Jewish Temple and Christian Worship in Early Christianity
Early Christians taught that worship was no longer tied to the Jerusalem temple. They said God is Spirit, does not dwell in temples made with hands, and is worshiped in spirit and truth. Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Novatian, Origen, Clement of Alexandria, and Lactantius all connect Christian worship to Christ and the church. Key Bible passages include John 4, Acts 17, Hebrews 9, and 1 Corinthians 3.
116 early-church witnesses · 211 source quotations · compared with Scripture
What did early Christians believe about the Jewish Temple and Christian Worship?
Early Christians taught that God was not limited to the Jerusalem temple, and that Christian worship belonged to the church and to worship in spirit and truth. Writers like Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Novatian, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Lactantius repeatedly said the old temple was not the final place of worship and pointed to Christ and the church as the true temple. The Bible passages most directly tied to this teaching are John 4:21-24, Acts 17:24, Hebrews 9, and 1 Corinthians 3:17.
The evidence is broad across the second and third centuries, and it is strongest when it speaks about worship, the church as God’s temple, and the shift away from a place-based system tied to Jerusalem. Many more early Christian quotations, Bible passages, and source links are gathered below so you can study the evidence for yourself.
Key Takeaways
- Early Christians said God is not confined to the Jerusalem temple.
- They often treated the church, and sometimes the believer, as God’s true temple.
- John 4:21-24 and Acts 17:24 are the clearest Bible texts for this topic.
- The witness is broad in the second and third centuries.
Questions Answered by the Sources
Did early Christians teach that God is not confined to a physical temple?
These sources say God is not limited to a temple made with hands, and they connect that idea to worship in spirit and truth. The temple is treated as something that no longer defines where God may be worshiped.
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Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho Direct teaching
For indeed the temple, which is called the temple in Jerusalem, He admitted to be His house or court, not as though He needed it, but in order that you, in this view of it, giving yourselves to Him, might not worship idols.
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Mathetes, Epistle to Diognetus Supporting witness
And next, I imagine that you are most desirous of hearing something on this point, that the Christians do not observe the same forms of divine worship as do the Jews.
Did the early Christians say worship should be in spirit and truth instead of in Jerusalem?
Several early writers quote or explain John 4 to say that true worship is spiritual rather than tied to Jerusalem or a mountain. They use Jesus’ words to mark a shift away from location-based worship.
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Barnabas, The Epistle of Barnabas Direct teaching
Moreover, I will also tell you about the temple, how the wretched [Jews], wandering in error, did not trust in God Himself, but in the temple as the house of God. For they almost worshipped Him in the temple like the Gentiles did. But learn how the Lord speaks when abolishing it: “Who has measured heaven with a span, and the earth with His palm? Have not I?” “Thus says the Lord, Heaven is My throne, and the earth My footstool: what kind of house will you build for Me, or what is the place of My rest?” You see that their hope is in vain. Moreover, He again says, “Behold, those who have cast down this temple, even they shall build it up again.” It has so happened. For through their going to war, it was destroyed by their enemies; and now they, as servants of their enemies, shall rebuild it. Again, it was revealed that the city and the temple and the people of Israel were to be given up. For the Scripture says, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the Lord will deliver up the sheep of His pasture, and their sheep-fold and tower, to destruction.” And it has happened as the Lord had spoken. Let us inquire, then, if there still is a temple of God. There is—where He Himself d
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Tertullian, Apology Supporting witness
... they found a spring. Then, in gratitude, they dedicated the head of that kind of animal. And since Christianity is closely related to Judaism, I suppose people simply assumed that we too worship the same image. But this same Cornelius Tacitus, who is the very opposite of silent when it comes to telling lies, tells us in that same work that when Cneius Pompeius captured Jerusalem, he entered the temple to see the secrets of the Jewish religion, but found no image there. Surely, if worship had been given to any visible thing, the proper place to display it would have been the sanctuary. This would be even more true because that worship, however unreasonable, would not need there to fear outside observers. For only the priests were allowed to enter the holy place, while the sight of it was blocked from everyone else by a curtain spread out. You will not deny, however, that with your goddess Epona, all beasts of burden, not just parts of them, but whole animals, are objects of worship among you. Perhaps this is what displeases you about us: while your worship in this case is broad and general, we pay honor only to the ass. Then, if any of you think that we give superstitious worshi
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Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book V Supporting witness
2. Moreover, he (the apostle) has also pointed out this which I have shown in many ways, that the temple in Jerusalem was made by the direction of the true God.
