Temple and Synagogue Worship In Early Christianity

The musical culture of Jewish worship was carried over into the church by the Jewish converts to Christianity. In this regard, there was no radical break from Judaism that resulted in new forms of Christian music. The New Testament Christians did not consider Christianity antithetical to Judaism but as its fulfillment. Jesus Christ was the ultimate conclusion to the Law and to the Prophets, whose essential truth he came to fulfill. Hence, it is not surprising to find that the followers of Christ frequented the temple and synagogues not occasionally but "every day" (Acts 2:46; 9:2, 20). Their purpose, in addition to worship, was obviously to complete the fulfillment of Christ, with regard to the forms of worship indigenous to these places, by the exposition and debating that issued from the centrality of Christ and his opposition to the gospel synagogue, however, forced the Christians to worship and speak of Jesus elsewhere, and for some time the home, the open air, or any other avail…