Why Synagogues?
In the first century, the synagogue was a place where Jews and God-fearing Gentiles would gather together to read the Torah, the Word of God. The gospels specifically mention synagogues in Nazareth (Luke 4:16) and Capernaum (Mark 1:21), but there are numerous occasions in the gospels when Jesus ministers in a synagogue.
Public Reading of the Torah
In Jesus’s time, like today, synagogues in the Holy Land had public readings of the Torah every Shabbat. Despite the many streams and teachings in Second Temple Judaism, the Torah remained the unshakable and unquestionable foundation of belief. Therefore, whichever synagogue Jesus entered on Shabbat, he would hear Scripture there.
Understanding Jesus & Paul’s Background
From the Acts, we know that Paul also visited the synagogue in every new town he arrived at- even though his mission was to the Gentiles. If both Jesus and Paul went to synagogue every Shabbat, isn’t it important for New Testament readers to understand the significance of the synagogue in the 1st century Jewish world? Enroll today in our Jewish Background of the New Testament course and learn more about 1st Century Judaism and its connection to Jesus’s teachings.