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Tertullian, Against Marcion Supporting witness
but you say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
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Hebrews 9:1 Direct teaching
Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness.
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Hebrews 8:5 Supporting witness
They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.”
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Hebrews 9:11 Direct teaching
But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;
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Hebrews 9:24 Supporting witness
For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.
Did early Christians say the Church is the true temple?
A strong cluster of sources identifies the Church as the eternal or spiritual temple of God. Others connect Christ’s temple language to the Church or explain that Christian worship belongs to this new temple rather than the old stone building.
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Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Direct teaching
...t Christ that, at some time, being born in a body from the line of David, He would build an eternal temple in honor of God, which is called the Church, and gather all nations to the true worship of God. This is the faithful house. This is the everlasting temple. And if anyone has not offered sacrifice in this temple, he will not have the reward of immortality. And since Christ was the builder of this great and eternal temple, He also had to have an everlasting priesthood in it. And there can be no approach to the sanctuary of the temple, and to the sight of God, except through Him who built the temple. David also teaches the same thing in Psalm 110, saying, "Before the morning star I begot You. The Lord has sworn, and will not repent: You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek." Also in the first book of Kings, 1 Samuel 2:35: "And I will raise up for myself a faithful Priest, who shall do all things that are in my heart; and I will build Him a sure house; and He shall walk in my sight all His days." But Zechariah teaches most plainly who this was to be, the one to whom God promised an everlasting priesthood, even mentioning His name, in Zechariah 3:1-8: "And the Lo
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Origen, Commentary on John Direct teaching
...deep peace has arrived. He builds the temple for the glory of God in the earthly Jerusalem, so that worship may no longer be celebrated in a movable structure like the tabernacle. Let us seek to find in the Church the truth of each statement made about the temple. If all Christ's enemies are made the footstool of His feet, 1 Corinthians 15:25 and Death, the last enemy, is destroyed, then there will be the most perfect peace. Christ will be Solomon, which means Peaceful, 1 Chronicles 22:9 and the prophecy will be fulfilled in Him which says, With those who hated peace I was peaceful. Then each of the living stones will be, according to the work of his life here, a stone of that temple. One, at the foundation, will be an apostle or a prophet, bearing those placed upon him. Another, after those in the foundation and supported by the Apostles, will himself, together with the Apostles, help to bear those who are in greater need. One will be a stone of the innermost parts, where the ark is, and the cherubim, and the mercy seat. Another will be on the outer wall, and another even outside the outer wall of the Levites and priests, a stone of the altar of whole burnt offerings. And the o
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Origen, Commentary on John Supporting witness
he builds the temple for the glory of God in the Jerusalem on earth, so that worship may no longer be celebrated in a moveable erection like the tabernacle.
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Origen, Commentary on John Supporting witness
23. The Temple Spoken of by Christ is the Church.
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Lactantius, Connection to Hebrews 8:2 Supporting witness
For since there was no righteousness on earth, He sent a teacher, as it were a living law, to found a new name and temple, that by His words and example He might spread throughout the earth a true and holy worship. But, however, that it might be certain that He was sent by God, it was befitting that He should not be born as man is born, composed of a mortal on both sides; but that it might appear that He was heavenly even in the form of man, He was born without the office of a father.
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Tertullian, An Answer to the Jews Supporting witness
in so far as, after the expiation of all sins, the priests of the spiritual temple, that is, of the church, were to enjoy a spiritual public distribution (as it were) of the Lord's grace, while all others are fasting from salvation.
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Tertullian, An Answer to the Jews Supporting witness
For the Lord of Sabaoth has taken away, among the Jews from Jerusalem, among the other things named, the wise architect too, who builds the church, God's temple, and the holy city, and the house of the Lord.
