This entire book is entitled, In the Shadow of the Temple, which makes this chapter kind of intriguing because it explores the early Jewish believers in Jerusalem but gives special attention to the issue of the Temple.
It does so for an important reason. The last couple of weeks we’ve seen that the relationship of early believers to other Jewish groups was quite complex. Due to the variety of beliefs and the interwoven relationships, what we find when we really examine the evidence is that early on the Christian community was viewed favorably by some Jews, with ambiguity by others, and negatively by not all, but some. Think of the early stories in Acts where thousands are converted, where the Christians are gathering and growing, taking care of their community, etc. These are things that drew positive attention. And this isn’t just attested to by Scripture. Josephus and others paint the early Christian church in a somewhat positive light (even when you take out what are probably some additions by Christian scribes).
So what changes? Well, what we find is that the conflict the Christian believers often come into with the Jews is related to the Temple. When they’re teaching around the Temple they have run-ins with the Sadducees. And when Stephen is martyred we find that his conflict is with some Hellenistic diaspora Jews. Clearly these are ultrazealous Jews since they’ve traveled so far to come to the Temple and live close to it. So the tension that arises with these groups is probably related to the Christian teaching on the Temple. It’s not that they didn’t value the Temple at all anymore, but that it wasn’t necessary either, at least not in the way these groups believed.
Jesus had become the ultra sacrifice so the sacrificial system with which the Temple is primarily associated is no longer necessary. The Temple to early believers was a place of teaching and prayer, and based on Jesus commission in Acts 1:8-10 they understood that teaching should begin at Jerusalem and with the Temple, but teaching and prayer could be done anywhere and Jesus made it clear it must grow outward. And so as Christians taught such things, and even taught them by the Temple, the conflict got intense, at least with these groups. Other groups, including the Pharisees, may not have been all that upset about such teaching. After all, they were primarily focused on what the Temple sacrifices pointed to as well. And following the destruction of the Temple it is a Pharisaical teacher that leads the Jewish people forward (Yochanan ben Zaccai actually left Jerusalem and the Temple before the destruction and cut a deal with the Romans)
So what we find is that the Temple and it’s significance does change greatly with Jesus’ sacrifice and this will profoundly change the relationship between believers and some Jewish groups.
As we think about this, there’s an interesting correlary for Christians today. What is our Temple? Are there things that become “Temples” to us that shouldn’t be?
