Church History, Volume 1 (of 3)Kurtz, J. H. (Johann Heinrich)
Religion
Church History, Volume 1 (of 3)
Kurtz, J. H. (Johann Heinrich)
Church history
§ 17.7. =Christian Worship.=--Even in Jerusalem, where the
temple ordinances were still observed, the religious needs of
the Christian community demanded that separate services of a
distinctly Christian character should be organized. But just
as the Jewish services of that day consisted of two parts--the
ministry of the word for purposes of instruction and edification
in the synagogues, and the symbolic service of a typical and
sacramental character in the temple,--the Christian service was
in like manner from the first divided into a homiletical-didactic
part, and a eucharistic-sacramental part.--=The Homiletical and
Didactic part=, on account of the presence of those who were
not Christians, must have had, just like the synagogue service,
alongside of its principal aim to instruct and edify the
congregation, a definite and deliberately planned missionary
tendency. The church in Jerusalem at the first held these
_morning_ services in one of the halls of the temple, where the
people were wont to assemble for prayer (Acts ii. 46; iii. 1, 11);
but at a later period they were held in private houses. In the
Gentile churches they seem from the first to have been held in
private houses or in halls rented for the purpose. The service
consisted in reading of portions of the Old Testament, and at a
later period, portions of the Apostolic Epistles and Gospels, and
in connection therewith, doctrinal and hortatory discourses, with
prayer and singing of psalms. It is more than probable that the
liberty of teaching, which had prevailed in the synagogues (Luke
ii. 46; iv. 16; Acts xiii. 15), was also permitted in the similar
assemblies of Jewish Christians (Acts viii. 4; xi. 19; James
iii. 1); and it may be concluded from 1 Cor. xiv. 34 that this
also was the practice in Gentile-Christian congregations. The
apparent contradiction of women as such being forbidden to
speak, while in 1 Cor. xi. 5 it seems to be allowed, can only be
explained by supposing that in the passage referred to the woman
spoken of as praying or prophesying is praying in an ecstasy,
that is, speaking with tongues (1 Cor. xiv. 13-15), or uttering
prophetic announcements, like the daughters of Philip (Acts
xxi. 9), and that the permission applies only to such cases, the
exceptional nature of which, as well as their temporary character,
as charismatic and miraculous gifts, would prevent their being
used as precedents for women engaging in regular public discourse
(1 Thess. v. 19). In 1 Cor. xiv. 24 the ἰδιῶται (synonymous with
the ἀμύητοι in the statutes of Hellenic religious associations)
are mentioned as admitted along with the ἀπίστοι to the didactic
services, and, according to _v._ 16, they had a place assigned
to them separate from the congregation proper. We are thus led to
see in them the uninitiated or not yet baptized believers, that
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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