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Bible Dictionaries
Reading (2)
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or (ἀνάγνωσις)
In apostolic literature the mention of reading occurs almost invariably in connexion with the OT Scriptures. A few references are made to those writings which later formed part of the NT. The subject resolves itself into the three questions as to what was the usage of the early Church in regard to (1) the public reading of the OT; (2) the private reading of Scripture; (3) the place assigned to Christian writings.
1. The public reading of the OT, both Law (Acts 15:21, 2 Corinthians 3:14 f.) and Prophets (Luke 4:17, Acts 13:15; Acts 13:27), was regularly observed by the Jews in their synagogue service. It is only natural to suppose that the custom was followed by both Gentile and Jewish Christians in their worship, especially in their meetings for edification. The lack of direct reference to it as a practice, noticed by most writers on the history of the period, is perhaps the best proof that Scripture was so used. For there are certain considerations, in the nature of indirect proof, which, as McGiffert says, ‘make it practically certain that the Scriptures were diligently read and expounded in their meetings’ (A History of Christianity in the Apostolic Age, Edinburgh, 1897, p. 533). The OT was treated with great reverence by Christians, being spoken of as ‘the holy scriptures’ (Romans 1:2), ‘the sacred writings’ (2 Timothy 3:15), or absolutely as ‘the scripture’ (Acts 1:18, Galatians 3:8, 1 Peter 2:6) or ‘the scriptures’ (Acts 18:24, 1 Corinthians 15:4). Truths are quoted and duties frequently enforced by the formula, ‘it is written’ (Acts 7:42, Romans 1:17, 1 Corinthians 9:9, Hebrews 10:17, 1 Peter 1:18, and many others). The OT was regarded by Christians as inspired by God; to it men did well to take heed (2 Peter 1:21); and it was able to make men ‘wise unto salvation’ as well as ‘furnished completely unto every good work’ (2 Timothy 3:16 f.). The Scriptures were freely quoted, and allusions were made to them in a way that presupposes that even Gentiles had frequently heard them read.
The procedure of St. Paul in his missionary work enables us to see the transition from the Jewish usage to the Christian. In Thessalonica he went into the synagogue, as was his custom, and ‘reasoned with them from the scriptures, opening and alleging that it behoved the Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead’ (Acts 17:2 f.). In BerCEa the Jews ‘examined the scriptures daily, whether these things were so’ (Acts 17:11). The Corinthian believers are reminded by St. Paul of his preaching, wherein he had proved that Christ died for our sins and was raised ‘according to the scriptures’ (1 Corinthians 15:3 f.). This question as to the Messiahship of Jesus makes it practically certain that the early Christians read the Scriptures in their meetings. To prove that the events in the life of Jesus, His death, and resurrection were in harmony with the OT prophecies, involved frequent reading of the passages concerned (Acts 2:25 ff; Acts 4:25 f., Acts 15:16 f., Romans 15:12). St. Paul’s injunction to Timothy to ‘give heed to reading’ (τῇ ἀναγνώσει, 1 Timothy 4:13) almost certainly refers to the public reading of Scripture, as it is connected in the immediate context with ‘exhortation’ and ‘teaching.’ Weizsäcker makes an ingenious suggestion that the part of the heavenly rites described in the Apocalypse in which a book was opened and read (Revelation 5:1 ff.) was typical of what took place ordinarily in the Divine service on earth (The Apostolic Age, Eng. translation , London, 1894-95, ii. 277). That the Scriptures were read in the Christian assemblies from the earliest times is evident from the testimony of Clement of Rome: ‘Ye know the Holy Scriptures, and know them well, and ye have deep insight into the oracles of God’ (Ep. to the Corinthians, ch. 53), and the statement of Justin Martyr that in his day this was so (Apol. i. 67).
