What is a synagogue? Why are synagogues important for both Jews and Christians?

http://www.gotquestions.org/what-is-a-synagogue.html

How will I get the answers to the questoions?

polymathic:

How will I get the answers to the questoions?

By studying.

"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman who needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15).

OLAADEGBU:

By studying.

"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman who needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15).

Ok sir, thanks

polymathic:

Ok sir, thanks

You are welcome, anytime.

Synagogues were instituted for Jews in exile to preserve and learn the worship of Jehovah .

Joagbaje:

Synagogues were instituted for Jews in exile to preserve and learn the worship of Jehovah .

Why are synagogues important for Christians if they are important at all?

OLAADEGBU:
Why are synagogues important for Christians if they are important at all?

It depends on what they teach there . If they teach the gospel just as sone orthodox churches started to do recently that's fine , but if it's Jewish fables then we can only attend as tourist for tourism sake

OLAADEGBU:

What is a synagogue?
Why are synagogues important for both Jews and Christians?

http://www.gotquestions.org/what-is-a-synagogue.html

OLAADEGBU:
Why are synagogues important for Christians if they are important at all?

In the New Testament, we are used to knowing synagogue also to be an equivalent name of the building used for assembling in or congregating in, but the Greek word "sunagogé" means "coming together" and could imply a meeting (i.e. gathering together) rather than a building (i.e. Acts 13:43, James 2:2); so synagogues were simply gatherings that took place outdoors or in people’s houses or courtyards (i.e. refer to 2 Thessalonians 2:1 or Hebrews 10:25 Greek Text Analysis for more details)
- TB Joshua’s set-up, calls itself synagogue, but then for good measure, appends the word "church", making it: The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations (i.e. SCOAN)

And *I* also, I say unto thee that *thou* art Peter,
and on this rock I will build my assembly,
and hades' gates shall not prevail against it.
- Matthew 16:18 Darby Bible Translation

“Also I say to you, that you are Kaypha,
and upon this stone I shall build my church,
and the gates of Sheol will not withstand it.”
- Matthew 16:18 Aramaic Bible in Plain English

And I also say to you that you are Peter,
and on this rock I will build My church,
and the forces of Hades will not overpower it.
- Matthew 16:18 Holman Christian Standard Bible

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, a small rock
and upon the large rock I will build my congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones},
and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against her.
- Matthew 16:18 Jubilee Bible 2000

In the beginning, God set out an outpost of His Kingdom in Eden. He then created man and gave man power and control of the earth and all its inhabitants. He also gave man the right to make decisions from the outpost, then God brought Eve, for many reasons, but fundamentally for the institution of marriage, out from Adam.
Why, what for, where to from then on?

What was God's original pet idea for the first family and their offspring? Dominion - sovereignty and/or governance of territory
Has this changed? Has God changed? Has this changed, with God, in Christ?
No, and it's because of Luke 9:35 or Mark 9:7 and John 12:44 that one says no.

³ Blessed is he that reads and those that hear the words of this prophecy
and keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand.
⁴ John, to the seven congregations {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} which are in Asia:
Grace be unto you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come
and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne
⁵ and from Jesus, the Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead
and the prince of the kings of the earth.
Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins with his own blood
⁶ and has made us kings and priests unto God and his Father;
to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
- Revelation 1:3-4 Jubilee Bible 2000

and that the kingdom and the dominion,
and the majesty of the kingdoms under the whole heaven,
be given to the holy people of the most High,
His kingdom shall be an eternal kingdom,
and all the dominions shall serve him and hear him
- Daniel 7:27 Jubilee Bible 2000

"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, a people for God's own possession,
that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;"
- 1 Peter 2:9

and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom,
- Luke 22:29 ESV

The first time ekklesia was ever mentioned in the NT was in Matthew 16:19 and uttered by Jesus.
It was the first time out of the three times Jesus used the word (i.e. once in Matthew 16:19 and twice in Matthew 18:17)
No other place did Jesus use the word and no one else, except for Matthew recorded Jesus, using it the word.

Jesus could have easily used any other word for a gathering or assembly of called out people mentioned in Matthew 16:19
He could easily have used the above earlier discussed familiar word synagogue (i.e. as synagogue too means "coming together'' or "gathering together'')
Why didn't He? Maybe because synagogue didn't convey/carry the complete import or essence of His plan, vision or intention for believers as much/well as “ekklesia” does
We need to be accustomed with ekklesia in order to understand why Jesus chose and used the word
So what again is ekklesia?. What is special about ekklesia? The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Ekklesia unlike synagogue, has a potent, deep, relevant, purposeful and meaningfulness about it
It encapsulates and expresses the framework of what the "calling out" is about

³⁵The Jews said to one another,
“Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him?
Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks?
³⁶What did he mean when he said,
‘You will look for me, but you will not find me,’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”
- John 7:35-36 NIV

²⁰Some Greeks who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration
²¹paid a visit to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee. They said, “Sir, we want to meet Jesus.”
²²Philip told Andrew about it, and they went together to ask Jesus.
- John 12:20-22 NLT

Remember the Jews in John 7:35-36 and events in John 12:20-22 when the Greeks came to visit Jesus.
Well Israel was under Roman Rule, and Greek was in vogue then, hence the inevitable exposure to Greek language, culture, civilisation and governance style.

