attitude of favour observed by Christian teachera towards the civil authorities, although they do not wholly account for it, since the principles upon which civU obedience is enjoined are independent of personal like or dislike. ' The powers that be are ordained of God,' says St. Paul (Ro 13'). The Christians are exhorted to obey and respect them as the representatives of divine justice (Ro 13''*, Tit 3', 1 P 2"-"), to pray for them ( 1 Ti 2^), to pay them tribute as their due (Lk 20-^, Ro 13«- ').
From Pliny's letter to Trajan {Epp. x. 96) we find that the government regarded tne Christian communities as clubs (hetcerix), and the Chris- tians acquiesced in this official definition of their position.
As regards the social and industrial world around tliem, the Christians did not cut them- selves off from their former ties to a greater extent than was necessary. The regulation of St. Paul was, that each should remain as he was until the Lord came. So the believing husband or wife is not to leave an unbelieving spouse (1 Co V^-, cf. 1 P 31). If the unbeliever depart, the believer is, however, not under bondage to follow. But this applies only to marriages con- tracted before the conversion of the one party. When this is not the case the believer is enjoined not to marry with an unbeliever (1 Co 7*" 'she is free to marry whom she will only in the Lord,' i.e. a Christian husband, cf. 2 Co 6"). On the same grounds the slave is advised not to seek his freedom (1 Co 7")i but to do his duty to an unbelieving master as to a believer. We hear of Christians, too, carrying on their former profes- sions, e.g. physician (Col 4"), tentmakers (Ac 18'), soldiers (Ac 10', Ph 1"), public officers (Ac 16^, Ro 1628), purple dyers (Ac 16'^), lawyer (Tit 3"), and as traders generally (Ja 4").
A difficult question was the extent to which a Christian should Join in heathen social gatherings. There was a danger in so doing, not only because of the actual immorality con- nected with them (1 P 48- *), but also on the grounds of the ordinances against eating meat sacrificed to idols. St. Paul does not wish to cut iiis congregations entirely off from their former connexions (e.g. 1 Co 6l0). He does not forbid them to accept an invitation to dine with a heathen (1 Co 102'^ but leaves it to the individual Judgment, 'if ye are disposed.' In regard to the scruple against ilimXoBvfa., he recommends the Christian to eat what is given without question ; but if the fact be forced upon iiim that it is an iti^xiBvrot , to refuse it for the sake of conscience and example (1 Co 10^- 38). We find that some of the advanced liberal party at Corinth even attended the feasts in heathen temples. Tliis St. Paul forbids, not only as 'sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience whea it is weak ' (1 Co 812), but also on the deeper ground that, in the interpretation put upon it, it is really an act of idolatry (16. IQl'^'^-). At a later penod it was made a general ground of complaint against the Christian that he held aloof from social gatherings (1 P 4<),
In his contact with unbelievers the Christian had to remember that the law of love extends to all men, although it found a greater outlet for its expression in the relation of Christian to Christian (Mt 5"-«, Ro 12»', Tit 3'). The same principles of honesty and charity were, accord- ingly, to be observed also towards ' them which are without' (Ro 12", Gal 6'°, Col 4», Ph 4», ITh 3" 4"), even towards the persecutor (Ro 12"), that thus the believers, by their life and conduct, might appeal to and touch tlie best conscience of the heathen world (1 Ti 3', 1 P 2").
(C) The single Community. — The first centre of the Christian community immediately after the ascension of Christ was the upper room in a house. Hither they returned immediately after parting from Christ to wait ' steadfastly in prayer ' for the coming of the promised Holy Ghost (Ao ps-iS) Thus the Christian community was in its origin a house-congregation ; and when it outgrew the limits of a single house, it did not form a 'synagogue' (such as those, e.g., in Ac 6'), but spread as a number of house-congregations (cf. tar
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ttior, ib. 2" 5"). For their general assemblies and their missionary preaching the disciples were able to meet in the temple or its precincts (5"- "•'-), but for their private worship they were divided into groups, the centre of each being the house- hold of a convert, who was able and willing to provide the necessary accommodation in his house. Thus the Church presented the aspect of a number of household groups. The same principle of di- vision was estaolislied in other places besides Jerus., «8 Christianity spread farther. It appears, e.(j., at Thessalonica (Ac 17'), Troas (20^), Ephesus (20'"), Corinth (1 Co 16"), Colossas (Philem \ Laodicoea (Col 4"), and in Rome (assuming that Ro le^'"* is &n integral part of the Epistle : see w.°- '*• " rout ffiy oiVoif i5e\<pci!). These house - congregations also bear the name of iKK\ri<Tla (e.g. Ho 16°, 1 Co 16'", Col 4", Philem «). The condition of the household in ancient society favoured this feature. The master of the house was its lord, and his conversion was generally followed by that of his family and dependants (e.g. Ac lO'"-" 16^ IS", 1 Co 1"). In this way the nucleus was at once formed for a house-congregation, and doubtless isolated converts attached themselves to the church in the house of a wealthier convert. The only passage in NT which seems to imply the existence of a church, i.e. a building set apart for purposes of worship, is Ja 2' ' if there come into your synagogue,' etc. In this passage we have a picture of a Christian place of worship, with seats of honour like the irparoKadcSplai in Jewish synagogues. Apparently, then, by the time this Ep. was written, the Jewish Christians of Jerus. (for the writer speaks from the stand- point of the conditions in his own church) had formed themselves into a synagogue and built a place of meetin" (cf. Ac 6' 9'). The ' school of Tyrannus,' in which St. Paul taught at Ephesus (Ac 19'), was, however, not of this kind. It did not supersede the house-congregations (20*', 1 Co 16"), but was used, as the context shows (v.'"), for the missionary preaching, which had hitherto taken place in the Jewish sj'nagogues.