2. The question as to the private reading of Scripture in the early Church is of special importance because of the attitude of the Roman Catholic Church in the matter. No prohibition against Bible reading can be found in the NT; nor, on the contrary, is it urged as a duty. But that the Scriptures were actually read in private by the Christians of the 1st cent. cannot be doubted. The Jews did so before the time of Christ (1 Maccabees 1:56 ff.). The Gentile proselytes had their own copies of portions, at least, of the OT, which they read diligently. This gave the Christian missionary an opportunity for delivering his message. For example, Philip found the Ethiopian eunuch reading Isaiah, and ‘beginning from this scripture he preached unto him Jesus’ (Acts 8:35). Among Jewish Christians the practice would not be discontinued, as they had special reason, in wishing to prove the Messiahship of Jesus, for making a careful study of the Prophets. Harnack, who has investigated the subject in his Bible Reading in the Early Church (Eng. translation , London, 1912), says the Jewish usage of reading the OT ‘simply and easily passed over from the Jewish to the Gentile Christians, for the Holy Scriptures in the Greek translation were fully accessible to, and were read by, the Jews of the Dispersion. Moreover, we know that among the Gentile Christians the order of public worship and private and family discipline in matters of religion and morality took form in accordance with the Jewish (Jewish Christian) models’ (p. 32).
The only restriction experienced was that imposed by the bulky form of Scripture. It existed in separate rolls of parchment or papyrus (see F. G. Kenyon, Textual Criticism of the NT2, London, 1912, ch. ii.), and a complete copy of the OT would be possessed by but few people. Still, the existence of collections of extracts, the widespread use of papyrus, and the diffusion of a popular literature like the apocalyptic, make it a probable conjecture that the sacred writings in part, if not in whole, were possessed and studied by many private persons. Harnack argues that, as the knowledge of Scripture brought to light by the apologists of the 2nd cent. and the controversies of the great Gnostic movement could not have been derived solely from what was heard in public worship, we may conclude that the sacred writings were in private hands also in the period before Irenaeus, and that from the first the Christians were in the habit of reading the OT.
3. The reading of Christian writings.-It is obvious that the apostolic Epistles were read in the meetings of the church to which they were addressed. St. Paul either directs explicitly that this be done (1 Thessalonians 5:27, Colossians 4:16), or presupposes it (1 Corinthians 5:9, 2 Corinthians 1:13; 2 Corinthians 10:9 ff.). Other writings were thus read to assemblies of Christians. Of the Book of Revelation, for example, the writer says, ‘Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things which are written therein’ (Revelation 1:3; cf. Revelation 22:16; cf. Revelation 22:18). Letters were exchanged between churches (Colossians 4:16) or one congregation addressed another, e.g. the Church in Rome sent an epistle to Corinth (Clement, Epistle to the Corinthians, 47). In the 2nd cent. and later the Shepherd of Hermas and Epistles like those of Barnabas, Ignatius, and Polycarp were read in churches.
It is more difficult to determine whether during the 1st cent. narratives from the life of Jesus and collections of His sayings were so read. That there were such writings is evident from the early existence of Mark and Q, the common source of much of the First and Third Gospels, and from the use of such records in Christian teaching (Luke 1:4). As eye-witnesses of Jesus died out, the oral or written tradition of His life would be highly prized by the early Christians, and the parenthetical remark, ‘Let him that readeth understand’ (Mark 13:14, Matthew 24:15), points to the reading, publicly or privately, of such records. It must not be supposed, however, that even the apostolic writings, though widely read for didactic purposes, were regarded at first as ‘Scripture.’ The Sayings of Jesus were quoted as of supreme authority (Acts 20:35, 1 Corinthians 7:10; 1 Corinthians 9:14, 1 Thessalonians 4:15) in matters of belief and practice, but the written record of these and the separate apostolic writings were not looked upon as ‘Scripture’ till the 2nd century. But even then the writings which now form the NT did not displace the OT, though they found a place in the public reading of Scripture. Justin, describing the practice of his day (circa, about 155), says, ‘There are meetings of all of us who live in cities or the country, and the memoirs of the apostles and the writings of the prophets are read as long as time allows’ (Apol. i. 67).
Literature.-In addition to works quoted above, see articles ‘Anagnostes,’ by D. Butler, and ‘Lectionary,’ by F. H. Scrivener, in W. Smith-S. Cheetham’s Dict. of Christian Antiquities , London, 1875-80; also articles by W. F. Adeney, on ‘Worship (in NT)’ in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) , and ‘Reader’ in Dict. of Christ and the Gospels .
M. Scott Fletcher.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Reading (2)'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/r/reading-2.html. 1906-1918.