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Tertullian, An Answer to the Jews Direct teaching
Undoubtedly, by not receiving Christ, the fount of water of life, they have begun to have worn-out tanks, that is, synagogues for the use of the dispersions of the Gentiles, in which the Holy Spirit no longer lingers, as for the time past He was wont to tarry in the temple before the advent of Christ, who is the true temple of God.
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Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Direct teaching
whose temple is not stones or clay, but man himself, who bears the image of God.
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Cyprian, Epistles Supporting witness
For if any one born out of the Church can become God's temple, why cannot the Holy Spirit also be poured out upon the temple?
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Cyprian, Epistles Supporting witness
... whose commands and warnings we ought to keep, describes the honor of a bishop and the order of His Church in the Gospel. He says to Peter: “I say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” From there, through the changes of times and successions, the ordering of bishops and the arrangement of the Church continues on. So the Church is founded upon the bishops, and every act of the Church is directed by these same rulers. Since this is founded on divine law, I am amazed that some, with reckless boldness, have chosen to write to me as if they were writing in the name of the Church, when the Church is established in the bishop and the clergy, and in all who stand firm in the faith. Far be it from the mercy of God and His unlimited power to allow the number of the lapsed to be called the Church, since it is written, “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living,” Matthew 22:32. For we do indeed desire that all may be made alive, a
Did early Christians connect the temple to Christ’s body?
These sources say Jesus spoke about the temple of his body, not merely the stone building in Jerusalem. Early Christian writers use that reading to explain the temple as fulfilled in Christ.
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Novatian, Treatise Concerning the Trinity Direct teaching
... allowed to build a tabernacle, yet God is not contained within the enclosure of a tabernacle. So a temple is raised, yet God is not at all confined within the limits of a temple. Therefore, it is not God who is limited, but the people's understanding is limited. Nor is God restricted, but the people's grasp of reason is understood to be restricted. Finally, in the Gospel the Lord said, “The hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem shall you worship the Father,” John 4:21, and He gave the reason, saying, “God is Spirit; and therefore those who worship must worship in spirit and in truth.” John 4:24. So then, the divine workings are shown through bodily members; it is not the appearance of God or bodily features that are being described. For when eyes are mentioned, the meaning is that He sees all things. And when the ear is mentioned, it shows that He hears all things. And when the finger is mentioned, a certain power of His will is made known. And when the nostrils are mentioned, His receiving of prayers is shown as though they were fragrances. And when the hand is mentioned, it is proved that He is the maker of every creature. And when the arm is mentioned
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Hippolytus, Connection to John 4:21 Direct teaching
"For God," he says, "is Spirit; wherefore," he affirms, "neither in this mountain do the true worshippers worship, nor in Jerusalem, but in spirit. For the adoration of the perfect ones," he says, "is spiritual, not carnal."
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Tatian, The Diatessaron Supporting witness
..., "My lord, I see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, and you say that Jerusalem is the place where people must worship." Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know, but we worship what we know, because salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father also seeks such people to worship him. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." The woman said to him, "I know that the Messiah is coming, and when he has come, he will teach us everything." Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am he."
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John 4:21 Direct teaching
Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.
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John 4:20 Supporting witness
Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
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John 4:22 Supporting witness
Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
Common Questions
Did early Christians think worship still had to happen in Jerusalem?
No. Writers like Justin Martyr and Novatian said worship was no longer bound to Jerusalem, and John 4:21-24 says the Father is worshiped in spirit and truth.
Did early Christians call the church a temple?
Yes. Origen, Lactantius, and Tertullian speak of Christ building a true or spiritual temple, which they identify with the church.
Did early Christians reject the old Jewish temple completely?
They did not deny that it had been God’s temple in the past, but they said it was not the final place of Christian worship after Christ.
Source Index for the Jewish Temple and Christian Worship
The guided sections above show the strongest quotations. This compact index highlights 160 ranked source links from 211 compiled sources for deeper study.
Source index 160 ranked links shown
Early Christian Writings 80 shown of 116
Primary-source quotations from early Christian writers and church documents.
Bible Passages 80 shown of 95
Related Bible passages saved for comparison with the early Christian quotations.