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Early Christian History
By
Wesley B Rose
This is to fulfill the requirements for the Doctorate in Early Christian Studies through Scripture Institute as determined by the board of directors.
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Introduction “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. John Chapter 1 verse 1and 2
This is one of the most exciting adventures of my life. It was such an intense pleasure to study and learn so much about the early years of Christianity. The breadth and scope of this undertaking only began to reveal itself to me as I began to study. I first thought I had taken on a task of such magnitude that I would never accomplish a part of it not to mention the whole thing. However, the more that I read, and the more sources I queried, the better grip I began to get on the whole subject. It was indeed expansive but by no means unconquerable. I first just began to read everything I could find in whatever order I found it. Then I gradually began to sort and evaluate each article, each chapter of a book and each topic as it seemed to develop on its own. At the same time I began to realize how little I really knew about the subject and how important some of those Seminary courses actually were. I don’t mind admitting that Greek and Hebrew, to name two, became a new study for me and it certainly helped my appreciation for those ancient languages such as Syriac, Aramaic, and Coptic, just to recall a few. It was also a discovery of how much what we believe as laws and ethics in society are rooted in the basic truths given by God to His people the Israelites and the extrapolation of belief systems that became known as Christianity. One of the first things I wanted to explore was the environment surrounding the birth, life, ministry, death resurrection and ascension of Christ. (And that is such an abbreviated statement of the scope we are talking about). I wanted to know more about the background behind his sermons, sayings, and teachings. He was the greatest teacher ever to grace humanity and yet his style was so natural and easy going. He employed the simplest and yet most complicated style ever. He told the truth expounded on deep
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theological principles, and laid the path of righteousness for all generations to follow. His was the uncanny divine ability to apply deep principles to the everyday person in the language and context they could relate to and understand. Jesus made his teaching interesting even captivating by these perfectly honed skills of teaching, preaching, and parabolic discussions. Jesus was the supreme example in every train of thought, pattern for life, and path we know and understand to be righteous, holy, and perfect in the sight of God. We know however that none of this happened on an island, or in a laboratory, or even in a vacuum. Christianity did not just happen one day, in the hot desert temperatures of the Middle East in some obscure little village. It didn’t just appear on the pages of history, in the lives of emperors, Roman legions and peasants. And it certainly didn’t develop quietly in a cave with just a few listeners. Christianity, as I began to learn most resoundingly, began with the very first words of the Bible. It only truly began to show its conceptual form, the form recognized today, during the earthly life and teachings of Jesus the Christ the only begotten son of God, and the Inspired writings and teachings of the twelve men educated directly by Jesus and helped by the Holy Spirit into all remembrance and understanding. The Holy Bible is the first and foremost authority consulted for this work and when a conflict arose the Bible was the clear winner. I also want to note that all scripture quotations used in this treatment is from the King James Version (KJV) 1611, edition. There may be some instances, however, where I quoted a later edition, but never any where I quoted the Oxford edition. Any subsequent quotes from other editions are indicated. I intentionally never quoted from any other version of the Bible such as the New International Standard, The Living Bible, or other decidedly perverted texts. All references to apocryphal literature or non- Biblical writings are designated as such so there is no confusion between the truth and the mockery of the truth represented by so many “versions” available today. It is here that I want to clarify the difference between an edition and a version. An edition is a reprinting of a book, document or text with absolute minor changes in word spelling and typographical corrections. It does not change the meaning or translation of text from a source document such as The Hebrew manuscripts of the Old Testament. If any other changes are made then it becomes a new version. A version is a partial or complete deviation from the accepted manuscripts that underlie the Old and New Testament as
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rendered in the 1611 KJV. Even the New KJV or Revised KJV should be viewed as different versions and not editions. I hope that fully clarifies the issue of versions and editions as it pertains to this effort. I tried as much as possible to examine manuscripts whether photocopies or digital reproduction or printed matter, as close to the original documents as possible. In some instances that was not possible either because they are not usually made available, are of a language I am unable to translate, or only English translations are available. Today there are as a matter of credit to many authors, translations of those early documents available that are not only trustworthy, but are accepted universally as the closest to the original in wording, thought, and meaning. It is also equally accepted that some thoughts ideas idiomatic sayings and even sarcasm (as an example) do not translate very well and certainly not literally. Therefore it is my sincerest statement that all sources used for this work are as authentic and close to the original manuscripts as I was able to discover and utilize. I hope you enjoy the gleanings I have assembled of that era and the most important beginnings of the life and love given to us through Christ by our Heavenly father. It truly is an amazing story and I sincerely hope I have done it the justice it so richly deserves.
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Table of Contents Introduction ......................................................................2 Overview............................................................................6 Background.........................................................................7 Apostasy and its Impact in Early Church Development.....9 People and Events in Transition..........................................11 Barriers to the Early Church ................................................15 Vectors of the Early Church..................................................51 2nd Century Writings and their Significance to the Early Church....83 From Nero to Marcus Aurelius 64 – 135 AD: The Church Continues its Transition.................................103 Conflict and Diversity in the Early Church.............................106 Conclusion..............................................................................117 Attachments: 1. Early Church Writers..............................................120 2 Eusebius and the Early Church.................................122 3 Grace..........................................................................126 4 Heresies......................................................................143 5 Judaism in the Roman Era..........................................154 6 Persecution.................................................................172 Bibliographical References Digital Books..................................................................189 Printed books...................................................................199 Web Sites.........................................................................201
Overview
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This work was written to discuss the first centuries of Christianity with concentration on the first 100 years of the early church. It encompasses the people, environment, political and social structures, and the interplay and dynamics of the different cultures, belief systems, and outcomes of that interaction. The material covers the influence of Christ from his conception, birth, and up to his ascension to Heaven. It will deal with the roles of leaders, (religious, political, hereditary,) and the making of new precepts and perception of God through the life, sacrifice, and teachings of his only begotten Son. The differences and likenesses and the brutality of man will be explored and described. Most importantly a greater understanding of the earth shaking events that continues to rock humanity to its core today will be discussed and given expression. In turn the reactions and environment in which all this occurred are explored and as much as possible (within the limitations of this author) explained. Circumstance, history, and the people is the main frame to which this work is attached. The construction materials are none less than the words of God we have in the Holy Bible. Other lesser materials such as historical writings and commentary hopefully provide the means of attaching the material to the frame resulting in a representation of the Church of God as see through the study of those amazing years we know as the beginnings of Christianity. There is so very much that is relevant and should be included. Some material is duplicated during some discussions which is inevitable in such a complex and important area such as this. Such duplication was necessary to successfully make the entire writing cohesive and permit full discussion of each topic.
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Background Social and Political
The social and political background to the life and times of the New testament era through the first three centuries reads more like fiction that any factual account of a people, a religion, or a phenomena. It is truly the most incredible story ever written and the most enjoyable to study and write about. This is evidenced by the tremendous amount of material written and published through the centuries that document, discuss, critique, and explore this phenomena we call Christianity. The social backdrop for the formative years of Christianity, especially the first hundred years, is riddled with change and diversity. Even so, as diverse as it is, there stands out a unique and glaring difference in religion and lifestyle; one that separates a group of people from all the other cultures beliefs and religions up to and since that era. It is also the group of people which provided the necessary foundation for the birth and growth of the first Christians. The background must necessarily begin with the Children of Israel and the God they introduced to a savage, barbaric, and deluded world. The Hebrews as they are known (among other names and titles) were the first to introduce the truth to the world of one true God. It was this belief and the system that made it up which dominated the world as the only true teachings of the one and only God. The Hebrew faith, religion with is laws, customs, and traditions were the religion into which Jesus was born and learned as a child. It was the religion of his father and his forefathers before him. A religion that not only contained the very commandments of God, written in stone by His own finger, but also the 613 precepts of the law received by and written by Moses. And, if we dare, the many writings of the Priests and scribes that augmented and explained the law to the people and enabled the teaching thereof to new prospects for carrying on the teachings and writing. It was within this scope that Jesus found contention and where the friction began. Note: for all intents and purposes I will continue on the premise that the reader is a student of the Bible and familiar with the people, places, and events covered within it.
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Certain places, events, or people are too obscure or important to mention without elaboration and may be redundant to some readers. It was my intent to try and account for the divergent levels of study, understanding, and recall of the Bible student and enthusiast of the unique history which is Christianity.
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Apostasy and its Impact in Early Church Development “But know this, that in the last days grievous times shall come.” 2 Tim 3:1
The reason this subject is so important is because the apostasy was to be a sign of the coming of the Lord — when the apostasy was at its height the Lord was to come, 2 Thessalonians 2:2ff. How prevalent was the apostasy to be? In Matthew 24:10-12 Jesus indicated it would be universal! In verse 10 he said "many will be offended" because of persecution. In verse 11 he said false prophets would "deceive many". Then in verse 12 he said because lawlessness shall increase "most people's love will grow cold" [NASV]. Notice the Lord said "most" people would lose their faith. That is an awesome thought — an awesome apostasy. Luke 18:8 supports this. Jesus asked: "When the Son of Man comes will he really find faith on earth?" The force of the Greek is that Jesus was saying there would be few indeed who remained faithful. The majority of Christians then, would leave the faith because of persecution, false teachers, lawlessness, etc. The question is did the apostasy take place; or is it future? In 2 Thessalonians 2:7 Paul said that the spirit of lawlessness was at work as he wrote. In Matthew 24:34 Jesus unequivocally said the events he was predicting would occur in that generation. Now many attempt to redefine the word generation to mean "race of people" or project the generation to the distant future. But this is a violation of the meaning of the word and context. When the term "this generation" is used in the Bible it never refers to a specific race of people and never refers to the distant future — it refers to the people all living at that time. The apostasy was to occur in Jesus' generation. The New Testament record bears this out.
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The book of Romans deals with major problems within the body, Romans 16:17f. Consider Corinth. Paul, writing to all the churches of Galatia said "I marvel that you are so soon removed from him who called you". Colossians deals with Judaizers defrauding Christians of their faith and reward. Philippians warns of "the enemies of the Cross". All familiar with Thessalonians know of Paul's deep concern for their faith. Paul instructed Timothy, in two epistles, to deal with the ungodly who would destroy the faithful. Hebrews is an apologetic to stem the tide of those "once enlightened" but now falling away. Jude says the scoffers predicted by Jesus and the other apostles were present. John lamented that "many false prophets are gone out into the world" and spoke of many who had "gone out from us".
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People and Events in Transition Paul and his many writings, his theology and doctrinal teachings, has been the subject of many books, and countless other writings. However it is the transitional role he represented that is of primary interest in this writing. Paul was not one of the original Twelve and by his own words was not a witness from the beginning with the others. His importance, nonetheless, as a transitional figure, cannot be understated. Paul, along with others, were the second generation of the early Church following directly in the steps of the twelve and also acting as a peer to them. Indeed, Paul (Saul) was a young man at the stoning of Steven. In that early role he was a Jew, Roman, Pharisee, from the tribe of Benjamin, and persecutor of the church. Because of his unique background Paul served as a model for the transition facing the church. When Saul became Paul, the church was already extant, but primarily focused on the area of Judea and Jerusalem. Paul, the new man, had transitioned from his deep Jewish roots and the Law to the new faith through Jesus Christ. Paul no longer taught the law nor expected other Christians to follow it – especially the gentiles. Also, as we contemplate this, it is also Paul who was chosen as the Apostle to the Gentiles – although he was not the first to evangelize them. We know that Peter and Philip at least had contact with gentiles and even that Peter was instructed in a dream to include gentiles in his ministry work. Indeed he even entered their homes and brought them into the body of Christ. He realized that God was no respecter of persons and that gentiles now were included in God’s kingdom to share in the faith and hope of salvation in Christ. Paul however primarily focused on the gentiles in his work for the Lord. In this way, he became the transitory apostle that would truly link the gentiles and Greek speaking Jews to the body of Christ and the Hebrew speaking Jews who were also believers. Besides planting churches, he also became instrumental in providing guidance and doctrinal decisions in many of those churches. At the time Paul was the liaison or mediator to the gentiles as well as a strong advocate for their different needs and requirements. Through Paul, James and the elders at Jerusalem agreed that the Gentiles were not under the Law and therefore had no part in conforming or following it. Only a few requirements were sent to them such as not
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eating flesh of strangled animals, food offered to idols, fornication, and other simple doctrines but definitely excluding the requirement of circumcision. Paul also pointed out the shortfalls of some of the Apostles in areas such as eating at the same table with Gentiles and associating with them when the Jews were present. In effect Paul was the first apologist. He not only taught the gospel message, but also defended the faith against heresy and other poisons that had already entered the church. From persecutor to apologist Paul truly represented a transition. During Paul’s personal change and transition the church also saw changes and transition. These transitional changes were amplified by events such as the Martyrdom of Steven and James as well as the four years of war with Rome that ended in the destruction of the temple – just to name a few. The destruction of the Temple was also a major constituent of the transition the church was to go through. It formally ended the sacrifices and hierarchical religio-political government of the Jews and fanned the flames of the scattered church causing growth and expansion on a large and rapid scale. Jesus the Christ was the leader of transition. John the Baptist was the first to teach the kingdom of heaven, but Jesus was the bringer of that kingdom and the figure upon which the world would depend on as founder of the church and new faith, one no longer under the curse of the law but built of love and faith. Jesus opened the door even to the Samaritans through his contact with the woman at the well, and the works He himself did in Samaria. It is true that Jesus told the apostles, at first, not to take the gospel message to the Samarians, but it was by deed that he had already opened the door to them. Moreover, Jesus was the substitute for the old sacrificial system of the law and the propriation for sin thereafter. He also brought a new epoch in fellowship and worship of God. During His life and ministry Jesus was continually trying to get the people to understand that the praising and worship of God and the path to heaven was much simpler and less strenuous than the law (especially as the Jews had made it). He tried to help them make the transition in word and deed and through the commission he gave the Apostles. Jesus, was the transitory figure in whom salvation was availed to all and the
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law became a teacher and not a means of salvation. Jesus was the only person who could truly help mankind transition from the curse of sin to the saving grace of God by faith in His Son. He has responsible for making God’s grace available to all people and not just to the Jews. Jesus thusly appointed those who had to make the transition themselves so they would understand how it felt as they helped others make the transition as well. Ironically the persecutors and false teachings that started with the church were also instrumental in forcing a true and complete transition for the church through the personal transition of those early leaders by the opposition they opposed and the battle they waged against pollution of the faith and both internal and external strife. Those early church leaders saw many challenges and were the transition of faith Jesus had foresaw – even the ones to face many new challenges and barriers as they spread the gospel message.
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Barriers to the Early Church “Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another`s speech.” Gen 11:7
Language I am not a linguist by any stretch of the imagination. But in the study of the history of the Greek language I found some surprising writings that not only describe the variations on the Greek vernacular but also the impact on cultural interaction. This then made me think of language and other things that posed barriers to the church. Below is an excerpt from Address of Tatian to the Greeks: “Wherefore lay aside this conceit, and be not ever boasting of your elegance of diction; for, while you applaud yourselves, your own people will of course side with you. But it becomes a man of sense to wait for the testimony of others, and it becomes men to be of one accord also in the pronunciation of their language. But, as matters stand, to you alone it has happened not to speak alike even in common intercourse; for the way of speaking among the Dorians is not the same as that of the inhabitants of Attica, nor do the Aeolians speak like the Ionians. And, since such a discrepancy exists where it ought not to be, I am at a loss whom to call a Greek. And, what is strangest of all, you hold in honour expressions not of native growth, and by the intermixture of barbaric words have made your language a medley. On this account we have renounced your wisdom, though I was once a great proficient in it;”
We know that Koine’ Greek is the language of the New Testament. We are told that this was the universal language of the day, used in commerce, conversation, and writing – especially the New Testament itself. But through Tatian, who informs us that the Greek language in all its different dialects was a potential barrier, we may deduce (through further reflection) the comparison made between the varying dialects of English in its many forms; as the parallels that face the church in its infancy. Moreover, this helps give insight into the daily activities and problems that arose when spreading the gospel
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message to the Greek based society surrounding them. Or at least one of many obstacles the early church had to deal with and overcome. And of course this not the only language barrier presented to the church.
It became necessary very early in the growth and expansion of the church to translate the gospel message, and even the whole of scripture, into the local languages of the citystates and cultures they ventured to. In most cases the planting of a church was the least difficult obstacle and sometimes waned because of the barrier of communication. It was easier to plant the seeds of Christianity because there were Jewish settlements or groups all across the known world. This of course was the product of dispersions, captivities, and migrations of Jews centuries before the birth of Christ. The northern 10 tribes of Israel did not disappear but were “spread to the four winds” This broad distribution of Jewish influence was naturally more accommodating than the host cultures and at least gave the early missionaries and evangelists an opportunity to settle into an area they intended to bring into the body of Christ. Furthermore, the Jewish groups had sometimes learned the language of their “host” nation, and welcomed the opportunity to relearn and be able to discourse in the language of the Jews once know and now delivered to them. All these early developments needed was a crack for which to insert their message and influence. From the somewhat same havens the early church builders began to reach out to the indigenous populations. ( It should be noted here that major populations of groups other than Jews were forced to settle in strange lands. Others were more conscious efforts of rulers to maintain peace within their real of control by swapping populations throughout the length and breadth of their empire. The Babylonians did it, as did the Persians, and the Romans, and many others). This necessitated translating, both verbally and in written form, the message presented by the New Testament church. Greek was widely spoken within the scope of the Roman Empire and also among other people who traded within it; those people who travelled great distances to peddle their wares and equally to return to their homes with materials
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from these “foreign” lands. Also it was through the embedded trade routes that the Christians ventured farther and farther from the homeland of the church. The Roman Empire, for example built an impressive road system than spanned the empire and afforded greater trade and ensured protection for the diversity of travelers that used it. But, there were more ancient routes still in use that enabled greater and further travel into new lands. This was therefore an outreach effort to peoples neither knowledgeable or familiarity with Jews or Christians. Predominately, I speak of the great eastward expansion of the church while also recognizing the movement of the church in the north, south as well as the expansion into the northwest. The two major areas of growth and expansion were then the Asian nations as well as the peoples of Europe. Also, in the south lay Egypt and the whole of Africa waiting to be informed of the good news and how they may receive salvation. This expansion again was possible by using the in-place road systems from millennia before. One such road was known as the Silk Road. It was the route used by travelers to trade with the Eastern most nations such as India and China. Each nation, of course, provided its own unique barriers to the church as well as opportunity for the church to step up and deal with the difficulties that proved challenging but not insurmountable. They were the welcome challenges of the missionaries and others who zealously spread Christianity. Indeed, many of the barriers were not seen as threats to the faith but rather an opportunity for teaching, mentoring, and translation of God’s word. It was the fervent efforts of believers to start churches that would remain after their departure. This was the norm or standard method used by the early church. And it was very effective as evidenced by churches that stood until the 8th, 9th, and even into the 14th century; some even remaining ’til today. Of course language was not the only barrier presented to the early church as it grew and spread across the world at that time, but many more intense and deadly obstacle awaited those who purposed to share Christ with new nations. Sometimes it was essential for the church to know and accept its limitations. This was evidenced through church dealings and progress in the face of severe persecution. This also accompanied the Christian every place they ventured and every place their faith
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made an impression. This was due to either building of a physical church or merely providing a sustained presence in areas where the indigenous belief system was completely intolerant.
The Christian Presence and Expansion: The reaction by persecution It is a recorded fact that persecution was a major barrier to the early church. So therefore we now start to understand the many ingredients in this “give and take” relationship. I call it a “give and take” relationship because often Christians would “give” the gospel message to different populations and belief system only to receive criticism, rebuff, and often persecution. This persecution was either covert or overt and took many guises. It also utilized a number of techniques to discourage and even eliminate the presence of the Christian church and the message of salvation taught by its members. Then the church would “take” abuse and intolerant behavior as well as heresy into their lives and the church. One of the first indications, one of the most basic and fundamental responses to the insertion of Christian Theology into a new people-group, was the curiosity of the people. Many cultures reached by the early church were curious if not acceptant of this new “words of wisdom” and even the lifestyle presented by those early Christians as a witness to their faith. Take for example populations in China. There the new teachings were accepted and immediately analyzed by some of the best minds of the day. They also found ways to assimilate the Christian teachings into some of their own writings - In this case substituting uniquely Chinese names into the stories of the Bible. It was said that plagiarism is the greatest form of compliment or flattery. If that is the case then many cultures indeed paid Christianity the highest honor afforded them.
This was usually followed by the rejection of the church by different groups or sects and the infant beginnings of institutionalized persecution. Institutionalized persecution being a formal, organized effort on the part of individuals, groups, and governments to repel the
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intrusion of Christianity into the norms of their society; also it is the beginnings of what sometimes became the senseless, complete annihilations of the Christians, their church, and all materials and memory of their presence. It is, then, a complete wiping of the slate on which was written or recorded the church and its message. In some regions of Egypt it is believed by some scholars that Christianity was likewise removed from the Egyptian culture; that it was physically chiseled from walls and statutes. Furthermore scholars revealed that like many places, it was a death sentence for anyone to mention it. This type of powerful eradication did its job to the greatest degree. It certainly made it almost impossible to find traces of Christianity anywhere in public or private areas. Even the name of the Pharaoh living during that era was also said to have been erased from Egyptian History. There are admittedly accounts of this happening in antiquity as well as throughout the history of the church, even until today. This was not seen as all that extreme by these early Christian missionaries and evangelists. This was possibly because of the rugged background of the Jews and their near annihilation one s few occasions through the distant beginnings of the Jews as a people – even likewise emulated by nations today in many parts of the world. In some cases though, the Christians looked upon certain types and degrees of persecution as a reward for their faithfulness. They considered it an honor to receive abuse from anti-Christian belief systems and the people who comprise and support them. Many times they made the greatest and most honored sacrifice for the church, that being put to death. So then, as the church expanded it presence into unknown cultures and nations it was apparently ready to accept and even glory in the persecutions as reactions to their very presence. That doesn’t even account for the modes and methods of persecution. There were many modes and methods employed in persecution of the church. Sometimes this reaction was immediate as Paul and others experienced in their early outreach to cities in Palestine. And it was from those cities and areas that they “shook the dust from their feet as a sign against them”. This action symbolized the departure of the gospel message from those folks and the salvation that could have been received. It was more than just a symbol or simple rhetoric; it was the pronunciation of condemnation and a curse upon
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that city. In this instance provided in the New Testament it is clear that the church leaders did not always take persecution or rejection lying down. In some respects the newly planted churches and the members from the local areas did take persecutions in stride, but they also at times stood up to their oppressors. The events were even recorded by later church writers and applied or discussed as evidences. These events then served as proof positive that Christianity had an impact on the huge diversity of people spread across the world. Each time there was an instance of either acceptance or rejection it was seen as a victory for the fledgling church. Whether positive or negative it spoke for the mere presence of the church and its beliefs in areas heretofore unknown or previously thought non-attainable. Persecution as a marker or monument to the faith may seem strange or bizarre, but it did in many respects at least document the far reach of the church in antiquity and the undaunted perseverance of the early followers of Christ. In such manner it proved to justify the commission from Christ and also glorify the church. Persecution then was a hallmark of church accomplishment and not a punishment or torment meant to dissuade them. This theme can be seen in writings by the early writers and historians such as Tatian, Philo, Tacticus, Josephus, Eusebius and many others. And although many Christians were removed from areas by force, and even when churches were demolished and the saints killed, it could not negate to feeling of victory by the church. But also, as history has shown us, this was not always the case; the church did not always glory in persecution or revel in an empty victory. Sometimes the church, the called out believers, became disenchanted, confused, and even turned from their faith. There are, as we all are aware, accounts where Christians relinquished their faith, often converted to the oppressing belief systems, and did so quickly at time. Of course there were many motivations for this crumbling of part of the church infrastructure. Those included Christians that only superficially accepted the false teaching forced upon them as a means of mere survival, as well as those who used this oppressive force to aid in spreading the church message over an even more widespread are. But there were those who converted only to spare their own life and those who truly accepted the theology being forced upon
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them. Regardless of the effective contributions persecution may have inadvertently provided the church, it still remained a severe threat or major barrier to the very existence of, or expansion of, Christianity. Social classes played a large role in matters that posed strong opposition to the church as well as an imposing barrier to church growth and development. This, in the next part, will open the book on this perspective...
Social class So far we have briefly looked at two barriers to the Early Church – those being language and persecution. We now should look at social class and its impact as a barrier to church expansion and growth. When the Apostles began to venture out into the world as church planters, supporters, and leaders, one area of society posed a barrier. They directly affected outreach, planting, nurturing efforts. This also impacted the leading of the church in new lands and among diverse people-groups. Note, I say “diverse people-groups� because within the many empires and nations of that era more than one language, culture, and belief system existed. Social classes and the divisions of them had a great impact on the church. It is not often written or spoken of. But even the most casual of history readers are familiar with the caste system. This existed in many forms throughout the nations and permeated churches and other groups. In the church it had influence in structure and internal hierarch ( in some churches) and cause rifts and separations or splinter groups to form. It was sometimes a determining ingredient in the power structure and financial section of the church. Sadly many of these splinter groups, or new segments of the church, were more greatly influenced by class than even the original church that produced them.
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This was even apparent in the church at Jerusalem and other places, almost carbon copies of the arrangements in the Synagogues of the Jews. This is the same structure identified in Matthew and condemned sharply by Christ. People of stature, of money and even political connections were both the formal and informal bosses of the assemblies. They required special treatment, were afforded greater latitude in the faith, and often placed as guests of honor in the most celebrated feasts and ceremonies of the Jews. . These superficialities actually ran deep among the people and proved to cloud the laws, traditions, and customs of the Jews. This, of course, spilled over into the early church by the sheer association of Jewish Christians within the church. It is commonly known and accepted that many Jewish traditions and beliefs were present in the earliest days of the church. Sometimes it is not altogether clear what impact this had in the early church or even how long it lasted. It is evident that it lasted in other forms external to the church, forms that later became rival “Christian” belief systems. But there were also evidences in the internal structure of the church. This internal influence lasted for centuries at times in very small degrees and at others in major degrees. Each one having its own impact and presenting it s own barrier to the church. In the early church especially in doctrine and practice there was no preference or special recognition afforded anyone – the church promulgated the common doctrine of equality and therefore equality and its importance in the whole body of Christ. Scriptural statements such as “we are all brethren and equal heirs with Christ” and “I did not come to be served but to serve”, “we are co-laborers in Christ” , and “we are the members of the body of Christ...”. These and other statements and doctrine yet formalized were epitomized in the actions and practices of the Apostles. In several epistles, preference of one over another is addressed and sternly reproved. The church was to be, as the called out body of believers, as the body of Christ, the definition of humility and servitude to God through Christ and the church. This was the views they held for each other (the Apostles) as well as all the body of the church. There were some exceptions to this doctrine but the vast majority of church affairs emulated this doctrinal example set by Christ. There was of course another side to this equation. Christ told them to respect and obey the laws of man as an example of being an honest and law abiding citizen. This was given as an example so the church would understand that at least part of the impact of the
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church growth was dependent on how others viewed the examples set by Christians. Should their actions and words conflict, this would greatly jeopardize effectiveness of the gospel in a life or in the life of multitudes. They were to be Christians in word and in deed. The higher social class, those educated and full of themselves, would require more and deeper explanation of the faith once delivered to the Apostles. They saw themselves as intellectuals and hence were given to the manners of those who tutored them. Sometimes this included Hellenized philosophy and thoughts that framed their perceptions and interactions with everyone – including the tribe or sect know as Christians. They could not accept any Christian premise without first demanding more and greater explanation. They needed to understand before they could allow themselves to believe. In small ways this reminds me of the questions and actions of some of the Apostles. For example, Thomas was not easy to convince of events and precepts. Others were interested in details about heaven, God’s kingdom, and of course when the end of days would come. However this curiosity exhibited by the Apostles through these questions hardly compare to the humanistic based interrogations by the learned and “superior” people who were prospects for the bearers of the gospel message. Conversely, the impoverished or lower classes of people required little in the way of reasoned explanations. Faith came more easily and honestly to them. This, I believe by the way, was a contributor to the downfall of many churches planed and maintained in large cities. The early example of the house church didn’t seem to suffice as the church expanded almost exponentially in the early decades. But, returning to the main idea, this also mirrored the ministry of Christ who healed the sick, spoke with enemies and the degraded members of society. It was a ministry in which he ate with sinners and publicans, and ventured into many small villages and out of the way places. He also had interaction with those who were possessed and even gross sinners caught in the act. He did not cater to the elite nor did he purposely target them for his ministry. Neither did he do the things the Jewish leaders expected from him, but stayed his course to those who were in need, to the masses that were weak in the Jewish faith or had no professed faith at all. He preferred those who were either hot or cold. Those he knew would be more
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accepting of the message he proclaimed and the lessons he taught. The barrier of social class also found root in these masses as well as the glorified and self-dignified groups of intellectuals – the leaders in the temple and the hierarchy of prominent members of the ruling class. Various social barriers were in place such as the common distrust of strangers and the attitude that espoused “if you were not born here “or part of the area, then you didn’t belong there. Moreover you were not wanted there and many times were asked to depart out of their country – as in village or region. This social separation and it’s hold on certain populations was indeed a barrier that sometimes was even rooted in the heritage of the people of a give village or region. For example, transplanted peoples who had acclimated to the region many generations before had adopted some of the Jewish beliefs and traditions like the Samaritans who claimed to be Jews. They claimed to be Jews, according to early historians, when it suited them and not to be when it favored them or was to their personal advantage. In other words it was a tool of survival employed and utilized in whatever form or fashion benefitted them the most. Other types of social barriers existed and included those who preferred war and violence as their means of survival and method of settling controversies. This type of mentality was common and laid in wait behind almost every turn of the church. From refugees to bandits and killers the church confronted them all as the barriers they were. They were barriers and not impenetrable obstacles. There were few impenetrable objects in the social mores or actions of any nation represented during the early church. But again here, there were exceptions. Reprisals and random acts of destruction were somewhat common at times and in certain areas that the church entered. Sometimes there were social clashes based on fear or misinformation spread by opponents of the church. The opponents included other “Christian” groups and sects. These groups, as a social barrier sometimes wielded great influence and power to the point where the listeners and followers resorted to any means necessary to strike out at the church. These groups did everything they could imagine to undermine the church and destroy any credibility or established trust. This, of course was when the growth of the church dwindled and even on occasions ceased to exist as a part of the body of Christ. Of course, as with all social barriers and clashes between them, the
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root of the problem is always the influence of evil which found purpose and strength among the sheer diversity of people in general. This anti-Christian force established many social barriers not only against the church but even between the nations, classes, and belief systems. One point I alluded to earlier was heritage as a social barrier. As we know heritage played a tremendous role in the history of the Jews and decided the roles people would play – especially with regard to the temple and synagogue. Priests, kings, musicians, and other positions in and of the Jewish system of worship depended upon heritage or lineage. This also impacted the private lives and duties of the Jewish populace as a whole.
Heritage and Lineage In the last paragraph was introduced heritage as a barrier to the church. It was briefly stated how important heritage or lineage was to the Jews. Now let’s take a closer look and see how heritage did truly play a major role in Judaism as well as the monumental impact it had on Christianity. As a note here this will overlap some parts already written and some yet to be so. But the importance of this as a barrier is actually a double edged sword and delves into other aspects of the church as a whole. Lineage or heritage as a barrier was closely accompanied by a foundation or benchmark of Christian faith and the establishment of the church. Normally this is the link discussed that proves the connection to Judaism, fulfillment of prophesies, and beginning of the New Testament Church founded by Christ. However we shall look at another aspect of this “relationship” as it affected the followers of Judaism and the leaders of the early church. This link or connection to Judaism was also a major source of friction between the Jews and those who had rebelled against the faith of the forefathers (Christians). With the blasphemous words and deeds of a false prophet; a contentious man who had to outrageous gall to claim divinity – especially as the son of the God of Abraham and
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expected messiah. Blasphemy, they said, and so crucified he was carelessly. At least this was much of the recorded thought and grievance expressed in the New Testament account. The Christ-followers or Christians immediately had “issues with the mother faith,” issues that swelled and festered as the weeks and months passed. But how could lineage or heritage pose or provide any real difficulty between the closely related belief systems? As was stated earlier lineage or heritage played a huge role in Judaism and the life of the Jewish people in general. This was natural because God had chosen them of all the peoples in the world to receive His Word. It was more than anything a calling or covenant that would not be broken. This Word that was entrusted to them separated them from the entire world a Holy Ministry and legacy passed down from generation to generation for thousands of years. The Jews had a firm grip on the will of God and the elite ruling class (of both royalty and priesthood) alongside the different sects of the religion knew better the mind of God than anyone and the meaning of every word written in the Torah. They dictate many customs and practices not in the original written word, but claimed it their right and authority given them to do so. At least that is what they believed and taught the people. They had become so entangled in the letter of the law and their own customs to even realize when the Messiah did come to them. This was the beginning of the rift that was destined to come. It was the first and biggest wall that divided the Jews. This division of thought, especially with the backdrop of the Jewish heritage and lineage, along with the divisions within Judaism, had to have spilled over into the very earliest beginning of the church. It did determine initially who was even willing to listen to Jesus as he spread a new message, the kingdom of heaven, to the people who listened to him. Doubts and questions were like the plague within the ranks of the apostles at first. Many wanted to keep their heritage complete and intact without changing one practice. Others were more accepting, if not curious about this new wisdom being given them by God’s only Son. Granted many of the Apostles were smitten and followed Christ from the first moments, but other didn’t seem to be as committed as the first four or five. As a matter of fact some disciples, after hearing Jesus teach, felt the sayings were too “hard” and walked
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away. There was no number given, but it was definitely more than one. So even in the very days of Christ Jewish beliefs linked to heritage was a deterrent to some possibly even many. That also included those of the inner circle with Christ.
To this day Judaism refuses to admit Jesus, son of David, born 200 years ago, as indeed the messiah. Most will concede that he was a righteous man even possibly a prophet, but not the only begotten Son of God. In any event, this did prove to divide the Jews during those wonderful / terrible days the Christ walked the earth and taught among men. Immediately after the days of Christ, the Apostles had to work out between themselves the strength of their heritage, the law, and their lineage. Many other things pressed the Apostles as well as the question of the past and ties to Judaism. This struggle sometimes comes through in the writings that constitute the New Testament. From the gospels to the epistles and in between there is always the hint of strife with foreknowledge and beliefs that only a short time ago represented the only truth, the only belief system of the one true God. One of the things that make separating Judaism from the heritage and lineage within its history from their beliefs as a religious group, is that they are so deeply entwined that one without the other would be fragmented and incomplete. This very concept was one factor in the struggle between Judaism and the branch soon known as the Christians of the early church. Once a definitive break was apparent the division within the early church subsided while the lineage and heritage within Judaism demanded excommunication and separation and therefore a barrier was forever formed between the two. The barrier caused by this break or separation grew with time and eventually rose to the level of persecution. Providentially then, the church was goaded into spreading out and away from Jerusalem and the Jewish faith grown persecution. In some respects this barrier, as mentioned earlier, was a two edged sword. It drew the line of contentions as well as gave impetus to the evangelism and growth of the church. On the one hand it became a defiant force against the church and the other a fan that fanned the flames of church expansion.
