Bible Discussion Thread

INTRODUCTION TO TITUS (Part 2):

So, can you imagine somebody being left behind to be in charge of all of this? And we're talking about multiple fellowships. When we say churches, we're not talking about church buildings in every city. We're talking about home fellowships. There were no public worship services until around 313 A.D. when Constantine legalized Christianity and combined it with Sun worship, which is the primary form that we have today.

But it is interesting that these churches, the Jewish people, and the formation of churches in the homes, seems to have come from the Jewish regulations that in order for a synagogue to be formed as an official synagogue, you had to have at least 10 Jewish men in the city. If you have at least 10 Jewish men, you can have a synagogue.

Now Jewish people can still meet together, but they're not considered an official Jewish synagogue unless they have at least 10 Jewish men. Well, the fellowships in these home churches, the rule was, according to historical documents, that they could only have between 10 and 15 people per home fellowship. They could have no more than 15. This was for the purpose of keeping track of one another, making sure everybody's taken care of, and also for accountability purposes.

In the church, not only in the island of Crete, but all through the body of Christ in these home churches, they held people accountable. If they weren't walking with the Lord like they should, they held them accountable.

And when the great persecution broke out in 64 A.D. by Nero, it lasted until 313 A.D. All that time, there was persecution against believers, and churches had to meet underground. They had to meet privately and out of the way of everybody knowing.