BirkeyBlog

From House Churches to Holy Cathedrals

As already stated in earlier posts, the early church believed that Jesus was the very presence of God and that the body of Christ (the church) constitutes his temple.

The authors of Pagan Christianity? point out that Jesus made some radical statements about the Temple in Jerusalem that angered the Jews of his day. One that angered them the most was the claim that if the temple was destroyed he would build a new one in three days! (John 2:19-21) Though he was referring to the architectural temple as an example, he was actually referring to the real temple - his body - which he did raise up as Himself on the third day (Ephesians 2:6).

The New Testament teaches that since Christ is risen, we Christians have become God’s temple through his “life giving spirit” (1 Cor. 15:45). Through his spirit, he takes up residence with his believers, making them his house or temple. This is why the NT never refers to the church as a building, but as a people.

With Jesus, we no longer need a specific or special place to worship God. We can worship Him in spirit and truth from anywhere.

“When Christianity was born, it was the only religion on the planet that had no sacred objects, no sacred persons, and no sacred spaces.” (James D. G. Dunn)

As another scholar has put it, “The Christianity that conquered the Roman Empire was essentially a home-centered movement.”

As some early church congregations grew they began to remodel their homes to accommodate more people. One example of this is the famous home of Dura-Europos (AD 232) in modern Syria, which is the earliest identifiable Christian meeting place. It was a private home remodeled by removing one interior wall (between 1 and 2 at right), so that it could hold about 70 people.

Examples like this cannot be called “church buildings” but rather homes modified to accommodate larger assemblies. They were never called temples, nor considered sacred spaces.

I became aware of this particular archeological evidence a number of years ago when my father, Del Birkey wrote a book called: The House Church: A Model for Renewing the Church in which this same point is made.

Because of this, on trips in Europe and a recent trip to Spain, I have been keenly aware of the vast changes that occurred in history from the beginning of the church (The Upper Room and the house churches of the New Testament) through history (the basilicas and cathedrals of Europe) on to today (the American church building and church architecture) as it relates to the idea of the church as a building.

The most fantastic example I have seen so far is the Familia Sagrada in Barcelona, Spain. It is truly amazing and incredible… yet sadly, it is not a church, even though millions believe this to be the case.

Even though many of these buildings erected for the purpose of church gatherings are indeed spectacular works of art and human engineering, and deserve our study and admiration, they sadly detract from the original and true meaning of “the church.”

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