I'll grant you they doubtless had to go to the synagogue to obtain access to the Scriptures, and most likely they would solicit the rabbis' opinion at times as to what something meant, but I also am confidant they sat down to read them for themselves, making the Scriptures their own, if you see what I mean.

Think about Luke 24, when the two disciples, walking along the road to Emmaus were joined by Christ after His resurrection. He explained the Scriptures to them (beginning with Moses and moving on to all the prophets), and how they foretold Him. ISTM that implicit in this passage is that they were already quite familiar with the Scriptures, even though I don't suppose either of them were rabbis. Peter was just a fisherman, after all, yet he knew the Scriptures.

It's not as if the Jewish leaders were drawing the connection between Jesus and the Messiah, after all. Any Jew who did so, did so against the reigning religious establishment, contra their rabbis.

I'm certain that to the rabbis of the Jews to whom the book of Hebrews was directed, those who followed "the Way" seemed like a bunch of radical individualists, having the nerve to read and interpret the Scriptures for themselves, instead of relying upon the collective wisdom of the synagogue.

Goodness, had Luther not wrestled with Romans all by himself, willing to take a stand contrary to the leaders of his church, we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

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Anne Ivy
Christ Chapel Bible Church
Fort Worth, Texas

Widowed mother of six, grandmother of eight.

The Ivy Vine (my blog)