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The barrier grew even stronger as the Roman Empire joined in and added their might and power to the persecution of the Christians and ironically of the Jews as well. Soon when Rome became a center of Jewish and Christian coexistence, however soon this barrier between the Jews and the church became enough of a discomfort to the Romans that the Jews were driven out and forbidden to ever return. There is much more behind this decision such as the revolts by the Jews and other things. But the barrier between the two monotheistic religions became a stone wall that would separate them into the unforeseeable future. The lineage and heritage of the Jews as a separated people group of God and keepers of the Word of God were indeed not deterred from their holy commission; again another irony that only enforced the Christian Commission of Christ and lit fire under efforts of the church to grow and expand. This separation was never truly complete in practice because the church also maintained the Torah as a source document or holy document of their faith. This was soon accompanied by scripture written by the Apostles and eventually combined into one volume of Holy Scripture. Barrier though it may have been and still continues to bee there is no denying the positive impact it had of the growth and development of the church as a separate group of called out believers in Christ. This then must also be carried into the next barrier, the barrier of heresy...
Heresy Heresy was another barrier to the early church and is one of the biggest threats ever. In its many forms and guises it has also remained until today. Therefore a discussion of this barrier is indeed necessary as we continue to look at this broad subject and its impact on the church. Heresy, in some scholastic circles is still somewhat an arbitrary subject. However, the majority agrees upon much as the orthodox or original teachings of the church. Then, by default all else falls under the broad heading of heresy. Heresy first appeared as nothing
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more than queries and or challenges to the message being taught by the Apostles and other disciples. This early questioning and eventual deviation from implicit doctrine, was one impetus behind formalizing doctrine. This was addressed in several places in the New Testament as the Apostles wrote to the early churches warning them of many different threats to the gospel message once delivered to them. It was even called heresy although the New Testament had not been formalized in those first critical years of the church. Neither had any formal creeds been written or developed in conjunction with the new scriptures being composed and distributed. There were just many things that the early leaders and writers too to be self evident. It never really occurred to them that the deity of Christ or any teachings would be challenged. They probably expected outright refusals or disbelief, but not the heresies that spawned so many challenging groups. What initially began as curiosity or a desire to know more details and have certain teachings explained, quickly developed into a new and complete train of thought – a movement if you will. It was more than even a mere movement, it was parallel theology that grew and was essentially, in many respects, the antithesis of the purity and straightforwardness of the early church. It is so called Gnosticism, or the seeking of knowledge as the true way to achieve salvation. Gnostic thought, Gnosis, and the later Gnosticism (and the many splinter groups that emanated from it) was indeed a major force against, or barrier to, the successful and unadulterated spread of the church. It alone was indeed a serious impediment to the spread of the gospel message because it served to dilute, pollute, and even challenge the very foundations of Christianity – the faith delivered to the Apostles and the purest gospel teachings they shared with the world. The Apostle Paul cut to the bone of the difficulties presented by the Gnostic Theological machine that was moving through the cities and people as fast or faster than the true church. It is somewhat easy to see, from the viewpoint of the many people groups in and around Palestine, the confusions that began so early. In some cases, sadly, some chose the wrong teachings and instead of helping the church became an adversary. The day of Pentecost alone demonstrated the many people groups represented. Many were from the east, from an area on the borderlands of the Roman Empire; and even into the nations and empires that met that borderland.
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Many peoples were eager to hear the news of “one God” and the salvation made possible to them. Unfortunately, many were reached first by the Gnostics and believed their brand of theology. In some ways it was easier for them to believe this false religion. It catered to the natural desires of the mind of man and offered explanations where none were otherwise available. Cities, where the churches were centered or founded, generally had a higher population of “deep thinkers” than the general populous in the surrounding rural areas. Actually, much of the remnants of the teachings of the Hebrews of yesteryear had remained in these areas. So, the concept of one God was not completely new. But the news of a savior and his sacrifice was. This new “knowledge” was the key to the Gnostic platform and initial presentation to the many who yearned to hear the amazing grace and mercy of God; Even more so those who believed in the power and strength of knowledge – such as the Greek, Syrians, and others. Gnosticism as a broad caption for an immense diversity of teachings and beliefs cannot be effectively detailed in this brief treatise. However, it shall be discussed in greater detail in later writings. So from this immense subject we must proceed to yet another broad area, that of Paganism. Paganism, as a heresy, posed a very serious threat to the early church. This is easily witnessed in the Latinized versions of Christianity as they attempted to appease the masses by incorporating many pagan thoughts into their theology. Actually theology is not exactly the best word. What resulted from this acclimation, or absorption is a conglomerated and convoluted religion that only barely resembles the church and the faith once delivered to the Apostles. Nestorianism and Monophysitism shared greater similarities with the “true” church that did this offshoot brand of Pageo-Christianity. In fact the Nestorian theology of Christ was very close to the proto-orthodox beliefs that were understood by the Apostles and further expounded upon in the early 2nd century. In the first centuries it was indeed difficult to isolate Christian truths and pagan influence in some schools and false religious teachings. Idolatry and sacrifice of animals, even children, to these idols or false gods was common in much of the world. It was so common in fact that I suppose the convoluted Christian (so called) movement that spread (often) alongside the early church decided it was easier to envelope the paganistic
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tendencies, beliefs, and practices of cultures when affronted by them. Easier, in fact, was a theme that seemed to run throughout much of the heresy that feebly stood as a barrier to the early church. Granted it is easy to arbitrarily pick what was called heresy then, or would it really have been arbitrary? That would have been a difficult question when asked of the average person, i.e., or rather the greater portion of the population in rural areas of the period. Since Christianity began its spread in some areas through the connection of small groups, primarily in the fringes of Rome’s shadow, but also in small countries that were independent – for the most part. These small areas, such as the small Syrian kingdoms for example, were connected loosely, but found ways to stand together for or against any type of intrusion. Remember, survivability was a concern also as Christianity spread into greater and greater Paganistic areas, especially the hopes of any type of permanent church planting. The early church had to stand a constant vigil against paganism – a heresy that was more like water and its uncanny ability to find a hole in a roof. Just as a leak starts with the very first drop and can eventually lead to total collapse of the roof, not to mention the cherished objects being protected by that roof. So then also Christianity was the protector of the gospel and even the smallest leak or permeating pagan concept could have disastrous effects. Heresies were not limited to pagan or even parallel church falsehoods. Other heresies, such as people and their efforts to confuse the truth or offer better (false system) and more palatable condiments such as even magic or sorcery, are powerful and pose significant challenges. Simon Magnus is a prime example and successfully demonstrates that people sometimes are as dangerous as any other barrier to the early church. It may seem a bit odd to include the person without the heretical ideologies they offered, but sometimes even a single person can prove a sizeable heretical barrier to the church. The individual’s particular views can come from pagan ideas, political precepts, or could have just been someone who didn’t like the recipe for life the Christian missionaries and evangelists propounded. In the sense used here, the individual is more of a person that sees himself as a defender of the people than any type of leader in a anti-Christian or other competing religious founder.
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Often, with this in mind, we see the leader of the small groups, ( communities, family units, and even the small niches where humanity strove to exist), contacted by the missionary efforts of the early church as the first hurdle that must be navigated before true meaningful contact and subsequent acceptance of Christ and the church can be obtained. One lone individual did indeed sometimes mean the difference between be greeted with hospitality and accepting minds or the angry expulsion and Explicit disdain for any new ideas. This became especially true much later when Christianity became associated with the power of Rome. Christians were not looked upon as people spreading the good news of the gospel, but as spies or part of the Roman aggressiveness that threatened their freedom and even their lives. In other words, Rome, as an enemy of these small groups, citystates or kingdoms, often deterred people from even listening; many times they were indeed hostile and aggressive. Without belaboring this point further let’s get back to the subject of heresy and the individuals who often stood as a beacon or guardian of the people. It is true that in most communities there were people who were essential to the protection of others; lookouts, if you will, for the least sign of trouble. It must be remembered here that the news of the early church, or the rumors, gossip, and speculations of it, often preceded actual contact by the actual physical representatives of the church; through the missionary efforts that began in the very earliest days of the Apostolic era. Sometimes these rumors or the concept itself was eagerly accepted and the eventual contact equally as enjoyed. However, it is those occasions, those rumors and speculations that met with suspicion, distrust, or outright rejection that that posed a real threat. The news of Christianity, and the many convolutions and untruths that competed with it, often spread to regions long before there was actual physical contact by missionaries or representatives of the church. In these cases individuals, possibly deeply rooted in paganism, misunderstood the news they had received or were so confused by the conflicting gossip and falsehoods that the doormat was not only not laid out, but was
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hidden deeply in the quagmire of distrust, fear, and suspicion. Generally the lone individual antagonist or person jaded by too much information did indeed prevent contact or any type of inroad to the community. So many times the isolated small community was afraid in general and any rumor that the Christians heading their way were associated with Rome was the last straw. This was true either because the community was an old enemy of Rome (possibly made up of people who had fought against Rome or had been expatriated by Rome); was allied with an enemy of Rome; was just located between Rome and an enemy- such as Persia. In any case, the individual stood a vigil and had no intentions of allowing outsiders (professed Christians or not) from jeopardizing their neutral if not symbiotic relations with the larger empires. So, yes, one individual either because of pagan beliefs or some other motivation was indeed capable of posing a barrier to the church. And equally these same individuals stood as a heresy themselves because of their misunderstandings and fear – things that possibly separated them from the world at large anyway. Still other heresies existed and posed daunting challenges to the early church. Take for example the Egyptian belief system that not only imprinted the Hebrews during their captivity, but also affected the New Testament church through trade, travel, and other inter-social interactions. As therefore a different heresy – one that encompasses so much history and wide ranging influence during the early church era, Egyptian “religious” teachings and beliefs lingered in areas all around Palestine and those regions closer to Egypt – say on other borders. Granted there were many other heretical influences from many nations, but few that could have tainted Christianity in the earliest years of development as Egypt did and was capable of doing. It was in Egypt, (Alexandria specifically) that Christianity seemed to prosper quickly and very early. It was there that scripture was later translated and written down as one of the first “bibles” used in some portions of the Christian community at large. In the second century a school was opened in Alexandria that taught ministers who would continue to spread at least one version of Christianity to other people groups or nations. Suffice it to
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say that it was an important stronghold for Christianity, but was equally a danger to the early church because of the heretical schools of thought that sprang from there. As I stated earlier in this writing, this is a very broad area, and needs to be covered in more detail. And it will be once other barriers are introduced and briefly discussed.
Transition The very early church was plagued with problems from within and without. As we have already discussed there were several things that posed as barriers to the church and its growth and expansion. Transition was another barrier to the early church because of its innate vulnerability to heresy and derision. As the very first Christians (Jews) nurtured the church and began to expand into farther and farther reaches of the known world, it became abundantly clear that some changes had to be made and a need for singleness of thought had to be impressed on the churches and the leaders of them. As it was stated in scripture “being of one mind� was essential to the purity of the church. One of the first transitions the early church faced was that of becoming less Jewish and more Christian. Remember that even among the Jewish faith there was disagreement on doctrine and other things. So too was there a borrowed division between some of the twelve apostles. Paul, for example, had to help James with some of his teachings. James, who put on a facade of Christianity and beliefs, would revert to Jewish customs and practices when with Jews. His variance was itself hypocrisy and caused many young Christians to stumble and become confused on what to believe and or practice. James would not eat with the gentiles when there was a Jewish presence, and indeed tried to teach them legalistic views held by the Jewish religion he had long been a part of. Things such as circumcision and purification customs were just a couple of issues that had to be addressed early. At the first real meeting in Jerusalem, these and other subjects that were at variance were discussed and the decision mediated to the point where doctrine began to take form and a steady guide for Christians began to develop. I’m sure this transition from an ancient religion, from the 613 precepts of the Law, and the historical customs added to it, was very difficult. Today, we even fight against this type of mentality and
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unwillingness to let go of beliefs we held as children and even as adults in lieu of Biblical truths and true doctrine. Those who just could not complete the transition sometimes started their own conception of Christianity. In these cases beliefs and practices were borrowed from Judaism and even from the Hellenized world around them. Another inroad of harm caused by transition was the distrust and even hatred of Christians as they slowly released their paradigms of Judaism and replaced them with the gospel truth and simplicity of salvation through Christ. In many cases this meant being excommunicate by family and friends, even listed as enemies of Judaism. This was apparent when new Christians felt the tug of Synagogue worship and interaction with their peers. Many were flogged and beaten for their abandonment of the faith of Abraham and Isaac as well as dragged before the Sanhedrin for judgment. But this was actually superfluous to the things the early church had to endure as Christianity became more recognized and disliked. The transition of the church to Antioch after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 was another difficult time and experience for the church. This officially broke ties to the Temple and forced the church to recognize its own needs and abilities. This cutting of the apron string was the transition of maturity for the church as it continued to fight heresy, division, and confusion. Some have termed it “growing pains� but that is a gross understatement to this transition of the early church. Although at this point the church was primarily centered in large cities, the transition to a missionary church began before the destruction to Jerusalem and the Temple. Paul, Philip, and others were already actively engaged in evangelism and spreading of the gospel message to farther and farther areas of the world. However this rapid transition for the church may have been the impetus for expansion of the church, the matter of doctrine, the pure faith, and even the abilities of the Apostles were being challenged at every turn. The church development was anything but fluid and was the greatest challenge to culture and beliefs of many nations and peoples. The Jews had established a presence in most nations that dated back hundreds of years. They were known if not totally accepted. Early
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in the Christian “deployment” this association was beneficial. However as the Christian “tribe” began to transition to its own separate religious group and was unable to depend on their Jewish affiliations for support. Although Jews from the different areas believed and helped establish footholds the enmity which eventually came shut doors almost as fast as they were opened. In some places the Christian Missionaries were run out of the area and any who chose to take up their cross and follow. This we much understand was a different life that they had grown accustomed to. Before this time, the Jews travelled the trade routes and shipping lanes as merchants and in other capacities, but not as evangelists or missionaries. This new platform, this new outbreak of truth and salvation, was indeed nothing like anything the new Christians had ever experienced. It was frightening, powerful, and most of all dangerous to individuals and groups. I’m sure in the minds of many the transitional histories of the Israelites must have been freshly renewed and lamented. Transition was not a new experience for the children of Israel, however as a collected group it was somewhat easier to endure than the plight awaiting the Christian “sect” now spreading throughout the world. Another transition that affected the early church was the transition from the Old Testament as the guidebook for the heart of their lifestyle, to the new doctrines and premises taught by the early church. This differed from the carryover of the Law in that it was a truly new lifestyle and belief system that initially had little in the way of written guidance. Word of mouth had long been the vehicle for sharing information, but it offered its own set of pitfalls. In modern leadership training there is an exercise often used that involves the telling of a short story of one group member to another until the last person regales it to the entire group. Often, the resultant rendition bears little resemblance to the original story. Although this type of exercise can demonstrate the worst case scenario, it can also prove the need of consistent and standardized materials (written) to eliminate distortion of the original statements. The Apostles recognized this need to transition to written guidance and began the writing of the soon to be New Testament before the end of the first century. Polity, procedure, history and heritage as comforts to the Jews-now- Christians left a hole that demanded written guidance and explanations. Although the Old testament was still used as the schoolmaster to teach
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about sin and other Biblical truths, the new writings were the renderings of the official word of Christ and the salvation He provided by His sacrifice. It was a transition from Law and work to a system of faith and grace. I grew up working from the time I can remember. It was just life and I accepted it rather easily. Working was the demonstration of manhood and expression of the worth of an individual. It was extremely uncommon to find anyone young or old that didn’t work and take pride in that work. It was a lifestyle and the staple of the community where I was reared. Hard physical labor was not condemned, rather it was cherish as a virtue and carried only the stigma of “play of the ignorant� from people who found their worth in education or some other endeavor which required little physical effort. In any case such traditions can be very heard to lose when they are engrained in someone from their early youth. The early church was encumbered by many tasks, by many aspects of life that needed to be kept from falling through the crack. One was the need of accommodating the needs of the sick, elderly, and poor. A hierarchy, no matter how simple, had to be developed. The Apostles and others who were consigned to preaching, teaching, and spreading the gospel did not have the time to attend to all of the functions of the body of Christ and the needs that perpetually presented themselves. This was not a case of being cold hearted or negligence by the Apostles and leaders of the church, but rather was the transition from a fledgling group of rebels to a true fellowship of the body of called out believers. Had ir been necessary for the church to develop every aspect for themselves, the spread of Christianity and the church would surely have been severely hampered. Fortunately, as part of this transition, the concept of structure, doctrinal truths, and necessary hierarchical compartments in the church were not ideas that had to be developed or reasoned out by the church. They had, as a pattern the temple, and synagogues available for their patterns. The offices or positions created in the early church out of necessity barely raised an eyebrow for the new Christians as well as the first church leaders. What did not transition into the early church structure was any type of power or unnecessary influence given by and one person. The early church was democratic and the belief in equality of all members of the church paramount. This particular transition from power, corruption,
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and social standing, was difficult for some of the upper income class as well as those who were afforded special recognition and treatment under the Jewish Temple system. As part then of the transitioning church, the new believers had to make many concessions and grudgingly accept the new lifestyle and freedom of salvation through grace and not works. It was difficult for them as it is difficult for many today. The concept of receiving something free is still scrutinized today. For, if anything has any worth at all it cannot be free...
The transition of the church from being a part of Judaism to total independence was a huge transition for the early church. Initially, the disciples and apostles were indoctrinated in the Law as delivered to them through the scriptures – those that existed before the birth of Christ and into the day of the apostolic movement to establish the church as a separated body and as authors of new scriptures and even a new viewpoint on salvation and God’s Kingdom. To examine this momentous event and see how it was actually a barrier to church growth we need to at least attempt to understand society and belief systems from which the Apostles and other disciples drew their views. Should we contemplate the many views we held throughout our life and the influence those had on our decisions and many other things, we can begin to empathize with those early believers and followers of Christ. The early Christians didn’t just come about by accident nor did they appear on the world stage at the last second. The first Christians were a group of Jewish men and women who had to make a transition from their lifelong beliefs, heritage, and worldview to a new lifestyle, belief system, and responsibilities. Before the average Jew had little impact or took little responsibility for sharing the faith. This was generally expected of the leaders of the Temple and synagogues. In most cases others were felt to be unworthy to share the faith. They were outsiders and consequently could not be trusted and especially could not participate in the rich history and long lineage of God’s chosen people. Their faith and beliefs were for those who Gad
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had chosen and could not be polluted or blindly given to non-Jews. It was sacred, historical, and engrained into every person from their youth. It was more than a religion; it was a way of life, the foundation of who they were, and the basis for their activities in everyday life. There other factors that had to be taken into account by the first Christians. On factor, closely associated with the Jewish religion, was tribal association and the expectations of each. The Levite for instance were expected to do the daily work of maintaining the Temple, ministering to the needs of the Priests, and performing other menial tasks as they were needed. Then, as we see, there was a tremendous transition that took place in the hearts and minds of those first Christians. The first foundational transition of though and belief was the acceptance of Jesus as the Christ. This was a huge even monumental transition. Although the arrival of the Christ was expected, only a very few, at first, were willing to believe or accept Jesus as the only son of God. Part f which was due to the manner in which the Christ was expected to appear and the conquering army he was hoped and expected to lead. He was expected to come as a king to the people and one that would lead them to victory of the oppressors – namely the Romans. The life of slavery and servitude was always on the menu for the children of Israel and as such had poisoned their concepts and views on prophesies of the coming Christ. Along with this viewpoint were the many customs and beliefs that had gradually been added to the overall religious teachings of the priests. The Pharisees, Sadducees, and other prominent members of the faith also added their inputs and teachings to make the religion more and more of a burden to the populous. In deed by the arrival of Christ and especially when He began His ministry, it was difficult for the average Jew to meet the oppressive customs and traditions that had been introduced to the faith – introductions that were the invention of men. Imagine living such a regimented life and having so many ordinances and rules to follow and then suddenly to realize, through the teachings of Christ, that the law and especially the doctrines of man, were merely to bring people to the knowledge of sin and that He
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was come so that salvation could be offered to all who believed in Him and accepted Him as the Son of God and only path for life everlasting. Just imagine the internal strife, even confusion that must have affected the very earliest motives and impulses that accompanied the establishment of the body of Christ as called out believers; as the foundational church that would take the gospel truths to the world.
Spiritual Warfare Spiritual warfare was indeed a great barrier to the early church. It was actually the underground network that fostered all or most of the barriers already presented. This struggle, although largely unseen, placed man in the middle of a great spiritual battle that began even before man was created. From the very first as recorded in Genesis, the war on souls and fate of mankind took center stage. If it was not obvious enough in genesis the many facets of the tempter have been delineated many times throughout the rest of the Old Testament.
A large portion of the Apostle Paul’s writings was concerned with this troublesome and dangerous area of the Christian life. As part of the overall theology and doctrine established through his epistles and other writings Paul looked very carefully at this dimension of Christianity. In an era where warfare was keenly understood, this particular type also received much thought and contemplation. The subject comes up directly or indirectly throughout the New Testament. We are instructed to put on our Holy Armor and become soldiers for Christ. Far and above the many other challenges to the church, spiritual warfare certainly held the most danger possible outcomes. Numerous books and courses have been devoted to this subject and in some cases taken to the utmost extreme – such as exorcism and the like. The point is that it is important and should never be understated or underemphasized – especially with regard to the early church. One must remember that during the NT period, the belief is spirits (good and evil as well as other
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types of spirits) was extremely common belief. Even the apostles when they saw Jesus coming to them on the water were afraid because they thought he was a ghost (or spirit) at first. When peter knocked for someone to open up for him after being supernaturally released from prison, the initial response (by a young woman at first) was that his spirit had come to them. There were superstitions as well such as the belief that demons inhabited the wilderness exclusively and other such fears. However it was the more serious physical contact with the spirit world that became to primary focus of the writers and the Christian was always at the center. Far from being neglected, the topic of this type of battle, between people and spirits, was of the strongest concern for the early church(es) and especially for the individual Christian who saw evidences almost everywhere. We are told that we should not try to fight theses spirits alone or just on our own power. It is through Christ that we are able to fight, and in His name is the power to do battle. Fear, fear from the many kinds of spirits did affect the Christians of that day. And from the written records it is plain that fear was a real companion of many Christians – especially the new Christians. This is also mirrored in Old Testament writings such as even in the most famous 23rd Psalm. The dark powers are not hinted at; they are directly named and conspicuously referenced in statements among the Apostles as well as between them and the churches. Several encounters are mentioned, accounts that varied from mild influences to possessions, witches, and sorcerers. In each and every instance however the root cause is always identified as the spiritual evil that opposes, challenges, and even emulates Christianity. Early Church doctrine would have been sorely incomplete and the basic church development deeply wounded, had not the powerful and extreme world of the spiritual war that had been going on since the very beginning of mankind, been included in such detail and warned severity. The subject was so important that Jesus in fact demonstrated in word and deed how very tangible and important this was. He cast out demons, he told parables about witchery and other aberrations before God. He also warned his Apostles ahead of time about this ancient enemy. It is somewhat tragic that this solemn and dangerous subject was perverted by soundalike churches that began to arise. The Gnostics as well as other forms of Christianity (if
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even that) utilized spiritual warfare as a commodity in that it soon became fashionable to be a demon chaser or exorcist. A few disillusioned or blindly ignorant men tried to emulate what they had seen Paul do and attempted to cast out a demon. It only took moments for them to realize several things. One, they were outmatched; two, they had no idea what they were getting into; three, that this orchestration of false beliefs was closer to any horrific nightmare than anything they could imagine or had experienced; fourth, they were extremely fortunate to have survived the encounter – in any condition; and lastly, they gained a new respect for the mystical group of outsiders commonly known as Christians. But then, there was more, much more than the Biblical writers could or even cared to record. They took much space to identify spiritual warfare, who were participants, and what tools were needed and availed to the Christian. Even with this there came warnings, serious warnings. This type of warfare, (especially directly encountering demonization of people or demonized false claimants of Christianity) was the most treacherous. It was not discouraged exactly, but it was evident anyone taking on such a task had better have real, true, solid, confessed, and spirit filled faith. The Apostle James warns about faith in general as do also Peter and John. The point is that the key to the battles that would beset those early Christians and still await us today is faith, real faith. Faith is a victory so the hymn goes, and is indeed the rock and foundation of the soldier. With such a foundation, the Word of God, and the precious name of Jesus, the Christian soldier prepared for the ultimate battles. If even one soul is saved, all heaven rejoices and to save one from the virtual grip of evil is a great victory indeed. Spiritual Warfare training was available, it was taught by Christ himself and understood among the Apostles; and the breadth and depth thereof was again taught to the next generation, the successors to the Apostles. There were schools established as well as churches by the Apostles. These schools were the first seminaries and prepared men such as Polycarp and others for the world unknown, or merely ignored, by most today. It is very common now to hear how spirits, demons, angels and all such “foolishness� is merely fairytale or stories made up to scare children. Of course there are those who profess knowledge and abilities within this invisible realm. Others, well, others are
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themselves sold or lost to the evil that they asked for, they received, and that now actually controls and boasts about. For it is as serious matter for the powers of darkness to guard and possess a human soul. It is an even greater challenge for the Christians today because of the indifference, disbelief, and stigma that our society tends to or tries to smother the church and faithful today. However, in the early church, even among the strongest, even to Jesus himself, the demons and the tempter had the audacity to tempt the Son of God. Jesus, our Lord and Savior, was the example, the master instructor and guide for spiritual warfare and the life of the church.
Time When we think of time today in this age we assign different meaning and our concepts in general with regards to the past take on new connotations when we begin the study of the past. The past changes as we continually walk into the future. “But forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” 2 Peter 3:8
So this concept of time as a barrier to the early church is not just a retrospective view. For indeed during the very days of Christ the Jews knew and understood the concepts of the trials of time. They understood it possibly better that most living today. For them time was the great challenge, teacher, and trial of nations. It was the test that either proved something true or false, right or wrong, or even worth the efforts of notice. When Jesus stood before the Sanhedrin, facing His accusers, it was one of the Rabbi’s that prophetically spoke of Christ and His ministry. This man said that if Jesus’ work was like others who had come before it would result in nothing, that it would simply cease and be forgotten. He also said that if it were, however, the work of God then they should take care and not fight against God. In effect he was saying that the test of time would prove the validity of Christ’s message and ministry. Someone was quoted as saying time is the test that proves all things. That is exactly what time proved to do for Christ and the early Church. Previously we have discussed many
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physical and spiritual challenges that faced Jesus, the Apostles, and the early church in general. These were all integral parts of what is called the test of time. But how then, for this discussion, was time a true barrier to the early church? In the very early days of the church many who wanted to believe or were just uncertain decided to play the waiting game. Some who had a similitude of belief or faith walked away when things got too difficult. Others still walked away when Jesus began to talk of things that conflicted too heavily with common beliefs. Some of them, as we learned, were even counted among the many disciples that followed Jesus as He taught and ministered throughout Palestine. To God time is of no real meaning as He is from everlasting to everlasting. But Jesus did have a grip and even focus on time as it directly related to mankind. He knew what was to come and He knew the ravages and conflicts that awaited the early church. There was urgency expressed in His prophesies concerning Israel and the church. Time was, in some ways, an enemy that needed conquering before Israel could come to terms with Jesus as the Christ and begin to believe in Him. Time as it affected Israel in particular had proven to be unkind, lethal, and a great mover and shaker in the nation of Israel. It was through the lessons, through the hardships, and through the trials and events of the past that Israel even became a nation. So time, was more than just an intangible concept. It was just as concrete as the dust of the ground and the water in the Jordan River. Time as defined and understood during the New Testament period was every present in the minds of the people. Whether it was the past, the flowing present, or the future, each concrete period help its own place in the heritage, beliefs, and hopes for Children of Israel. Now then, inject a person into this concrete world of time and times and problems begin immediately. The problems not only effected the days of the New Testament church, but threatened viewpoints held of the past and posed a serious challenge to the prophesies of the future. Here we had this man, born into the lower class of society, in an obscure part of Palestine making outlandish statements. He was not only challenging the prophets of the past, but that of the established church government of the Jews, and even the future as it was understood and hoped for by the children of Israel. In fact it was time, as the Jews saw it, that would be a weapon for their defense from this blasphemous and heretical man
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Jesus. From the very prophesies that proved Jesus’ claim, the Jewish religious leaders condemned Him and challenged Him on every twist and turn that Jesus made. At every public gathering, at every healing, and in the Temple, Jesus was challenged and even mocked using the very law and prophesies that would sustain and prove Him through the true test of time. This pattern of challenge and rebuke was just as strong in the minds of the Jews after Christ was in Heaven sitting on the right hand of God, to the early church as it had ever been. In some ways it grew even stronger. Time, it seems, was indeed a weapon the Jewish hierarchy was swift to use and slow to perceive. It was this slow perception of the times and time surrounding them that made followers of Christ an easy and accessible target. It was this disbelief in the fulfillment of prophesy (of time honored traditions and concepts) that stood staunchly in the way of the early church. Christianity, the church, and everything it represented were seen as an abomination to the Jewish faith. It was an open wound that time had facilitated. Time then became much more that an ideology or mere esoteric debate, it was the road that paved the way for trials and tribulation for the first members of the church (the Apostles). It set the precedent that would be followed for millennia. In discussions on persecution and other topics we related the real physical damage being brought to bear on that early church. Those were the symptoms, the outward cause and effects, which were tangible and so very heart wrenching for the called out believers of Christ in those early transitional years of the church. It was said that time heals all wounds. I believe that is true, however I also now believe that time is the facilitator of those wounds. Sometimes it is easy for me to look at this tangible but illusive factor we call time as a river flowing continuously. Not a new concept, but a somewhat easier way to see time. During the process of the flowing water humanity and the church has actually ebbed and flowed like the tides, and yet, found a way to continue into perpetuity demonstrating that time as it encompassed the early church was indeed a great factor that impeded the efforts of the church, the men and women who made up that church, and the impact it would eventually have on humanity.
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It was then, under the auspices of time that so many other barriers, the ammunition of the enemy, found the space to develop and affect a plan to stop or even destroy the church. For the enemy time was seen as an emissary as well as a constraint. The enemy used the space of time to work in the hearts and minds of men, to develop anti-Christian governments, political and religious powers, and mankind itself as effective agents to fight against Christianity. The barrier of time, which was the facilitator, the boat in the flowing river, that proved a great test and assembled numerous trials and travesties of the church, was itself a double edged sword. It was through the test that time unfolded that we see the symptoms of the enemy with the plots and barriers they presented. It was truly an enemy of the early church and all of those who believed and worked to spread the Gospel message throughout the known world. It was a constant in the evolving plight of humanity and the impact that one man, the blasphemer and heretic we know and love as Jesus the Christ made an indelible print in the framework of time; a print that grew larger and more pronounces as the early church fought to survive and even grow. It was this massive print in time that serves as an axiom of faith for the Christian today. It was also one of the greatest barriers to the early church and to those who lived and died to share the message of salvation.
Apathy and Poverty “I know thy tribulation, and thy poverty (but thou art rich), and the blasphemy of them that say they are Jews, and they art not, but are a synagogue of Satan.� Rev. 2:9
The early church was not spawned in riches, nor was the entire world exuberant about the church, the Christians, or Christianity in general. Even some who professed to be Christians simply stepped back and avoided any type of involvement. More to the point, Christians who failed to seek the righteousness of God and seek the salvation given through faith – those who became complacent and content with what they were and held no ambition to grow or become a stronger part of the body of Christ. They sought neither fellowship nor the guidance of someone who could mentor them and guide their Christian
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walk. No, they were merely content to allow their faith to slowly wither starving for the Word of God and the nourishment of the Holy Spirit as their supporter, comforter, and teacher. It was enough, they concluded, that they accepted Christ and believed most of the stories and teachings that had struck their heart son intently at first. It was the New Testament writer James who wrote “faith without works is dead�. In this sense, faith, without any effort on the part of the new Christian will become dead. So many of the barriers to the church would prove to choke out their faith and feed their apathy. Not all works were the works of the hand but also included the spiritual work of the individual to advance from the milk of the Word to meat and become a mature, functioning, and viable co-laborer in Christ. In the strictest of terms, apathy was nothing more than the poverty of indifference that ate away at the very root of faith in the weak and negligent Christian. Apathy in its many guises and forms was no stranger to the Apostles or to Jewish society as a whole. However it was the individual choice and the level of desire that made great differences in the first crucial steps of the new Christian. Ignorance was a weak if not untenable position during the supernaturally enabled spread and growth of the church. It was in effect the quenching of the spirit, the conscious quenching of the spirit that facilitated much of the apathy present at the early church era and even persists in and around the church today. This concept of spiritual works by the individual for their own growth and the spiritual yearnings that they should have acquired were included in the precepts written to support it, and was commonly known among the Apostles and Disciples that received the original faith delivered to them by Christ. The Apostles and so many disciples went out sharing the Gospel message so people could recognize the truth, accept Christ, and receive salvation through grace. They did even more, as their great commission dictated to them and as the Holy Spirit led them. New converts were not just given the simplest of truth and then baptized. The gospel record shows us that the Apostles especially gave effort to ensure the prospective new Christians understood why and what they were doing. However it would have been impractical and impossible for the Apostles and Disciples to personally see to the growth of the new Christian. It was made clear to them that
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fellowship, the study of the Word and work to improve was the natural course for a Christian. The bed fellow of apathy was poverty. Many saw poverty as a platform to complain. They used it to cite examples of how the rich seemed to get away with everything, enjoy all the world could offer, and not have to pay for it or even be impeded in their lifestyle. Poverty was known to almost all of the Children of Israel at one time or another. It was indeed a part of the everyday culture and climate of Palestine during the ministry of Christ. It was not ignored and definitely not condemned or made a spectacle of by Jesus or anyone else who were part of the body of called out believers that constituted the early church. It was in fact a part of humanity brought upon it by the very first transgression in the garden east of Eden. Granted many within the family of Israel did prosper, and we are give example through the Old Testament and into the very days of Christ. There were rich families, rich Jewish leaders, and rich men who asked what was needed of them to enter into heaven. Jesus was quick to point out how difficult it was for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. However it was the poor who longed for relief and many sought that relief through treachery, robbery, and other sinful means. Their impatience, their greed filled eyes and the hearts that swelled with envy, had no time or desire to neither know Christ truly nor accept His leadership of their lives. For them it is indeed unfortunate. For many Christians the poor, the unsaved and unrepentant poor, posed not only a barrier to them but a real danger many times. The unrepentant poor were a true scourge upon others during the severe drought that gripped Jerusalem. Their indeed seemed to be no bounds for their transgressions and self serving desires. It was also the impoverished who supported uprisings and attempts at overthrow of the Roman rulers who added to the poor daily. The number of poor increased with every uprising and insurrection, as did the distrust and hatred that grew and festered between the Romans and the Jews. It was the growing unrest and spirit of revolt that began to drive a wedge between the Jews and Rome. Supported by the many impoverished souls ready to die rather than let Rome and its grip make them slaves or even worse to suffer the indignity of starvation or extreme poverty. To some, possibly many, the option of possible freedom from dominion and the
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extreme circumstance of poverty was more than enough to goad them into insurrection and revolt. It was among this impoverished mass, this unnamed number, that even the rich were fearful of and whom were blamed for the many miseries that befell Israel. This was internal blame and even disgust by Jews upon Jews. It was, as we should note, common for Jews to enslave or utilize the backs of other Jews as serfs in payment of a debt. In some cases then being their own worst enemy and oppressor. This type of internal strife and treatment of Jews by Jews also fed the distrust and disgust of the Romans. It helped to synthesize their feelings for the poor and steadily contributed (along with other things) to the almost steady increase in taxes and brutal treatment. It was this almost self imposed poverty that conversely fed the envious hearts and helped to divide Jew against Jew, and neighbor against neighbor. At times it is difficult to separate poverty into cause or effect. But it grew easier to see its impact on the whole of Judaism as it inevitable permeated the minds of many who already either opposed the Christians or used them as scapegoats as they began to pass blame upon them for their blasphemies and false teachings; teachings that was the impetus or cause for the miseries that began to befall the Jews and Jewry. This every growing devourer could not help but draw the church and Christianity into its outward spiral of violence and the many evils that beset their society and threatened the status quo. Yes through this terrible montage of blame, anger, persecution, and death poverty melted into the melting pot that became the first great challenge to the early church. It was poverty that gave many the ammunition to spark revolt and to spread discord and the desire to place blame. It was poverty as a barrier to the church that was at times ambiguous, but became a determining factor in the fates of the early church and the people who steadfastly held to their faith. It grew from an accepted societal norm to a cancer that ate away at Jewish society and hierarchical structure (even the foundation of the Jewish religion) and caused great persecution and brutal treatment of the early church. This did and does not make poverty the bad guy. It does however demonstrate how a social more can grow and develop when fed by fear, envy, and unfulfilled hopes. It is an example of the use of propaganda, suppression, and domination can act as poison to a society, a culture, religion, and a nation of people.
