“While the Christian church has historically (and rightly) clung to the cross of Christ, we’ve criticized the Jews for focusing on the crown. But biblical literacy demands we cling to both—because the prophets spoke of both.”

“What made ‘their number’ distinct enough from the rest of the people that they might be recognized as a social unit that could be joined? It wasn’t the venue. They assembled in the Temple. It wasn’t their unique spirit-filled worship services; the worship services were liturgical functions led by the Levitical class. The thing that set the earliest church apart from the rest of the Jewish people was their table.”