That the Christians of the apostolic age built special houses of worship is out of the question. As the Savior of the world was born in a stable and ascended to heaven, so the apostles and their successors, down to the third century, preached in the streets, in the marketplaces, on the mountains, in the deserts, and in the homes of their converts. But how many thousands of costly churches and chapels have since been built, and are continually being built, in all parts of the world, to the honor of the crucified Redeemer, who in the days of His humiliation had no place to lay His head.

Many Christians today have a love affair with bricks and mortar. The complex of buildings is so deeply ingrained in our thinking that when a group of believers begin to meet together, their first thoughts turn to securing the building. The church building is so connected with the idea of the church that we unconsciously identify it with it. Just listen to the vocabulary of today’s average Christian: Wow, honey, did you see that beautiful church we just passed? My God! That’s the biggest church I’ve ever seen! I wonder what the electricity costs are to run it? Our church is too small. It’s making me claustrophobic. We need to extend the balcony. The church is cold today, my feet are freezing! Or what about the vocabulary of the average pastor: Isn’t it wonderful to be in the house of God today? We need to show reverence as we come into the sanctuary of the Lord. Or what about the mother who says to her happy child (in hushed tones): Wipe that smile off your face, You’re in church now! We’re acting like we’re in the house of God! Simply put, none of these ideas have anything to do with New Testament Christianity. Rather, they reflect the thinking of other religions, primarily Judaism and paganism.

TEMPLES, PRIESTS AND SACRIFICES

Ancient Judaism centered on three elements: the temple, the priesthood, and the sacrifice.

When Jesus came, he completed all three and fulfilled them in himself. He is the temple, embodying the new and living house of living stones. He is the priest who instituted the new priesthood. And he is the perfect and accomplished sacrifice. Consequently, the temple, the professional priesthood, and the sacrifice of Judaism died with the coming of Jesus Christ. Christ is the fulfillment and reality of all of these. These three elements were also present in Greco-Roman paganism: the pagans had their temples, their priests, and their sacrifices. It was only the Christians who eliminated all of these elements. It can be rightly said that Christianity was the first religion that was not based on a temple.

In the minds of the early Christians, people, not architecture, constituted the sacred space. The early Christians understood that they themselves, collectively, were God’s temple and God’s house. It is striking that nowhere in the New Testament do we find the terms church (ekklesia), temple, or house of God used to refer to a building. To the ears of a first-century Christian, calling an ekklesia (church) a building would have been like calling one’s wife an apartment or one’s mother a skyscraper!

The first recorded use of the word ekklesia to refer to a place of Christian meeting was written around 190 C.E. by Clement of Alexandria (150-215). Clement was also the first person to use the phrase go to church—a foreign idea to first-century believers. (You cannot go to something that you are!)

Throughout the New Testament, ekklesia always refers to a gathering of people, not a place. In each of its 114 occurrences in the New Testament, ekklesia refers to a gathering of people. (The English word church is derived from the Greek word kyriakon, meaning belonging to the Lord. In time, it came to mean the house of God and referred to a building.) Nevertheless, Clement’s reference to going to church is not a reference to visiting a special building for worship. Rather, it refers to a private home that Christians in the second century used for their meetings.

Christians did not build special buildings for worship until the Constantine era in the fourth century. New Testament scholar Graydon F. Snyder states: There is no literary evidence or archaeological indication that such a house was converted into an existing church building. Nor is there any surviving church that was definitely built before Constantine. In another work, he writes: The early churches met constantly in private homes. We know of no buildings erected as churches until the year 300. Nor did they have a special priestly caste set apart to serve God. Instead, every believer recognized that he was a priest to God. The early Christians also did away with sacrifices. For they understood that the true and final sacrifice (Christ) had come. The only sacrifices they offered were spiritual sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving. (See Hebrews 13:15 and 1 Peter 2:5)

As Roman Catholicism developed in the fourth to sixth centuries, it absorbed many of the religious practices of paganism and Judaism. It established a professional priesthood, built sacred buildings, and transformed the Lord’s Supper into a mysterious sacrifice. Following the path of the pagans, early Catholicism adopted the practice of burning incense. Protestants abandoned the sacrificial use of the Lord’s Supper and the burning of incense. However, they retained the priestly caste (clergy) as well as the sacred building.

FROM HOME CHURCHES TO HOLY CATHEDRALS

The early Christians believed that Jesus was the very presence of God. They believed that the body of Christ, the church, represented the temple. When Jesus was on earth, he made some radically negative statements about the Jewish temple. What angered many Jews the most was his announcement that if the temple was destroyed, he would build a new one in three days! (John 2:19-21)

Although Jesus was speaking of a temple that existed in an architectural sense, he was actually speaking of his body. Jesus said that when that temple was destroyed, he would raise it up in three days. He was referring to the real temple—the church—that he raised up in himself on the third day (Ephesians 2:6). Since Christ rose from the dead, we Christians have become God’s temple. At his resurrection, Christ became a life-giving spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45). Therefore, he could dwell in believers, making them his temple, his house. For this reason, the New Testament always reserves the word church (ekklesia) for God’s people. It never uses the word to refer to a building of any kind.