The Romans adopted the word ekklesia from the Greeks, and used ekklesia to refer to the summoning of people out to hear the messenger from Rome who had just blown his trumpet and "called people out" to hear the latest edicts from the emperor.

In classical Greek however, ekklesia originally means a political assembly in the ancient Greek states, at which all free citizens are summoned/invited to the town council
- summoned like called to serve in a jury service. The gathered citizens listen to, discuss, and vote on decrees that affected every aspect of their community whether public or private (e.g. from finance - religious ones - public festivals - war - treaties with foreign powers - regulations governing ferry boats) take part in the election of archons (chief magistrates) and confer special privileges on individuals.

"Ekklesia" is a lawful assembly of people in a free Greek city summoned for the transaction of civil matters/affairs
- summoned, like when called, to serve in a jury service.

Most bible translations have deliberately misinterpreted the Greek word ekklesia as “church”, when in actual fact; ekklesia has nothing to do with the word “church”!
Remember Acts 19:32, 39 and 41 above, where "ekklesia" is a town council: it was a civil body in Ephesus, and correctly translated so. There translators were forced to abandon their fakery "church" is "ekklesia" translation in those three verse and reluctantly settled for assembly. Nonetheless, they kept up the pretence, 112 other times, where "ekklesia" was changed to "church" instead of assembly.
- It's similar to today's pretense where agricultural tithe is "money"

Anyway, it's important to recognise that Jesus didn't die to create "church", denominations (i.e. 1 Corinthians 1:12, 31 and 1 Corinthians 3:21), "pastor" - pastor doesn’t occur at all in the NT (i.e. 1 Corinthians 12:28) but He died to build a body of believers, called out of the world system (e.g. Sanhedrin Council et al etc) to come together into a separate civil & community council.

When Jesus used this politically loaded word (i.e. ekklésia), was He giving descriptional hints about His people and their meetings?

Yes! Jesus was; He is indicating that His ekklesia is PATTERNED AFTER and intended to FOLLOW/FUNCTION same manner the BORROWED Greek ekklesia did.

Ekklesia has more importance than synagogue

Joagbaje:

It depends on what they teach there . If they teach the gospel just as sone orthodox churches started to do recently that's fine , but if it's Jewish fables then we can only attend as tourist for tourism sake

Apart from the gospel what else can Christians learn at the synagogue that can be beneficial to us?

OLAADEGBU:

What is a synagogue? Why are synagogues important for both Jews and Christians?

http://www.gotquestions.org/what-is-a-synagogue.html

Answer:

A synagogue is a Jewish building designed for worship (similar to a modern church building). Though some Jewish traditions claim synagogues existed “from the time of Moses,” history notes that the practice of meeting in synagogues emerged during the period of Israel’s Babylonian captivity. During this time, the Jewish temple was unavailable for worship, requiring an alternative gathering place for dispersed Jews who desired to gather for prayer and communal worship.

By the time of Jesus and the New Testament period, synagogues had become a common local fixture. The New Testament mentions synagogues over 60 times, largely in connection with the ministry of Jesus and the apostles. On the Sabbath, local Jews would meet for prayer and Scripture reading. On one occasion, Jesus read from the prophet Isaiah during a synagogue gathering. Luke 4:16-21 records

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour.”

And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Many synagogue customs can be observed in these verses. First, the meeting took place on the Sabbath (Saturday). Second, Jesus stood to read. Third, He read from a scroll. Even today, scrolls are found in synagogues and are used for weekly readings (see also Acts 15:21). When finished with His reading, Jesus sat down to teach, another synagogue tradition.

Paul and the other apostles would use the synagogue as a launching point for missionary activities. Upon arriving in a new community, Paul would show up at the synagogue and request to speak. He definitely had the credentials to open many doors (Acts 22:3). He would then present Jesus as the Messiah and begin his local outreach. This sometimes resulted in many people believing in Jesus. Acts 14:1 records, “Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed.” In one case, a synagogue ruler was baptized (Acts 18:8.) At other times, Paul’s practice of teaching in the synagogue led to much persecution.

Historically, the synagogue has continued to play an essential role in the practice of Judaism. After the destruction of the Jewish temple in A.D. 70, worship could no longer take place in the temple, making the synagogue the central place of worship.

The synagogue has served as an important fixture in Judaism and early Christianity. Its importance during the time of Jesus and the apostles provided one of the key ways the gospel spread in the earliest years of the church.

Read more: http://www.gotquestions.org/what-is-a-synagogue.html#ixzz3B8co3mAh