Tiie city - church was comjiosed of a ntimber of these house-churches, and it grew by the addi- tion of new congregations. The first household which had received the apostle gener.ally became the centre of these smaller groups. To its mem- bers, the first-fruits {d.Trapx'n) of the city, a special respect was due (1 Co 16'''-"'). It hud been tlic home of the apostle during his visit, and, in con.se- quence, the centre of guidance and direction. In some ca-ses the prominence of some other member caused the centre of the community to shift from the original household ; e.g. the house of Mary, the mother of Mark, waa at first tlie centre of church life in Jerus. (Ac 12'^), but later (Ac 21'») James' house appears as the ollicial place of meet- ing. The whole community met together on occa- sions of necessity either at this central house or some other convenient place {e.g. Ac 15** 21'", 1 Co 6*, 1 Th 5", Col 4"). Thus, apparently, Gains received the community in his house when they a-ssembled to meet their apostle and founder
JRo 16'*). The same community met on occasions or common worship (1 Co H'^), though their num- bers do not allow us to supj>(>se that this could always have been the case. For the purpose of worsiiip the house must liave been the unit. I5ut for the purpose of direction and administration the unit was not the house- but the city-congrega- tion (cf. Ac 11" 13' 20^). So the apostle directs his letters to the church of the city, e.g. at Corinth (1 (k> l'*), because the city-church and not tlic house-church w8l8 the primary unit in the regula- tion of alTairs.
The Organization of the Community. — The writer
of Ac sums up the distinctive elements of the new Christian life in the words (2*^) irpouKaprtpouyTts rj diSaxi Twi» iToiTTdXuif Ka.1 Trj koivuvI^, rp K\dae^ roi dprov Kal Toij rpoaevxah (WH), 'abiding in the teaching of the apostles and the fellowship, in the breaking of the bread and the prayers.' The words go by pairs, the ' breaking of the bread ' and ' the prayers ' making up the common worship of the community, while the 'teaching' and the ' fellowship ' cover the ground of their common life. No community can exist without organiza- tion, lea.st of all a community in which are combined a religion and a common life. But before passing on to a.sk what was the nature of this organization, we must first see what was the nature of the work to be done. This will be found to group itself under four main heads: (1) The instruction of converts, (2) the collection and administration of the common funds, (3) general a<lmiuistration and direction, (4) discipline.
(1) Imtruction.—\V]\ea we remember bow slowly the disoiplei assimilated the teachin|r of their Master, and what patient and caretui labour it needed to perfect their faith, we ehall realize the work which was involved in the instruction of new convert* when the nunihcrB cf the Church were counted by thousands. And if this is true with regard to Jews, bow much greater must have been the lal>our when the community included pura Gentiles, who had scarcely any knowledge of Jewish scriptures, and lacked the sound foundation of Jewish monotheism. The labour of 'watering* was not leas than the toil cA 'planting.' The instruction cannot have been confined to the discourse of the services, or the teaching of the apostle in person or by letter. Such a knowledge of the ()T as St. I'aul presupposes in Qentile converts (f.j. RoT', lCo«i«9is lOHr.Gal 4'iii')could only be the fruit of long and systematic instruction. This waa the main work of men like Aquila and ApoUos. There waa a special ' gift' of ' teaching,' and a special class of men in the Christian Church who were called ' teachers' from the exercise of this gift. Of the content of this leaching we can only say on tX priori grounds that it must have embraced the historical facts on which Christianity is based, together with their doctrinal significance, and the practical rule of life directly grounded on the doctrine. A systeniaLic instruction in the OT writings must have been necessary for Gentiles to understand the very frequent allusions to them and interpretations of them which occur in the Pauline Epp. (e.a. Ro 9ii>r-, I Co UH ", 2 Co 3' i», Oal 42i 31, cf. also 2 Ti SI"*). This last passage shows bow the doctrinal and hortatory elements ore mextricably interwoven with instruction in a narrower sense. St. Paul's Epp. also are a good example of the same. The historical facts of OT and of Christ's life are regarded as facts of doctrinal significance {e.g. Gal 421-31), and from doctrinal truths practical injunctions are drawn as their con- sequences (cf. the ' therefore ' in I Co 16M. Eph 41', Col S'- '2).
'ihe instruction proceeded on the Jevi'iib method of repeated oral teaching (cf. the word ««Tti;(i«, Lk I-*, Ac IS^*, 1 Co 1419, Oal ^). In N'T a convert was baptized as soon as he dedarea his belief in Christ (Ac '24i and often), but later the practice arose of deferring baptism until the convert had been instructed in the rudiments of the faith, and during this period he wa« called a 'catechumen' {xx-T^x^^f^^^f)- The content of the teaching had for its kernel first and foremost sayiiigg qf the Lord wiiicli were remembered and treasured up by those who hiul known Him {of. 1 Co T"- '»- » 9" 1123 nar, i xh 42. 1 Ti 6'»). These floating sayings were at an early date collected into a hook of the 'oracles of the Lord'(Papias ap. Ens. iii. 39), which waa one of the main sources of the Gospels of .Mt arid Lk. To these sayings of Christ were added the divinely inspired teaching of the apostles and propheta. So there arose gradually a fixefl body of teaching bearing the stamp of Christ's authoritv (I Ti 03, 2 Jn 9) or the apostolic approval (Gal 1*", 1 Th 4l- 2, 2 'Ih 21», 2 TI 1'3 22 3'*, Tit 1"). The danger arising from the free activity of the ' teacher ' was thus lessened oy this firm and unalterable foundation of 'tradition,' rspsdcrtt, the faith handed on from one to another (2 Th 2" 30, Ko (117, 1 Co 163 no, n iJ), ^nd guarded by each as a sacred dejiosit (T«^«fi^«,,. 1 Ti 620, g xi V* ■J2). This accredited teaching is also expressea by phrases such