A Bible Reader’s Website

BSN: SYNAGOGUE or CHURCH

  • A synagogue is to Jews what a church is to Christians. In biblical times, a synagogue could be anywhere in Israel or anywhere in the world, while the temple, by contrast, could only be in Jerusalem. One temple, innumerable synagogues.
  • Like the word church, the word synagogue can refer to a group of people (Lk 12:18) or a place or building (Lk 7:5) for the people. The first dedicated church buildings were not constructed until well after the end of the 1st century.
  • In New Testament times, a synagogue was often the starting point for an apostle to preach in a new location. A church was a congregation or assembly of believers in Jesus (whether Jewish, Gentile, or both), just as a synagogue was a congregation or assembly of Jews.
  • Further to the point above, in the book of Acts as well as the epistles, the words synagogue and church are often used interchangeably. A synagogue didn’t cease being a synagogue if some portion (whether majority or minority) became believers in Jesus as the Messiah. After the New Testament age, usage hardened into synagogue being a strictly Jewish term and church being strictly a Christian term. And that distinction remains to this day.
  • Strong’s Concordance:
    • SYNAGOGUE – Greek: 4864 sunagôgê; from 4863; a bringing together, by ext. an assembling, hence a synagogue:–assembly(1), synagogue(31), synagogues(24).
    • CHURCH – Greek: 1577 ekklêsia; from 1537 and 2564; an assembly, a (religious) congregation:–assembly(3), church(74), churches(35), congregation(2).
    • Neither of these two English words appear in the NASB OT. However, both of the underlying Greek words appear frequently in the Septuagint. (NT Words Hidden in the OT)
  • From the beginning, the main purpose of the synagogue was for the Scriptures to be read. This is how reading material was consumed ancient times because production of documents was more expensive and literacy rates were lower than modern times (i.e. post printing press, which was the 15th century).
  • From the time of Moses onward, the Jews were distinguished from practically all other ancient societies in that their worship was text-based instead of idol-based. For this reason, literacy rates were higher among Jews than among surrounding cultures. Nonetheless, synagogues were the means by which, whatever the literacy rate at any given time or place, the content of the Scriptures was known by 100% of the Jews who weren’t deaf.
  • For the reasons given above, synagogues/churches were the great equalizer of literacy rates in ancient times. Because of synagogues and churches, everyone could know what the word of God said.
  • Glimpses of how synagogues/churches operated in New Testament times: Acts 13:14-15, 27, 42, 44; 15:21; 18:4