The Passover Paradigm

By Dwight A. Pryor

In the Jewish reading of Scripture, the Torah was first given at Mt. Sinai to Israel on Pentecost or the Festival of Weeks (Shavu’ot). As Christians we should understand however that the Torah that was “written in former days” (Romans 15:4), was “written down for our instruction” as well (1 Corinthians 10:11).

This should not come as a surprise. After all, the Hebrew Scriptures (including in Greek translation) constituted the Holy Bible for the early church, even into the third and fourth centuries. The “New Testament” did not exist as such, only the “memoirs of the Apostles” (the gospels) and occasional letters to the saints in diverse congregations throughout the Roman world.

Grafted into Israel’s fertile olive tree, repentant Gentile believers in Yeshua now worshiped the God of Israel and were nurtured in their walk of faith by Israel’s Holy Scriptures. Through Abraham and his seed they obtained a spiritual inheritance; in the Law, the Prophets and the Writings they received a godly heritage that daily informed, instructed and inspired them.

Those “God-breathed” scriptures (2 Timothy 3:15-16) were profitable for instruction then and continue to be so today. Indeed for today’s New Testament-centered churches, the sacred writings of the Tanakh (Old Testament) serve as an invaluable counter-balance and even corrective for Christian tendencies at times to become too Hellenistic in theology and worldview.

World's Oldest Church Believed Found in Jordan

By Michele Chabin

JERUSALEM (RNS) Archaeologists excavating in Jordan believe they may have uncovered the world's oldest church in an underground cave.

Discovered beneath the altar of the ancient St. Georgeous Church in the northern Jordanian town of Rihab, the underground space -- believed to be a chapel -- dates to the period AD 33-70, just a few decades after Christ was crucified in Jerusalem, according to the archaeologists.

If the dates are confirmed to be correct, the chapel would be the oldest known place of Christian worship. St. Georgeous Church dates back to 230 AD.