Jesus’ act of cleansing the temple not only showed His wrath at the disrespect of the money changers in the temple, which was a picture of the true house of God, but it also signified that the temple worship of Judaism would be replaced by Himself. With the coming of Jesus, God the Father would no longer be worshipped on a mountain or in a temple. Instead, He would be worshipped in spirit and truth.

When Christianity was born, it was the only religion on the planet that had no sacred objects, no sacred persons, and no sacred spaces. Although the early Christians were surrounded by Jewish synagogues and pagan temples, they were the only religious people on earth who did not build sacred buildings for their worship. The Christian faith was born in homes, in courtyards, and by the roadsides.

During the first three centuries, Christians had no special buildings! Meeting in homes was a conscious choice of the early Christians. As Christian congregations grew, they began to remodel their homes to accommodate their growing numbers.

One of the most significant archaeological finds is the Dura-Europos House in modern Syria. This is the oldest identifiable Christian meeting place. It was simply a private house converted into a Christian gathering place around 232 AD. The Dura-Europos House was essentially a house with a wall torn out between two bedrooms to create a large living room. With this modification, the house could accommodate about seventy people. Remodeled houses like Dura-Europos cannot rightly be called church buildings. They were simply houses that had been remodeled to accommodate larger gatherings. Furthermore, these houses were never called temples, a term that both pagans and Jews used for their sacred spaces.

Christians did not begin to call their buildings temples until the fifteenth century.

CREATING SACRED SPACES AND OBJECTS

A shift occurred in the late second and third centuries. Christians began to adopt the pagan view of the veneration of the dead. Their focus was on honoring the memory of martyrs. Thus began prayers for the saints (which later evolved into prayers to them). Christians adopted from the pagans the custom of eating in honor of the dead. Both the Christian funeral and the funeral dirge arose directly from paganism in the third century. Christians in the third century had two places for their gatherings: their homes and the cemetery. They met in the cemetery because they wanted to be close to their dead brothers. They believed that sharing a meal in the cemetery of a martyr was a way of remembering him and worshipping in his company. Since the bodies of "holy" martyrs resided there, Christian burial grounds came to be considered "holy spaces." Christians then began to erect small monuments over these spaces—especially over the graves of "famous saints." To build a shrine over a burial place and call it holy was also a pagan practice. In Rome, Christians began to decorate the catacombs (underground burial places) with Christian symbols. Thus art began to be associated with sacred spaces. Clement of Alexandria was one of the first Christians to advocate the use of fine art in worship. Interestingly, the cross as an artistic reference to Christ’s death cannot be found before the time of Constantine.

The cross, an artistic representation of the Savior nailed to a cross, first appeared in the fifth century. The custom of making the “sign of the cross” with the hands dates back to the second century. Around the second century, Christians began to venerate the bones of saints, considering them holy and sacred. This eventually gave rise to the collection of relics. Reverence for the dead was the most powerful community-building force in the Roman Empire. Now Christians absorbed it into their own faith. By the end of the second century, there was also a shift in how the Lord’s Supper was viewed. The supper had changed from a full meal to a stylized ceremony called Holy Communion. By the fourth century, the chalice and bread were seen as evoking a sense of awe and mystery. As a result, churches in the East placed a canopy over the altar table, where the bread and chalice were placed. By the sixteenth century, rails were placed on the altar table. The rails signified that the altar table was a holy object, to be handled only by holy persons—i.e., the clergy. So by the third century, Christians not only had sacred spaces but also sacred objects. (They would soon develop a sacred priesthood.) In all of this, Christians of the second and third centuries began to assimilate the magical thinking that characterized pagan thinking. All of these factors prepared the Christian terrain for the man who would be responsible for creating church buildings - CONSTANTINE.

EXPLORING THE FIRST CHURCH BUILDINGS

Because the church building was considered sacred, the congregation had to undergo a purification ritual before entering. So in the fourth century, fountains were built in the courtyard so that Christians could wash before entering the building. Constantine’s church buildings were spacious and magnificent buildings, said to be “worthy of an emperor.” They were so magnificent that his pagan contemporaries observed that these “huge buildings imitated” the structure of pagan temples. Constantine even decorated the new church buildings with pagan art. The church buildings built under Constantine were modeled after the basilica. They were communal government buildings, designed after the pagan temples of Greece. Basilicas served the same function as high school auditoriums today. They were wonderful for seating passive and obedient crowds to watch a performance. This was one of the reasons Constantine chose the basilica model. He also favored it because of his fascination with sun worship. Basilicas were designed so that the sun would fall on the speaker as he faced the congregation. Like the temples of the Greeks and Romans, Christian basilicas were built with the facade (front) facing east.

