and Philemon 2. The CSB Study Bible says the first evangelism seems to have happened through gatherings in the temple and in houses. In Rome most people lived in apartments, so a church might meet in a hallway or on a roomier lower floor. The money saved on buildings could go to the poor. Wright and Bird describe Paul planting several house churches in Corinth, based around households such as those of Titius Justus, Crispus, Chloe and Stephanas. They describe the church in Rome as several house churches with quite different viewpoints. In Corinth, Keener writes, a patron's dining room normally seated nine, with as many as forty more in the atrium. The cultural backgrounds notes estimate that many large Corinthian homes held forty to fifty people. Well-to-do owners of homes where a religious group met were normally honored as its patrons.
An analogy: a club that meets in members' living rooms because it cannot afford a hall. The host's furniture, food and neighbors shape every meeting, and in a big town there are several such rooms, each with its own feel.
Meetings in homes, as in Acts 12:12, put the church under a host's roof and at a host's table, which is why letters greet the church in someone's house, as in Romans 16:5 and 1 Corinthians 16:19. A city's believers could be spread across several households, so unity between them took work.
Not a gathering of equals in a borrowed room. A club can rotate its hosts. A house church usually met with a well-off householder who was honored as its patron, and his dining room seated only a handful, with the rest further out in the house.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-1-12-26\/","n":"Acts 1:12-26, The Twelve made whole by lot","s":"Back in Jerusalem the apostles pray in an upstairs room with the women and Jesus' family. Peter says Judas's place must be filled, and the lot falls on Matthias.","r":"Acts 1:12-26"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-2-42-47\/","n":"Acts 2:42-47, The common life","s":"The first believers devote themselves to teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread and the prayers, share their possessions, and meet daily in the temple courts and in their homes.","r":"Acts 2:42-47"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-12-1-25\/","n":"Acts 12:1-25, Herod Agrippa, the prison and the king struck down","s":"King Herod Agrippa kills James and jails Peter at Passover, but an angel leads Peter out. Later, in Caesarea, the king accepts the crowd's cry that he speaks with a god's voice and is struck down.","r":"Acts 12:1-25"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-18-1-11\/","n":"Acts 18:1-11, Tentmakers in Corinth","s":"In Corinth Paul lodges and works with Aquila and Priscilla, Jews lately expelled from Rome who share his trade. When the synagogue turns against him he moves next door to the house of Titius Justus, and the synagogue leader Crispus believes with his household.","r":"Acts 18:1-11"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/acts-20-1-12\/","n":"Acts 20:1-12, The collection party and Eutychus at Troas","s":"Paul leaves Ephesus for Macedonia and Greece, then sets out for Jerusalem with delegates from the churches. At Troas the believers meet on the first day of the week, and a young man who falls from a window is taken up alive.","r":"Acts 20:1-12"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/romans-1-8-17\/","n":"Romans 1:8-17, Longing to see Rome","s":"Paul thanks God that the Roman believers' faith is spoken of everywhere, explains why he has not yet come, and states his theme: the good news is God's power to save everyone who believes, Jew and Greek.","r":"Romans 1:8-17"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/romans-14-1-23\/","n":"Romans 14:1-23, Vegetables, holy days and wine","s":"Some believers eat only vegetables and keep certain days; others eat anything and treat every day alike. Paul tells both not to judge one another, since all will stand before God's judgment seat, and not to wreck another's faith over food.","r":"Romans 14:1-23"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/romans-16-3-16\/","n":"Romans 16:3-16, Greet the church in their house","s":"Paul greets more than two dozen believers in Rome by name, from Prisca and Aquila and the church in their house to the households of Aristobulus and Narcissus, and tells them to greet one another with a holy kiss.","r":"Romans 16:3-16"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1corinthians-1-10-17\/","n":"1 Corinthians 1:10-17, I belong to Paul, I belong to Apollos","s":"Told by Chloe's people that the church is splitting into camps behind Paul, Apollos, Cephas and Christ, Paul appeals for unity and asks whether Christ has been divided.","r":"1 Corinthians 