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Whether it was poverty that fed the mouth of apathy or the impetus of poverty that afforded apathy the chance to exist, it is so difficult to distinguish. However, it is evident that were poverty existed apathy was the Siamese twin that was ever present. Jesus even affirmed that poverty would always be with us. And apathy was a constant presence in the early church. Their impact to the church, to the growth of Christianity is largely immeasurable, but cannot be discounted as a major barrier to the early church.
Temptation “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he afterward hungered.� Mat. 4:1&2
The world of the early church was rife with temptations. The mystic religions, idolatry, and other pagan sects were always present to tempt the body of Christ. The presence was continuous and always appealed to the weaknesses of men. In addition there were the false teachers, prophets, and sects that claimed Christianity as their foundation and belief. The attraction of wealth, position, recognition, and better lifestyle was indeed very tempting for many of the people whether Jewish or Gentile. The Jews throughout their history had proved that their weaknesses were the same as any other man. Idolatry, and pagan practices were a recurring theme in their history. The Babylonians, Egyptians, and others greatly contributed to the slow but detrimental fall of many of the Jews. This trend continued into the era of the early church. Although the primary religious sects of Judaism were much stronger in resisting these temptations, they were not completely immune. One of these weaknesses was evident especially in the trial and death of Christ as well as the Apostles he had handpicked to spread the gospel message. The Pharisees, Sadducees, and the power hungry scribes, successfully influenced the masses and the power of Rome that Christ and his followers were worthy of death. Power and influence penetrated the higher ranks of the religious hierarchy very easily and had made its mark long before Jesus was born. It was one of the wedges that existed especially between the Pharisees
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and Sadducees. On prime example was the position of High Priest. Before the interference by the Romans, the ruling class of the Temple was the Hasmoneans. However with the power of the Roman Empire behind them the Sadducees were successful in changing the house of power to that of the Herodians. This embittered a large contingency of the people and drove the wedge deeper between the religious sects of the early church era – especially the period that approached and included the revolt of 66 AD. There were open conflicts, even coming to blows at times, between the hierarchy of the Temple and the unfortunate followers who were manipulated and deceived by those very leaders who were to teach and guide them in all understanding and purity of the Law and their daily activities. In deed just the struggle for power was like an addiction to which the Jews and equally important Romans required more and more of. It was so completely demonstrated in the bickering and conflict that surrounded the entire world of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem in particular. Even the name of the area Palestinia (from the Philistines) was an indication of the prowess of Rome and its persistence in suppressing the Jews and reminding them of Roman power and control. Radicalism became the venue for that troubled and confusing era. Within each sect of the Jewish leadership, and throughout the vast majority of the population, the seed of radicalism was growing and becoming stronger day by day. Indeed Palestine, as it was dubbed, was a tinderbox waiting for a spark to set it off. Granted there were other factors that affected this crescendo of struggle, strife, and greed, but in its purest form these were all driven by the temptations inherent in their heritage and the world that surrounded them. The twelve chosen Apostles were themselves not immune to temptation either. The most infamous example is that of Judas and his betrayal of Christ. Although there is much debate among scholars past and present about this event, the core of temptation still remains to most the stimulus which goaded Judas onward. Monetary gain, as some have hinted, had little to do with the betrayal. Thirst pieces of silver, the price for a slave could hardly be considered motive enough on its own. In fact the monetary issue was probably more of a symbol that anything. It did play a role in the humility and humbleness of Christ as recounted by the gospel writers. It was important to record this bit of
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information because of the analogy of Christ being worth no more than a slave and thus a constituent of the lowest class of society. He was thus little more that a commodity to be bought and sold like grain, sheep, or anything else. It also served to link Christ and the testament of His message to the world to the social order and practices of the Old Testament era. In other words, it was another thread that completed a strong cord which connected the prophesies and events of the Old Testament to Christ as the fulfillment of His life, teachings, death, and resurrection.
Vectors of the Early Church “And when this sound was heard, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speaking in his own Language.” Acts 2:6
The early church was not without means and abilities, nor were they without direction or purpose. There were mandates of the Great Commission. There were Evangelists and Missionaries. The early church also had tools at their disposal and more, much more. So then the early church had vectors which simply stated were the means of overcoming the barriers presented to the church. The first vector we need to discuss is Language. “Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound was heard, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speaking in his own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying, Behold, are not all these that speak Galilaeans? And how hear we, every man in our own language wherein we were born?” Acts 2:5-8
Language was the grass roots of communication since the beginning. The first and only language used by the Israelites was Hebrew. It is considered by some to be the very first language. However a review of history in general reveals that the Israelites were not the first group on the scenes of history. Hebrew was part of a group of languages called Semitic. Anyway, it was this language that the Old Testament was composed in and the language of the heritage and history behind the arrival of Christ. God, in His infinite
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wisdom chose Hebrew as the language of the Old Testament because it was a language that would endure for centuries guaranteeing the message and entire composition of the Old Testament would be preserved and passed down through the successive generations. This was true during the days of Christ. It was from these scriptures that Christ, the Jews, and the Apostles had their foundation of knowledge – knowledge that helped to remind them of their heritage and writings that actually set the backdrop for the entrance of the Messiah into the world. It was from these very writings or scriptures that the over 600 predictions and details of the birth, life, suffering, death, and resurrection were recorded. Christ, as the propriation for sins was a key theme of the Old Testament writers but was either ignored or misunderstood when Christ made his declarations that indeed He was the Messiah spoken and written of in the Old Testament scriptures. Hebrew then was the language of the Jews during the entire time of Christ and has survived until today. It was spoken and read during all gatherings and formal worship. Unfortunately because of the dispersion of the Jews across a huge geographical area, in different cultures which had their own language, Hebrew was not spoken, read, or even understood by much of the mass of Jews. Many adopted the language of their area and Hebrew, as a native language, was slowly forgotten. In actuality only a small percentage of the Jewish population could read, write, or speak Hebrew. So by the time of Christ, the languages that prevailed across the known world were Greek (in its many dialects) and Aramaic. Aramaic was considered the language of the common man and was one of the languages spoken by Jesus when teaching and conversing with the masses. This again, was because the vast majority of Jews in Jesus’ day spoke something other than Hebrew; and much of the Jews of Palestine spoke Aramaic. The Judeans, Galileans, Samaritans, and other groups in and around the area of Jerusalem spoke Aramaic, but the truth of the matter is that during that era it became increasingly necessary for Jews to become bilingual. One of the primary languages that became a prerequisite for trade and commerce was Greek. The Jews spoke a particular brand of Greek known as Koine’ Greek. It was this language that the vast majority of the New testament was written in. As language became a barrier to the Jews and the early church, a new or different language stepped up to meet the challenge – the challenge of continuation of the faith and
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the documents that defined, supported, and comprised the next era in the God’s plan of salvation. Greek then was becoming the second language of the Jews as it was in most of the Roman Empire and beyond. Latin was yet another language used by the Roman elite for writing and study. It was a scholarly language that enjoyed limited usage because it to compete with the Greek language that found favor and usage throughout the empire. Rome may have conquered the Greeks and taken over most of their empire, but the language of the Greeks and much of its culture remained as a kind of quiet victory over the might of Rome – or one may say the glaring cultural victory over the Romans. In any event it was by no means a universal language and was even at that time becoming a dead language. Some scholars, when writing about the Languages that Jesus spoke (and he spoke so very many) said that he was probably capable of speaking Hebrew, Aramaic, and possibly Greek to some extent. It never ceases to amaze me how blind some of those scholars of writers can be. In some materials I have read authors even speculated that Jesus couldn’t even read and write. They are critical of statements in the New Testament that say Jesus read from the scriptures in such instances as his frequent and often confrontational interaction with the Jews in the temple. I have expressed what, to me, is a common sense evaluation of the languages Jesus spoke. That is, Jesus spoke all languages fluently. It is most probable that when Jesus was with the Apostles and even in larger groups of disciples and others, he spoke Aramaic. One testimony, as I recall now, to the languages in common usage in the days of Jesus was the sign that was nailed on the cross. That sign, ordered by Pilate, contained three languages – Greek, Latin, and Aramaic. Pilate wanted the vast majority to know his perspective on Jesus. Some have theorized that instead of mocking Jesus, it actually contained the sentiments that Pilate truly felt and attributed to Jesus. However as a point of contention for centuries the bottom line is that especially in Jerusalem people had to be almost trilingual – especially in the scholarly world of the writers, translators, and distributors of the Word of God. So, getting back to language, it was also the foresight and plan of God that Greek would become the vector that would carry the message of the New Testament to the world.
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Greek was a universal language long after the time of Jesus and the Apostles, and continued for centuries as the primary language of New Testament scripture. As a testament to that longevity, Greek is still spoken today in much of the European world. Latin, although still existing in written form in areas such as medicine, is largely a dead language as far as being spoken. Aramaic also was doomed to die out as a spoken or even written language. Language, then as determined by God was the primary vector for the early church, and one that would endure and continue for many centuries. It should be noted that the New Testament was translated into many languages of the era including the famous Latin vulgate at the hand of Jerome. It was also translated into Coptic by the northern region of Samaria and other translations began to appear in the first and early second century as a further testimonial and sign that the New Testament and its message would long endure. Language, then, as a sometimes barrier to the church, became an unstoppable vector or vehicle for the spread of God’s word and the message of salvation through Jesus Christ.
Persecution “But before all these things, they shall lay their hands on you, and shall persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for my name`s sake.” Luke 21:12
As discussed earlier, the reactions of the world to Christianity did eventually lead to persecution. It was in many was a barrier to the church. However, often out of turmoil and chaos, out of pain and suffering comes new hope and strength; greater insight and courage; and like a fanned fire that newness of hope can spread almost uncontrollably. That is what happened in the early church. If we look at the events that lead up to the stoning of Stephen we may gain greater insight and understanding of how the persecution began and how it was the impetus to the death of the church’s first martyr. It is interesting that a parallelism became the force that brought persecution to bear (full force) on the first Christians. This is or can be a very lengthy discussion, but for the sake
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of brevity (and to prevent straying too far from the subject) we will look at the immediate days that led up to Steven’s death. The night that Jesus was arrested, the night he was betrayed by Judas, Peter denied Christ three times. This was after having boldly stating that he would follow Christ. Three times Peter denied Christ because of fear and extreme emotional distress. This is where the parallel begins. In the very early days of sharing the message of salvation through Christ with the Jews Peter and John were arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin. They were admonished for their heretical statements and told to not speak of this man Jesus again. Peter was then subsequently arrested again, and this time was given the lash. But again, he was released and warned not to speak the name of Jesus any more. Peter was then, yet a third time, arrested for preaching and teaching the message of salvation through Christ. This time, the Sanhedrin meant business. With the clout of the Sadducees behind them, the Sanhedrin was prepared to have Peter killed. The Sanhedrin composed mostly of upper class members of the Jewish society, did indeed wield tremendous influence and the people at large were strong supporters of their “politics”. It certainly looked as though peter was going to be the first to die in the name of Christ. Were it not for a Priest of the Pharisees (Gamaliel), one who also wielded mush respect and authority with the people, Peter’s fate was sealed. However, as we know, Peter was not killed at that time, but the Sanhedrin was extremely divided and even quarrels broke out between the various sects and subsects of the council. This of course spilled over into the Jewish populous and the people began working themselves into a mob-like frenzy. Indeed the Christians were looked upon in a new light after that last encounter with Peter and his infuriating message. Shortly following this incident a young man named Steven a staunch believer, leader, and dedicated worker, began to arouse the anger of foreign Jews visiting Jerusalem wherein much of the Roman Empire was represented. Luke (in the book of Acts) records for us one of the longest speeches in the New Testament given by Steven to the Sanhedrin in defense of charges brought against him. Steven’s speech was important in so many ways. First he began to speak of a new Theology that set the progression or transition of the early church into a concreted yet offensive form. He provided numerous quotations from
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the Old Testament in his speech, and those quotations were utilized to demonstrate the superiority of Christ over the law and Moses. He effectively planted the seeds of theological change and the transition of the church from primarily Jewish to the starting of a new and separate Christian church. As we continue to follow the narrative of Luke (in Acts) we see that this was the explosion of material planted earlier by Peter (and other Apostles). Steven’s statements, elusions, and conclusions were indeed the spark that ignited the hatred for the Christians and the impetus for the first sprout of persecution by the Jews against Christians. It only took moments for the Sanhedrin, already worked into frenzy from truths that hurt them, bravery that impressed them and statements that insulted them. This mixture of belief, disbelief, and personal prejudices, were still festering when Steven made his bold speech. The outcome, then, was the death of Steven – but not by the hands of the Sanhedrin directly, but by a mob that dragged him into the streets and stoned him to death. Three times Peter denied Christ and three times he stood before the Sanhedrin and defied the power of the Jewish religious / political establishment. In each instance he had to watch as someone beloved was killed at the hands of the very people he belonged to and believed with only a short time earlier. This was then also a big transitional moment for Peter as well as Steven. Persecution that had its roots in this series of events would never be satisfied. In fact nonJewish nations would join in and increase the persecution of the young church and the Christians who gave it life. These very events did not go unnoticed by the Romans who kept tabs on the Jews and knew of any difficulties no matter the extent – large or small. Persecution did impact the early Church and was a serious threat, but it also proved to spread the gospel message more quickly and forced the young church to congeal and unite in message and efforts. It was during the same era and about thirty three years after Christ had ascended, that Jewish political unrest also reached the boiling point. The Maccabean revolt of 66 was a an attestation to the frustration, even hatred, the Jews felt for the iron hand of Rome and
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it’s growing cruelty. Taxes continued to rise during the decades following Christ and the heavy weight of those taxes, instead of suppressing the general populous, had added fuel to the undercurrent of revolt. The group leading the effort and stirring up the people for freedom was called the zealots – a fitting title. By belief and action this group believed that the Jews had changed too much, had strayed from the Law and were becoming weak and polluting the religion of the fathers. They were at much at odds with other sects as they were with Rome. But many people found truth and a rallying cry in their bold declarations. Just as any group that rises to oppose an oppressor, the Zealots managed to find help and support. They were the rallying point of focus for much that the people harbored in their hearts. Long had the Jews longed for true freedom and to have their own state, their own national identity uninhibited by any other nation or power. Indeed the cry of freedom was powerful and struck the very hearts of many. This group conducted guerilla warfare against the army of Rome. Several victories were won, but these small battles only proved to further infuriate Rome and it soon became necessary for Rome to strike back in force. The book of Macabees 1 and 2 describe in detail the leaders, battles, and fates of the leaders of the revolt. It is a proud story and it is yet another sad and bitter story for the Jewish people. For any momentum gained during the years of fight, run, and hide the Zealots had gained, it was marred and ultimately invalidated by the crushing blow Rome dealt in 70 AD and the famine that accompanied it. Indeed this was one of the darker days in the early church as well as for the Jews. The temple for which the Jews held such pride and its symbolism throughout the Empire became a deep source of misery and mourning. The destruction of the temple for the second and last time dealt a crushing blow to the nation of the Jews. Hopes of freedom had been dashed and the focal point of Jewish worship destroyed. The Jews and their religious beliefs accompanied by their philosophy of non-tolerance provided enough friction initially, as the church was forming and pulling away, to offer legitimate rejection of the new sect called Christians – at least in their eyes. The Jews were not known for their tolerance of other religions. In fact their actions and prevailing practices were close to that of Islam. For example, Gentiles who converted to Judaism were considered part of the Jewish community at large, but were prohibited from direct
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participation in many rites and ceremonies. There were not permitted to enter the temple area further than the court of the Gentiles. Marriage of Jews to them was still heavily frowned upon and discouraged. In some cases the Jew who married a gentile was also cut off from much of Judaistic practice and ceremony. It was similar to being excommunicated by the church. Their children were not treated as well as Jewish children and, well, they were considered outsiders and pollutions to the purity of the Jews. So as the church began to add more and more Gentiles and Greek speaking Jews (among other foreign language speaking Jews) the Jews added one more thing to their list which gave reason and purpose to persecution. The Jewish persecution of the Church began on just a few points but escalated and soon reflected numerous grievances and objections. Also, ironically, the more the church was persecuted by the Jews the more independent it became. This transitional event was in effect the transition of the church as called out believers of Christ to a separate entity as well as one of the defining periods of the church in theology, teachings, and lifestyle. Objective of completely eliminating the church, persecution only proved to heighten the awareness of the Apostles to the need for physically separating from the Jews in practice, location, and teachings. In so many ways the transition by persecution was a necessary trial for the church and those who composed it. It was a test that helped those early church leaders and the many followers to evaluate what they believed, what was necessary for belief and faith, and how the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith would be defined and declared. Indeed there were many issues that faced the church after persecution began, than before. For Rome, the church was considered as a part of Judaism for a short period and consequently received little in the way of persecution. However as the hostilities between Jew and Christian grew, Rome began to persecute both equally. The Christians were not seen, initially as a problem, but rather the Jews were the focus of attention because of the mistrust harbored in Rome of the Jews. Although Rome was known for religious tolerance, there were limits to that tolerance, and the Jews were walking on thin ice long before the emergence of the church. In fact, the entire circumstance surrounding Christ was fresh in their minds as they looked closer and closer at the activities of the Jews.
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One of the two enemies of Rome (as perceived by them) was the acts of sedition, treason, or the spirit of revolt. This type of disloyalty could not be tolerated by the Empire and the Jews were in the hot seat already. The Jews were held accountable for the actions of their constituency (which included the Christians) to maintain order and to quell little uprisings that were to appear more and more frequently. That is one reason that persecution of the church began subtly so as not to raise the attention of Rome. However it soon became so intense and blatant that Rome felt the need to react. As the power and might of Rome (the soldiers garrisoned in Jerusalem) was required to step in more frequently, it only seemed to add to the spirit of revolt and persecution of the Christians. Fortunately and prophetically, the Apostles and other departed Jerusalem prior to the actions of Rome that began in 66 and ended in 70. They initially settled in Pella, but as persecution and missionary needs grew, they focused their efforts in Antioch. So persecution, as it grew, was a vehicle of transition for the church. In many ways it opened the eyes of the church leaders and forced them to take action. It forced them to understand their mission and the hurdles they would most assuredly face. It also forced the church leaders to have formal meetings to discuss doctrinal issues and to become more active in their efforts to fight heresy and other problems that faced the church. Persecution prompted the initial spread of the early church and provided a strong reason to overcome the world and to spread the Gospel message. Persecution had so very many positive impacts on the church of which many cannot be enumerated or quantified. Much of the strife and work of the church during that era is difficult to ascertain except through the effects produced. Indeed we may not know the specifics of planning, discussion, and motives behind the actions and reactions of the church to persecution, but we have recorded for us the many outcomes of that persecution. Men such as Josephus, Eusebius, Ignatius, Clement, and others provide us with much insight into this period of transition and trial for the church. Jesus, in His sermon on the mount, told the Apostles and other protagonists of the early church, that blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, for so persecuted they the prophets that were before you. He also told the Apostles that as followers of Him they would receive much the same treatment He had suffered up to and
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including death. He helped them understand that persecution would be companion of theirs, but that it would not stop them. It seemed in His words both direct teaching and in parables, Jesus tried to prepare the Apostles and disciples to accept and even expect persecution to continue. The Apostles had already experienced firsthand the effects of persecution both personally (in their own lives) and through the bitter process of Christ’s persecution and death, but also realized that it was not a problem that was insurmountable – Christ demonstrated that in His resurrection and in His lifetime of teaching, preaching, and works. The persecutors, Rome, the Jews, and others believed they could end this superstitious “tribes” work and even existence, but only served to help the church grow and expand at an alarming and miraculous pace. Even under the burden of persecution, the 584 ( this number is arrived at through the numbers given in the New Testament and specifically in Acts which is the sum total of the 14 Apostles, the seventy disciples, and the five hundred also mentioned) thousands more. (it is also recorded for us that thousands were baptized and became followers or were added to the church; one number mentioned is five thousand and another only as thousands) ventured onward and outward into the world as witnesses and deliverers of the message of salvation through Christ to a world steeped in heresy, paganism, and false beliefs. This was a notable number of Christians who went out by two’s to carry the message and fulfill the great commission. It is no wonder that the church spread quickly in the face of persecution as well as in tremendous scope; as the far reaches and the Roman Empire was reached as well as other empires, nations, continents, and people groups beyond the empire. It is quite possible that the growth and spread of the church would have still occurred but not with such rapidity and scope in that era of transition.
Social Class “And I will thrust thee from thine office; and from thy station shalt thou be pulled down.” Isa. 22:19
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Social class, as presented earlier, was indeed a barrier to the early church. But we are reminded by the huge gathering of people representing the spectrum of society and people groups at Pentecost who heard the word being preached to them and understood. It was that day that also many believed (from all parts of the world and different social classes) and were added to the church. It was stated (about that period) that the 70 languages of the world were represented at Pentecost by Eusebius. It was also suggested by Bruce Metzner that Jesus only communicated in Aramaic, and that He only knew some Hebrew and Greek or was merely able to have limited conversations in them. To which I must reply and again state the obvious; that Christ as the son of God was the veritable linguist of the world and all languages it contained. Many of these socialites, royal representatives, and others returned to their respective places and shared the gospel message. Even within Jerusalem priests, the elite, and others of social standing accepted the message and were added to the church. It was through the many and large contributions to the church that enable help for other churches that were planted far and wide. It afforded the church the ability to feed the poor and homeless, to care for them properly including giving them back their dignity and the concept self worth. The church was able to demonstrate the love of God for all humanity and enforce the Biblical teaching of equality in the body of Christ. The social, political, and religious hierarchy was more difficult to reach than the average person, but not impossible. Sometimes it was the wife of prominent person who encouraged assistance and actively supported and participation in the works of the church. Prominent figures of society who belonged to the church not only provided monetary support, but also became witnesses and tried to reach others of the elite. It is true that sometimes their efforts cost them their position and lives as traitors to the faith of the Jews. They were also marked by the Jews as no longer a part of the Jewish society. Some had to move to other areas just as the Apostles and many disciples had done. On such prominent figure began his support and belief in Christ was Joseph of Arametha. This very early demonstration of faith, providing a sepulcher for Christ’s body and his influence over the Romans – to obtain His [Christ’s] body and enable burial before sunset (important to fulfill prophesy) made a tremendous statement of his wealth and social
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position as well as his faith. Joseph was not alone in his endeavors or his contributions to the body of Christ [the church]. Some priests also made a commitment to Christ and found it necessary to go and teach the Jews dispersed across the Empire and other nations. It must be noted that many of the Jews who were intentionally moved to the diverse areas of the world, were still in the minds and hearts of those who had returned to Jerusalem after the captivity by Babylon. It was to these people that the Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews was probably written. Paul as the Apostle of the gentiles also wrote to other settlements of Jewish Christians that were formed amidst the still dispersed tribes of Israel. The ten tribes were not “lost� during this era and were still part of Judaism and the community or as people in it. These priests and others taught and preached the gospel message either ignoring their elite status or using it to influence others as they settled in these distant areas inhabited by Jews. The Apostles also contained members of the upper class such as Matthew the tax collector, John and his brother, and Paul himself as a Roman and well known Pharisee. Christ fully demonstrated the equality in the diversity of the Apostles as well as the many Disciples. Although some were known and respected others such as Matthew again were distrusted and disliked by the Jewish people in general. Some of the upper class Apostles proved very useful to the church. Examples include writers of the New Testament and those mentioned who were prosperous and who gave lodging, food, monies and even started churches in their own homes. The word and divinity of Christ as the savior was largely spread by the common folks or the average Jew. This domino effect was indeed a major contribution to the early church. However, it was by and through the socialites that the Apostles were able to travel by ship and other conveyances throughout the Empire. Paul for example, on his missionary journeys, depended on the assistance of the social class to provide means for his travel. This assistance either came from the church treasury (of which socialites were contributors) or directly from those who afforded the church efforts in the mission fields and in church planting. Monetary or financial aspects of the church utilized money for their needs; however it was seen as a necessary evil to them. This was recognized in the person of Judas who was the treasurer among the Apostles.
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His was the task of providing the Passover meal and the purchase of things all needed and shared. That is one of the reasons that his departure during the gathering in the upper room largely went unnoticed. It was probably common for Judas to make trips and run errands then making his activates that night somewhat inconspicuous. The Jewish social elite were not the sole financial supporters of the church, contributions were seen from prominent Gentiles and others as far away as Ethiopia and Alexandria. Things such as libraries, facilities for the work of scribes in translating and copying the scriptures, and establishment of formal schools to teach those who hungered to learn and become true workers in the church, were the direct contributions of the elite upper class. The libraries established during the era were well known and mentioned in the writings of Eusebius and other writes of early church history and activity. Indeed, it was at places like Alexandria that helped the spread of the scriptures widely and broadly making them available to more and more peoples. Also it should be concluded that the destruction of the temple and razing of Jerusalem by Rome completed a social and religious controversy that had been brewing for decades. It also marked a point of transition for the early church and the widespread knowledge of the gospel message as many of the elite along with others fled to safer areas. Also owing to the transitory work and theological presentations of Steven, who was himself a man of stature, which kindled the first fires of separation of the church from Judaism. Steven represented the transition and permanence of Christianity through his undaunting belief and faith which made him the first martyr of the church. The elite had convicted him and the elite also helped to spread the word of his death and the furtherance of the cause of the early church. The symbiotic relationship between the early church and the social hierarchy of the era was imperative to the growth of Christianity not only as a sect of Judaism but as a new theological entity known as the early church.
Heritage and Lineage
64 “Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.” 1 Tim 1:4
We have already discussed the multilevel heritage and history of the Jews. It did pose a problem in the transition of the early church. However men like Steven and Paul used their heritage and lineage as tools to present their transitional theological statements and writings (Paul). Steven, as a matter of fact was instrumental as an upper class man of stature to influence people and make good strong contacts and friends in the early days of the church. Steven’s famous speech in the language of the Jews was a landmark in the identity that the early church was seeking. His speech, as delineated in Acts by Luke, is both exciting and thought provoking. In fact that speech was one of the straws that broke the camel’s back. The Jerusalem Jews and the Galileans were themselves in a transition, there was much turmoil and conflict brewing as well as the Jewish general dislike or even hatred of the Roams and the grip they held over them. Further conflict arose when Jews of the Dispersion arrived at Jerusalem. The Jews of the dispersion were strict law keepers and quickly began to criticize the other Jews for their laxity and pollution of the faith. It was not very pretty and the conflict just continued to grow and bubble like a seething pot. The Jews of the dispersion, (the northern ten tribes of Israel) were not exposed to the daily Hellenism and Roman culture. Indeed some of the priests and officials of the temple began to attend events and celebrations hosted by the Romans. This included watching the games in the Roman arena, observing strictly Roman celebrations, and more. In fact if one considers the difficulties between the Northern Kingdom (Israel) and the Southern Kingdom (Judea), there were many differences politically and theologically. Lineage, heritage, and relationship to the temple were major points of contention. This was especially true in earlier captivities and returns to the homeland. Numbers, tribes, etc. were factors used to determine who was truly a Jew and who was not. The primary focus was the heritage of the temple hierarchy and royalty. Both of these areas were heavily scrutinized and after the return from Egypt, several members were ejected from the temple. The priests that were ejected went to other locations and taught their own version of Judaism as well as opening new areas of worship.
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The point so far then, is that heritage and lineage played an important role in the many transitions that occurred before, during, and after Christ was among Humanity. These two factors were almost as important as the Law in preserving the purity of the Jews as a nation chosen by God to receive the message and teachings of the Old Testament Torah). Theirs was an extremely proud heritage and the lineage of so many became of extreme importance that is until the Romans began to rule them directly. Even before there was open conflict between the Hasmoneans and the Herodians as far as temple High Priest and other leadership. The pot of porridge truly began to thicken and become hotter and hotter. It was clear that something had to change and right at the front of hostilities were the conflicts of Lineage and Heritage. However, it was this internal strife and turmoil that ushered in the next major transition of the period. Just like riding in a car that is old and beaten down but rich with memories and events, the men of Judaism wrestled with changes that seemed to many to be a direct attack on them personally and their entire belief system. At the same time it was these very events that prepared the stage for Christ to enter and give one last attempt to abrogate the Jewish positions and customs and bring them back to the heart of God. Jesus tried so very hard to preach the love of God, His Kingdom and the Kingdom of heaven. Jesus came to clarify the law and also to fulfill every prophesy of the Old Testament. It was God’s desire and Jesus’ to bring the people back and to help them achieve salvation without the works of the law, but rather by grace through faith. Within those prophesies about the messiah to come there were particulars of heritage and lineage that had to be met – had to be fulfilled to even consider any candidate as the promised Christ of God that would come and save mankind. If it were not of true importance it would not have been part of prophesy or the beginning portions of the Gospels of Luke and Matthew. There are no trivial points or information written in the Holy Bible. It is up to use to think, consider, and find the complete message and the many truths contained in it. We must consider anything written and realize that every part is another stroke of the brush that fills in the great picture of God’s love and the salvation offered to mankind. In the wisdom and guidance of the Holy Spirit both Gospel
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writers were moved to record the rich and lengthy lineage of the Messiah. It was important, it was evident, and it was earth shaking. Aside from the lineage of Christ the lineage of John the Baptist was also important in the ongoing transitions of the very first days of Christ and his introduction to the people and the world as teacher, messiah, High Priest, and Mediator. John had an important role and in the further fulfillment of Bible prophesies concerning the messiah. As the person who would literally clear the way for the Messiah, John came preaching the Kingdom of Heaven; another note in the symphony of events that fueled the greatest transition in the history of mankind. John, as the last of the line of Aaron, submitted unto Christ as the new and only High Priest for men. When Christ began his ministry John was quoted as saying “He must increase as I must decrease.” This was John’s formal transition to predecessor and the handing over of the priesthood to Jesus once and for all. John represented the transition from temple worship and the law to the reality of salvation achieved through the sacrifice of the Lamb of God to end sacrifice forever. John’s was a transition from Old Testament authority and the failure of works to guarantee salvation, into a new era for mankind – an era of hope, faith, and the promise of salvation that affected the Jews and the rest of the world. Lineage of the men who changed the world forever did in fact matter and was the impetus that helped not just the Jews but all of mankind to recieve salvation through faith. It was this powerful force that provided a rugged but necessary transition for mankind and his relationship with the only true living God. Even in the secular world that surrounded the Jews and the Christians of the early church, lineage was also very important. It was through lineage that Kings were selected and the power of Israel was realized. It was under the guiding mind and actions of the kings and monarchs that shaped the world events which combined in God’s master plan for humanity. God raised up Pharaoh, for example, for the very purpose of gaining the release of the Jews and their journey of transition through their journeys and events in the desert of the Sinai; to demonstrate His power and presence as the only true God through the plagues that struck the Egyptians and the hardening of the heart of Pharaoh.
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Through this old but historically important example, we may even begin to see God’s hand in the secular leadership and others who were integrated into this transition and new era for humanity. We may even begin to ask ourselves about the true role that Herod, Pilate, and the entire entourage of people who interacted to bring the precise time and circumstances necessary to execute God’s plan. It is truly mind boggling to consider the possibilities and the many alternate realities that could have resulted. Another secular heritage that directly affected the Jews of Palestine, nations across the known world and the developments that immediately affected events just before, during, and after the Gospel message of salvation was sent into the world was that of Alexander the Great. It was the legacy of his conquests and spreading of Greek culture that brought more confusion and influence to the world of the Jews and the writers of the New Testament. Greek was the lingua defacto of the Roman Empire as well as that of trade and commerce. The New Testament was written in Greek and much of the early writings were distributed to Greek speaking Jews and others across the continents. Then lineage and heritage of the secular world did indeed impact the world of the Jews, Rome, and the early church. Lineage determined the who, the where, the when, and the how of the transition of the early church era. It also provided a base on which the church could begin to spread the gospel message and through which the church grew and prospered so quickly. Lineage and heritage were then major players in world events and in the written message we know as the New Testament and the message of salvation presented in the early church and the same one we hold dear as Christians today. The circumstance and consequence of lineage and heritage contains many other people, places, and events by for the purposes of this work it is sufficient to illuminate certain examples and to highlight certain individuals that effectively brought the message from God of salvation and the new world of thought and practice it existence.
Heresy “But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets:” Acts 24:14
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As we discussed earlier in barriers to the church it is evident that heresy was a problem that began simultaneously with the church. What will be brought out in this writing is how heresy actually contributed to the development of the early church as well as the effects seen today. Heresy, as a concept and reality of the earliest days of the church caused several thing to happen and happen quickly. Inclusion in the New Testament narrative Again here were it not of true importance the gospel writers and other writers of the New Testament would not have devoted so much space and effort to write and include the information in the New Testament record. In several letters written by Paul such as the epistles to the Corinthians, Ephesians, Galatians, and the other churches heresy was either directly and implicitly discussed or the impact and effect was addressed along with guidance for the church. As part of the record we are also reminded that the followers of John the Baptist had difficulty making the transition and some started their own community apart from the church. That is of course important and will be discussed in greater detail in the following sections. Then we have the groups, the dissenters and naysayers, the false teachers that evolved alongside the church. One of the largest groups was that of the Gnostics. It was more than just one movement but indeed contained many factions and sects. Also were the pagan cults and peoples that tried very hard to impede, pollute, dilute and even overcome the early church. These tremendous influences and some of their leaders are recorded for us in the New Testament record. One prime example is that of Simon Magnus who was a sorcerer and magician of sorts. He had a following that thought him a truly great man, even the representative of God. It was this man who attempted to purchase the power of the Holy Spirit and even claimed that he too was one of the Apostles. His impact on the church did not end there but continued as he became the imposter Apostle that was appointed as Bishop in Rome. This led to another heretical group who also called themselves Christians but were as much a part of the politics of Rome as they were any type of Christians. We also have the witness of a young girl who did readings and predictions because of an unclean spirit within her. Charmers, sorcerers, seers, and many other heretical factions are there for us to read
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about and discover the importance they were given in the Holy Word of God. This information then opens a window into the early church and the rivals and antagonists that surrounded those first leaders and formers of the church and the collective body of Christ in those early years. It was, a documentation of the not only the physical challenges but the spiritual challenges that the church had to recognize and take action against. These were another force that caused the early church to congeal and united in one mind and in one word.
