Gentile Believers in the Synagogue

Most of us were given a simple picture of the first century. In it there were two worlds. On one side stood the synagogue, with the Jewish people, the Torah, the food laws, the Sabbath, and the feasts. On the other side stood the church, made up of believers from the nations who trusted in Yeshua and left all of that behind. There were two buildings, two cultures, and two different books.

Think of two neighbors who share a street but never a table. Each keeps his own house, his own customs, and his own calendar, and they do no more than nod to each other across the fence. That is how many imagine the church and the synagogue.

When we open Acts, however, we find something else. The two neighbors were sitting in the same room, on the same day, listening to the same book.

The Council That Everyone Remembers

Most people point to Acts 15, the council in Jerusalem. As the story is usually told, the apostles met, debated, and gave the new believers from the nations four simple rules, and everything else in the Torah was lifted from their shoulders.

These are the four rules:

Acts 15:28-29 For it seemed good to the hagio(holy) pneuma πνεῦμα pnyoo'-mah(spirit) and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials: that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from sexual immorality; if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well. Farewell."

The rules are real, but James said more when he first proposed them. Read the verse that follows his list:

Acts 15:20-21 but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from sexual immorality and from what is strangled and from blood. For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who proclaim him, since he is read in the synagogues every sabbaton σάββατον sab'-bat-on(referring to every Moed of Leviticus 23)."

“For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who proclaim him, since he is read in the synagogues every sabbaton.”

That one sentence changes the whole scene. There were only four rules because the believers from the nations would hear the rest of Moses read aloud every Sabbath in the synagogue.

A Threshold, Not a Ceiling

There was no shortened edition of the Torah prepared for Gentiles in those synagogues. When Moses was read, Leviticus 11 was read, with its clean and unclean animals. So were chapters 12 through 15, with their laws of purity. Leviticus 23 was read, with the Sabbath and all the appointed times.

The four rules, then, were never the finish line. They were the threshold, the few essentials a person from a pagan background needed so that from his very first day he could sit together with Jewish believers. Everything after that he would learn week by week, as he heard Moses read.

The apostles had no need to hand the nations a complete manual; the manual was already in every synagogue.

Sitting in the Same Room

Was there a separate synagogue for believers from the nations? The New Testament never mentions one. Follow Paul from city to city and notice where he goes first:

Acts 13:14-16 But going on from Perga, they arrived at Pisidian Antioch, and on the sabbatons(referring to every Moed of Leviticus 23) day they went into the synagogue and sat down. After the reading of the nomos νόμος nom'-os(law) and the Prophets, the synagogue officials sent to them, saying, "Brothers, if you have any logos λόγος log'-os(word) of paraklesis παράκλησις par-ak'-lay-sis(the act of coming alongside to call, comfort, exhortation) for the people, say it." Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said, "Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen:

The setting is a Jewish synagogue in Pisidian Antioch, just after the reading of the Torah and the Prophets. Paul addresses two groups in the room: “Men of Israel, and you who fear God.” Those who fear God are people from the nations who had already been drawn to the God of Israel. They are sitting in the same synagogue and hearing the same reading.

Acts 13:42-44 As they were going out of the synagogue of the Jews, the Gentiles kept begging that these rhema ῥήμα hray'-mah(spoken-word)s might be spoken to them the next sabbaton(referring to every Moed of Leviticus 23). Now when the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and of the God-fearing proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, were urging them to continue in the charis χάρις khar'-ece(grace) of God. The next sabbaton(referring to every Moed of Leviticus 23) nearly the whole city assembled to hear the logos(word) of God.

The Gentiles begged to hear more on the next sabbaton, and when that day came, nearly the whole city gathered.

Acts 14:1 In Iconium they entered the synagogue of the Jews together, and spoke in such a manner that a large number of people believed, both of Jews and of Greeks.

Iconium follows the same pattern: Paul and Barnabas went into the synagogue, and both Jews and Greeks believed.

Acts 17:2-4 And according to Paul's custom, he went to them, and for three sabbatons(referring to every Moed of Leviticus 23) reasoned with them from the graphe γραφή graf-ay'(written-scripture)s, explaining and giving evidence that the Messiah had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, "This Yeshua whom I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah." And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large number of the God-fearing Greeks and a number of the leading women.

In Thessalonica Paul again went to the synagogue, as was his custom, for three Sabbaths, and a large number of God-fearing Greeks joined Paul and Silas.

Acts 18:4 And he was reasoning in the synagogue every sabbaton(referring to every Moed of Leviticus 23) and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.

In Corinth it was every Sabbath, and again the listeners were Jews and Greeks.

In city after city, Jews and Greeks sat shoulder to shoulder in one synagogue, on the same Sabbath, hearing the same reading. For Paul this was not an occasional strategy. It was, in Luke’s words, “Paul’s custom.”

But What About House Churches?

A fair objection remains. The New Testament also speaks of churches meeting in homes. Does that not show that the believers had their own separate gatherings?

The answer lies in the same pages.