Today's Favorite Verse: Acts 2:46

Today's Favorite Verse: Acts 2:46

"And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,"

My question was why did the early saints still go to the temple if Jesus fulfilled the law of Moses? The temples were not controlled by the disciples of Christ, it was the temple of the Jews. I was happy to find this very thing discussed in the New Testament Student Manual.

"Though Jesus Christ had fulfilled the law of Moses—and this law continued to be practiced at the temple in Jerusalem—His followers continued to look to the Jerusalem temple as an important place of worship. References in Acts indicate that the Jewish Christians went often to the temple to pray, worship, teach, minister, and participate in religious celebrations. The Apostles often preached at the temple, perhaps because they knew they would find individuals interested in God there. When Paul visited Jerusalem, he too worshipped and preached at the temple. When Paul was arrested in Jerusalem in about A.D. 58, his captors took him out of the temple and shut the heavy temple doors behind him. Just 12 years later in A.D. 70, the Jews revolted against Rome, which resulted in the destruction of the temple by Roman armies."

"The temple and the synagogue had long been gathering places for public Jewish worship, but the followers of Christ also began to meet for worship in the homes of Church members. Some have called these meeting places “house-churches.” In the book of Acts and in Paul’s letters, we learn that when these early Saints gathered together for worship, they often dined together, partook of the sacrament, prayed, preached the gospel to one another, and sang hymns."

(New Testament Student Manual, "Chapter 29: Acts 1-2", Acts 2:46, Importance of the Temple to the Earliest Christians, Worship in Houses)

So the temple basically was a house of learning and a place to testify of Christ. Jesus taught there, and the apostles did the same.

"Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing, and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God; "

(Doctrine and Covenants 109:8)

Day 3179