Direct impact on the church from within and without Heresy existed within and outside of the early church. Paul specifically addressed those who were in the early church and whose only purpose was to cause trouble, divide the flock, and plant seeds of doubt. Those were incidents that seem to have been all too common in the church and that created more than a little problem. When adding the additional influences of the heresies outside the church it painted a somewhat bleak picture of the strife and fight for unity that befell the early church. To counter these heretical influences the early church writers immediately began to compose epistles and other writings that were sent to the churches. It also required the direct presence of Apostles to help weed out the heretics and troublemakers and help the different church themselves to gain unity and self control as one of the many members of the body of Christ. The heresies were then immediately identified, addressed, and proper courses of action were developed for the church as it grew and expanded. Relatively early in the church the middle of the second century into the early third centuries, early church writers also began to help form the structure of theology and apologetics that would address this continual presence of the different heresies and debunk claims, identify the heresies and the people within them, and write materials to inform and educate the church. Some writings were historical and other more intensive addressing vigorously subjects and even verbally brow beating many of he false leaders and those who condemned and openly challenged the foundational beliefs of the church.
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Within a generation removed from the Apostles writers of the church such as Josephus ( a Jewish / Roman historian), Ignatius, Polycarp, and Pliny the younger, began to support and defend the church; to develop the schools of apologetics and theology to formally fight against those who opposed and sharply criticized the church. Later in the development of the church a man named Eusebius, a true church historian recorded the words of many before him and himself added tremendously to the formal growth and doctrinal developments of the church. His apologetic writings and blend of theological argument and insight were one of the true forces that heavily hit the camp of darkness and heresy. His works, which were many, established a standard of excellence for his peers and those that followed who strived to be Christian historians. His reflection and expansion of the writings of men like Josephus, Polycarp, Ignatius, Clement, and others served to preserve for us a church history that not only included his observation and formal histories, but also a touch of benevolent and reverence for the church and the complex history before and during his own time. In conjunction with these writings of church members, there were also the writings of men exterior and even those who reviled the church and Christ by whom it was founded. Such writers include Tacticus, Oringen, and Polycrates, served to add perspective for us about the early church era and its development. These writers who were often detractors and despisers of the church unwittingly told us of the Roman and Jewish views of the early church and the immediate impact it was having to the world around it. Other Greek and gentile writers also contributed to the expansion of knowledge, perception, and views (although biased) that further help to give a broader and even clearer view of this tremendous era in the history of the world and more importantly the history of church growth and development as it was seen and experienced first had by non- Jews and nonChristians. The internal voices of the early church especially the Greek and foreign Jewish converts also provided mush for the early church fathers to consider and debate. The viewpoints of those new members also helped the church develop and increase the efforts in the mission fields. Already armed with the Word of God and assisted by the power of the Holy Spirit, the early Apostles added this vital information to their thinking and planning of when,
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and where missionaries were to be sent as well as the formal and informal strategies to be attempted. To some of the Apostles the task was easier and less demanding than others. Some harbored fears and self doubts as they ventured farther and farther away from Jerusalem and later Antioch carrying the gospel message with them. There truly is so much to consider and ponder when attempting to collect and write about the early church. From it very beginning and on through the transitions it saw then early church history contains so many avenues of thought and the subject matter so rich it is most difficult to draw the line at any given point in time, on any topic or subject, on the biographical information of Christ, the Apostles, and so many others who were the beginning and progression of the church through many eras and epoch of the incalculable and incredible story which is the early church and the faith once delivered to the Apostles and that which we have today. As the church began to grow exponentially the importance of the contributors and supporters became increasingly important. The path of the church as illuminated from within and without against heresies and falsehoods and was marked as a trail blazed by the death and blood of so many throughout the early eras and which proved to continue for millennia. The true good that heresy invoked or produced within those first decades of the church are so truly difficult to quantify. Indeed the real and true impact may not have been fully seen or noted until centuries later. However the innumerability of those ill conceived heresies did produce dramatic and everlasting transitions to occur for the overall growth and good of the church. They provided causes to rally against and proved to unite and seal the spirit and unity of the church and its invaluable message to the world of that time; absolute proof that God’s plan and His works [His hand and His will] do occur in mysterious and unexpected places, people, and events. And God is always able to turn misery, struggle, persecution, and heresy into a witness and testimony that glorifies Him and edifies the church. Each of the diverse group of heresies presented its own challenge, but also afforded another aspect of the character and strength of the church to develop. Many were fooled by one or more of those heresies, but the church and especially the Apostles and later writers, historians and apologists, found heresy to be the canvas on which the faith
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delivered to the church could be painted in greater and greater detail. Just as adversity today provides opportunity for growth, maturity, and a deeper walk in faith, so also in the early days of the church the teaching and maturing effect of heresies proved to do the same. The early fight of the church and the many followers engaged in it did not fold under the weight and adversarial challenge; rather it faced heresy head on. From the gospels through Acts and into many epistles, by the missionary work, and through the help of the Holy Spirit, those early soldiers of faith not only met the challenge but provided for the church (in its trek through the centuries), great unity of mind and spirit. The writings of men such as Clement, Philo, Josephus, and many others helped us to see the true immensity and power in the early church as it faced not only heresy but outright challenges to them personally but also to the church as well. Eusebius, also, in his Ecclesiastical History, shared so much of his insight and understanding of that era. These early church writers helped identify many heresies, define them for us, and give insight into the battles and victories of those early church leaders and the mass who helped spread the gospel message. Therefore our understanding of the realities of heresy and their challenges could be served up in the pages of history and the biographical views recorded about the early church era, and the greatest epoch of Christianity ever. The historicity and foundational effects of heresy on church doctrine are themselves great witness of the strength, power, and faith in the early church. It offers to us today the depth and power of faith and pure doctrine which is also the cement in the foundation of the faith, beliefs, and teachings of the church today. From the last part of Acts Ch. 7 through Ch. 8 we are offered the speech of Steven and the earliest persecution of the church through heretical persecution and martyrdom of Steven, James, and others. It was the intent of these heretical deceivers and trouble makers to put a halt to even the mention of Jesus Christ as the foretold messiah. When there was no true argument found to counter the teachings of Steven, James, Paul, Peter, and others the heretical and devastating tactics of outright lies and false statements and testimony proved to be the method of choice. They chose this because of the gullibility of the average populace and the holiness of the law that represented the Jews as a religion and identity to their long and steeped heritage. The seeds of heresy coupled with the
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growing unrest of the people provided a target for their emotional release as well as a target for their distrust and frustrations with Rome. In one sense, the Apostles and others who boldly taught the resurrection of Christ were the scapegoats of the crumbling infrastructure of the Judaism and the fear by leadership that their authority and respect was fading and therefore their own prestige and rich lifestyle was at risk. This was evident in the council and especially in the groups chosen by the scribes and supported by the Pharisees to carry out the strokes of revenge and senseless brutality that always followed the interaction between the council and the leaders of the early church. This miscarriage of justice included the blasphemies against the Holy Spirit, and other outright condemning statements and actions that these severe heresies produced. The accusations were false, the indictment was completely biased, and the decision was based on many emotional and greedy motives. These heretical judgments and actions were the seeds that later produced enough turmoil and spirit of revolt that brought to an end Temple worship and sacrifices. It was this heretical mindset that caused the church to become dispersed and proved the force needed to accelerate the church missions and evangelism. Indeed heresy, although a negative stimulus, did in many ways add to the fervent and deep desire to spread the gospel message. It certainly helped to usher in a new era for the church and the necessary break from Judaism forever. Although the response of the church was primarily passivism and acceptance of persecution and attack, the spiritual strength and battle grew in veracity and scope. As the Apostles were given the many gifts of the Holy Spirit, they found a multitude of ways to use them in the fight against heresy its progenitor evil. By continuing the work of Christ in healings, casting out demons, the power of the one true God was continuously presented to the people and overcame the heresies, the paganistic and deluded beliefs that opposed the church. Christ had instructed the Apostles that if a town accepted them and listened that they should leave their blessing there. But if a town rejected them and refused them that they could take their blessings with them and even wipe the dust from their feet as a sign against that town. This act was effectively a condemnation of that town and would receive the same judgment as the five cities of the plains. The town and the people of it, had sealed their fate without even realizing it. The Holy Spirit working in the Apostles and other evangelists and missionaries affected the many cities and areas they visited.
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More than just a teacher or guide, the Holy Spirit left its mark or seal as a triumph for God and as a sign to others the importance of the gospel message. The Apostles were enabled to fight heresy and its bed partners disbelief, persecution, and ignorance and turn them into passions that made people hunger for the truth and the ultimately the acceptance and faith in Christ Jesus as the Messiah. Effectively, then, it was the turning of heresies into victories that became an enabler and protagonist for the church as it grew and expanded.
Spiritual Warfare “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Eph 6:12
As was introduced in the last topic, Spiritual Warfare was the great efforts of the Apostles and others as they were aided by the Holy Spirit to overcome the battles that were not of the powers and principalities of the world, but of the spiritual realm that directly involved the souls of many. This type of warfare was equal to or even more dangerous than the physical mêlées and battles on the fields of conflict between empires and nations. Jesus said that there would be wars and rumors of wars. He not only meant the bloody conflicts of man, but also the battles that be fought in the realm of the spirit and the powers and principalities within it. Physical and outward demonstrations of this spiritual battle included the casting out of demons and healing of those afflicted by demons. It was made clear that some physical maladies were the product of demonic works. Other physical symptoms of the spiritual battle that raged is the hardening of hearts and the progression of hostility in that first 30 or so years of the church; the same kind of hostilities that would shadow the church forever. We are give the list of armor and weapons for this battle in the record Paul, guided by the Holy Spirit, left for us. The Armor of God and the Sword of Truth [The Word of God] enabled those of the early church to enter into spiritual warfare with confidence and
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strength. This was a dangerous and terrible test of the early church as well as a teacher and demonstration of the power which enabled the members of the body of Christ. Christ won the first spiritual victories of the church when after being baptized by John, was led into the wilderness to be tempted. Jesus overcame all of the temptation of the world as presented to Him by Satan himself. He fought the major battles for us, conquered them, and set the example for the church. It was also through the victories of Christ that we received the weapons of warfare and the power to be victorious in the daily struggle with the spiritual part of our life as His followers and part of His body. Again, one of the greatest witnesses to the power given men to overcome and rebuke evil was evidenced in the account of Steven. It was said that he was strong in the spirit and performed many miracles and signs before the gatherings of people that listened to his powerful and heart changing words. Steven faced the temptations of this world and the spiritual challenges that surrounded him, but yet was able to become one of the strongest and best witnesses of Jesus Christ as the messiah and savior to the world. Luke not only recorded this powerful witness but also the many demonstrations of Paul as he also performed miracles and gave witness to the power and glory of God. Peter, the first to deny him, became the great witness also that turned the hearts and minds of many to Christ and even opened the door to a multinational church composed of Jews and gentiles. His witness to the Ethiopian man, a representative of the Queen, and subsequent baptism of faith for this new believer were certainly the first of converts who became evangelists for the church. Some of the guises used in this spiritual war were infamous heretical leaders, ancient pagan religions, the mystic religions, and among the people of the early Christian world there were numerous people who had fallen victim to demonic influence. One of the best writings that collated the comments of Josephus, Clement, Philo, Pliny the younger, and others was in the second book of Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History. This is from that wonderful compendium of assembled knowledge of the early church:
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Time “And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their commandment.” - 1 Chr. 12:32
Time as part of God’s plan for mankind and the early church in particular was carrier of numerous historical background events, events that faced the entrance of Christ into the world, and that encompassed the early church. This vector presented the dimension that enabled the church to develop, grow and expand. We do not see or understand time the same way that God does. By our meager standards time can be both oppressive and progressive. However it was this element that carried the progress of the church into the pages of untold writings and publications. Time it seemed was the accomplice that helped those early leaders grow and reach out to the world around them. Against this backdrop or crude means of measurement, the church phenomenally grew and overcame every trial, tribulation, and heresy, and pollutant that attached to it. Throughout the Holy Bible time is apparent in the unfolding plan of God for the salvation of mankind. From the documented accounts given us we now look back in time to the planting of the very first seed in the garden east of Eden and on through the last prophesies of Revelation. Indeed from beginning to end and all the accounts in between God and His plan of salvation as it unfolded in time and according to His perfect plan did tag moments in time as well as the people God used through His infinite wisdom and righteousness. Although God saw the end from the beginning and is from everlasting to everlasting, He also knew that the simple lives of mankind and all the experiences that involved was an important part of the visible revelation and fulfillment of His plan in the part of time they documented. This included, of course, the timing of events and the perfect roles they played. Some have said that the Bible is filled with great stories and many coincidences. We as historians, as Christian Historians, know better and consider the events in time as significant and indeed foundational. It was through the channels of time that the foundation of God’s plan was enacted and through time that mankind was able to bear witness to the unsearchable things of God and the love He has for mankind. God foresaw that in the fullness of time that sin would become extreme and would separate people
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from Him. He also knew that through the sacrifice of one that mankind would have the opportunity to once again come before His throne in praise and true worship. It was through a small blink in time for God that salvation was brought to humanity, a blink that encompassed the early church and its many ramifications for us today. It was during that blink that the 100 years of time for the early church became so integral and important. As a proponent of the early church God saw that His chosen leaders and writers would effectivel use and benefit from time – the time He allotted them to both grow and expand as the Church founded by Christ (and carried to the world by many), would develop and truly shake the entire world.
Apathy and Poverty “For the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things.�
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Zec. 8:12
The avid followers of Judaism numbered less that 15% of the total Jewish population; the majority of them residing in cities in and around Jerusalem and the immediate surrounding areas. This also included some of the Jews who were of the 10 northern tribes scattered across the continent. This is truly a case of the needs (or wants) of the few outweighing the needs of the many. Judaism had become more like a business and an opportunity for prosperity and recognition of the few. That means that vast majority of Jews either were admitted their heritage and their religion or were just non-believers and lost. These lost sheep of Israel did indeed pose problems to the church, but also offered an amazing field for laborers in Christ to work in. The number involved, believed by many scholars to approach one million, by others closer to one and a half million was a daunting number of lost sheep to share the gospel message with. Jesus in particular told the Apostles to take the message to the lost sheep
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of Israel first. This is the mass of Jews who did not live in or around Judea, but literally live almost everywhere else. From the farmers, to the poorest and starving, Jesus knew that these pitiful children of God were in true need of the message that would bring hope, demonstrate equality, and give the masses something on which they could have faith, experience the Love of God, and see the power of God. There are several mentions of healings in the New Testament by Jesus and the Apostles. Many of these were people who live in the country, hills, and rugged areas and brought the sick and crippled to the presence of Jesus or the Apostles. It should be noted than in the small town and villages the gospel message was readily accepted and believed. Berea, for example, was one small town that accepted and believed and also searched the scriptures daily growing and learning of their new faith and the salvation offered to them. Jesus himself made some of His greatest sermons and teaching in areas other than cities and towns – such as mountains, seashores, and large pasture areas. These people helped spread the word about Christ and his ministry and later about His death burial and resurrection. One should remember that it was unto the shepherds that were out night watching over their flocks that the first news was given- news that the savior was born and where to find Him. That was a glorious night for the world and a moment for those shepherds that probably kept them awake for several days. However the angels did not appear to the Jewish Hierarchy, the Politicians, Scribes, Pharisees, or Sadducees, or any of the elite upper class. Just this very moment speaks volumes of the ways, methods, and mission of Christ and his ministry as he ached for the masses of His lost sheep. It was for this reason, among others, that Jesus came into the world. He demonstrated the importance of serving rather than being served to His Apostles in deeds that subjugated Him to the Apostles. One such demonstration of ministry or serving was when Jesus washed the feet of the Apostles. Another was when He prepared food for the Apostles – an act that was normally accomplished by a woman, slave, or hireling. So then, the masses did pose a problem because of their sheer number and broadcasted locations, but it was unto these lost sheep that Jesus came, and unto these same sheep that Jesus first sent His Apostles and disciples. It should be noted as well that this witness to
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the lost sheep did not cease after the Word began to be preached to the Gentiles. Peter in fact was the main Apostle to the Jews just as Paul became to Apostle to the Gentiles. The line between the two was not sharp and crisp but rather all of the Apostles at times witnessed unto all nations. It was even a message to Peter that he was enlightened to his responsibilities to the Gentiles as well. In that famous vision and the following events, Peter met with three gentiles and brought the message of salvation to them – just to mention one example. Although Peter’s first experience in bringing salvation to the gentiles, this was by far not the last. As harsh or dismissive as it may sound Jesus told his listeners that the poor are always with us. He did not mean they were less important that others, nor did he indicate serving and sharing the gospel with them was a waste of time or anything of that nature. He was merely stating a fact of life that existed before He was even born and one that would extend into the eternity of time. The poor were part of the grievance in spirit that Jesus experienced as he walked among men and saw firsthand all of the suffering, pain, and futility that had consumed so many. It must have truly lain heavily on His heart and even upon His shoulders as He bore the weight of the world. In many respects and views it was these poor, hungry, and wretched masses that became the greatest witnesses and perpetuators of the faith. The lame became a testimony of God’s healing love and power and a bright light to those who hoped, prayed, and anticipated the healing power in their life. Many times hope was the most powerful force for survival not only in the dangers of life, but also in the dangers that came with becoming part of the called out body of Christ. Christ indeed was a light to the world, and that light opened the eyes of the huge masses of people who were in darkness and despair. Those who found it difficult to have any type of faith, those who’s lethargic faith and lifestyle had made them prisoners in a world of their own design, began to see a light, a light that moved them to action and made new men of them. Paul wrote for us the words of Jesus who said that we must each be reborn, or become a new person in Christ. This was the message and truth that gave vigor and purpose to so many lives and the light of hope and salvation that began to spread like fire. Granted the Apostles were given the
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responsibility for taking the message to the world, but it was too large and to diverse for them to accomplish by themselves. It was then, the pyramidal spread of the gospel among the masses that served to give strength and speed to the growth and spread of Christianity in the early church era. The Apostles planted churches primarily in the larger cities and towns, that is true. But it was from these growing locations that mission work was accomplished and the gospel message planted in the masses surrounding those towns and cities. Just as with the gatherings from the country that enthralled Christ wherever he went, so too did the people in the country around the Apostles congregate and gather to hear the message, become healed, and to return and spread the news to others. Indeed, the vast majority, especially of Jews, that received the word was in this fashion and through these means. The people of the cities helped to support the church financially and provided a certain amount of credibility and acceptance to the more prosperous and elite of the Jews, Greeks and many other cultures. When Christ charged the Apostles to go out and spread the gospel to all the world, He didn’t say just to the cities, or to the affluent, or to people most likely to provide financial support, but also to the diverse and oppresses masses who would receive the message, the light, and share it with full and pure hearts. For it was unto the lost sheep, the huddled masses, those who lived in darkness and were the poor of society, that He was speaking. In the book of Revelations we are told that He would rather we were hot or cold, but if we were lukewarm He would spew us out of his mouth. It was the cold, the ignorant and lost that could be given the gospel message and which then would produce those hot for Christ and powerful witnesses to the world. No it was neither the hot nor the cold of society which required the most coaxing and time to convince. These lukewarm people were those of society that needed a sign, or long conversation or debate to help them decide to believe or not. The lukewarm were those of the Greeks who Paul addressed at Mars Hill and informed them who the “unknown god� was that they blindly and ignorantly either worshipped or blasphemed. They also included many Jews gathered the day of Pentecost, and those who tried to use Greek philosophy to make Christianity more acceptable to them. It even included some of the Apostles and disciples who were
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eyewitnesses to the many wonders and teachings of Christ. How difficult it was for some to believe, to understand, and have even the faith of a mustard seed. Just as the blind who were given sight and the lame who walked by the healing power of God through Christ became a growing problem to the Temple elite including the Sanhedrin, Priests, and the different sects, it also provided a pool of believers who would become laborers and witnesses to Christ. Although at first a barrier, but a transition that gave so much to the early church and aided so immensely in the spread of that church. Among these poor and downtrodden it was the hearing of the word that reached their hearts and the message that convicted and changed them for Christ.
Temptation “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.” Rev. 3: 10
Temptation was the huge key that opened the door to sin and disobedience to God – and a host of other vices and abominations as the result. Genesis provides the whole picture for us and documents the temptation that destroyed the peace, innocence, and purity of mankind and the world. It was temptation that fed the egos and secret desires of men that brought about the destruction of the world by flood, and the destruction of people and cities such as the five cities of the plains. However, even though temptation was a strong hurdle before the church, it was not insurmountable nor as destructive as the Temper had planned. Christ was the personification of strength and will to overcome temptation – all temptation. Christ provided through his life, death, and resurrection not only exposed the lies of temptation, but overcame it so mankind would also have the ability to overcome and enjoy salvation by grace through faith. Christ set the precedence and provided the example, power, and tools necessary for the Apostles and all who became part of the body of Christ to not only overcome temptation but to turn this wickedness into a positive reason for the development and empowering of
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the church. In Ephesians we are give the tools afforded those early Christians and which are available to us today. These tools are referred to as the Holy Armor and signifies the strength, sacrifice and overcoming of temptation by Christ. It also is a deep application of the Word of God through Christ to empower mere humans to fight the good fight and to even overcome the powers of darkness and the vile temptations of the world. One of the very first fruits that countered temptation for mankind was that of commanding demons and unclean spirits through the power given them in the name of Jesus. Just as Jesus had promised them, He did not leave them defenseless or without help and guidance. Through and by His own examples and the help of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles became to first soldiers to go out into the world to face temptation and it’s rotten fruits with the authority and help given them through Christ. Theirs was the story and beginnings of the fight against these vile fruits of temptation in the early church and the immensity of victories realized during that epic age. Another product of this victory through Christ was that of forcing the early church writers to record and define the many aspects and offspring of temptation. From the Gospels through the entirety of the rest of the New Testament temptation continues to be thematic and the fight necessary to finally end it once and for all. Indeed the last great fight and victory is revealed to us in such detail and frightening picturesque verbiage that its infamy sometimes haunts the thoughts of scholars, writers, and Christians. Indeed the Revelation narrative of Christ as recorded for us by the Apostle John presents the stage on which temptation and its many poisonous offshoots are systematically and completely destroyed and total peace and tranquility restored for eternity. We are told of the new heaven and new earth that will be once again perfect and the glorious light of God that the saved will bask in and enjoy as fruits of their faith. One of the foundations of overcoming temptation and the many fruits of early church designers and builders was faith. For without it we are warned and assured that we will be unable to overcome [temptation] receive the gift of salvation. Not only that, but there are many evil and dark events that await those who don’t possess the faith that leads to eternal life. Again here, we are given both specific and shocking examples throughout the
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entire Word of God of the wages awaiting those who are not saved, who do not possess the faith necessary for a true and honest relationship with God. We are given very few examples of people throughout the Old Testament record that exhibited, and were saved by, true faith. It indeed was a very few that understood that God was not satisfied by sacrifice or the many tenets of the law, but the trust, obedience, and unwavering faith from the creation he loved so much. Men such as Abraham, Elijah, Enoch, Samuel, David and a few others did exhibit this type of faith and were rewarded richly by God and assured a place in heaven and God’s eternal kingdom. Equally also was the message given through Noah and his family, the only ones to survive the flood. Although both sad and heartbreaking to the hearts of the body of Christ, this terrible (but necessary part of God’s plan) cleansing of the world and new start for mankind was only afforded us through one small family. A very sobering and powerful testimony to how great the gift of salvation through faith really is and the victory over temptation it affords. It was truly though temptation that poison entered into the world, and also through the victory Christ gave the world that temptation no longer held power of mankind and the dark offspring it produced was no longer inconquerable or the means that could destroy the called out body of believers in Christ. Temptation also was responsible for the strengthening of the faith as its many auspices presented trials and even catastrophe in the lives of the saints. It was a force or conscription of temptation that proved the faith of Job, tried and demonstrated the faith of those three [Meshack, Shadrack, and Abedneco] who were placed in that super hot furnace, proved a generation in the desert, and tried like fine silver the faith of so many in the early days and even through the centuries and transitions of the church.
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2nd Century Writings and their Significance to the Early Church The scantiness of the references to the Christians, which are to be found in Josephus, in the Talmud, and in the Greek and Latin writers, ought not to be surprising. Josephus has reached us through Christian copyists, who have suppressed all that was disagreeable to their faith. It is easy to believe that he spoke at greater length of Jesus and of the Christians than he does in the version which has come down to us.1
When studying and trying to understand the second century, it was important to note that it was the Old Testament primarily that many referenced and quoted, although many quotations of early writers also came from what became the New Testament writings. The early Christian world was a flood of competing texts and teachings. Even though Christians had a sense of authority regarding some texts and authors, Christianity was mostly defined in local terms. The documents that later became canon, according to some scholars who subscribe to the concept that the canon, was not known or accepted until the 4th century. There was not an ecclesial structure capable of tight control over all the variations of the Christian faith. It is worthwhile then to give weight to works based on their popularity for gleaning some insights, e.g. Proto-evangelism of James and its particular message about Judaism. It is also important that Judaism in the Diaspora be carefully reviewed and critiqued. The classic profile of the Diaspora Jew who is isolated because of their faith (religion) and ostracized for it, but at the same time is trying to fit into Hellenistic (Greek) culture, by synthesizing their belief system to that culture, is a bit off track. Firstly, there is no such thing as a average Diaspora Jew as a classification or stereotype. Each Jewish community has to be looked upon in view of their locality or geographic location and the particular writings indigenous to them at the time. This is especially important in a place like Egypt where Jewish literary sources are rich and information is more detailed. It is more difficult in regions like Asia Minor or North Africa. The insightful study of the Adversus 1 The History of the Origins of Christianity. Book II. The Apostles. Chapter XV
Renan, Joseph Ernest (1823-1892).
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JudĂŚos tradition is a re-evaluation of those Christian texts and perspectives which describe Jews and Judaism within this scope. One difficulty or shortfall of the Adversus JudĂŚos tradition is that do not know if this was due to contributions of Jews (as criticisms) who might have come into contact with Christianity. Granted there are some writings that tend to condemn or marginalize Christians but not specifically Jewish. In the last few decades, writers have attempted to portray Judaism as a real and vital contender with Christianity and that it did not become insignificance as merely a backdrop to Christianity. Part of the problem lies in trying to define Greco-Roman Judaism with Christian criteria like in areas such as mission work and/or evangelism. What we do get to see from reviewing these texts is a varied picture of Christianity; a menagerie of thoughts and ideologies. Each writer or document had their own ideas about what constituted proper Christian belief and expression. There is evidence that some Christians saw no difficulty in the dual-covenant theory of salvation for the Jews and the Gentiles, i.e. the Old Testament and the law for the Jews and the New Testament and its basis in faith for the Christians). In the second century at least we can see, foreshadowed in later centuries, a stance against Jews and Judaism; in other words the definite separation from Judaism by the church. The Didache This is a document that illustrates well the kind of ambiguous relationship early Christians had with Judaism. It is a practical document dealing with the form and content of early Christian worship. It seems comprised by many hands and its date hovers at the dawn of the second century CE, although it could be earlier. The Didache is interwoven with Jewish teachings and Jewish influence. And while we are restrained from saying that all early Christians were Jewish, it is an important concept to maintain. It is impossible to underestimate the influence Judaism had on these early followers. In essence, there was no other choice for them. In the early second century CE, there was a limited corpus of Christian material and a shallow pool of Christian tradition to draw from. It is not
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surprising then to find Jewish prayers and moral teachings in the Didache. What is more striking is the way in which this material is altered and modified to meet the needs of new movement while at the same time differentiating themselves from those who did not accept their particular form of Judaism. There are two areas where it is possible to see a process of differentiation taking place: fasting and prayers (public and private). Didache 8:1 lays the situation out plainly. "Don't let your fasts be with the hypocrites, for they fast of Mondays (the second day after Sabbath) and Thursdays. Do your fast on Wednesday and Friday." Classically, Judaism placed the fasts as far apart as possible while still leaving a day on either side of the Sabbath. If Christians who observed Sunday as the Sabbath were to follow this practice this would have made their fast on Tuesdays and Friday. There is a certain amount of speculation as to why these days (Wednesday and Friday) were recommended. T.J Talley (1986), states that the choice of Wednesday and Friday reflect a connection to the calendar at Qumran. This sectarian Jewish calendar presumably circulated in like-minded circles and was adopted by early Christians. This recommendation reflects not a distancing from Judaism per se but an allegiance to Jewish sectarian practice. It is difficult to truly separate the practices of the early church from Judaism entirely. Some of the accusations of hypocrisy are directly tied to attempts to vocalize the separation from Judaism as a means of identifying the calling of the early church. "Don't pray as the hypocrites, but as the Lord commanded in his gospel, pray this way: Our father..." (Did. 8.2-3) Hypocrites are, in both passages, probably linked to Jews, but not necessarily. This is a unique example of the term hypocrite, for in other early Christian literature hypocrites probably refer to Christians who continue to follow Jewish practice over Christian practice. After all, it is Christian Jews who would have appeared hypocritical in the New Testament sense of the word. Nevertheless, in the case of prayer and fasting the Didache is probably referring to Matthew 6:2 which is clearly referring to Jews. Regardless of who is being referred to, the overriding goal is to differentiate and prescribe the 'correct' practice.
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In these two brief examples, we can begin to see how the early Christians were beginning to adapt their tradition to fit their situations and developing practice or making their own statements of doctrine and approved practices. Sometimes it appears as though these Christians were attempting to maintain contact with Judaism by keeping the overall structure of the prayers and practice of fasting. But it must be remembered that this was the only form of worship known to them. Theirs was not the discretion of “inventing� new worship practices just to separate the church from Judaism. There wasn’t really a great deal of choice in the matter. For example, the Didache begins with the thoroughly Jewish teaching on the Two Ways (Did. 1), but then proceeds to replace, and in some cases Christianize, some of the central Jewish prayers and practices which would have been cherished by Jews, even former ones. Thus the Didache illustrates well the tension which appears to have co-existed in late first/early second century Christian teaching. As we will see, it is a tension that appears to have been noticed only by a few later writers.
The Epistle of Barnabas The epistle of Barnabas is often looked to as a source for some of the church's most virulent anti-Judaism. And, in fact, this early text does contain language which excludes Judaism from God's Covenant. The idea of Covenant is one of its main themes. There was conflict and indecisiveness as well as a desire to be separate, but making the transition was not simple and would not be complete for many years. The document as a whole, however, is characterized more by disparity than consistency. Even in some of the best intended writings there are apparent contradictions because of the many grey areas that existed in that early period. The lines of separation were blurry to say the least. Themes which are explored in a cluster of chapters are immediately dropped and a new topic is picked up without any apparent concern to whether it is cogent to the previous section. For example, Barnabas contains a block of material on the Two Ways (18-21) which is almost certainly borrowed from the Didache or a common source (The two documents are roughly contemporary so there is some question of primacy and
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dependence). In this way, it can be seen as complicating his view of Judaism because the Two Ways teaching is certainly of Jewish origin. The purpose or intentions of this writing is like a teacher writing to a group of followers on several issues that he feels necessary to explain so the followers can glean understanding and insight. The underscored theme of the document appears to be the author's fear that some members of this group are being swayed by teachings which emphasize the lasting quality of the Jewish Covenant with God. Indeed it is evident in this, as in other writings, that the ties with Judaism run deep and the demarcation point is still ill established with regard to teachings and more importantly practice. This is evidenced when Barnabas relates the story of the giving of the Law to Moses at Sinai (Exod. 24 ). The point of this is to discover "whether he has given it [to the Jews]"(14.1). Barnabas then gives his own interpretation of the Sinai event. The Jews never received the Covenant because when Moses descended from Sinai he found them worshiping a golden calf. He threw down the tablets and, for Barnabas, the Covenant was forever broken (14.4). It is implied that the covenant then becomes hidden in Jesus and later given to the Gentiles through Jesus Christ. This is the reason he came to earth in the first place (14.5). There is no Christian evidence or justification presented for the claim that the Jewish people never received the Covenant at Sinai. (It is in direct contradiction to the Biblical account in Exodus 34:10) Barnabas' radical stance on the Covenant may indicate that there were Christians who thought quite the opposite. It is likely that Barnabas was attempting to refute any claims that Jews still held a covenant with God, or even that there might be two Covenants - one for Jews and one for Gentiles. Barnabas draws a single line that does not allow for dual (The Two) covenants. Barnabas also devotes several chapters to Jewish themes that he found suspect. In chapter 10 he compares and attempts parallels of all the food laws by pairing each prohibited animal with a particular vice. This was not an unusual idea in Jewish circles, but Barnabas takes the additional step which radically separated him from any Jewish interpretation. He advocates abandonment of food laws. (This may have been one of the ways early Christians separated themselves from other Jews. It is certainly a
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preoccupation with Paul). It is somewhat ironic that while he sees Judaism as never getting out of the gates he uses Jewish religious paradigms: Temple sacrifices, allegorized food laws, circumcision of the ears instead of the genitals (so that Christians can hear and understand the Scripture), the younger serving the elder, the stories of Rebecca's children, and Ephraim and Manasseh. The most obvious example of this is Barnabas' explanation of the symbol of the Temple. Barnabas used subjective examples of sacrifices as an attempt to merge Jewish theologies with Christology e.g. Jesus is like the goat (killed outside the area of the tabernacle) that takes the sins of the people and is sacrificed to remove them. He does not, however, believe the Temple was ever meant to be physical. (It is worth noting that Barnabas does not take the view, which became popular in later writings, that the temple was destroyed (70 AD) as a punishment for the crucifixion of Jesus). Barnabas views its destruction as a necessary step. He explains that the true Temple of the Lord will be built one heart at a time. "Before we believed in God the habitation of our heart was corrupt and weak, like a temple really built with hands because it was full of idolatry, and was the house of daemons through doing things which were contrary to God...Now give heed, in order that the temple of the Lord may be built gloriously...This is a spiritual temple being built for the Lord" (Barn. 16.7-8,10) Barnabas then goes on explain the two ways of living: that of light and of darkness. There is a strong theme of regeneration and newness undergirding this theme. "Since then he made us new by the remission of sins he made us another type, that we should have the soul of children, as though he were creating us afresh" (Barn. 6.11 see also v.19 for eating milk and honey like children and coming into perfection). In this writing or letter, there is a differentiation or separatism (contrast) of us and them: us being the Christians and them being Jews, us being in, them being out. Barnabas is completely clear as he explains the fate the Covenant at Sinai and sees no room for two competing covenants. There is one covenant and it belongs to the Christians. Moreover, the Temple and all the commandments are not to be interpreted literally. But this is a far as the anti-Judaism seems to go (although this may be far enough).