Let’s examine the interior of a Christian basilica. It was an exact duplicate of the Roman basilica, which was used for Roman judges and officers. Christian basilicas had a raised platform where the clergy served. The platform was usually raised several steps. There was also a rail or screen that separated the clergy from the laity. In the center of the building was an altar. It was either a table (altar table) or a chest covered with a lid. The altar was considered the holiest place in the building for two reasons. First, it often contained relics of martyrs. (After the fifth century, the presence of a relic on the altar of a church was essential for the church to be legitimate.) Second, the Eucharist (bread and chalice) was placed on the altar. The Eucharist, now understood as a sacred offering, was offered on the altar. No one except the clergy, who were considered "holy men," were allowed to receive the Eucharist in the altar rails. In front of the altar stood the bishop's chair, which was called the cathedra. The term ex cathedra is derived from this chair. Ex cathedra means "from the throne." The bishop's chair, or "throne," as it was called, was the largest and most elaborate seat in the building. It replaced the judge's seat in the Roman basilica. And it was surrounded by two rows of chairs reserved for elders. Sermons were preached from the bishop's chair. Power and authority rested on the chair, which was covered with a white linen cloth. The elders and deacons sat on either side in a semicircle.

The hierarchical distinction embedded in basilican architecture was unmistakable. Interestingly, most church buildings today have special chairs for the pastor and his staff placed on a platform behind the pulpit. (Like the bishop’s throne, the pastor’s chair is usually the largest of all.) All of this is a clear carryover from the pagan basilica. Furthermore, Constantine did not destroy pagan temples on a large scale. Nor did he close them. In some places, existing pagan temples were stripped of their idols and converted into Christian buildings. Christians used materials stripped from pagan temples and built new church buildings on pagan temples.

MAIN INFLUENCES ON WORSHIP

The advent of the church building brought about significant changes in Christian worship. Since the emperor was the number one "layman" in the church, a simple ceremony was not enough. In his honor, the pomp and ritual of the imperial court were incorporated into the Christian liturgy. It was the custom of the Roman emperors to have lights before them whenever they appeared in public. The lights were accompanied by a fiery basin filled with aromatic spices. Constantine, building on this custom, introduced candles and the burning of incense as part of the worship service. During Constantine's reign, the clergy, who had at first worn everyday clothes, began to dress in special garments. What were these special garments? They were the garments of Roman officials. In addition, various gestures of respect for the clergy were introduced in the church, comparable to those used to honor Roman officials. The Roman custom of beginning the service with processional music was also adopted. To this end, choirs were developed and brought into the Christian church. Worship became more professional, more dramatic, and more solemn. All of these features were borrowed from Greco-Roman culture and carried directly into the Christian church. Fourth-century Christianity was deeply shaped by Greek paganism and Roman imperialism. The result of all this was a loss of intimacy and open participation. Professional clergy performed the services while the laity watched as spectators. As one Catholic scholar has written, with the arrival of Constantine, various customs of ancient Roman culture flowed into the Christian liturgy. Even rites associated with the ancient worship of the emperor as a deity found their way into the worship of the Church, only in a secularized form. "Constantine brought peace to all Christians." Under his rule, the Christian faith became legitimate. In fact, it had become a state greater than Judaism and paganism. For these reasons, Christians regarded Constantine’s accession as an act of God. Here was God’s instrument come to their rescue.

Christianity and Roman culture were now united together. The Christian edifice shows that the church, whether it wanted to or not, had entered into a close alliance with pagan culture.

As Will Durant, author of The Story of Civilization (a vast, eleven-volume work on world history that won him the Pulitzer Prize), said, the pagan islands were left in the expanding Christian sea. It was a tragic shift from the primitive simplicity that the church of Jesus Christ had first known.

First-century Christians were against the world’s systems and avoided all contact with paganism. All this changed during the fourth century, when the church emerged as a public institution in the world and began to “absorb and Christianize pagan religious ideas and practices.” As one historian put it: Church buildings replaced temples; Church endowments replaced temple lands and funds. Under Constantine, tax-exempt status was granted to all church property.

As a result, the story of the building of the church is a sad saga of Christianity borrowing pagan culture and radically changing the face of our faith. Simply put, the church buildings of the Constantinian and post-Constantinian eras essentially became sanctuaries. Christians adopted the concept of the physical temple. They absorbed the pagan idea that there was a special place where God dwells in a special way. And that place is made “by hands.”

As with other pagan customs that were incorporated into the Christian faith (such as liturgy, sermons, vestments, and hierarchical leadership), Christians in the third and fourth centuries incorrectly attributed the origins of church building to the Old Testament. But this was a mistaken view.

The church building was borrowed from pagan culture. A dignified and sacramental ritual entered the worship service through the mysteries [of pagan cults] and was justified, like so many other things, by reference to the Old Testament. To use the Old Testament as a justification for church building is not only inaccurate but also self-defeating.

The old Mosaic economy of sacred priests, sacred buildings, sacred rituals, and sacred objects was destroyed forever by the cross of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, it was replaced by a non-hierarchical, non-ritual, non-liturgical organism called the ekklesia (church).