Not Too Big

It’s been argued that 1 Corinthians 14:26 shows God wants a gathering small and intimate enough where every member has an opportunity to contribute as they are led:

When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.

1 Cor. 14:26

I think there is some merit to this argument. Of course, this is more explaining what the Corinthians were doing (as opposed to a command of what they should be doing)–and let’s face it, some of the things the Corinthians were doing were not exactly admirable. So in that sense we might say this is descriptive but not necessarily prescriptive.

But it wasn’t a practice that Paul criticized (unlike other practices they were doing). He only advocated for them to aim to build up the body of Christ while doing this, not just build up yourself.

So all to say, it was a practice that has made it into our Bibles and thus is part of God’s word for our guidance. Such a meeting, of course, would be decidedly smaller than, say, the 3,000+ Pentecost meeting of Acts 2:41. Thus in this sense there is a clear value in smaller meetings for the purpose of sharing individually gifts with each other for the purpose of building up God’s bride.

Not Too Small

Saying this, however, we do see marks that the Corinthian church had approximately 30-60 people who met.

This number comes from Jim Samra’s, Being Conformed to Christ in Community. He explains that the Bible addresses 30 people in the Corinthian church just by counting the names mentioned. And that archaeology of that time and place showed Christian houses that were built with additions to seemingly account for congregations meeting there. These structures could house approximately 60 people.

Even without those numbers, we see that there are a few things that were to be done with all present (and you can imagine how many people might be needed to gather at once for each activity):

  • “when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan” (1 Cor. 5:4-5) – this shows a full assembly gathered together to demonstrate and communicate discipline.
  • we are told of factions within the church (some following Paul, Apollos, Cephas, or Christ–see 1 Cor. 1). This is seen dramatically in 1 Cor. 11 when communion is marred due to groups gathering at odds with others in the church when having their “love feast” (part of communion). Specifically, some would meet beforehand while others were neglected. This shows a gathering large enough to have factions when all should’ve been taking communion together (which, again, shows Paul not rooting for the Corinthians to break up their gathering too small).
  • In 1 Cor. 14 – we see that unbelievers and “uninformed” people joined their gatherings. This means it was large enough for outsiders to sort of spectate.
  • In 1 Cor. 14 we are told of the practice of judging prophecy by men (which I take to refer to male leadership, probably elders, see “Silent in the churches” – 1 Cor. 14:34 Examined). If this interpretation holds, then that means the congregation was also large enough to house elders on a regular basis.

All of this seems to indicate that the entire church in that area did gather together. They just weren’t that large when they did that. But they were still large enough to have, it seems, 4 factions within themselves (God have mercy that it doesn’t take much for us to divide!).

Just Right

I honestly don’t think there is a “magic” number for a congregation. Jesus gathered with thousands often enough, but also said He’d be there with 2-3 (Matt. 18).

But I do write this to help us see a little more broadly across 1 Corinthians (and hopefully the whole Bible) when we think of their gatherings–not just choosing a verse here or there that we can fit into our gatherings.

In other words, let’s keep striving to have the Bible change us and not us change the Bible.