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On every other point of exegesis there are limited explanations about the Jewish understanding of the Covenant or of Jewish ritual and practices, but stipulates that they are “misguided or misinterpreted�. There are no accusations of deicide, the Law is not condemned as inherently evil or imposed on the Jewish people to curb idolatry. Although it is idolatry that causes the covenant to be destroyed Barnabas makes no effort to extend the accusation beyond Sinai. Barnabas is far more concerned with combating the idea of dual covenants (an idea unlikely to have been generated from within Jewish circles) but may have their origins in Gnosticism or some other heretical sect either Jewish or false Christianity. Barn. 15.7-8 implies that the Sabbath should not be observed until the coming of Jesus, because then "we will be able to keep it holy". There is also an incredible, if not amusing, explanation (Barn 9.6) of why Abraham circumcised his household of 318. Barnabas is an early example of the process of an early Christian writer trying to distance Christians from Judaism. Its existence is a window into the kinds of teachings which might have been circulating amongst Christians of the second century. [Perhaps the dual covenant represents a part of Christianity that lived beneath orthodoxy as this passage from Pseudo- Clementine Homilies (of the 3rd Century AD) may indicate.] In explanation or as an anecdote, Jesus is concealed from the Jews, who have taken Moses as their teacher, and Moses is hidden from those who have believed in Jesus. For, there being one teaching by both, God accepts him who has believed either of these...Neither, therefore, are the Hebrews condemned on account of their ignorance of Jesus, by reason of Him who has concealed him, if, doing the things commanded by Moses, they do not hate him whom they do not know. Neither are those Gentiles condemned, who know not Moses on account of Him who has concealed him, provided that these also, doing these things spoken by Jesus, do not hate him whom they do not know."(Ps.-Clem.Hom. 8:6-7)
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The Letters of Ignatius of Antioch The letters of Ignatius, (and seven are considered authentic) provide the reader with a subjective and brief view of his opinion of Jews and Judaism. Writing around 114 AD in Asia Minor, he is often utilized to provide needed insight and information on this region during the growth and expansion of the early church. Despite the flow of ink (and now bytes) which Ignatius' few references to Judaism have encouraged, in the end there is very little we really know about what was happening in these churches in the first decades of the second century. It is should be noted not only what Ignatius writes or says but also what Ignatius does not say about Judaism. Firstly, there is only one mention of Jews in his corpus (Smyrnaeans 1.2) and it occurs in a regimented expression of praise. We have no idea what his concept of the Jewish people was exactly or how they fit into the Christian scheme something that definitely became a major topic for later writers. He has no stated or expressed need to explain the Jewish Law and how it fit into Christian understanding. He also does not include any type of accusation or blame for the death of Jesus. His main concern is his impending martyrdom and unity within the church. More than anything else he encourages Christians to unite under their bishop or leader even if the leader or “bishop� is considered too young (Mag. 3.1). He is quick to address any teaching that causes faction or schism and unequivocally instructs that is to be put down and eliminated. He just sees things in the view that thee are only two paths or belief systems. One way leads to unity and the other to variant Sabbath and Eucharist practice which, in his mind, was a baby step from schism. It is important then to keep this concern for internal unity in mind when analyzing his view of Judaism.
The Letter to the Philadelphians There are two passages which I think need explanation or at least mentioning:
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(1)"If someone interprets Judaism to you, do not listen to him. For it is better to hear Christianity from a man with circumcision than Judaism from an uncircumcised man. But if neither speak about Jesus Christ, they are stones and graves of the dead on which are written only human names". And (2) “For I heard some people saying ‘If I do not find it the archives, I do not believe [it is part of] the gospel.’" . These two passages or statements have caused a great deal of speculation as to who these uncircumcised interpreters of Judaism were. Some think it was gentile converts who have been attracted to Judaism. Others suggest they were God-worshippers (previously sympathetic to Judaism) who are now attempting to impose their Judaistic practices on other Christians – such as is given in example in the New Testament (i.e., when Paul had a showdown with Peter and others who at times tried to impose the laws and traditions of Judaism on gentile converts). And still others have promulgated the concept that docetic ( or belief taught that Christ had two entirely separate natures) teachers who have adopted Jewish themes which they are trying to introduce in the early church. In any case these and other hypothesis or arguments have been debated, but agreeing, the goal, was not achieved. This just demonstrates that sometimes there is just material that generates questions without supplying enough data for a clear explanation. The overall theme (or belief presented) is that Christianity should be preferred over Judaism. This is presented as the Jews being compared and contrasted with the superior teaching (Christianity) to show the strength of Christian teaching. However, these combinations must not have been wholly unfamiliar to his audience and there is other evidence in Ignatius which points to this kind of group within the church. The next quote (8.2) shines a bit more light on a group of people who apparently felt that only teaching which was in the Hebrew Scriptures (the archives) is authoritative. There is nothing to indicate that these are non-Christian Jews. The context puts them inside the church and makes their identity most likely Christian. This group could include those who merely attempt to disrupt and cause conflict in the early church as well as those who
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hold different beliefs (erroneously) about Christ and try to force their views on the early church – in some instances insisting that Christian teachings of the early church was in error altogether. Thus again the overall message of Ignatius is to preach Jesus Christ. His answer to these questioners is the assertion that "To me the archives are Jesus Christ" (8.2). In this way, Ignatius is making a link between Jesus and the Hebrew scriptures. It is a link that Justin and others will pick up and use, interestingly, to oppose the antithetical argument of those such as Marcion that the Hebrew Scriptures hold no authority at all.
The Letter to the Magnesians There are three passages which are pertinent to this discussion: 1) "Do not be led astray by strange teachings or by old fables which profit nothing. For if we, even now, live according to Judaism, we confess that we have not received grace" (8.1). 2) "If then they [Jewish converts] who walked in ancient customs came to a new hope [Christianity]...how then shall we be able to live without him of whom the prophets were disciples in the Spirit and to whom they looked forward as their teacher?" (9.1-2). And 3) "It is absurd to speak of Jesus Christ and of Judaism. For Christianity did not believe [itself] into Judaism, but Judaism into Christianity" (10.3). In these three references we can see the message Ignatius is attempting to deliver to the Magnesians. It is a slightly different message than that to the Philadelphians and thus may reflect his more intimate knowledge of the church at Magnesia. In all of these statements, Ignatius is indicating the unidirectional quality of faith. This direction is made clear in 9.1,2 and 10.3. It is not so much that Judaism is dangerous or subversive, although 8.1 does imply that believing in the old fables of Jewish tradition is tantamount to denying Christian grace, but once one becomes a Christian there is no turning back, it is simply not the way it is done. For Ignatius, it is absurd, ridiculous, even impossible to go back to what was before, which in this case is Judaism. These references only refer to existing
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Christians or teachers who might have been open to Jewish practice or belief. It says nothing explicit about non-Christians who continue to practice Judaism outside the church. This is a group which Ignatius does not address in his letters. His over-riding concerns for unity and respect for bishops, achieving his own martyrdom, and putting down false teachings within the church prohibit us from drawing any firm conclusions about his opinions of Jews. What is evident is that Ignatius saw no room whatsoever within Christianity for Jewish practices (what he means by Jewish practice is also difficult to discern). Thus, in Ignatius, we see only traces of what was to become a clear, prevalent, and slightly ironic message in later Christian writers: 'Christians are not Jewish.'
The Apocryphal Writings This body of literature has suffered from years of neglect due mostly to the notion that only 'orthodox' writings, and/or heretical writings define or give us a look at what Christians were thinking in the early church. The prevailing view was that one was correct and the other had it all wrong. This meant that one set of inclusive writings were the truth and the others were, well, heretical and not to be even read. In some instances of research and investigation of that early period and the writings that emerged has started many to realize the benefits of examining the value that these noncanonical writings offer. It has become increasingly important for many to try and see the full picture of the early church and Christianity of that important and transitional period. In many ways, it was discovered, this material can give us a glimpse into what Christians were reading in the second century or at least the kind of oral traditions which were being circulated. We are much closer to grass-roots Christianity when looking at this body of literature.
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But, as even with other documents and writings, many of these texts are very difficult to date. Only five such texts can reasonably be dated to the second century AD. It is equally important to date such documents to give us an accurate view of the early church and the world surrounding it. Indeed the tides of belief and practice as perceived and written about did change or ebb and flow with the times, events, and circumstances that surrounded the early church. It was after all a period of transition and in so many ways confusion and conflict. While there is not a wealth of information about Jews and Judaism there are several instances where one can get a glimpse into the way these documents perceived Jews also. This literature is, like others of this time, marked by its ambivalent and idiosyncratic view of Jews and Judaism (See Elliot for the translations of these texts). The Preaching of Peter This is a short account of the crucifixion and the resurrection which most likely emanates from the latter half of the second century CE. In this account, The Jewish priests and teachers are completely culpable for the death of Jesus, as in the gospels. But here we are told that they realized their mistake, unlike the gospels. "Perceiving what great evil they had done to themselves, they began to lament and to say 'Woe on our sins, judgment has arrived and with it the end of Jerusalem'" (25). The Romans, on the other hand, are exonerated from blame. Moreover, they are the ones who witness the resurrection itself (34-42). The gaps in the resurrection accounts in the gospels are filled in by the picture of Jesus being raised by two angelic beings in the form of a cross (the text's most striking image). Jews are portrayed as a unified group defined only by the Jewish leaders and the picture is a consistently negative one, pinning the blame for his death squarely on the lapel on the Jewish people. The Acts of Pilate This account sums up nicely the trial and passion of Jesus and continues on through the ascension and a short time after. This a narrative told from within the Jewish leadership. The reader is taken behind the scenes to see how the Jewish leaders react to Jesus'
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crucifixion and resurrection. Nicodemus, a Jewish follower of Jesus, is the vehicle for this insider's look (This narrative is also known as the Gospel of Nicodemus). In this narrative, Pilate is pushed from being ambivalent, as in the gospels, to being a loyal advocate of Jesus. Pilate's turning point comes when his wife claims that Jesus has been troubling her dreams (2.1). The complaint of the Jewish leaders against Jesus is summed nicely in 2.3. "Firstly, that you were born of fornication; secondly that your birth meant the death of the children of Bethlehem; thirdly, that your father Joseph and your mother Mary fled to Egypt because they had no esteem among the people" (2.3). Any skeptical reader of the gospels could have reached the same conclusion. These were probably common accusations put to Christians and the point of this text seems to address these criticisms as well as to provide a dramatic narrative in defense of the resurrection. Yet there is not a unified picture of the Jews. In fact, one of the functions of the story is to highlight the fact that not all Jews were united about the apparent disbelief in Jesus. At this point Pilate "looked and saw many of the Jews weeping, he said, 'Not all the multitude wishes to see him die.' But the elders of the Jews said, 'The whole multitude has come for the purpose that he should die'" (4.5). This internal split is widened when all the Jews whom Jesus healed during his career stand up and give testimony to his power (5.2-8.1) Nevertheless, the leaders persuade Pilate to crucify him after reminding him that this Jesus is the same person whom Herod sought 30 years ago. Fearing political backlash, Pilate gives in to their wishes, but not without first giving a small speech on the history of the Jews and their disobedience toward God (9.2). Pilate then disappears from the narrative and the reader accompanies the Jewish leaders as they hear of Jesus' resurrection from the Roman guards stationed at the grave (13). Then the teachers are deeply disturbed when three rabbis - Adas, Phinees, and Angaeus - witness his ascension from mount Mamlich (14). But it is not until Joseph of Arithmethea, who miraculously escapes from their imprisonment by crawling from the building that the risen Jesus had lifted up for him, gives his testimony that the Jewish leaders "became like dead men and fell to the ground and fasted until the ninth hour." In the end, after much investigation, the teachers conclude that "if his memorial lasts to the year called jubilee (50 years), he will reign for ever and create for himself a new people" (16.7). Moreover, in the last section
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the Jews are now transformed into the people of the Lord and they sing praises to God that are thoroughly Jewish with no mention of Jesus at all. "May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our fathers...[and keep] his commandments and laws which he gave to our fathers...Save us O Lord and we shall be saved. For we are your portion and inheritance. The Lord will not forsake his people for his name's sake...Having sung great hymns they all departed, every man to his house, glorifying God. For his is the Glory for ever and ever. Amen." Either the crowds are affirming their Judaism or the crowds have been converted and now sing this praise as Christians.
The Proto-Evangelism of James The Proto-Evangelism of James is focused on the account of Mary's incredible birth and her dedication to the temple as a life-long virgin. Most likely, it is an attempt to address the accusations that Jesus was born from fornication and that Mary was not a virgin. The popularity of this work in the second century CE, which was substantial, is often credited with origins of the Mary cult. Its most extreme and incredible declaration comes in 19-20 where two skeptical Hebrew midwives examine Mary after Jesus is born and find her hymen intact! The picture of Jews in this account is perhaps more useful because it is not addressing Judaism and the portrayal is more incidental and less polemical as is the case in the two previous works. Here Jews show a natural mistrust of Mary's claim that she is pregnant yet still pure. After Joseph, who is portrayed as a much older man with other previous children (addressing the problem of Jesus' brothers), is convinced of Mary's purity by the heavenly angel (14) he tries to hide her from the temple priests for he was given Mary to keep as a virgin. The priests discover her pregnancy and accuse Joseph of consummating the marriage. "And the priest said, 'Give back the virgin whom you have received from the temple of the Lord.' And Joseph began to weep. And the priest said, 'I will give you both to drink of the water of conviction of the Lord, and it will make your sins manifest in your eyes'" (16)' Of course they pass this test, the priests are convinced and they are
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released. As previously mentioned, the Hebrew midwives who confirm Mary's virginity after the birth, are deeply moved by the event. The second midwife, Salome, even undergoes a kind of conversion. "And behold an angel of the Lord appeared and said to her, 'Salome, Salome, the Lord God has heard your prayer. Bring your hand to the child and touch him and salvation and joy will be yours.' And Salome came near and touched him, saying, 'I will worship him, for a great king has been born to Israel' (20) This account of the Jesus’ birth does not portray Jews as overly skeptical, or in any way culpable. Quite the opposite. All of the Jews show a healthy skepticism but are convinced either by an angel (Joseph and Salome), or by an act of God (the priests and the first Hebrew midwife). As in the Acts of Pilate, and to a certain extent The Preaching of Peter the Proto-evangelism of James involves Jews who are sympathetic to Jesus and his supernatural powers. Whether they represent those Jews who are sympathetic to Christianity yet remain Jews is not really clear.
The Marcion Debauchery In the middle of the second century, a anti-religious movement swept through the young developing church. It was movement that would have dramatic effects on the way Christians read the Old Testament and the way they perceived Jews and Judaism. Adversus JudĂŚos literature from the time of Marcion (mid-second century) shows the unmistakable marks of this debate. An understanding of Marcion and his teaching is important in explaining this shift or transition regarding Judaism. There is a certain lack of consensus in the way Christians seemed to affirm the antiquity of Judaism and its authority, while rejecting many of the cultic outgrowth and influences that appeared. To some this seeming paradox in practice seems to be both problematic and contradictory. It is easily understood that some of them it may have seemed perfectly natural, even necessary, to keep the Jewish prayers, the Jewish scriptures, and Jewish practices and teachings. Remember here that almost all aspects of the early church were ill defined. This was because for so many Judaism was or had been the only religion of truth. It was
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engrained in the very lives of the Jews as custom and tradition as well as law and religious practice. It was so much more than a religion, it was a lifestyle; it was who the Hebrews were and encompassed where they had been and where they were in the sight of God. But the questions that Marcion raised caused an increase in the movement toward transition and definitive beliefs of the early church. His teaching pushed Christians to decide how they were going to read the Hebrew scripture, what they thought of God, who Jesus was, and if Christians could continue to read the Hebrew Scriptures at all. The young church during this foundational transition of beliefs and practice could not afford to sit on the fence; rather the church was pressed to answer these difficult issues and questions. This was part of the formative years that fueled transition and independence as a complete and separate religious entity. However, it was somewhat precarious because the fact that the church owed its roots to the belief system based on the Old Testament and its absolute impact on the church beginning to define and understand itself. The Old Testament could not be ignored any more that the fact that Jesus was a Jew. Somehow, they had to find some common ground as well so the transition would be true to how they knew and understood God – especially this premise on the connectivity of Judaism and Christianity which seemed by some to be inseparable. Although none of Marcion's writings have been preserved, we can (through a bit of detective work and investigation) partially reconstruct his teaching. Much of the insight is gleaned from the criticism and refutations that were offered by some of the most important Christians of the second century (Tertullian, Dionysius of Corinth, Irenaeus, and Justin (lost)). Some scholars tend to view him (Marcion) more as a Christian than a Gnostic because of his distance from some Gnostic ideas and his knowledge of the Christian scriptures – plus the fact that he raised such an alarm among Christian thinkers. His teaching at points cut the Christian theologies and early issues to the quick. The question that Marcion asked was: How can one reconcile the difference between the vindictive, capricious, punitive God of the Hebrew Bible with the God of love, forgiveness and grace that one meets in the New Testament, mainly in Paul's letters?
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To Marcion it could not be answered in strict black and white terms. He did however offer up a fluid explanation for the difference found in the Gnostic concept of dueling gods. The God of the Hebrews (Yahweh) he offered is the second to the Supreme Being who created this physical and evil world and trapped humanity in matter, to wit, our bodies. Jesus is the vision of the God of love, the one sent to free humanity from the snares of this created world. Marcion accepted only the writings of Paul, whom he saw as the sole voice of truth. As for the “gospel� Marcion composed, he merely removed Jewish flavorings from that of Luke's gospel. His answer to a problem that Christians had wondered about was extreme to put it mildly; it caused an uproar created divisions in the early church.
JUSTIN MARTYR'S DIALOGUE WITH TRYPHO In the Dialogue we have the fullest expression of a Christian making a case for Christianity over and against Judaism in the second century AD. This long dissertation (142 chapters) is a supposed dialogue between Justin and a Diaspora Jew named Trypho. Trypho is initially attracted to Justin's philosopher's robe (1.2), but after Justin gives a somewhat satirical account of his journey through the philosophical schools of the second century, he then goes on to claim that Christianity is the true philosophy. From this point, the conversation takes a different course. Justin now proceeds to pull out every proof text available from the Hebrew scriptures to prove the Christian version of the Messiah (See O. Scarsaune). He also attempts to explain the Mosaic Law and circumcision. The Mosaic Law, for Justin was a smorgasbord of ideologies. There were those commandments and precepts which were established to fight against idolatry. There were also those parts of the Law which had a mystical meaning behind them. These were included by Moses to identify Jesus as the messiah. There is also a positive aspect of the
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Law which Justin saw as being connected to Christ. He stated that those who regulated their lives by the Law of Moses would also be saved. For what is in the Law for Moses is naturally good, and pious, and righteous, and has been prescribed to be done by those who obey it; and what was appointed to be performed by reason of hardness of the people's hearts; these were also recorded and done by those who were under the Law. Since those who did that which is universally, naturally, and eternally good are pleasing to God, they shall be saved through this Christ in the resurrection equally with those righteous men who were before them, mainly Noah, Enoch, Jacob and whoever else there might be, along with those who have known this Christ. This was in many instances a contradiction of the gospel message of faith in Christ and salvation through the grace of God. It seemed to counter the tenet that there was only one way and one person by whom the Christian was saved – that of Jesus Christ. Jews living after Jesus did not, however, have this option nor were afforded any other opportunity. There is nothing inherently wrong with the Law (according to Justin) or those who followed it before Jesus, but since Jesus the Law has become unimportant but could still be followed after conversion. Paul stated that if one chose to follow the law, any part, that they would be responsible for keeping the whole law. Trypho inquired, according to the dialogue presented. that if someone, knowing that this is so, and after he recognizes that this man is Christ, and has faith in him, wished, however, to observe these institutions [Jewish practices], will he be saved?' In my opinion, such a one will be saved, if he does not strive in every way to persuade other men [to practice them too]" (Dial. 47.1). The Law, for Justin, had become simply a cultural accouterment with no eternal significance. This accepting attitude toward Jewish practice was not carried forward by subsequent writers. While Justin never accused the Jews of deicide (his Christian beliefs would not allow him to make such a statement), he does see both the destruction of the temple in 70 AD and the Bar Kochba revolt of 135 AD as results of their fallen status and proof of the bankruptcy of their faith. In attempting to explain the reason for Jewish circumcision he draws the unusual conclusion that "God, who foreknew, was aware that your nation
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would deserve expulsion from Jerusalem and that none would be allowed to enter it". This may be a reference to Hadrian's ban after the revolt of135 AD, but it is difficult to know if such inspections were performed by the Romans. The Jewish defeats of 115-117 and 133 to 135 AD and destruction of the temple earlier in 70 AD appear to be the preordained in Justin's mind. Justin is critical of what he sees as an over-dependence on the Jew's lineage to Abraham. Yet he never attempts to divorce Jews from Abraham even though he claims that Christians are the true spiritual descendants of Abraham. Justin is not entirely clear as to his vision for the future of the Jewish people. In one instance he sees that some Jews will "be found in the lot with Christ, while others who are indeed children of Abraham would be like the sand on the sea shore, barren and fruitless, much in quantity but without number indeed". Another time he intimates that only those Jews who persecute Christ (the meaning of this is vague) will be cut off and later in the treatise Justin even hints at the restoration of Christians and Jews who "are all sons and equal in dignity". These statements must also be viewed in the context of Justin's more absolute language. For example: "Accordingly, He promises to him [Abraham] a nation of similar faith, Godfearing, righteous, and delighting the Father; but it is not you, 'in whom there is no faith'". Justin’s use of typology transformed the precepts of Christ’s sacrifice into mysterious foreshadowing of Christian worship. But it is his use of the Logos doctrine that is the most aggressive counter to Marcionite doctrine. More than a type, the Logos was the embodiment of Christ himself who visited the patriarchs. Justin uses Abraham's angelic visitation at Mamre (Gen 18) to make the bold assertion that one of the angels was, in fact, also called God. Since God is totally transcendent, according to Justin, this can only mean that this was Christ who is God yet numerically distinct from God. The effect of this argument is apply or explain scripture through a 'real presence' Logos doctrine; to attempt a parallel relationship of Christian belief and practice through the Hebrew Scriptures. He even goes so far as to claim the patriarchs as Christian. The issue then becomes one of understanding and interpretation. For Justin, Jews do not know how to read their own scriptures, and they are responsible for the punishment they have incurred from God, both from their idolatrous behavior at Sinai and their treatment of Jesus.
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Overall, Justin addresses different issues and questions surrounding the Christian problem of its Jewish heritage. He uses strong language for Judaism but he also shows himself to be somewhat contradictive in many ways. He does not attach Jews of the past with those of the future. He makes no accusation of deicide. After all, one of the awesome things about the work is that at the end Trypho and Justin shake hands; presumably amicably and maybe even as friends.
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From Nero to Marcus Aurelius 64 – 135 AD The Church Continues its Transition
It is truly unfortunate that there is such a lack of church writings during this period. Fortunately men such as Pliny and Tacticus (Romans) provide much insight into this era along with the reflections of Polycarp, Pliny the Younger, and others. Through their records and viewpoints we not only see effects of church expansion in the Roman Empire we all have established dates that portray the church as it continued to transition to a completely different religion – separate from Judaism and recognized as such by the empire that bolstered persecution against them. The early Roman writers viewed Christianity not as another kind of pietas, but as a superstitio, or superstition. Pliny the Younger, a Roman governor writing circa 110 AD, called Christianity a "superstition taken to extravagant lengths." Similarly, the Roman historian Tacitus called it "a deadly superstition," and the historian Suetonius called Christians "a class of persons given to a new and mischievous superstition.” In this context, the word "superstition" has a slightly different connotation than it has today: for the Romans, it meant something foreign and different - in a negative sense. A religious belief was valid only insofar as it could be shown to be old and in line with ancient customs; new teachings were regarded with distrust.” Under Nero persecution of the Christians literally was a fire that devoured public sentiment and (possibly for the first time) made Christians true enemies of the empire. Although the recorded statements about that era are lacking in true specifics, the famous fire and the criticisms of Nero are now a historical fact. Nero, as most people are aware, blamed the Christians for the fire as well as other ails that had befallen the empire under his reign. Nero neither needed nor cared about any real proof. Rather he saw this as a way to save his pitiful reign and pagan lifestyle he enjoyed. In truth, Nero only really cared about Nero and what he could provide for himself in all his humanistic and pagan desires. In his Annals, Tacitus states that "to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians [or Chrestians] by the populace"2 He also shares a quite graphic description of the treatment of Christians at the hand of Nero "...a vast multitude, were convicted, not so much of the crime of incendiarism as of hatred of the human race. And in their deaths 2 The Annals (Latin: Annales) is a history book by Tacitus covering the reign of the four Roman Emperors succeeding to Caesar Augustus. The parts of the work that survived from antiquity cover (most of) the reigns of Tiberius and Nero.
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they were made the subjects of sport; for they were wrapped in the hides of wild beasts and torn to pieces by dogs, or nailed to crosses, or set on fire, and when day declined, were burned to serve for nocturnal lights."3 The general belief that appeasing the gods was paramount to the strength of Rome and the new problems that plagued the empire was due to the “cults”. These cults or heresies fell under the magnifier of the Roman Empire and was specifically brought into focus by Nero and his crafty claims and accusations. Truly there already existed hatreds, suspicions and violence toward the Christians of the era, and the general populous robbed, beat, betrayed, and attacked Christians - in many cases stoning them. The accusations of even cannibalism, of atheism, and of dangers posed by the Church and it’s sublime reactions to persecution and maltreatment, were common and the direct attacks against the Apostles, for example, set the stage for further suspicions and betrayals. It also necessarily caused the Roman Empire to compose letters and edicts to distinguish and deal with this threat to the stability of the Empire. We are very fortunate in many regards that writers of the late first century to the middle of the second century provided us valuable background information about the transition of the Roman Empire and the church as it continued to expand and become noticed as more than a small sect of Judaism. Also, and although not from this period, other great authors have also provided much insight into the life and times of the people who started, supported, and added to the early church. Information from Tacticus, Justin, Tertullian, Oringen, Suetonius, Dio Cassius, Eusebius, Gaius Pliny, Trajan (Emperor), Hadrian (Emperor), Theophilus, Lucian, and Josephus are critical to understanding this transitional era.4 The people, places, laws, customs, and many other aspects of the world of that era (especially viewed through scripture) and its role in the church as well as the view from secular world and Judaism. It should be noted that this section which includes the reign of these emperors, is not about them directly, but about the information we are able to glean about the world that surrounded church. The reigns of these men simply help for a timeframe in which the church can be further studied and documented. In other words, they are a reference for us to track the church as it expanded and became a separate religion. Reference and quotations from this period help to build a stronger concept of the mechanics of the church and its reactionary views from the populous at large. It was, then, getting back to the subject, Nero’s reign that expanded on Rome’s views and treatment of Christians. It was through his lead and suggestions that the Christians became public enemy #1. One of the factors that influenced Nero’s enthusiastic aversion 3
Tacitus' Annals XV.44
4 See attachment 9 for a compilation of quotes and brief biographical information of and regarding these writers.
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to the church was that of a deep lull in the respect and worship of ancient gods. Also was the growing requirement for “Emperor Worship� and the sacrifices required by Rome. These two points weighed heavily on the minds and actions of the people, including the Jews. The animosity and conflict between the Jews and between the Jews and Christians was having a negative effect on the cities and people who were actually disillusioned and confused about what they believed and the prospects offered to them by the church. If we then add the strain of economic problems and drought the combination become extremely volatile.
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Conflict and Diversity in the Early Church Diversity within the church has existed since its inception. Here we will examine the period "between Jesus and Paul." From A.D. 30 to 35 the foundations were laid for subsequent Christian missions, as well as for theological reflections. The Church in Jerusalem under the leadership of the Twelve, with its decisiveness in responding to the needs of the faithful and its openness in blessing diversity in the community, prepared the ground for missionary activity in the Hellenistic world. Our sources for the life and activity of the church in Jerusalem are Acts 1-12, a few fragments in the letters of Paul, and some references in James and Jude. Acts, the main source, has been subjected to stringent historical analysis. As Luke, the author of the book, wrote it in the last quarter of the first century, the time lag has led some interpreters to question its reliability as a source for this period. Their claim is that Acts was written to produce an idealized, generalized portrait of early Christian beginnings, which is reflected in the summaries (Acts 2.42-47; 4.32-35; 5.12-16). But far from offering an "ideal picture," Luke also revealed that the disciples of Christ after Pentecost were not always of "one accord." However, this aspect cannot be properly evaluated if it is not considered in the context of the "ideal" image of the church. As he compiled the historical record, Luke relied upon the testimony of participants in these early events and may have drawn upon written sources. As Paul's traveling companion (Col. 4.14, Philem. 24) he was with him and James in Jerusalem (Acts 20-21). Before they reached the city they had been guests in Caesarea of "Philip the Evangelist" (Acts 21.8), one of the leaders of the Jewish Christian Hellenists. From him Luke undoubtedly received precious information about Christian beginnings, although he was not Luke's only source. In the first chapters of Acts he shows particular interest in Peter, probably on the basis of accounts which clearly reflect Peter's historical role in the Church of Jerusalem. Many scholars conclude that Luke had access to information about the church in Antioch, which was second to Jerusalem as a Christian center (Acts 6-12).
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Luke was not only a record keeper of these first years of the church. He skillfully presented his facts in a theological perspective, weaving and shaping his sources, and grounding his interpretation solidly on concrete facts. Among those who defend the historicity of Acts are specialists in Roman history; A.N. Sherwin-White asserts: "Any attempt to reject the basic historicity of Acts now appears absurd. Roman historians have long taken it for granted." The fruit of Christ's death, resurrection, ascension and the giving of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost was koinonia: community, communion, fellowship the Church. In Hebrew the corresponding term is Yahad, used in the Dead Sea Scrolls to denote "unity." With one mind (homothymadon) the members of the community "devoted themselves to apostolic teaching and fellowship (koinonia), to the breaking of bread and prayers" (Acts 2.42). The sacraments of the Eucharist and Baptism served most probably as the setting for the transmission and growth of the Gospel tradition. In connection with the baptism of new converts "in the name of Jesus Christ" (Acts 2.38) Jesus' baptism was recalled. At the time of "breaking of bread" the early Christians in Jerusalem relived Christ's institution of the Eucharist, and the events that culminated in his death on the cross.2 Although Jewish Christians attended Temple worship and practiced circumcision with other Jews, they gathered for the "breaking of bread" in their homes (Acts 2.46), which served as Christian synagogues or house churches. With the growth of the community the number of Christian places of gathering naturally increased. One of these Christian synagogues was "the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark" (Acts 12.12), to whom the Gospel of Mark is ascribed. The gathering of Jesus' followers on the day of Pentecost was probably in a private house. Jesus had celebrated the Passover and instituted the Eucharist in such a setting. The evidence from Acts points to the existence from the very beginning of a distinct Christian worship taking place in private houses. Although Luke in Acts repeats that the earliest Christian community was of "one accord" or of one mind (Acts 1.14; 2.46; 4.24; 5.12), yet it was not without problems. Some members violated the life of koinonia. Ananias and his wife Sapphira tried to serve two masters, God and mammon, held back some of the proceeds of the land and lied "to the
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Holy Spirit" (Acts 5.1ff), which in this case designates the ideal community, permeated and guided by the Spirit.3 It was not the holding of property in itself which disrupted the community. The surrender of goods in the Christian community was voluntary (Acts 5.4), not mandatory. Barnabas' act of selling his field (Acts 4.37) reveals the spirit of the disciples of Christ and desire for an "economic koinonia," but Barnabas would hardly have been mentioned specifically if every member of the community had done the same.4 In contrast, in the Qumran community, after a year of probation, a member's property would be compulsorily merged with the community's. The evangelist Luke, in Acts, does not cover up or minimize the "unpleasant disturbances" in the life of the Jerusalem church. With the growth of the community, inevitably other problems confronted the disciples of Christ. They had to deal with them, for the future of the Christian mission and expansion depended upon their solution. Before Pentecost the group of the followers of Jesus in Jerusalem had been rather small. Of these, the Twelve had from the very beginning been the most prominent. With them were Mary the mother of Jesus, the women who had followed Jesus during his public ministry, and his brothers. The community was in all "about a hundred and twenty" (Acts 1.14-15). After Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost and his call to repentance and baptism "in the name of Jesus Christ," there were added to the disciples of the Risen Christ "about three thousand souls" (Acts 2.41). Whether or not we take these numbers literally, we cannot doubt the considerable growth of the primitive Christian community on the day of Pentecost. And with this increase in numbers the Christian group soon after experienced dissatisfaction and complaints in its ranks. The opening verse of Acts 6 points to division as one consequence of this growth; it speaks of "Hellenists" and "Hebrews." The existence of these two distinct groups characterizes the earliest Christian community in Jerusalem. The Hebrews were Jewish Christians who spoke almost exclusively Aramaic, and the Hellenists were also Jewish Christians whose mother tongue was Greek. They were Greek-speaking Jews of the
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Diaspora, who returned to settle in Jerusalem. To identify them, Luke uses the term Hellenistai. When he had in mind Greeks, gentiles, non-Jews who spoke Greek and lived according to the Greek fashion,then he used the word Hellenes (Acts 21.28). As the very context of Acts 6 makes clear, the Hellenistai are not Hellenes. Much later the term Hellenistai reappears in the fourth century, but it is now synonymous with Hellenes, gentiles who are not Christians.5 In Acts Hellenistai refers either to Jewish Christians or to Mosaic loyalists (Acts 9.29) who were recognized as distinct groups in Jerusalem. There were undoubtedly Hebrews who knew and spoke some Greek. The disciples from Galilee, Peter among them, as fishermen had had contacts with the inhabitants of Decapolis whose language was Greek. When some Greeks (Hellenes) expressed a desire to see Jesus, they approached Philip (Jn. 12.20f). Paul was at home in both languages. While some Hebrews could cross the language barrier, the same could not be claimed for the Hellenists. The Hebrews and the Hellenists in the Jerusalem Christian community (koinonia) are characterized as disciples (mathetai) of Christ. This word appears in the Gospels and Acts, never in Paul. A disciple is one who is utterly committed to the person from whom he received a call. They follow Jesus, believe in him, and recognize his voice and teaching. And to follow him means readiness for sacrifice. Paul had fellow workers; only Jesus could have mathetai. As Acts 6 reports, the Hellenists murmured against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution, probably meaning "in the giving of sustenance to the poor and needy." The Twelve took the complaint of the Hellenists seriously and dealt decisively with the discontent that was endangering the koinonia. They summoned the body of the faithful (plethos) and asked them to select "seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and wisdom" (Acts 6.3) to serve tables (diakonein trapezais), whom they, the Twelve, would appoint for this duty. And when the plethos put forward seven Hellenists, the Twelve "prayed and laid their hands upon them" (Acts 6.6).