1:10-17"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1corinthians-11-17-34\/","n":"1 Corinthians 11:17-34, The Lord's Supper in a rich man's house","s":"Paul rebukes the church because at the Lord's Supper some go hungry while others eat their fill and get drunk, retells the tradition of the Last Supper, and tells them to wait for one another.","r":"1 Corinthians 11:17-34"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1corinthians-14-26-40\/","n":"1 Corinthians 14:26-40, Order when the church meets","s":"Paul regulates a meeting where everyone brings a hymn, a teaching, a revelation or a tongue: speakers take turns, prophets weigh one another's words, women are to be silent and ask at home, and everything is to be done decently and in order.","r":"1 Corinthians 14:26-40"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1corinthians-16-1-24\/","n":"1 Corinthians 16:1-24, The collection and final greetings","s":"Paul arranges a weekly setting aside of money for the believers in Jerusalem, plans his travels, commends Timothy, Apollos and the household of Stephanas, and closes with greetings, a line in his own hand and the Aramaic prayer Marana tha.","r":"1 Corinthians 16:1-24"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/colossians-4-7-18\/","n":"Colossians 4:7-18, Tychicus, Onesimus, Nympha's house and the letter from Laodicea","s":"Paul sends the letter with Tychicus and Onesimus, passes on greetings from Jewish and Gentile co-workers, greets Nympha and the church in her house, asks for this letter to be read at Laodicea and the Laodicean letter at Colossae, and signs off in his own hand.","r":"Colossians 4:7-18"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1thessalonians-5-12-28\/","n":"1 Thessalonians 5:12-28, Leaders, prophets, a holy kiss and a letter read to all","s":"Paul asks the church to honor those who work hard over them, to warn the idle and help the weak, to rejoice, pray and give thanks, not to quench the Spirit or despise prophecy but test everything, and to have the letter read to all.","r":"1 Thessalonians 5:12-28"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/1timothy-3-14-16\/","n":"1 Timothy 3:14-16, God's household and the hymn","s":"Paul writes so that, if he is delayed, Timothy will know how people ought to behave in God's household, the church of the living God, and quotes what seems to be a hymn about Christ.","r":"1 Timothy 3:14-16"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/philemon-1-7\/","n":"Philemon 1-7, The church in Philemon's house","s":"Paul, a prisoner, and Timothy write to Philemon, to Apphia and Archippus, and to the church that meets in Philemon's house, and Paul thanks God for Philemon's love and faith, his partnership, and the way he has refreshed the hearts of God's people.","r":"Philemon 1-7"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/hebrews-10-19-25\/","n":"Hebrews 10:19-25, Through the curtain, bodies washed, meeting together","s":"Because Jesus' blood has opened a new and living way through the curtain, believers may enter the most holy place with confidence. With hearts sprinkled and bodies washed with pure water, they are to hold fast, spur one another on, and not give up meeting together.","r":"Hebrews 10:19-25"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/2john-1-6\/","n":"2 John 1-6, The elder to the chosen lady","s":"The elder writes to the chosen lady and her children, whom he loves in the truth. He is glad that some of her children walk in the truth, and he asks for no new command but the old one, that they love one another, which means walking in God's commands.","r":"2 John 1-6"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/3john-9-15\/","n":"3 John 9-15, Diotrephes and Demetrius","s":"The elder wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, eager to be first, refuses to receive him; he spreads malicious talk, refuses to welcome the brothers and puts out of the church those who do. Gaius is not to imitate evil. Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone, and the elder adds his own testimony; he hopes to come soon and talk face to face.","r":"3 John 9-15"}
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Acts 1:13 and 12:12, and on Romans 16:5 and 1 Corinthians 16:19
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Acts 1:13 and 12:12-13
- ESV Study Bible, study note on Acts 2:44
- CSB Study Bible, note on Acts 2:47
- N. T. Wright and Michael F. Bird, The New Testament in Its World, ch. 15, The Story of Paul's Life and Ministry, and ch. 22, Romans
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Acts 18:6-7
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Acts 18:7
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Philemon 1-3
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Philemon 1:1-2