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The roles of the Twelve and of the "multitude" (plethos) are clearly defined in the appointment of the Seven. The undisputed leaders, the Twelve, and the community of believers were participating in the decision-making process. The Twelve took the initiative, approved and ordained the seven worthy Hellenists whom the community had picked out from among themselves. The consent of the faithful was indispensable. Who were these new leaders, appointed for the group of Hellenists, and what was their role in the community? All of them had Greek names. They were not native Greeks, gentiles, but Jews, except one, "Nikolaos, a proselyte of Antioch" (Acts 6.5). The two most prominent among them were Stephen and Philip. The reason given for their selection was to "serve tables." That expression may cover many duties related to economic and financial matters. In addition to caring for the poor and needy, it is clear from Acts 6-8, Stephen and Philip were engaged in preaching, teaching and baptizing. Luke tells us that they were evangelists and preachers. Stephen "did great wonders and signs among the people" (Acts 6.8), and Philip proclaimed Christ in Samaria and on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, where he baptized the eunuch (Acts 8.38). They were engaged in the service (diakonia) of the community. The term diakonia is used in Acts 6, but not diakonos. As a distinct group in the hierarchy, diakonos is used only once in Paul's undisputed epistles. He addressed Philippians to "the saints in Christ Jesus . . . with the bishops and deacons (episkopois kai diakonois)." Even here the ministry of diakonos is hardly defined. The term has the meaning of minister or attendant. Nothing is said about the function of deacons in the church of Philippi. In 2 Cor. 3.6 Paul identifies himself and those around him as "ministers (diakonoi) of a new covenant," and in the same epistle (2 Cor. 11.23), attacking his opponents, he writes, "Are they servants of Christ (diakonoi Christou)? I am a better one." He is a better diakonos than they are. In these two examples the title diakonos stands for "the office of preacher and missionary."6 Also in later writings of the New Testament ascribed to Paul or his influence, such as 1 Timothy, the functions of deacons are not mentioned. It is only noted that they "must hold the mystery of the faith with clear conscience" (1 Tim 3.9), which does not distinguish them from any other ministry in the church.
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The Seven were appointed probably to be local leaders, administrators in the Christian Hellenist community. The Twelve were in charge of the community of Hebrews as well as of Hellenists, and it appears that they "ordained" from both groups helpers as local leaders. The role and duties of the Seven would correspond to the tasks performed by the elders (presbyteroi, Acts 15.4, 22).7 The appearance of the leaders on a local level reflects Jewish practice (Deut. 16.18). The appointment of the Seven recalls the appointment of the seventy helpers for Moses in Num. 11. Not satisfied with manna, the Israelites in the wilderness complained and asked for meat. "Why have you treated your servant so badly?" Moses asked the Lord. These people, Moses continued, "are too heavy for me . . . . For they come weeping to me and say 'Give us meat to eat!'" (Num. 11.1113). The burden of Moses was lightened with the appointment of the seventy elders, on whom the Lord put "some of the Spirit" that was on Moses. In Acts the complaints of the Hellenists murmuring over food distribution led to the appointment of the Seven. Some commentators, noting this similarity, question the historicity of Acts 6, while others, although emphasizing this similarity, note that we are dealing with historical facts and not with Luke's invention. They suppose that Luke used this particular mode of composition to stress the importance of the selection of the Seven. Here it is not a question of invention but of interpretation. What Luke records regarding the selection of the Seven is based upon his sources, and in composing it he wants to bring out as forcefully as possible the meaning of the appointment of the Seven in the life of the new covenantal community. He was not only acquainted with the Old Testament scripture but also possessed an intimate knowledge of the primitive Christian church. He gives the names of the Seven, who thereupon become a distinct group in the apostolic church. When Paul and his companions came to Caesarea on his last visit to Jerusalem they stayed with "Philip the Evangelist, who was one of the Seven" (Acts 21.8). On the basis of the so-called "we" section of Acts (Acts 20-21) Luke was with Paul in Caesarea and in Jerusalem. He presumably learned from Philip, if he had not already been acquainted, about the circumstances that led to their selection and appointment. IV
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The growth of the koinonia in Jerusalem, the persecution of the Hellenists, and the spread of church missions beyond the city followed the appointment and activity of the Seven. The number of disciples considerably increased and "a great many of the priests (hiereon)" joined the Christian community (Acts 6.7). Where did these priests come from? Nothing is said or revealed in Acts. If they came from the official priesthood, one can conclude that the Christian movement had even penetrated the Temple. Or perhaps these priests had belonged previously to the priestly group of Essenes. The Christians were acquainted with the Essenes, having met and observed them in the city of Jerusalem itself. The Essenes were not living only in the wilderness, but in a number of towns in Judaea. According to Josephus they were living in Jerusalem in a very closed community, where they had probably settled after the 31 BC earthquake, which had disrupted their lives at Qumran. It has been argued, on the basis of some archeological findings, that Essenes settled on Mount Zion, which also became the center of Jewish Christianity. This shared proximity facilitated contacts and influences between the disciples of Christ and the Essenes.8 Whether these priests, who became disciples, members of the koinonia, came from the Temple or from the Essenes, they did not perform a special "priestly" role in the church. In the church of the New Testament, hiereus (priest) is never used for an office holder. The author of Hebrews applied the term to Christ, who is "high priest (archierea) of our confession" (Heb. 3.1). The expression "royal priesthood," used in 1 Pet. 2.9, does not refer to one who holds an office in the church but to God's people. The term hiereus (priest) was used for an office holder in the church "only in the last quarter of the second century A.D.," with the final separation of the church from the synagogue; it occurred with "growing recognition of the Eucharist as a sacrifice."(9) Stephen's preaching and evangelizing were met with persecution of the Christian Hellenists by other Greek-speaking Jews who had remained loyal to the Law. They disputed with Stephen and his followers, who made inroads into their synagogues. The synagogue of the freedmen is mentioned in Acts 6.9: "Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the freedmen (libertini), and of the Cyrenians and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, arose and disputed with Stephen." They
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could not all have been members of the same synagogue. The passage suggests that Diaspora Jews returning to Jerusalem would keep contact with Jews from their own regions and places in the Hellenistic world which they had left. Each group would try to organize its own house of worship. Some of these house synagogues were more open to new ideas and criticism of the Jewish institutions than others. The Alexandrian Jews were more receptive to Christians than those from Asia Minor. The Hellenists from "Cilicia and Asia" were probably the main opponents and persecutors of Stephen. Paul, who was born at Tarsus in Cilicia (Acts 22.3), was before his vision and conversion a Mosaic loyalist, as were many other Hellenists from "Asia." It is worth noting that later, in 58 A.D., Paul's life was in danger when "the Jews from Asia had seen him in the Temple." They laid hands on him, claiming that he was an opponent of the Law and the Temple (Acts 21.27ff). This same faction, the Asian Jews, was the one that had attacked Stephen about twenty-five years before. And once again their accusations were centered upon the Law and the Temple. These accusers, the Mosaic loyalists, brought charges against Stephen that he spoke "blasphemous words against Moses and God" (Acts 6.11). The accusations were not entirely false, for Hellenists who had joined the church looked critically upon the Law. The baptism of the eunuch by Philip illustrates their attitude toward the Law. The Ethiopian eunuch was not a proselyte, a convert to Judaism. According to the book of the Law he could not be included in the assembly of God, as he could not be circumcised (Deut. 23.1, Lev. 21.17-23). Philip, a Christian Hellenist, goes beyond this legal requirement. At a time when the Christians in Jerusalem were Jewish Christians, observing the Law and attending the Temple, Philip baptized a eunuch, who could not be a Jew under the Law (Acts 8). The second accusation against Stephen refers to the Temple. "False witnesses" heard him saying that "Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place, and will change the customs which Moses delivered to us" (Acts 6.14). This accusation was also not a complete invention. Stephen saw clearly the meaning and consequences of Jesus' teaching, as well as of his death and resurrection (Mk. 14.58, Jn. 2.19). He spoke about the Temple in such a way that he provoked a violent reaction among the loyalists. The critical attitude toward the
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Law led to a negative evaluation of the Temple. Stephen described the Temple as "made with hands" (cheiropoietos), a phrase known to those in the Hellenistic world who opposed idolatry. The Jews in diaspora used the same word to condemn paganism. By applying this expression to the Temple, Stephen identified the place as an idol. "The most High does not dwell in houses made with hands" (Acts 7.48).(10) The accusations against Stephen were specific and, soon after, his martyrdom followed. After his stoning, the Hellenists scattered throughout Judaea and Samaria, but the Twelve were not persecuted and remained in Jerusalem (Acts 8.1). Following the death of Stephen, Saul/Paul "laid waste the Church" (Acts 8.3), committed the disciples to prison and consented to the death of many (Acts 26.10). The persecution of the Hellenists brought an unexpected expansion. The spread of the Christian Church in the short period between the death and resurrection of Jesus (30 A.D.) and the vision of Paul on the road to Damascus (c. 35) was phenomenal. Christian communities were organized in Samaria. The church in Antioch, a major city of the East, must have been founded by 35, before Paul's conversion.(11) It is probable that Christian missionaries before Paul did not require circumcision of Gentiles (Acts 15.1, 5). Apparently there were Christians in the city of Damascus even before the expulsion of the Hellenists from Jerusalem. Paul went to Damascus to persecute those who belonged to "the Way" (hodos, designating Christians in Acts, 9.2). We don’t know who had founded the church in Damascus. There are also references to Christian communities in Galilee (Acts 9.31). Acts is silent about the missionaries who worked in these areas. On the basis of these references and despite many unsolved questions, we may conclude that even before the Christian Hellenists were driven out of Jerusalem there had been highly successful missionary activities outside Jerusalem and Judaea. It is possible they could be brothers of the Lord, whom Paul refers to as missionaries (1 Cor. 9.5). An evaluation of all existing references to them in the documents of the first and second centuries might throw light on their special contributions in the post-resurrection period. The earliest Christian church was a complex phenomenon. Cultural and linguistic diversity between the Hebrews and the Hellenists in the church of Jerusalem necessitated
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the existence of separate Christian synagogues and worship. Christians were worshipping separately from other Jews from the very beginning, even while joining them in Temple worship.(12) Christians meeting in house churches devoted themselves to breaking of bread and prayer in two languages, Hebrew/Aramaic and Greek. The unquestioned leaders of the Church were the Twelve. On their initiative the hierarchical structure of the Church developed organically. The Seven became the local leaders for the Hellenists, as presbyteroi, (elders) were for the Hebrews. The believers took part in the decisions that affected the life of the community. The church in Jerusalem was a spectrum of diversity. H.G.N. Flew's aphorism, "God made spectrum; man made the pigeonholes" is aptly applied to the early church of Jerusalem. (13) Yet there was an underlying unity behind all the diversity. Christians became disciples of Christ by baptism in his name. They heard the Gospel, the Word of Truth, and committed themselves to be the Lord's witnesses in Jerusalem and to the end of the earth (Acts 1.8). Their witness to and experience of the resurrection became "the mother of Christological reflection and thus of early Christian theology generally."(14) These earliest Christians indicated the road to be taken in order to reach the gentile world. Before Paul's vision and baptism (Acts 9.18) they understood that the universal Gospel is not only for Jews but for Gentiles as well.
1 A.N. Sherwin-White, Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963, p. 189. 2 Bo Reicke, The Roots of the Synoptic Tradition, Philadelphia, 1986, p. 66. 3 In Paul "Christ" sometimes designates the community of believers (1 Cor. 6.15; 8.12; 12.l2), for the church is the presence of Christ and in the church his saving love is manifested. 4 The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (NJBC) 44.36. 5 Martin Hengel, Between Jesus and Paul, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1983, p. 8. 6 Helmut Koester, History, Culture and Religion of the Hellenistic Age, Philadelphia: 7 NJBC 80.15.
Fortress Press, 1982, vol. II, p. 90.
117 8 See my article, "The Historical Jesus: A Challenge From Jerusalem," St. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly, vol. 30, No. 1, 1986, p. 26. 9 Daniel Harrington, Light of All Nations, Wilmington: Michael Glazier, 1982, p. 134. 10 James D. G. Dunn, Unity and Diversity in the New Testament, Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1977, pp. 267ff. 11 H. Koester, op. cit., pp. 91-92. 12 M. Hengel, op. cit., p. 42. 13 See Craig Hill, Hellenists and Hebrews, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1992, p. 196. 14 M. Hengel, op. cit., p. 45.
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Conclusion There is a vast array and diversity of writings, thoughts, and historical documents that help tremendously to paint a picture of the first 100 years of the early church. Many of the thoughts and concepts of that transitional period for the church were presented as well as some of the background and cultural insights. The early church and its world changing growth and expansion amidst numerous challenges and extremely dire circumstances proved that the church was of divine providence and that the Holy Spirit was instrumental in the church. Transition is probably the best word to describe the overall era of church growth, expansion, and reaction to turmoil and confusion that haunted the early church and the leaders. Those leaders were responsible for not only spreading the word of the gospel, but also for healing the sick, disputing heresies and false claims, developing doctrine and establishing a foundation of truths that would unite and congeal the churches and help the members to be of the same mind and purpose. The leadership of the 825 selected to promote and assist in the early church growth and development, care for the hungry and homeless, and changing the face of the world as they knew it, were filled with the Holy Spirit. Under their leadership a transition from the law to faith6 and grace was perpetuated and the message began to permeate the menagerie of people groups and belief system. It came at a time when the old pagan beliefs of many gods, etc7., were waning and many were looking for the truth, for a faith that was real and that satisfied the ache and emptiness they felt. The dangerous and challenging world that faced those leaders of faith was an accepted part of doing God’s work. Although at times it was necessary to hide or flee, these brave merchants of the gospel faced condemnation and even death with powerful calm and 5 The twelve Apostles plus the seventy disciples that were chosen by Christ to evangelize the world and share the gospel message. 6 The law was the theocratic form of religious government of the Jews which was composed of the Law of Moses, the writings, and the commentaries (additions) of scribes. Under which system none were able to satisfy. The new system provided by God through Christ was based on faith that saves and a much simpler lifestyle; one that offered the last sacrifice and provided the last High Priest; a system wherein Christ became the mediator between God and man and the only name by which all could be saved.
7 The Roman and Greek gods that were prevalent throughout the Roman Empire as well as many pagan gods carried over from Babylonia, Egypt, Assyria, and other pagan cultures.
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acceptance. These martyrs like Steven8 and others, made a great testimony to the people present and many marveled at their faith. This had tremendous and lasting impact on the naysayers, persecutors, and general population. The early church, and what we know of it, was largely by the efforts of Luke the Apostle and historian through his own gospel and the book of Acts. In many ways he set the standard for research and honest documentation of events. Next was that of Josephus, and many others such as Polycarp, Eusebius, Pliny, Plutarch, Tacticus, Tertullian, Clement, and so many more who recorded historical facts and views of the early church. Granted the picture is not complete and there remain many questions, but we do have such a great view of that era; the people, events, and impacts to the world that these transitions birthed. However it is the transitions of that first 100 years that serve to grip the imagination, touch the heart, and give us true foundational belief and structure. The transitions of the New Testament period moved the hearts of a tremendous amount of people, spawned many types of heresies, and of course brought light to persecution. Through the personal struggles, internal conflict, and confusion about loyalties9 and teachings, the church developed and expanded at an alarming rate. Events such as the destruction of the temple in 70 AD and the events that led up to it, also bolstered the desires and wishes of the people and forced the church into real action. What probably should have destroyed the church ended up acting as an impetus to growth and expansion. This large and rapid growth was difficult to keep track of and document. This was primarily due to the fact that the majority of the “churches� were in homes. This type of grassroots development made it easier to reach out to others and gave the evangelist / missionaries places to rest and share the gospel. Although instrumental in early church
8 Steven was very significant in the growth, faith, and impact of the early church. It was his and James’ death that marked a great transition in the church. Steven was the first and the soon to be Apostle Paul was present. This also foreshadowed yet another transition for the early church.
9 Conflicts were over many of the residual religious beliefs and practices carried by members into the forefront of the theological doctrinal purity of the developing church. For example, circumcision was taught by some of the church leaders and Apostles as a requirement to become part of the church. In other words, the some principles and teachings of the law seeped into the earliest teachers and leaders of the church. Much was identified and refuted by Paul and others in the New Testament writings.
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growth these home churches cannot be viewed through the archeological record10 or the documents written about the early church by historians. We of course know they existed and how large a role they played, but tracking the progression of the church through time become a tremendous and winding task. The centrality of Christ and His church is the frame and foundation of the faith that has lived through the millennia and also the faith once delivered to the Apostles is still alive and burning hearts, drawing them to God. The history that was the early church indeed is rich with numerous subjects, principles, and examples that are still an important part of the church today. Although not able to fully trace all aspects of the growth of the church, the spirit which drove them and which fueled those early leaders has survived and gives evidence of the church and the foundations of belief we hold dear. It is that spirit that carried the church trough conflict, persecution, and heresy. It is the spirit that runs from Genesis to Revelations that expounds and teaches the message of salvation by faith through grace. It is this indelible print on the world that proved the longevity and truth established in those early church years. Across the continents of Europe, Asia, India, and Africa and into the dangerous and difficult regions of barbarians, bandits, thieves and persecutors the church grew and flourished. It also ebbed and flowed like the tides; sometimes growing and producing fruit and sometimes disappearing entirely from the scene in places. But the truth endured and its historicity and legacy recorded for the seekers of that early message and the faith and salvation afforded us.
10 Biblical Archeology, a relatively new discipline, has proved most helpful in not only establishing the background and historicity of
the Bible record but also in demonstrating the lifestyles and locations of many places, events, and people who were the early church.
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Attachments
Attachment 1. Early Church Writers
Clement (A.D. c. 30-100) the Bishop of Rome The writer of the Epistle of Barnabas (A.D. c. 70-130) • Polycarp (A.D. 70-155) the Bishop of Smyrna, a student of the Apostle John • Ignatius (A.D. 35-110) the Bishop of Antioch • Irenaeus (A.D. 130 -200) the second century Bishop of Lyons • Tertullian (A.D. 160 -220) the second century apologist • Clement (A.D. 150 -215) the second century Bishop of Alexandria Eusebius Philo Tacitus Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus Cassius Dio (c165-229?)
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Thallus and the Babylonian Talmud Lucian (mid-2nd century) Galen (c.150; De pulsuum differentiis 2.4; 3.3) Celsus (True Discourse, c.170). Mara Bar Serapion (pre-200?)
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Attachment 2. EUSEBIUS AND THE EARLY CHURCH Book 1.1: Then there was JAMES who was known as the brother of the Lord. For he too was called Joseph's son, and Joseph Christ's father, though in fact the Virgin was his betrothed, and before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit, as the inspired Gospel narrative tells us. This James, as the, whom the early Christians surnamed the Righteous' because of his outstanding virtue, was the first (as the records tell us) to be elected to the episcopal throne of the Jerusalem church.... Clement, in Outlines Book VI, puts it thus, 'Peter, James and John, after the Ascension of the Saviour, did not claim pre-eminence because the Saviour had especially honored them, but chose James the Righteous as Bishop of Jerusalem.... James the Righteous, John, and Peter were entrusted by the Lord after his resurrection with the higher knowledge. They imparted it to the other apostles, and the other apostles to the seventy...' II.23: Such is the story of JAMES, to whom is attributed the first of the 'general' epistles. Admittedly its authenticity is doubted, since few early writers refer to it, any more than to 'Jude's', which is also one of the seven called general. But the fact remains that these two, like the others, have been regularly used in very many churches. III.11: After the martyrdom of JAMES and the capture of Jerusalem which instantly followed, there is a firm tradition that those of the apostles and disciples of the Lord who were still alive assembled from all parts together with those who, humanly speaking, were kinsmen of the Lord--for most of them were still living. Then they all discussed together whom they should choose as a fit person to succeed James, and voted unanimously that SIMEON, son of the Cleophas mentioned in the gospel narrative (John 19:25) was a fit person to occupy the throne of the Jerusalem church. He was, so it is said, a cousin of the Saviour, for Hegesippus tells us that Cleophas was Joseph's brother. III.19: The [Emperor Domitian] ordered the execution of all who were of David's line, and there is an old and firm tradition that a group of heretics accused the descendants of Jude--the brother, humanly speaking, of the Saviour--on the ground that they were of David's line and related to Christ himself. HEGESIPPUS states:
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And there still survived of the Lord's family the grandsons of JUDE, who was said to be his brother, humanly speaking. These were informed against as being of David's line, and brought by the evocatus before Domitian Caesar, who was as afraid of the advent of Christ as Herod had been. Domitian asked them if they were descended from David, and they admitted it. Then he asked them what property they owned and what funds they had at their disposal. They replied that they had only 9,000 denarii between them, half belonging to each. This they said was not available in cash, but was the estimated value of only 25 acres of land, from which they raised the money to pay their taxes and the funds to support themselves by their own toil... On hearing this, Domitian found no fault with them, but despising them as beneath his notice let them go free and issued orders terminating the persecution of the church. On their release they became leaders of the churches, both because they had borne testimony and because they were of the Lord's family. And thanks to the establishment of peace they lived on into Trajan's time (98-117). III.25: It will be well at this point to classify the New Testament writings already referred to. We must, of course, put first the holy quartet of the Gospels, followed by the Acts of the Apostles The next place in the list goes to Paul's Epistles and after them we must recognize the epistle called I John likewise I Peter To these may be added (if thought proper) The Revelation of John ...These are classed as 'The Recognized Books'. Those that are 'Disputed Books', yet familiar to most, include the epistles known as James, Jude, and II Peter and those called II John and III John (the work either of the Evangelist John or of someone else with the same name).
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Among the spurious books must be placed the 'Acts' of Paul, the 'Shepherd [of Hermas]' and the 'Revelation of Peter'; also the 'Epistle of Barnabas' and the 'Teachings of the Apostles', together with the 'Revelation of John' (if this seems the place for it; as I said before, some reject it, others include it among the Recognized Books). Moreover some have found a place in the list for the 'Gospel of the Hebrews', a book which has a special appeal for those Hebrews who have accepted Christ. These would all be classed with the Disputed Books, but I have been obliged to list the latter separately, distinguishing those writings which according to the tradition of the Church are true, genuine, and recognized, from those in a different category (not canonical, but disputed, yet familiar to most churchmen). For we must not confuse these with the writings published by heretics under the names of the Apostles, as containing the gospels of Peter, Thomas, Mathias, and several others besides these, or Acts of Andrew, John, and other apostles. To none of these has any churchman of any generation ever seen fit to refer in his writings. Again, nothing could be farther from apostolic usage than the type of phraseology employed, while the ideas and implications of their contents are so irreconcilable with true orthodoxy that they stand revealed as the forgeries of heretics. It follows that so far from being classeven among 'The Spurious Books', they must be thrown out as impious and beyond the pale. III.24: Of John's writings, besides the Gospel, the first of the epistles has been accepted as unquestionably his by scholars both of the present and of a much earlier period: the other two are disputed. As to the Revelation, the views of most people to this day are evenly divided. III.3: Of PETER one epistle, known as his first, is accepted, and this the early fathers quoted freely, as undoubtedly genuine, in their own writings. But the second Petrine epistle we have been taught to regard as uncanonical. Many however have thought it valuable and have honored it with a place among the other Scriptures. On the other hand, in the case of the ACTS attributed to Peter, the GOSPEL that bears his name, the PREACHING called his, and the so-called REVELATION, we have no reason at all to include these among the traditional Catholic scriptures, for neither in early days nor in
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our own has any Church writer made use of their testimony....Paul on the other hand was obviously and unmistakably the author of the fourteen epistles, but we must not shut our eyes to the fact that some authorities have rejected the EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS, pointing out that the Roman Church denies that it is the work of Paul. As for the ACTS attributed to Paul, no one has ever suggested to me that they are genuine. III.16: CLEMENT (Bishop [?] of Rome, ca. 92-98) has left us one recognized Epistle, long and wonderful, which he composed in the name of the church at Rome and sent to the church at Corinth, where dissension had recently occurred. I have evidence that in many churches this epistle was read aloud in to the assembled worshippers in early days, as it is in our own. That it was in Clement's time that the dissension at Corinth broke out is plain from the testimony of Hegesippus. III.38: It must not be overlooked that there is a second epistle said to be from Clement's pen, but I have no reason to suppose that it was well known like the first one, since I am not aware that the early fathers made any use of it. A year or two ago other long and wordy treatises were put forward as Clement's work. They contain alleged dialogues with Peter and Apion, but there is no mention whatever of them by early writers, nor do they preserve in its purity the stamp of apostolic orthodoxy. III. 27: A second group [of Heretics] went by the same name [Ebionites], but escaped the outrageous absurdity of the first. They did not deny that the Lord was born of a virgin and the Holy Spirit, but nevertheless shared their refusal to acknowledge His pre-existence as God the Word and Wisdom. Thus the impious doctrine of the others was their undiong too, especially since they placed equal emphasis on the outward observance of the Law. They held that the Epistles of the Apostle ought to be rejected altogether, calling him a renegade from the Law. And using only the 'Gospel of the Hebrews' they treated the rest with scant respect.
From Eusebius, The History of the Church, (to A.D. 324)
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Attachment 3. GRACE
Of all the words used in the Scriptures, the most wondrous is the word "Grace," for it sounds out the well-springs within the Being of God and re-echoes throughout the Heavens and earth all that is meaningful in the knowledge of God, His essential character, His motivation, and His glorious goals. Although not always apparent in the King James version, it brings to us from God all that we shall ever know of joy, of gladness, of giving, of forgiveness, of acceptance, of divine favor to the sinner and to the saved child of God. This word "Grace" has within its meaning the breath of far-off glories and all the nearness that God alone can bring of Himself to us, and of us to Him in The Beloved. The Greek word "charis" (grace) is derived from the verbal form "chario" (to rejoice). This concept, that the super-abundant, exceeding abounding joy in the heart of the Divine Giver is the motivating factor by which God The Father deals with His elect today, has been lost sight of. Man has been led to look to so-called "means of grace" rather than The God of Grace. This grace offers to mankind a free salvation, redemption, position, and hope completely unfettered by good or bad deeds. Thus God, through His "joy" brought about by the complete work of Christ at Calvary, has laid the foundation within each believer for a similar "rejoicing" in the realization of the perfections of Christ and His complete free gift. Of all the words in Scripture, it is involved with and/or embraces the greatest joy, the greatest beauty, the greatest hope, the greatest giving, the greatest gains, and the greatest glory. Unless one sees the Grace of God, one is poor indeed, and the great central truths that were meant to strengthen, gladden and enrich our lives have been hidden from us. Oh, believer, read your legacy! This root word "chairo" is translated "rejoiced" in Matthew 2:10: When they saw the star (over where the young child was) they rejoiced (Chairo) with
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exceeding great joy (chairo). That this root word should be first used in the New Testament in connection with the Gift of God, The Lord Jesus Christ, was cause for great joy then – and should be to us now. It is also interesting that the word "Grace" (charis) in the noun form does not occur in Matthew’s or Mark’s Gospel. In looking over the lists of the various derivatives of the Greek root in the New Testament, one is immediately struck by the frequency with which these different words are used in the same context, as rejoicing (chairo) with great joy (chara). This verbal root "chairo" is translated "joy" in Philippians 2:17-18 (A.V.): "…I joy and rejoice with you,…do ye joy and rejoice with me?" The context of this amazing "joy" is that neither Paul’s activities, labors or soon execution were in vain if the "Word of Life" were held forth…a joy more vast and outweighing the toils of life, a prisoner’s chain, an executioner’s sword. Could it be that if one has the plentitude of the Grace of God in Christ, that all else is dwarfed beside it? Let us then pursue this treasure and with Paul say (Philippians 4:4, A.V.), "Rejoice (chairo) in The Lord always and again I say rejoice (chairo)." That this root word should be translated "glad" should come as no surprise; see Acts 13:48 (A.V.): "And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad." This usage is in keeping with "joy" and "rejoicing." Frequently the Authorized Version uses this verbal form as the salutation, "Hail," a very poor translation indeed, for if the Israelite could greet his fellow with "Shalom," peace, and the Apostle Paul his fellow believers with "Grace be unto you" (Ephesians 1:2), etc., so the translators could have come up with something better than "Hail," i.e., good luck. Rotherham uses "joy," cf. "rejoice."
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Charin Next in our search to discover "What is Grace?" we want to explore briefly "Charin," the accusative case (also a participle governing the genitive case). It is used in Scripture as a prepositional phrase and translated in the A.V., "because of, for this cause" (Eph. 3:1,14; Gal. 3:19), etc. This concept of "for another, on behalf of another," brings to mind the noble note Paul unconsciously strikes in the Philemon epistle when he writes, "If he owes thee ought, be charging this to my account" (vs. 18). We are reminded, too, in II Cor. 5:19, "Not imputing their trespasses unto them." This imputation to another aspect of "grace" will be enlarged upon later under "Charis" – grace. Thus far we have seen that in the building up of this word "grace" we have "joy," "rejoicing" and "in behalf of." To this we would add still another building block. Chara (noun) Almost without exception, "chara" is translated "joy" in the A.V., a few times "gladness," and once "joyfully" -- the cause of joy, the occasion of rejoicing, that which would bring forth gladness, as in Luke 2:10, "Bring you tidings of great joy." This was regarding The Savior’s birth, or His resurrection (Matt. 28:8), or again as in John 15:11 where Christ seeks to make His disciples partakers of His joy as He had of His peace (John 14:27). The term "my Joy" is emphatic and should convey the thought of "the joy that is mine." This is mentioned again in John 3:29 and 17:13, and this "joy" having its basis in the grace of God should be shared! How often we share our troubles but not our joys! The one requires a "lift," the other gives a "lift." Paul’s prayers were "buoyed" up by this joy (Phil. 1:4). In the 25th verse of Philippians 1, we again encounter this word as "joy of the faith." Might it not be that Paul has handed us a veritable treasure here? Like a voyager desiring to "return home," like a weary traveler departing, so Paul desired "to be with Christ," where He is, and, to accomplish this, "power" was available (see Phil. 3:20, 21). It is a hope each of us shares – but for two reasons Paul was willing
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to forego this: (1) their furtherance in the faith and (2) the "joy" of faith. Have any of us so great a price been willing to pay (to forego being with Christ)? Paul nearly dismissed it, as if to say the "joy" of faith, the joy "revealed," the grace for the advancement of believers in this is to cause more abundant "rejoicing" (boasting, in Christ, verse 26). Is not this the goal of grace – to boast in Christ, His merit, not ours, His truth, not tradition, His revelation of grace, etc., through the Scriptures, not our reasonings? Charisma (noun) When we first encounter this word in Romans 1:11, Paul is anticipating a "prosperous journey" to the Roman saints in order to impart some spiritual gift, i.e., spiritual, "free gift," and grace-gift. This was used of Paul in order to establish them. It is used within the context, not of sign gifts (though so used in Romans 12:6), but of the basic foundational truths of "the righteousness of God" (verse 17). In the Corinthian letter it is used of sign gifts (I Cor. 12: 4, 9, 28, 30, 31). The great tragedy associated with confounding "this free gift" with The Giver Himself accounts for the great distress in the holiness movements past and present. In Scripture, when dealing with The Holy Spirit or His gifts, the grammar always distinguishes between the "Giver" and the "gift." Those who seek the sign-gifts when the purpose and need for signs has ceased seek to "energize up" by the flesh what God had given previously as a "free gift." Now they strain, mutter and pray. Not even the great Apostle enjoined sign gifts after the testimony to Israel ceased, for the Jews required a sign (I Cor. 1:22) and had been promised signs (Psalms 72:18). The "tongue" gifts of Acts 2: 6-11 are vastly different from the useless, false, so-called sign gifts that produce only "confusion." No healing "aprons" to Timothy (I Tim. 5:22), but a "no water, little wine prescription." The free-gift aspect of Grace is further seen in Romans 5: 15, 16. Mankind has been acquitted! Sin is no longer the issue between God and man. A free gift has been imposed between God and man’s guilt. Religious, natural man will not have this "gift of Grace." He will not believe that the only issue between God and
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mankind today is one of "The Son," not sins. THE ONLY ISSUE BETWEEN GOD AND MANKIND TODAY IS ONE OF "THE SON," NOT SINS. DO YOU HAVE THE SON? Right here confusion arises. Man has not been under the judicial judgment of God these many, weary centuries, so he wonders if God speaks at all. If he "acts" – not seeking an answer in the Scriptures – he draws conclusions from natural religion. That God should deal in free grace alone NOW (in view of Israel’s complete defection at the end of the Acts period) comes as a complete surprise to many! To those who would dictate "how" God must act, it comes with dismay and, needless to say, hatred of the dispensationalist! Have you "amended" the "free-gift" of God’s grace? Have you taken God at His word when He states so clearly that "Christ died for your sins"? God has fully accepted the work He gave His Son to do. He desires to accept (engrace) you with all the acceptableness of "The Beloved" (Eph. 1:6). Romans 6:23 is a very fitting place to close this portion of this study: "The wages of sin is death – but the Free-gift (charisma) of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
As we continue to examine the varied facets of those words that convey to us the truths concerning the "grace of God," we would state here that a correct view of "grace," while not putting the believer under law or legalism, nonetheless exerts a disciplinary force upon the believer that leaves him no excuse for sin, no light view of sin, no "free to sin" concept (Titus 2:11-14). In this great passage, not only is grace the "bringer-near" of his salvation, but also the rule under which the believer is placed. The word translated "teaching" (Titus 2:12) is "paideuo," elsewhere translated twelve times (Gen.) "chasten," "chastise." If the reformers had discovered the doctrine of discipline by grace instead of placing the believer under the Mosaic law, under an economy that was set aside even for Israel and one which was not addressed to Gentile believers at any time, we would have been spared the untold havoc that has attended the putting of the believer under a defunct
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economy as a "rule" of life. It is no wonder that the so-called Christian life became a mere reflection of Judaism with its attendant heartbreak and defeats. It is no wonder that the historic churches issuing out of the reformation, with only an echo of grace in their doctrines and little or none in their practices, should go back into the bondage of statism, of ritualism, of tradition, of civil and social sanctions to enforce their powers, and, even now at this writing, be seeking to re-embrace the system that has always polluted the doctrines of the Scriptures; and this for political and religious advantage. The poor child of God, untaught by the Word, caught up in this "follow-the-leader" parade, and in the name of "service for God," is robbed of ever seeing "Christ his life" (Col. 3:1), his "completeness in Him" (Col. 2:10), and "grace" as the rule of this new life "in Christ." How thou art robbed, poor child of God! Grace points away from sin and self to the spotless Son of God and does this without putting one under duress or bondage. It is a life and service of perfect freedom - because of a grace so great, so vast, so overpowering, that seeing this grace and not enlisting under its banners could only mean that we had been stripped of all spiritual perception, too tradition-bound for any revelation from God. With these opening thoughts in mind, let us now resume the study of those words which reveal the very nature of God and His purpose to us. CHARISMA, Noun What is the charisma? We see in this the Greek stem charis and the suffix ma. The ma added to the Greek stem charis (grace) is to show the result of an action of grace as in Romans 5:15,16 where it is translated "free gift." In this account we are shown the extreme results of Adam's "paraptoma" (offence), and in inverse proportion, the results of that free gift by the Grace of God, justification of life, a reigning in life through Jesus Christ for those receiving the benefit of this great, free gift (Romans 5:17). The rival effects of sin and grace are shown. That the roadblock to stem the havoc of Adam's sin and Adam's sins should be "grace" shows the power and majesty of this doctrine. Aside from the free gift of grace, all would be total ruin and irrevocable loss. The free gift met and abounded over every sin, Over the many offenses, and, though the death-stroke fell
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on Him, through the certainty of His resurrection and our life in Him, the charisma, the free gift, making available the righteousness of God for all (Romans 3:21-24; 4:25). This free gift enables God to be "just" and "justifier" of the believer (Romans 3:25-26), to show grace to sinners and to His enemies (Rom. 4:5; 5:6-8). In Romans 6:23 we find charisma translated "gift" - the gift of God. The contrast here is between what were the "rations" for sin and results of "grace." There is only one letter different in "grave" and "grace." What a different goal they provide! The structure of Romans 6:20-23 casts light upon this "gift" as well as the passage: Verse 20 - servants of sin 20 - free men as to righteousness 21 - the fruits, shame 22 - free from sin (from, with regard to) 22 - servants of God 22 - the fruit, holiness 22, 23 - the end, eternal life By "wages" were meant a day’s "rations" for the soldier (cp. Luke 3:14). Sin has certain apportionments, certain exactments. But the "gift" of God, the end result or effort of grace as it surveys this field of death, this vast graveyard, is one of "life" through Jesus Christ our Lord. The charisma (gift) is used of sign gifts in Romans 12:6 and I Cor. 12:4, 9, 28, 30, 31.
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The passages encompass the full range of miraculous gifts revealed in Scriptures from raising the dead (Matthew 10), handling serpents, drinking poison (Mark. 16:17,18), and cleansing lepers, to striking others dead (as happened in Acts 5:1-11) and with blindness (as in Acts 13:9-12). That these were not solely "signs of an apostle" (II Cor. 12:12) is seen by checking the text. The charismata (gifts) were designated as "powers of the age to come" (Heb. 6:4), and the powers displayed throughout the Book of Acts era were a foretaste of what would take place in its fatness when Israel would be in the place of blessing. The Book of Hebrews sets forth the anticipated "age to come" of which the signs, miracles, and wonders of the Book of Acts were a part, a foretaste, of Israel's future glory. That these things pertained to the people of the covenants is an almost unknown truth; and it is an equally unknown truth that when God set aside the covenant people, the economy and or- der governing that period also closed! A curious sidelight is the great differing reaction to sign gifts between the Jew and Gentile. The Jew was led to expect signs. They were a part of his national heritage (Deut. 4:32-35) and were an attestation to the God of Israel; whereas, whenever a miracle was performed for Gentiles, as with Paul in Acts 14:8-18 and 28:6, the Gentile sought to worship the performer of the miracle. Even Peter had to remind Cornelius (Acts 10: 25, 26) that he was only a man. Of course, the gift of language, the ability to speak to a person of another nation- ality with full knowledge and grasp of his language, would be a sign to an unbeliever. But not even the greatest of the "tongue groups" has ever demonstrated a single instance of this ability. They, like others, must learn the language the hard and studious way. Nor, for that matter, have they ever had one of their group who claimed the power of interpretation, being able to interpret a language not native to them or one they haven't studied. Of course, in their emotion-packed services anything and everything is claimed. But on the cold fronts of a plain, useful, foreign language, mutterings are useless. The list of known, orderly languages given in Acts 2:8-11 and spoken by that company under divine power, spells out the folly of the present charisma tongues movements, or are such "tongues movements" native only to Christianity.
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The concept that everything appearing to be "super- human" is of God has again and again been dealt with in the Word of God. It is inexplicable how anyone knowing the old nature can surrender his will and judgment and act upon the directed or undirected emotional suggestions attendant upon these manifestations. "The most fearful errors may be propounded under the guise of greater light and zeal for God's truth." (l). Satan's coming "as an angel of light" may well be a travesty of truth, a bending of the light that comes from the Word of God, from not heeding the command to rightly divide the Word of Truth, and from trying to obtain by fleshly powers or otherwise that which belongs to a former and future dispensation and which in its non-counterfeit form God does not intend for them to have now. Even when on earth, Christ would not own miracle-made disciples (see John 2:23, 24). He distrusted such believers and "continued" (see Greek text [2]) to distrust them. (1) Baxter. (2) An imperfect indicative active, describing a continual past state. As to miracles and signs, most of us have been brought up on the concept that Christ came into the world to found the religion of Christianity, taking the best of Judaism and adding precepts of a higher and moral and religious nature to evoke followers. This religion was supposedly proved divine by the miracles He performed. That signs and miracles had another and completely different purpose is not considered by the ordinary Christian. This "religion" is an utterly false concept. While fitting in with the so-called "religious Kingdom of God" so lauded by present-day liberals, it is contrary to the Word of God. The Christ of the Scriptures and the Christ of modern theology have nothing in common. The Christ of Scripture died as God's appointed Sin-Bearer, was raised literally from among the dead and ascended through the heavens to be seated at the right hand of God the Father. That the Christ of Scriptures is now enthroned "in grace" does not argue against the truth that He shall be the wearer of the vesture dipped in blood and shall be the Divine Arbitrator of the fate of men and of nations (Rev. 19:11-16).
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The Biblical use of these charismata points up the great truth that, as of old, God was dealing again with His ancient people, Israel, first during Christ's earthly ministry and then during the period covered by the Book of Acts. The psalmist well describes the God of Israel as the God Who only doeth wondrous (miraculous) things (Psalms 72:18; 77:14). The whole of Psalms 78 is a commentary on God’s miracles when dealing with Israel, but for all that they hardened their hearts or, as Psalms 78: 32 puts it, "For all this they sinned still and believed not His works." Israel rejected the Christ and attributed His signs to Satan. Israel rejected the testimony and signs of the Spirit of God in Jerusalem; and, as the Book of Acts draws to a close, we see the Jews of the dispersion likewise rejecting the sign-accredited testimony. Finally, Israel is no longer "first," their nation is destroyed, they are left among the Gentiles, and are no longer God's agency and instrument to and for the nations. Chapter one of Romans describes why God "gave up" the nations, and Genesis 11 describes the confusion of languages to implement the separation of peoples, while Acts 2 shows that, although Israel had been scattered amongst these nations, still there were a people owned of Him by a common understanding of languages and the ability to converse with the dispersed of Israel in the languages of their adopted countries. We have yet to see the literal, cloven-tongues of fire rest in these modern innovations of the Biblical sign-gift of tongues. This was not "worked up" through hypnotic suggestion and motor-center repetitions, but sent down from heaven. Even while these charismata were operative, Paul admonished the Corinthians in I Cor. 12:31, "Covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet I show you a more excellent way." In I Cor. 13:8 tongues are among the things listed as ceasing when perfection came. While we do not pretend that the perfection spoken of in I Cor. 13:10 is the dispensation of the mystery (Eph. 3), nonetheless, when the purpose for which sign-gifts were then given failed, then this timeless and signless dispensation of grace for Gentile believers (to all intents and purposes) made imperative the sign-attested program of the Book of Acts era where "to you Gentiles" replaced "to the Jew first." What a missionary church the gift of languages
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would make of any assembly possessing it! But our hats go off to those dear saints of God attending language schools, devising grammars, translating difficult dialects, often after years of study only to be barred from their chosen fields of labor. As to the charisma of healing (I Cor. 12:9, 28, 30), only recently a missionary working in a torrid climate wrote, "Oh, that I knew more of medicine to help these poor people." Peter's shadow sufficed to heal at one time, but now, while the Word still speaks, the shadow cast by a silent heaven in the needy realms where there are no hospitals calls for a scriptural answer, and we believe the Scriptures of the post-Acts ministry of Paul give an answer, the substance of this answer being that God has arbitrarily chosen to associate signs, wonders, miracles, hearings, etc., with His dealings with Israel, His beloved covenant people of old, and that now God has a dispensation of the secret (A. V., "mystery") (Eph. 3:9; Col. 1:26) that had been hid in God and kept secret from all ages and generations until revealed to the Apostle Paul. This is still a "mystery" to so many of God's people. Unless one takes into account this secret dispensation (secret in origin, in time, in operation and consummation) then the absence of God's intervening in the affairs of men and nations is inexplicable, especially now that He is revealed as the God of all love and grace. The same divine Hand that shook off Peter's chains later left Paul's on. The prison doors that once shook open now remain closed. The healing apron gave way to a medical prescription. Yet from that prisoner's cell came forth a revelation of God's purposes antedating man and concerning a calling and a position "in Christ" in the heavenlies, far above men, nations, Israel, the earth - a people called to a "seating" (authority and privilege) at the right hand of God the Father. That this should be "spiritual and heavenly" instead of being a blessing in material and miraculous things seem to weigh against its acceptance by the believer. That God is not judicially dealing with our sins now, that He is not "striking sinners dead," seems to weigh against this doctrine of grace. But long as we might for a shaking from the heavens, a Voice of wrath for the godless despot, still He will show love to His enemies and en-grace His own in Christ (Eph. 1:6, accepted). No voice will break heaven's amnesty or cancel His present program of grace until the time appointed and the
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prophetic clock starts anew.
No other apostle scales the heights and depths of the grace of God as does Paul. To his pen we owe the knowledge of the glory of His Grace (1), the engracing (2), of the believer in the Beloved (3), the riches of His grace as the measure of His redemption and forgiveness (4), the exceeding riches of His grace as the untapped treasure of the believer in the on-coming ages (5), a saving by grace through faith in order to quicken and seat a Gentile company with Christ in the heavenlies (6), a Gentile household of believers ruled by grace, called a dispensation of grace (7), and, not least, a discipline by grace, not law (8). (1) Eph. 1:5, 6 (2) A. V. "Accepted" (3) Eph. 1:6 (4) Eph. 1:7 (5) Eph. 2:7 (6) Eph. 2:5, 8, 9, 10 (7) Eph, 3:2 (8) Titus 2:11 (9) John 20:22, 23 Charisma (continued from part 0ne)
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The charismata, that is, graces or gifts of grace, sign-gifts, have been taken up briefly in part one. We would add the gift (i.e., grace-gift, Gr.) of government as in I Cor. 12:28. The word kubnesis, translated government in the A.V., comes from kubernao to guide, govern. The helmsman in Acts 27:11, as the shipmaster in Rev. 18:17, was a kubernetes. The divine governing for the Book of Acts program and hope are seen in those receiving the Power from on High when Christ breathed on those disciples and apostles and gave to them the power to remit sins or not to remit sins (9). Israel's future for forgiveness or for glory was bound up with the close (not only on earth, but in the heavens as well). The exercise of this office is seen in Peter’s offer to Israel in Acts 2 and 3. It is seen in the apostolic conference in Acts 15:2, 6, called to decide whether circumcision and other Mosaic laws were binding on Gentile believers (2). It is seen in the momentous decision of Galatians 2:9 where Paul and Barnabas were confirmed in their Gentile ministry while Peter, James and John would henceforth confine their ministry to the circumcision. It is seen in the death sentence passed and executed upon Ananias and Sapphira for thinking a lie (3), upon Elymas the Sorcerer, the judgment of blindness (4), the deliverance to Satan for destruction of the flesh for those involved with certain sex acts (5), and in the judicial "sin unto death" of I John 5:16. It is also seen in the great "turnings" from Israel throughout the Book of Acts (6). It is here that the thirteenth chapter of Romans "fits" in. These were God's ordained men - holding the power of life and death -- aye, even of raising the dead (7). To suppose that during the Acts they were merely functioning as our present church "boards" function is to belie the evidence; or to suppose that under our present dispensation of Grace (8) these "governings" are operative is to make a mockery of the order obtained during the Acts. (1) Matt. 16:19 (5) I Cor. 5:1-5 (2) Acts 15:24 ,28; 21:25 (6) Acts 13:40-48; 18:6; 28:25-29
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(3) Acts 5:1-10 (7) Acts 9:37-41, cp. Matt. 10:1-15 (4) Acts 13:11 (8) Eph. 3:2 We are prone to interject the past into the present, and the feeble order of ecclesiastical power everywhere evidenced today makes some think that if we were only spiritual enough the same results would follow. We need only to point out that carnality was a product of that day as well as ours. They were closer to the "earthly Jesus" but just as close to paganism. Proximity to His earthly life and ministry was no assurance of "spirituality" then or later. Then, too, we have to do with an ascended, seated Christ Who gave to the Gentile church (1) through the Apostle Paul all things needful for their perfection (2), and the Ephesian list omits almost all of the things given previously in I Cor. 12. It may shock many that there are now no more divine "governings" by apostolic authority. Now, with the death of the apostles and those associated with their teaching ministry, no new revelations are forthcoming from God. The Apostle John, that Seer of Patmos (3), carried the prophetic time schedule forward to the new heavens and the new earth (4) and cautioned against anyone's adding to that revelation (5), while to Paul it was given to complete the Word of God (6), especially the revelation of the Grace of God. One might well ask, "What then are we to do?" "What is the role of the minister and teacher now?" Paul's words to Timothy hold true for us (7): "Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me," "that good deposit guard" (8), "the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also" (9), and "preach, i.e., proclaim the Word" (10). According to II Tim. 3:17 the equipment of the man of God, the "fitting out," is the Inspired Scriptures. Can we hope to see men who will be "ministers of the Word" instead of religion? We hope so. (1) Eph. 4:8-12 (7) II Tim. 1:13 (2) Eph. 4:11 i.e., re-adjustment (8) II Tim. 1:14.
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(3) Rev. 1:9 (9) II Tim. 2:24. (4) Rev. 21:1 (10) II Tim. 4:2 (5) Rev. 22:18. (6) Col. 1:25, A. V. fulfil, Gr. plerosai, to fill up complete Charizomai (Verb) The word charisma, grace-gift (on which the previous study was based), is a derivative of the verb charizomai, which verb will now be considered. The beauty of this verb also related to charts, or charis grace, delights the believer's heart when it is translated "frankly forgave" in the account of the bankrupt debtors (Luke 7:4150). In those days a man could be imprisoned for his debts, small or large; and whoever had heard of a money lender forgiving either a $9.00 or $85.00 debt? The real point of the account is that the woman loved the Saviour much because she had been forgiven much. This forgiveness incident sets forth the Lord's Person as Israel's Saviour-God. Should we not all love Him much because we have been forgiven much? How much more in the full light of redemption's price? Simon was looking at the ointment through materialistic eyes -- eyes that saw only dollar signs. How tragic if we do the same! In Acts 27:24, all who sailed with Paul were to be delivered from shipwreck: "both given thee." These all were bounteously, graciously, given to Paul. How like God! If Paul the Apostle in chains was to be delivered and kept until his task was finished, how like God to save the whole! Paul was graced with everyone who sailed with him! What stories little verbs can tell! In Romans 8:32, Paul uses the argument that, since God has not withheld Christ from us, how could He withhold the "all things" that accompanied the giving of the Saviour? So
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we have "freely given" as the translation here. No strings are attached to God's gifts unless they are dispensationally incompatible with the present purposes of God. Certain genuine evidences followed those who believed during the Book of Acts (Mark 16, Hebrews 2) that are allegedly seen now, but (we are convinced) only in the form of spurious imitations. In Ephesians 4:32, "forgiving (charizomenoi) one another, even as God for Christ's sake (lit., even as God in Christ) hath forgiven you," and Colossians 2:13, "Having forgiven (charisamenos) you all trespasses." What a wonderful forgiveness to have! Because we have been forgiven, on this basis we can do no less than to forgive others. Graceforgiveness! What an odd thing to have! Forgiveness of all trespasses -- past, present, future. Trespasses here are paraptomata, fallings aside from truth and equity; faults, or trespasses. This forgiveness is again referred to in Eph. 1:17: "the redemption through His blood," His sacrificial death for sin, provides a more than ample provision for sin, of which sin we have forgiveness! The overt act of sin is a result of this "moral inner fault" and is likewise dealt with in Col. 1:14. All our sins were future when Christ died for them; a beggarly view of forgiveness of sin thwarts the perfect redemption God has provided "according to the riches of His grace" (Eph. 1:7) and causes the impoverished child of God to look within to still greater defeat. In this realm even prayers for forgiveness are too often a cover-up for unbelief! God says He has forgiven you. Do you believe God? This verb occurs again in Phil. 1:29 and is translated "given." The passage speaks of the joyous grace given to the believer of suffering for His sake. In verse 30 Paul speaks of this suffering as his conflict, his agony. The term is from the gladiatorial arena with its contests, agony, and death. Paul again refers to this in Col. 2:1. In both passages the context is dispensational. In the one, that they may acknowledge the Mystery; in the other, that they behave as citizens of a heavenly commonwealth (i.e., "your conversation," politeuma, Phil. 1:27). Suffering for this "good deposit" may take strange forms, not the least of which is the
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supposed lack of service for God in the recognized religious churches or in their forms and societies. Many may miss the vestured choirs, the ordered ritual, the robed clergy, the accepted norms of Christendom. Others, the last of communion services, baptism, etc., or, more simply, the Ladies' Society. It should be with "graciousness" that one should stand for the truth of grace. Philippians 2:9 uses this word in regard to Christ: "Given Him a name above every name" should read "gave Him THE NAME above every name." First, the term gave Him refutes once more the fallacy that anything of grace must be "unmerited." In other passages under charis it reflects that act of God The Father to His own. In this passage, almost too vast for our comprehension, The Father gives The "Name above every name" to the One Who had emptied Himself to become a bond-slave. The Name? This can only be The Name Jehovah, and this Name is given to Jesus (using His earthly name). In this Name, given to Jesus, every knee shall bow (cf. Psalms 8:1; Isaiah 45:23-25). The measure of His exaltation by The Father is the mea- sure of His condescension for our salvation. Divested of all that was involved "in form -- God" to become a lowly bond-slave and bearer of our sin, so that He became an object of The Father's GIVING, divested of office, Name and Title. He now receives from The Father's hand what had been "stored at home" for Him. Should we not bow these prideful knees in happy, simple adoration to such a Saviour-Lord?
Attachment 4. Heresies
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Heresy is used to describe a doctrine that is unacceptable to the established Christian church and is considered false. Schism is distinct from heresy in that a schism creates a division in the church. Excommunication has been the traditional method of dealing with heretics. In Roman Catholicism, the term heresy has been used to refer to the denial of a religious truth by a baptized member of the Church. At the time of Theodosius II, the Byzantine Emperor of Theodosian Law Code fame who had Bishop Nestorius installed in Constantinople in 428, the following heresies were observed in the Roman Empire:
Macedonians (pneumatomachians)
Apollinarians
Novationists
Sabbatians
Euomians
Valentinians
Montanists (Priscillianists)
Phrygians
Marcionites
Borborites
Messalians
Euchites (Enthusiasts)
Donatists
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Audians
Hydroparastates
Tascodrogites
Photinians
Paulians
Marcellians
No study of religious authority would be adequate without some discussion of the process by which that authority is questioned and ultimately rejected. Within faith communities, especially those derived from Western religious traditions, three of the terms most commonly used to label those who challenge or deny accepted religious authority are heretics, apostates, and blasphemers.
Although heresy and apostasy are often treated as the same for practical reasons, there are nevertheless important differences. Apostasy on the one hand involves deserting to an “enemy,” while heresy on the other hand involves creating of factions and division within the group. This means that the presence of apostasy depends upon the prior existence of conflict between religious or political groups — thus, without a previously existing external enemy, there can be no apostasy. Heresy, though, implies the existence of conflict within the group — once an internal conflict reaches the point where two distinct groups exist, beliefs which were once heresy may then be described as apostasy.
Blasphemy as Spiritual Conflict
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Whereas apostasy and heresy involve directly conflicts between social groups, whether within religious communities or between religious communities, blasphemy is conceived as a conflict between humans and the divine. Specifically, blasphemy is the accusation whenever a person fails to accord the divine the honor and respect that is presumably owed. Generally speaking, blasphemy involves some sort of insult towards or speaking evil about God, God’s attributes, or God’s instructions. Defining it more precisely is often very difficult because what it is ends up being dependent upon the religious views of whoever is doing the investigating. Thus, the existence of blasphemy always takes two to exist: a giver and a receiver. As a consequence of this, blasphemy is inevitably a social situation, involving some sort of challenge to the legitimacy of religious authority figures. Presumably, then, the punishment of blasphemy should be an exercise of that same religious authority. And, it is certainly true, there exist within the sphere of religious power a number of things which religious leaders can do, the most extreme of which would involve the exclusion of a person from continued membership in a religious community. Nevertheless, the punishment of blasphemy has also often involved political authority as well. Blasphemy has been a crime since the very earliest times for which we have records and it is characteristic of a political system which is at least partially theocratic. Genuine separation of religious and political authority cannot exist so long as political leaders have been given the responsibility of solving religious problems or enforcing religious norms. That, however, has been exactly the situation which has existed in much of the world for much of history, including the United States. Fortunately it has been changing, at least in some countries, thus allowing political leaders to remain independent of ecclesiastical control and exercise the political power that does lie within their sphere of competency.
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The term heresy comes from the Greek haireisthai, which means “to choose.” It came to refer to the act of holding very unorthodox and/or unpopular religious opinions. Technically speaking, then, heresy is not so much the rejection of a religious authority as it is the rejection of a particular religious authority in favor of some other religious authority. Nevertheless, the labeling of some position as heresy implies the rejection of the legitimate religious authority in favor of some illegitimate authority. This means that questions about the relationship between heretical and orthodox religious opinions involves, at their core, questions about the nature of legitimate authority and who is justified in speaking on behalf of a religious community. In the Acts of the Apostles it is used to refer to a sect, but without reference to its character. In Paul’s epistles, however, it acquires a more negative character. Paul lists “heresies” with other crimes and seditions (Gal. 5:19-21): “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” As the Christian Church became more organized and doctrine became a more important means for identifying Christians, the concept of heresy came to be used to denote divisions or schisms within the church (1 Cor. 11:18-19): “For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.” In Titus 3:10 a “heretical person” is described as one who chooses to follow his own self-willed “questions,” and is therefore to be avoided. Heresies in Christianity thus came to refer to self-chosen doctrines not emanating from God (2 Pet. 2:1): But there
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were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.” Early Christianity treated heresy negatively and the punishment was usually some sort of reproof or, at most, excommunication. So long as Christianity itself was persecuted or powerless, greater freedom of thought was tolerated. However, once Christianity became the state religion, disagreements over doctrine became threats to political and social stability in the empire. As a consequence, those who failed to uphold orthodoxy and fell into heresy were treated as enemies of the social order, and tolerance of differences of opinion was no longer very great.
As Christianity became more powerful and more responsible for the workings of society, its doctrines also grew more complex. One consequence of this was that the ways in which a person could fall into either heresy or apostasy grew in number — and, so, Christian authorities also had to improve upon their abilities to detect and punish both.
The term apostasy comes from the Greek from Greek apostasis, which means “revolt.” Originally, this term was used to refer to those who revolted against or simply defected from a military commander; as such, the term has always carried with it a heavy mark of criticism. Eventually, the concept of apostasy has come to be applied to any person who completely abandons their religious faith and either embraces a different religion or simply rejects religion entirely and become irreligious. No religions look kindly upon apostates, and some have recommended the death penalty for them. The term has also been applied more broadly to someone who defects from a political party; although this usage tends to be more metaphorical in character, it still retains a basic sense of betrayal and treason. All usages of the word focus upon the idea of a person who abandons some belief or practice of a group which is considered so essential that it is vital to the well-being or even the very survival of the group. Thus, apostasy is not regarded as mere dissent or
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disagreement — rather, it is treated as a threat to the existence of the group, thus explaining its relatively harsh treatment. One of the earliest examples of the concept of apostasy being used in a religious context comes from the Maccabean period of Judaism. During this time, Jews were being pressed politically by forces from neighboring Syria and culturally from the pervasive influence of Hellenism. Both threatened to eliminate Judaism as a political and/or cultural entity; as a consequence, Jews who defected were treated especially harshly because their actions, if repeated by very many, threatened to hasten the demise of the Jews as a people. Early Christian literature adopted similar attitudes towards those who defected from the Christian community and the Christian faith. In its early years Christianity’s position in the Roman Empire was very precarious and its survival was very much dependent upon the interdependence of Christians in the community of faith. As a result, apostasy was not simply a renunciation of the faith which was central to Christian identity (unlike Judaism), but also a renunciation of the community itself. An apostate was not just a person who disagreed, but was instead a person who abandoned their brethren in their time of need. Early on, apostasy was classified as a sin punished by perpetual penance and excommunication — in other words, something for which forgiveness by the religious community simply was not possible. Later, however, the churches adopted a more conciliatory attitude by accepting the possibility of re-admittance to the community. The situation for apostates worsened when Christianity became the official religion of Rome because they where then also deprived of all civil rights in addition to being excluded from the religious community. Rejoining the community was therefore made increasing difficult. Magic, Cults, and Idolatry in Early Judaism This area, although a bit absurd and unbelievable to some of the more pious, is none the less an important part of the background and interleaving of many things together to
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make the fabric of society and world events that ushered in the birth of the Messiah. It is also a demonstration of the statements made by King Solomon such as one of my favorite, “There is nothing new under the Sun” The seed of sin was planted in the Garden of Eden and it’s many malevolent, twisted, and sometimes dangerous fruits began to grow instantly. This was symbolized by the growing of thorns and thistles and brambles in the world. Saul was one noted, as a King of Israel, that consulted a witch’s help so he would be able to talk to Samuel. Although it is not clear how much of the account relates actual events and how much is a parable. The point is crystal clear though. It is along this path, who many had followed and left marks throughout the Bible account, that we will delve briefly. It is so very clearly stated in the Old Testament that all of those cult like behaviors are an abomination before God. It is also clearly written that everyone are to avoid them. Jesus met up with a few of these folks and because of his strength and power he merely dismissed them and removed the dark influence from the. One story that was widely circulated in that period by the Greek culture was that of the Oracle of Delphi. The Oracle(s) were those , again, who could foresee the future and were consulted by all including even the Emperors and Leaders of society. Whether curiosity or true seekers of future events, most were mislead or worse. There are many books and articles about this very type of con, a con that goes back to the days before time and events were recorded. This enigma of cultures, societies, religions, and especially the Early Christian period, has remained with us today in some many forms and levels. The Apostles also encountered these people, because they were fairly common in the pagan cultures that literally surrounded Judea and Palestine. From the cult and pagan religions of Babylon, Assyria, Greece, Rome, Syria, Persia, the Medes, and Egypt, [ to name a few], the Israelites, throughout their violent and humbling history, been exposed perpetually to paganism , cults, and false religions. They lost untold numbers to these false systems, especially in the desert after the exodus from Egypt. After so many years of captivity there were so many belief systems and practices that left with the Israelites that their individual identity had to be re-developed in that desert. It took more than a generation to get the false teachings, paganism, and cultic belief systems rooted
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out. Even yet, it seed still persisted and was carried to the new land, the land of the promise, called Canaan. This was a promise to Abraham and was only realized fully after years of purging in the desert. This root of sin, prevalent in Palestine and all around, was from this seed as well as from others brought right to Jerusalem from the far reaches of the Roman Empire. Jerusalem was a melting pot, as the US has been called, a melting pot of cultures & religions that threatened the purity of Judaism; and struck at the very heart of God. This menagerie of belief systems and confusion of falsehoods were rife with demonic influences and making Palestine in general and Jerusalem in particular little more than a playground for Satan’s hordes. Besides Jesus himself seeing this face to face, as I said earlier the Apostles also had to heir share of this unbelievable evil. Paul met a young lady during the beginnings of his missionary work, filled with a demon, that told futures and such. Paul, with the power of the Holy Spirit (given to him at Pentecost) followed the example of Jesus and cast the demon out. The curtain opened to reveal the men who made their living from the maiden and they were , well, disgruntled to say the least. This indeed was common. One more example before we move on, was the man Simon Magnus that Peter and a few others encountered. This man was making his living performing magic that dazzled the local populous and had them believing he was a true representative of God and they afforded him great respect and reverence. He was, essentially to them, a god. In any case, he had a great thing going and was assured of living a comfortable life. Then, once again, the apostles enter stager right and the entire play took a new direction. Simon was exposed as a fraud by the true Miracle s worked by the apostles and especially Peter. But being the true businessman, instead of just sulking away, he asked to buy this power to perform such miracles; to make people walk, to restore sight, and so many things the Holy Spirit enable the apostles to do. He was so enthralled and excited that he actually asked to buy the power. He sure asked the wrong man at the wrong time. He was told in no uncertain terms that the power of the glory of God could not be purchased at any price. The rest of that story is interesting, but the point here is that people were used to seeing minor miracles and all types of magic and cult-like activity. Just like today in some of the
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tremendous conglomerations know as cities the exact same sorted influences can be found easily. It is Common. The Jews surround Jerusalem and other areas believed that the desert was the home of demons and evil spirits. This belief was very common and when, for example, Jesus came walking on the water to the Apostles who were in a small fishing vessel, they were initially frightened and one said that it was a spirit (or ghost). This belief system did not belong to or have it’s origin in Judaism and was definitely not taught in the Old Testament. This, given credence by the statement of Mary when she told Jesus, in reply to a question, that she knew she would be raised from the dead at the last day. She believed in the resurrection, and apparently not in spirits walking about and abiding in and among the living, or in any other place. But nonetheless the belief in spirits was common and so was the belief in magic, and idolatry. In the background of the Hebrews when idolatry was blazed and reaching a crescendo when one Moses stepped into the scene from a little climb he had finished on mount Sinai. In his had he bore the very first materials written by God himself, written in stone. What was going on? What has happened while I was absent? These and other questions surged through his mind and sent him into a destructive rage. The people, his people, the children of Israel who were guided through a long journey filled with miracles of God, through the plain of Sin and to this very point, were worshiping a calf, a golden calf. They were dancing and singing, and possibly drinking and have a grand old time. They made the calf with their very own hands from gold and material they brought from Egypt – the very plunder provided by God through the Egyptians. They were pagans again already and seemed to have forgotten the many incredible miracles, signs, and wonders that surrounded them daily. They were worshiping a lifeless and poorly constructed form of a cow. Moses was indeed angry and literally ruined the very first written words of God. Now, he was in a jam and the people were in danger of annihilation and they didn’t even realize it. A host of different things transpired during the many captivities of the Israelites in their trek across time, the vast expanse of lands countries and empires, and through the murky days of ignorance and blind stupidity. The Bible even tells us that God winked at the foolishness and sins of men for a while, but he wouldn’t do it any longer. This had
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happened just as God had foreseen, and his plan of salvation for the world was well under way. This was like an awakening for not just the Israelites but for the peoples they would encounter long afterward. Going back again for just a moment, let’s look at a time when A young man named Daniel and some of his friends were chosen as an experiment of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, to teach the Hebrews some culture, and other knowledge his court would avail them. They were educated and on special rations and especially Daniel, because highly favored in the sight of the King. I’m sure this didn’t set well with those advisors of his court that gradually were being pushed out of the picture. In fact it was treachery spawned from jealously and hatred that again turned the tide of a cryptic and pagan culture. The literal writing on the wall and other signs and wonders from God again established another milestone in the unfolding of his plan toward the salvation of His chosen people. There were a multitude of deities delineated venerated and worshipped throughout the know world for centuries before, after and during the presence of Christ. While the Book of Deuteronomy (18:10) ruled against the practice of magic and philosophers have stressed the rational side of Judaism, recent research has recovered the “dark side” of Judaism, highlighting the key role of magic and demonic powers in Jewish religion. “The story of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2-3) deals with the meaning of life and the origin of death and features that most intriguing of characters—the serpent of death. This talk traces the history of interpretation of this fascinating character to show how it became a cornerstone of Western self-understanding.” Adolfo Roitman, curator of the Shrine of the Book, which houses the Dead Sea Scrolls at Jerusalem’s Israel Museum, was Ordained as a rabbi by the Latin-American Rabbinical Seminar in his native Argentina, he received his PhD in ancient Jewish thought from Jerusalem’s Hebrew University. Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
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Judaism as a whole had been polluted not just physically but also spiritually. It seemed that the Hebrew men always seemed to fancy the women of other nations. As exemplified through many accounts in the Bible, this marriage to infidels and barbarians inevitably lead to the worship of foreign gods and the idolatrous practices associated with the. From the philistines, to the Greeks, and Romans and many nation-cultures in between, the list of infractions of the law and the spiritual assault of the people of God was both very diverse and extremely destructive. There were cases of Hebrew women married to other nation types and many of them turned out to be a great influence and even in the case of Esther, was a saving influence for her people. This too, was the hand of God in action shaping the world and preparing the Hebrews and the rest of the world for the most stupendous and magnanimous event ever.
Attachment 5. Judaism of the Roman Era
Judaism of the Roman Era was comprised of four distinct, separate and often competing sects; 1. Sadducees; aristocratic Jews who cooperated withthe Roman government; 2. Pharisees; Strict adherents to the Jewish law; not necessarily to the Mosaic Law 3. Essenes; Messanic group which lived a communal lifestyle and wrote many books including the "Dead Sea Scrolls"; not all scholars agree on this definition. Some consider it a convenient story until they may discover the true writes of the scrolls. The Coptics or
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other groups could have easily written some or most of the documents. Groups from Syria, Samaria, and others could equally have spawned the writings. 4. Zealots; Militaristic group which was openly hostile to the Roman state and led the revolt of 66 AD which resulted in destruction of Jerusalem and the massacre at Masada. The Maccabean contributions and the Book of Macabees (excluded from the Protestant Bible) give great details as well as those described by Josephus in his writings about said war. Jesus of Nazareth is proclaimed the messiah by his followers. Life of Jesus is outlined in the Gospels. He was born in Bethlehem (C. 3 BC). Raised as a carpenter. Early years are undocumented but many feel he spent some years in Egypt and was possibly educated by the Essenes. He was a follower of John theBaptist. The teachings of Jesus are unusual for the period of time and appealed to all segments of Roman society. Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament Messanic prophecy. All humans are created equal. One should serve his fellow man. Only God could - and should - avenge wrongs. Humans should respect earthly law. Violence of any kind is wrong. Jesus was martyred. He angered the Pharisees by his teachings. Charges ofheresy were brought against Jesus by the Pharisees during Passover Week. TheRoman Procurator, Pontius Pilate, was pressured by the Pharisees to executeJesus after the Jewish court (Sanhedrin) refused to try him. Jesus wascrucified by the Romans (C. 30 AD). He was labeled the "Christos"(Anointed One) after his followers claimed he was resurrected. The immediate followers of Jesus (Apostles) are also martyred for their beliefs. 1. Andrew; crucified on an X-shaped cross in Greece. 2. Bartholomew; Skinned alive.
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3. Simon Peter; Crucified upside down in Rome. 4. James the Just; throat was cut by Herod Agrippa. 5. John; Beheaded at Ephesus. 6. Mathew; Crucified in Greece. 7. Thomas; Martyred in India. 8. James the Lesser (Brother of Jesus); stoned to death. 9. Judas Iscariot; committed suicide. Paul, a converted Jew, is the man most responsible for spreading the Christian faith throughout the Roman empire. Almost 1/3 of the books of the New Testament is attributed to him. Born Saul of Tarsus, he had a conversion on theroad to Damascus. His special mission became the conversion of the non-Jew(Gentile) to Christianity. Religious ceremonies develop slowly into the now accepted Sacraments of the Church. Baptism; Symbolized the washing away of sin and rebirth and was popularized early by John the Baptist. Holy Eucharist; Symbolized the last communion with Jesus and his followers. This practice became very controversial because of the concept of "Transubstantiation". Confirmation; A ritual celebrating adulthood. Penance; A confession of sin. Ordination; The passing on of power, this sacrament established the authority of church leadership. Matrimony; Considered a religious rite. Celibacy of priests came much later. Extreme Unction; The last rites before death .Early Christianity was influenced by other religions. 1. Judaism; The concept of the Messiah and the Old Testament were integral to early
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Christian thought. 2. Mithraism; A Persian religion associated withZoroasterianism which had become the unofficial cult of the Roman army. Openonly to men, Mithraism seems to have had an impact on early Christian practicesincluding Celebration of Dec. 25 as Jesus' birthday; Celebration of Sunday asthe sabbath; (C) Concept of the baptism of the blood. 3. Stoicism; Acceptance of fate regardless of circumstances was evident during Christian persecutions. 4. Neo-Platonism; Revival of Plato's concept of reality of "ideas" and his concentration on the "last days"affected Christianity. Early Church organization copied the leadership pattern of the Roman Empire. 1. A "Deacon" led eachlocal congregration. 2. A "Bishop" oversaw several Deacons 3."Archbishops" developed to see large Bishoprics 4. Eventually the Bishop of Rome became the unofficial leader of the church and gained the title of "Pope" 5. The first Bishop of Rome was Simon Peter, the apostle. Early persecutions of Christians, although sporadic, were cruel. 1. The Roman government and citizenry was generally tolerant of early Christianity since they posed nothreat to their government.
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2. The most vocal opponents of the early church came from the Jewish religion. 3. Only when Christians refused to participate in Emperor Worship did theybegin to be persecuted in large numbers. 4. Nero was the first emperor to persecute the Christian followers on a largescale. 5. Persecution reached its height during the reign of Diocletian who attempted to systematically eliminate the followers. 6. Christianity finally became legal during the reign of Constantine with theEdict of Milan in 312 AD. Early heresies concerning the nature of Jesus threaten the new beliefs of the Christian church. 1. Docetists; Followers of Marcion believed that the human body of Jesus was a phantom. 2. Nestorianism; Followers of Nestor believed that God dwelt in the body of Jesus like a temple. Jesus was merely a vessel. 3. Monophysites; They believed that the nature of Jesus was wholly divine . 4.Arianism; This belief proved the greatest challenge to the early church. Led by Arius (256-336), the Bishop of Hippo in North Africa, he taught that Jesus was similar to an angel, not human, but not quite God-like. His thoughts had many followers including the emperor Constantine. 5. Gnosticism; Followers believed that the Holy Spirit was superior to eitherJesus or God. Their belief in mysticism eventually led to the monastic movement. The Gnostic influence can be seen in the New Testament, particularlythe Gospel of John.
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Church Councils are held to settle many of the questions of early Christianity. 1. The Council of Niacea was called in 325 by Constantine to settle the question of the nature of Jesus. 2. The council was attended mostly by eastern bishops. 3. The result was the "Nicene Creed" or the "Apostles Creed" which defined the nature of Jesus in terms of the Trinity. 4. Arianism, although weakened, persisted into the Middle Ages. 5. The Council of Carthage in 397 is held to formulate the "Canon" of the church. 6. Many books attributed to the apostles were present during this era. 7. The council voted on which ones to accept into the "Bible". 8. Those left out became known as the "Apocraphra" or Hidden Books. This included (A) Apocalyptic books by Peter and James; ( B) Allegorical books such as the "Shepherd of Hermas"; (C) Several Books of Acts such asthat of Andrew. 9. Revelation was accepted by one vote. 10. The Canon was comprised mainly of the four Gospels and letters (Epistles)of the apostles. 11. The literature of the Essenes was completely ignored.
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Several church leaders help form the doctrine and theology of the earlyChristian church. 1. Ignatius (85-107); A bishop ofAntioch, he first coined the term "Catholic". 2. Justin Martyr (C 3rd century); A legendary figure whose "Apology"to Antoninus Pious in defense of Christianity had a great impact on future writings. 3. Irenaeus (115-200); Bishop of Lyon, he opposed Gnosticism and was the main promulgator of the cult of the "Virgin Mary". 4. Tertullian (160-220); Bishop of Carthage, he wrote extensively on the morals of the early church. He was eventually excommunicated. 5. Origen (185-254); Hewrote over 6000 books in an attempt to harmonize Christian though with Greekphilosophy. He was also later excommunicated. 6. Ambrose (340-397); Bishop of Milan, he established the concept of the church leaders having power over secular rulers. 7. Jerome (340-420); Expert linguist, he translated the Hebrew writings into Latin. His version of the Bible, the "Vulgate", became the officia lversion up to the Renaissance. 8. Augustine (354-430); The greatest of the Latin Fathers, he was a Bishop of Hippo whose writings included the "CIty of God" and his"Confessions". He is considered the primary theologian of the early church and had great influence on the concepts of original sin, salvation bygrace and the sacraments. Symbols of the early church develop over many centuries. 1. Symbols were used because Christians often hid from the persecutions of the emperors.
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2. Early Christians were also hesitant to artistically portray Jesus. 3. First artistic representation of Jesus depicts him as a young man with shorthair, void of beard and wearing the rough garment of a Roman peasant. 4. Traditional depictation did not arise until the Middle Ages. 5. The cross was widely used as a Christian symbol until the 5th century. 6. The earliest Christian symbols were the "fish" and the "peacock". 7. Music was not widely used until its standardization by Pope Gregory I(590-604) in the form of "Gregorian Chants". Monasticism and Asceticism develop as important movements in the early Christian church. 1. Monasticism; A desire to bring about the union of one's soul with God. 2. Asceticism; The complete renunciation of all worldly temptations. 3. These concepts had been in existence as evidenced by John the Baptist and the Essene movement. 4. Jesus taught salvation through renunciation. 5. Stoicism also taught a peace through detachment from worldly things. 6. Monasteries became centers for the preservation of classical learning and the transmission of that knowledge to modern times.
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7. Early monastics included; Anthony of Egypt (251-356); Considered the "Father of Monasticism", he lived in a cave for many years; St. Simeon (C-4th century); A legendary figure, he reportedly lived atop a pole in Damascus for 30 years; Benedict of Nursia (480-543); The head of Monte Casino, he is considered the most important figure in the Monastic movement. He established the rules for monasteries which were followed throughout the Middle Ages. The reasons Christianity succeeded while others failed: 1. The church doctrines of the Trinity, Virgin Birth, Resurrection, Ordination and Salvation appealed to the common masses. 2. The time of appearance was opportune; Romans were dissatisfied with the old Roman religion and the immorality of the emperors. 3. Message of the church taught Equality for all and Love. 4. The church was open to all including men, women, rich, poor, free and slave. 5. The Christian religion assimilated the Roman culture rather than opposed it.
Judaism as a result of internal and external change was no longer the religion given to Moses at Mt. Sinai. In the earliest centuries Christianity was somewhat confused, distressed, and split on doctrine and worship. Eventually some of the differing groups popped up with their own brand of Christianity and competed for the top honor. Most just disappeared, but other continue to today. Heresy / Apostasy Heresy is used to describe a doctrine that is unacceptable to the established Christian
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church and is considered false. Schism is distinct from heresy in that a schism creates a division in the church. Excommunication has been the traditional method of dealing with heretics. In Roman Catholicism, the term heresy has been used to refer to the denial of a religious truth by a baptized member of the Church. At the time of Theodosius II, the Byzantine Emperor of Theodosian Law Code fame who had Bishop Nestorius installed in Constantinople in 428, the following heresies were observed in the Roman Empire: • Macedonians (pneumatomachians) • Apollinarians • Novationists • Sabbatians • Euomians • Valentinians • Montanists (Priscillianists) • Phrygians • Marcionites • Borborites • Messalians • Euchites (Enthusiasts) • Donatists • Audians • Hydroparastates • Tascodrogites • Photinians • Paulians • Marcellians
No study of religious authority would be adequate without some discussion of the process by which that authority is questioned and ultimately rejected. Within faith communities, especially those derived from Western religious traditions, three of the
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terms most commonly used to label those who challenge or deny accepted religious authority are heretics, apostates, and blasphemers. Although heresy and apostasy are often treated as the same for practical reasons, there are nevertheless important differences. Apostasy on the one hand involves deserting to an “enemy,” while heresy on the other hand involves creating of factions and division within the group. This means that the presence of apostasy depends upon the prior existence of conflict between religious or political groups — thus, without a previously existing external enemy, there can be no apostasy. Heresy, though, implies the existence of conflict within the group — once an internal conflict reaches the point where two distinct groups exist, beliefs which were once heresy may then be described as apostasy. Blasphemy as Spiritual Conflict
Whereas apostasy and heresy involve directly conflicts between social groups, whether within religious communities or between religious communities, blasphemy is conceived as a conflict between humans and the divine. Specifically, blasphemy is the accusation whenever a person fails to accord the divine the honor and respect that is presumably owed. Generally speaking, blasphemy involves some sort of insult towards or speaking evil about God, God’s attributes, or God’s instructions. Defining it more precisely is often very difficult because what it is ends up being dependent upon the religious views of whoever is doing the investigating. Thus, the existence of blasphemy always takes two to exist: a giver and a receiver. As a consequence of this, blasphemy is inevitably a social situation, involving some sort of challenge to the legitimacy of religious authority figures. Presumably, then, the punishment of blasphemy should be an exercise of that same religious authority. And, it is certainly true, there exist within the sphere of religious power a number of things which
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religious leaders can do, the most extreme of which would involve the exclusion of a person from continued membership in a religious community. Nevertheless, the punishment of blasphemy has also often involved political authority as well. Blasphemy has been a crime since the very earliest times for which we have records and it is characteristic of a political system which is at least partially theocratic. Genuine separation of religious and political authority cannot exist so long as political leaders have been given the responsibility of solving religious problems or enforcing religious norms. That, however, has been exactly the situation which has existed in much of the world for much of history, including the United States. Fortunately it has been changing, at least in some countries, thus allowing political leaders to remain independent of ecclesiastical control and exercise the political power that does lie within their sphere of competency. The term heresy comes from the Greek haireisthai, which means “to choose.” It came to refer to the act of holding very unorthodox and/or unpopular religious opinions. Technically speaking, then, heresy is not so much the rejection of a religious authority as it is the rejection of a particular religious authority in favor of some other religious authority. Nevertheless, the labeling of some position as heresy implies the rejection of the legitimate religious authority in favor of some illegitimate authority. This means that questions about the relationship between heretical and orthodox religious opinions involves, at their core, questions about the nature of legitimate authority and who is justified in speaking on behalf of a religious community. In the Acts of the Apostles it is used to refer to a sect, but without reference to its character. In Paul’s epistles, however, it acquires a more negative character. Paul lists “heresies” with other crimes and seditions (Gal. 5:19-21):
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“Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
As the Christian Church became more organized and doctrine became a more important means for identifying Christians, the concept of heresy came to be used to denote divisions or schisms within the church (1 Cor. 11:18-19): “For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.” In Titus 3:10 a “heretical person” is described as one who chooses to follow his own selfwilled “questions,” and is therefore to be avoided. Heresies in Christianity thus came to refer to self-chosen doctrines not emanating from God (2 Pet. 2:1): But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.” Early Christianity treated heresy negatively and the punishment was usually some sort of reproof or, at most, excommunication. So long as Christianity itself was persecuted or powerless, greater freedom of thought was tolerated. However, once Christianity became the state religion, disagreements over doctrine became threats to political and social stability in the empire. As a consequence, those who failed to uphold orthodoxy and fell into heresy were treated as enemies of the social order, and tolerance of differences of opinion was no longer very great. As Christianity became more powerful and more responsible for the workings of society, its doctrines also grew more complex. One consequence of this was that the ways in which a person could fall into either heresy or apostasy grew in number — and, so,
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Christian authorities also had to improve upon their abilities to detect and punish both. The term apostasy comes from the Greek from Greek apostasis, which means “revolt.” Originally, this term was used to refer to those who revolted against or simply defected from a military commander; as such, the term has always carried with it a heavy mark of criticism. Eventually, the concept of apostasy has come to be applied to any person who completely abandons their religious faith and either embraces a different religion or simply rejects religion entirely and become irreligious. No religions look kindly upon apostates, and some have recommended the death penalty for them. The term has also been applied more broadly to someone who defects from a political party; although this usage tends to be more metaphorical in character, it still retains a basic sense of betrayal and treason. All usages of the word focus upon the idea of a person who abandons some belief or practice of a group which is considered so essential that it is vital to the well-being or even the very survival of the group. Thus, apostasy is not regarded as mere dissent or disagreement — rather, it is treated as a threat to the existence of the group, thus explaining its relatively harsh treatment. One of the earliest examples of the concept of apostasy being used in a religious context comes from the Maccabean period of Judaism. During this time, Jews were being pressed politically by forces from neighboring Syria and culturally from the pervasive influence of Hellenism. Both threatened to eliminate Judaism as a political and/or cultural entity; as a consequence, Jews who defected were treated especially harshly because their actions, if repeated by very many, threatened to hasten the demise of the Jews as a people. Early Christian literature adopted similar attitudes towards those who defected from the Christian community and the Christian faith. In its early years Christianity’s position in the Roman Empire was very precarious and its survival was very much dependent upon the interdependence of Christians in the community of faith. As a result, apostasy was not simply a renunciation of the faith which was central to Christian identity (unlike Judaism), but also a renunciation of the community itself. An apostate was not just a person who disagreed, but was instead a person who abandoned their brethren in their time of need. Early on, apostasy was classified as a sin punished by perpetual penance and
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excommunication — in other words, something for which forgiveness by the religious community simply was not possible. Later, however, the churches adopted a more conciliatory attitude by accepting the possibility of re-admittance to the community. The situation for apostates worsened when Christianity became the official religion of Rome because they where then also deprived of all civil rights in addition to being excluded from the religious community. Rejoining the community was therefore made increasing difficult. Magic, Cults, and Idolatry in Early Judaism This area, although a bit absurd and unbelievable to some of the more pious, is none the less an important part of the background and interleaving of many things together to make the fabric of society and world events that ushered in the birth of the Messiah. It is also a demonstration of the statements made by King Solomon such as one of my favorite, “There is nothing new under the Sun” The seed of sin was planted in the Garden of Eden and it’s many malevolent, twisted, and sometimes dangerous fruits began to grow instantly. This was symbolized by the growing of thorns and thistles and brambles in the world. Saul was one noted, as a King of Israel, that consulted a witch’s help so he would be able to talk to Samuel. Although it is not clear how much of the account relates actual events and how much is a parable. The point is Chrystal clear though. It is along this path, who many had followed and left marks throughout the Bible account, that we will delve briefly. It is so very clearly stated in the Old testament that all of those cult like behaviors are an abomination before God. It is also clearly written that everyone are to avoid them. Jesus met up with a few of these folks and because of his strength and power he merely dismissed them and removed the dark influence from the. One story that was widely circulated in that period by the Greek culture was that of the Oracle of Delphi. The Oracle(s) were those , again, who could foresee the future and were consulted by all including even the Emperors and Leaders of society. Whether curiosity or true seekers of future events, most were mislead or worse. There are many books and articles about this very type of con, a con that goes back to the days before time and events were recorded. This enigma of cultures, societies, religions, and especially the Early Christian period, has remained with us today in some many forms
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and levels. The Apostles also encountered these people, because they were fairly common in the pagan cultures that literally surrounded Judea and Palestine. From the cult and pagan religions of Babylon, Assyria, Greece, Rome, Syria, Persia, the Medes, and Egypt,[ to name a few], the Israelites, throughout their violent and humbling history, been exposed perpetually to paganism , cults, and false religions. They lost untold numbers to these false systems, especially in the desert after the exodus from Egypt. After so many years of captivity there were so many belief systems and practices that left with the Israelites that their individual identity had to be re-developed in that desert. It took more than a generation to get the false teachings, paganism, and cultic belief systems rooted out. Even yet, it seed still persisted and was carried th the new land, the land of the promise, called Canaan. This was a promise to Abraham and was only realized fully after years of purging in the desert. This root of sin, prevalent in Palestine and all around, was from this seed as well as from others brought right to Jerusalem from the far reaches of the Roman Empire. Jerusalem was a melting pot, as the US has been called, a melting pot of cultures & religions that threatened the purity of Judaism; and struck at the very heart of God. This menagerie of belief systems and confusion of falsehoods were rife with demonic influences and making Palestine in general and Jerusalem in particular little more than a playground for Satan’s hordes. Besides Jesus himself seeing this face to face, as I said earlier the Apostles also had to heir share of this unbelievable evil. Paul met a young lady during the beginnings of his missionary work, filled with a demon, that told futures and such. Paul, with the power of the Holy Spirit (given to him at Pentecost) followed the example of Jesus and cast the demon out. The curtain opened to reveal the men who made their living from the maiden and they were , well, disgruntled to say the least. This indeed was common. One more example before we move on, was the man Simon Magnus that Peter and a few others encountered. This man was making his living performing magic that dazzled the local populous and had them believing he was a true representative of God and they afforded him great respect and reverence. He was, essentially to them, a god. In any case, he had a great thing going and was assured of living a comfortable life. Then, once again, the apostles enter stage right and the entire play took a new direction. Simon was exposed as
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a fraud by the true Miracle s worked by the apostles and especially Peter. But being the true businessman, instead of just sulking away, he asked to buy this power to perform such miracles; to make people walk, to restore sight, and so many things the Holy Spirit enable the apostles to do. He was so enthralled and excited that he actually asked to buy the power. He sure asked the wrong man at the wrong time. He was told in no uncertain terms that the power of the glory of God could not be purchased at any price. The rest of that story is interesting, but the point here is that people were used to seeing minor miracles and all types of magic and cult-like activity. Just like today in some of the tremendous conglomerations know as cities the exact same sorted influences can be found easily. It is Common. The Jews surrounding Jerusalem and other areas believed that the desert was the home of demons and evil spirits. This belief was very common and when, for example, Jesus came walking on the water to the Apostles who were in a small fishing vessel, they were initially frightened and one said that it was a spirit (or ghost). This belief system did not belong to or have it’s origin in Judaism and was definitely not taught in the Old Testament. This, given credence by the statement of Mary when she told Jesus, in reply to a question, that she knew she would be raised from the dead at the last day. She believed in the resurrection, and apparently not in spirits walking about and abiding in and among the living, or in any other place. But nonetheless the belief in spirits was common and so was the belief in magic, and idolatry. In the background of the Hebrews when idolatry was blazed and reaching a crescendo when one Moses stepped into the scene from a little climb he had finished on mount Sinai. In his had he bore the very first materials written by God himself, written in stone. What was going on? What has happened while I was absent? These and other questions surged through his mind and sent him into a destructive rage. The people, his people, the children of Israel who were guided through a long journey filled with miracles of God, through the plain of Sin and to this very point, were worshiping a calf, a golden calf. They were dancing and singing, and possibly drinking and have a grand old time. They made the calf with their very own hands from gold and material they brought from Egypt – the very plunder provided by God through the Egyptians. They were pagans again already and seemed to have forgotten the many incredible miracles, signs, and wonders that surrounded them daily. They were
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worshiping a lifeless and poorly constructed form of a cow. Moses was indeed angry and literally ruined the very first written words of God. Now, he was in a jam and the people were in danger of annihilation and they didn’t even realize it. A host of different things transpired during the many captivities of the Israelites in their trek across time, the vast expanse of lands countries and empires, and through the murky days of ignorance and blind stupidity. The Bible even tells us that God winked at the foolishness and sins of men for a while, but he wouldn’t do it any longer. This had happened just as God had foreseen, and his plan of salvation for the world was well under way. This was like an awakening for not just the Israelites but for the peoples they would encounter long afterward. Going back again for just a moment, let’s look at a time when A young man named Daniel and some of his friends were chosen as an experiment of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, to teach the Hebrews some culture, and other knowledge his court would avail them. They were educated and on special rations and especially Daniel, because highly favored in the sight of the King. I’m sure this didn’t set well with those advisors of his court that gradually were being pushed out of the picture. In fact it was treachery spawned from jealously and hatred that again turned the tide of a cryptic and pagan culture. The literal writing on the wall and other signs and wonders from God again established another milestone in the unfolding of his plan toward the salvation of His chosen people. There were a multitude of deities delineated venerated and worshiped throughout the know world for centuries before, after and during the presence of Christ. While the Book of Deuteronomy (18:10) ruled against the practice of magic and philosophers have stressed the rational side of Judaism, recent research has recovered the “dark side” of Judaism, highlighting the key role of magic and demonic powers in Jewish religion. “The story of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2-3) deals with the meaning of life and the origin of death and features that most intriguing of characters—the serpent of death. This talk traces the history of interpretation of this fascinating character to show how it became a cornerstone of Western self-understanding.”
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**Quotations from an essay by Dr Denis O'Callaghan
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Attachment 6 Persecution
"Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven." Lk 6:22-23 -- Jesus (c. 30 AD) "The contagion of this superstition has spread not only in the cities but in the villages and rural districts as well; yet it seems capable of being checked and set right." -- Pliny the Younger, Governor of Bithynia (c. 110 AD) {Epistle 10 (to Emperor Trajan), 96 (in Bettenson et al, Documents of the Christian Church, p. 3).} "This temporal and brief suffering, how shall it be exchanged for the reward of a bright and eternal honor!" -- St. Cyprian of Carthage {Epistle 76, Ante-Nicene Fathers 5.403.} In its first three centuries, the Christian church endured regular (though not constant) persecution at the hands of Roman authorities. This experience, and its resulting martyrs and apologists, would have significant historical and theological consequences for the developing faith. {"The tradition of martyrdom has entered deep into the Christian consciousness." Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of Christianity, Volume I: Beginnings to 1500, rev. ed. (Prince Press, 2000), p. 81.} Among other things, persecution sparked the cult of the saints, facilitated the rapid growth and spread of Christianity, prompted defenses and explanations of Christianity (the "apologies"), and, in its aftermath, raised fundamental questions about the nature of the church.
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The article that follows explores the history of persecution of the early church, some of the reasons behind it, and two important Christian responses to persecution: the glorification of martyrdom and the writings of the apologists. Extent of the Persecutions The total number of Christians martyred in the early church is unknown. Although some early writers speak of "great multitudes," modern scholars tend to believe the actual number is not so great as is sometimes imagined. Out of the 54 emperors who ruled between 30 and 311 AD, only about a dozen went out of their way to persecute Christians. { Mark Galli, "The Persecuting Emperors." Christian History, Issue 27 (Vol. XI, No. 3), p. 20.} It has been calculated that between the first persecution under Nero in 64 to the Edict of Milan in 313, Christians experienced 129 years of persecution and 120 years of toleration and peace. The Roman persecutions were generally sporadic, localized, and dependent on the political climate and disposition of each emperor. Moreover, imperial decrees against Christians were often directed against church property, the Scriptures, or clergy only. It has been estimated that more Christians have been martyred in the last 50 years than in the church's first 300 years. Reasons for Persecution The Roman Empire was generally quite tolerant in its treatment of other religions. The imperial policy was generally one of incorporation - the local gods of a newly conquered area were simply added to the Roman pantheon and often given Roman names. Even the Jews, with their one god, were generally tolerated. So why the persecution of Christians? In order to understand the Roman distrust of Christianity, one must understand the Roman view of religion. For the Romans, religion was first and foremost a social activity that promoted unity and loyalty to the state - a religious attitude the Romans called pietas,
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or piety. Cicero wrote that if piety in the Roman sense were to disappear, social unity and justice would perish along with it. The early Roman writers viewed Christianity not as another kind of pietas, piety, but as a superstitio, "superstition." Pliny, a Roman governor writing circa 110 AD, called Christianity a "superstition taken to extravagent lengths." Similarly, the Roman historian Tacitus called it "a deadly superstition," and the historian Suetonius called Christians "a class of persons given to a new and mischeivous superstition." In this context, the word "superstition" has a slightly different connotation than it has today: for the Romans, it designated something foreign and different - in a negative sense. Religious beliefs were valid only in so far as it could be shown to be old and in line with ancient customs; new and innovative teachings were regarded with distrust. The Roman distaste for Christianity, then, arose in large part from its sense that it was bad for society. In the third century, the Neoplatonist philosopher Porphyry wrote: How can people not be in every way impious and atheistic who have apostatized from the customs of our ancestors through which every nation and city is sustained? ... What else are they than fighters against God? As Porphyry's argument indicates, hatred of Christians also arose from the belief that proper "piety" to the Roman gods helped to sustain the well being of the cities and their people. Though much of the Roman religion was utilitarian, it was also heavily motivated by the pagan sense that bad things will happen if the gods are not respected and worshiped properly. "Many pagans held that the neglect of the old gods who had made Rome strong was responsible for the disasters which were overtaking the Mediterranean world." This perspective would surface again in the fifth century, when the destruction of Rome caused many to worry that the gods were angry at the Empire's new allegiance to Christianity. Saint Augustine's opus The City of God argued against this view. On a more social, practical level, Christians were distrusted in part because of the secret and misunderstood nature of their worship. Words like "love feast" and talk of "eating
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Christ's flesh" sounded understandably suspicious to the pagans, and Christians were suspected of cannibalism, incest, orgies, and all sorts of immorality.
History of the Persecutions At least since the fifth century, it has been customary to count ten major persecutions in the early church, a number that nicely parallels the ten plagues of Egypt. These ten persecutions are: 1. Persecution under Nero (c. 64-68). Traditional martyrdoms of Peter and Paul. 2. Persecution under Domitian (r. 81-96). 3. Persecution under Trajan (112-117). Christianity is outlawed but Christians are not sought out. 4. Persecution under Marcus Aurelius (r. 161-180). Martyrdom of Polycarp. 5. Persecution under Septimus Severus (202-210). Martyrdom of Perpetua. 6. Persecution under Decius (250-251). Christians are actively sought out by requiring public sacrifice. Could buy certificates (libelli) instead of sacrificing. Martyrdoms of bishops of Rome, Jerusalem and Antioch. 7. Persecution under Valerian (257-59). Martyrdoms of Cyprian of Carthage and Sixtus II of Rome. 8. Persecution under Maximinus the Thracian (235-38). 9. Persecution under Aurelian (r. 270–275). 10. Severe persecution under Diocletian and Galerius (303-324).
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Persecution in the early church occured sporadically almost since the beginning, but it was first sanctioned by the government under Nero. In 64 AD, a great fire ravaged Rome. Nero took the opportunity provided by the destruction to rebuild the city in the Greek style and begin building a large palace for himself. People began speculating that Nero had set the fire himself in order to indulge his aesthetic tastes in the reconstruction so, according to Tacitus' Annals and Suetonius' Nero, the eccentric emperor blamed the Christians for the fire in an effort to divert attention from himself. Nero was quite insane, and is reported to have tortured Christians with great cruelties for his own enjoyment. According to the Roman historian Tacitus: esides being put to death they [the Christians] were made to serve as objects of amusement; they were clad in the hides of beast and torn to death by dogs; others were crucified, others set on fire to serve to illuminate the night when daylight failed. Nero had thrown open his grounds for the display, and was putting on a show in the circus, where he mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or drove about in his chariot. All this gave rise to a feeling of pity, even toward men whose guilt merited the most exemplary punishment; for it was felt that they were being destroyed not for the public good but to satisfy the cruelty of an individual. Despite these extreme cruelties, Nero's persecution was local and short-lived. However, it was the first official persecution and marked the first time the government distinguished Christians from Jews. Tertullian referred to persecution of Christians as institutum Neronianum, an institution of Nero. After Nero, it became a capital crime to be a Christian, although pardon was always available if one publicly condemned Christ and sacrificed to the gods. Domitian is recorded as having executed members of his own family on charges of atheism and Jewish manners, who are thus generally assumed to have been Christians. In Philip Schaff's History of the Christian Church, the persecution under the great philosopher-king Marcus Aurelius is described this way:
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Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher on the throne, was a well-educated, just, kind, and amiable emperor, and reached the old Roman ideal of self-reliant Stoic virtue, but for this very reason he had no sympathy with Christianity, and probably regarded it as an absurd and fanatical superstition. He had no room in his cosmopolitan philanthropy for the purest and most innocent of his subjects, many of whom served in his own army. He was flooded with apologies of Melito, Miltiades, Athenagoras in behalf of the persecuted Christians, but turned a deaf ear to them. Only once, in his Meditations, does he allude to them, and then with scorn, tracing their noble enthusiasm for martyrdom to "sheer obstinacy" and love for theatrical display. His excuse is ignorance. He probably never read a line of the New Testament, nor of the apologies addressed to him. Belonging to the later Stoical school, which believed in an immediate absorption after death into the Divine essence, he considered the Christian doctrine of the immortality of the soul, with its moral consequences, as vicious and dangerous to the welfare of the state. A law was passed under his reign, punishing every one with exile who should endeavor to influence people's mind by fear of the Divinity, and this law was, no doubt, aimed at the Christians. At all events his reign was a stormy time for the church, although the persecutions cannot be directly traced to him. The law of Trajan was sufficient to justify the severest measures against the followers of the "forbidden" religion. It was during the reign of Marcus Aurelius that Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, was martyred. Later, there is record of "new decrees" making it easier for Christians to be accused and have their property confiscated. In 177, 48 Christians were martyred in the amphitheater in Lyons (modern France). In 112 AD, Roman governor Pliny the Younger was sent by the emperor Trajan (r. 98117) to the province of Bithynia on official business. During his visit, Pliny encountered Christians, and he wrote to the emperor about them. The governor indicated that he had ordered the execution of several Christians, "for I held no question that whatever it was they admitted, in any case obstinacy and unbending perversity deserve to be punished." However, he was unsure what to do about those who said they were no longer Christians, and asked Trajan his advice. The emperor responded that Christians should not be sought
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out, anonymous tips should be rejected as "unworthy of our times," and if they recanted and "worshipped our gods," they were to be freed. Those who persisted, however, should be punished. The emperor Hadrian granted Christians even more concessions. Also responding to a request for advice from his governor, this time in western Asia Minor, Hadrian decreed (c. 124 AD) that Christians could be brought to trial but only for specific illegal acts. Significantly, therefore, being a Christian was no longer sufficient in itself to merit arrest. Moreover, "slanderous attacks" against Christians were forbidden, meaning that anyone who brought a case against a Christian but failed would suffer serious consequences. Justin Martyr attached Hadrian's imperial order to the end of his First Apology (c. 155). 
The emperor Severus may not have been personally ill-disposed towards Christians, but the church was gaining power and making many converts and this led to popular anti-Christian feeling and persecution in Carthage, Alexandria, Rome and Corinth between about 202 and 210. The famed St. Perpetua was martyred during this time, as were many students of Origen of Alexandria.
The persecution under Decius was the first universal and organized persecution of Christians, and it would have lasting significance for the Christian church. In January of 250, Decius issued an edict requiring all citizens to sacrifice to the emperor in the presence of a Roman official and obtain a certificate (libellus) proving they had done so. Forty-four of these libelli have survived. One surviving example reads: To those appointed to see the sacrifices: From Aurelia Charis of the Egyptian village of Philadelphia. I have always continued to sacrifice and show reverence to the gods, and now, in your presence, I have poured a libation and sacrificed and eaten some of the sacrificial meat. I request you to certify this for me below. This method of persecution created a crisis of conscience for many Christians, as a certificate could be obtained without actually sacrificing by bribing Roman officials. It
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was clear that Christians should not sacrifice to a false god, but whether it was acceptable to save one's life by buying a certificate was a bit more of a gray area. Many Christians chose to defy the edict outright, refusing to buy a certificate, and were arrested or executed. Among those martyred under Decius were the bishops of Rome, Jerusalem and Antioch. However, the bishop of Smyrna performed the sacrifice, as did many others. In general, public opinion condemned the government's violence and admired the martyrs' passive resistance, and the Christian movement was thereby strengthened. The Decian persecution ceased in 251, a few months before Decius' death. The Decian persecution had lasting repurcussions for the church. How should those who had bought a certificate or actually sacrificed be treated? It seems that in most churches, those who had lapsed were accepted back into the fold, but some groups refused them admission to the church. This raised important issues about the nature of the church, forgiveness, and the high value of martyrdom. A century and a half later, St. Augustine would battle with an influential group called the Donatists, who broke away from the Catholic Church because the latter embraced the lapsed. Under Valerian, who took the throne in 253, all Christian clergy were required to sacrifice to the gods. In a 257 edict, the punishment was exile; in 258, the punishment was death. Christian senators, knights and ladies were also required to sacrifice under pain of heavy fines, reduction of rank and, later, death. Finally, all Christians were forbidden to visit their cemeteries. Among those executed under Valerian were St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, and Sixtus II, Bishop of Rome. According to a letter written by Dionysus during this time, "men and women, young and old, maidens and matrons, soldiers and civilians, of every age and race, some by scourging and fire, others by the sword, have conquered in the strife and won their crowns." The persecution ended with the capture of Valerian by Persia. Valerian's son and successor, Gallienus, revoked the edicts of his father. The last major Roman persecution of Christians occurred under Diocletian, and it was the worst of all. It is known as the "Great Persecution." The reasons for this persecution are unclear, but Diocletians actions may have been based on the influence of his junior
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colleague Galarius (a fanatical adherent of Roman religion), Porphyry (an anti-Christian Neoplatonist philosopher), or the usual desire for political unity. In any case, Diocletian published four edicts of 303-04. The emperor ordered the burning of Christian books and churches, but promised not to spill any blood. In actuality, the Diocletian persecution turned out to be extremely violent. This violence "did not succeed in annihilating Christianity but caused the faith of the martyrs to blaze forth instead." Official persecution of Christians ended with the Edict of Milan, signed by the Christian convert Constantine and his co-emperor Licinius. This did not make Christianity the official religion of the empire (that happened under Emperor Theodosius in 381), but granted it legal status. It was inevitable that the preachings of the new sect, although delivered with so much reserve, should revive the animosities which had accumulated against its founder, and eventually brought about his death. The Sadducee family of Hanan, who had caused the death of Jesus, was still reigning. Joseph Caiaphas occupied, up to 36, the sovereign Pontificate, the effective power of which he gave over to his father-in-law Hanan, and to his relatives, John and Alexander. These arrogant and pitiless men viewed with impatience a troop of good and holy people, without official title, winning the favor of the multitude. Once or twice, Peter, John, and the principal members of the apostolic college, were put in prison and condemned to flagellation. This was the chastisement inflicted on heretics. The authorization of the Romans was not necessary in order to apply it. As we might indeed suppose, these brutalities only served to inflame the ardour of the apostles. They came forth from the Sanhedrim where they had just undergone flagellation, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for him whom they loved. Eternal puerility of penal repressions applied to things of the soul! They were regarded, no doubt, as men of order, as models of prudence and wisdom; these blunderers, who seriously believed in the year 36, to gain the upper hand of Christianity by means of a few strokes of a whip!
These outrages proceeded chiefly from the Sadducees, that is to say, from the upper clergy, who crowded the Temple and derived from it immense profits. We do not find that the Pharisees exhibited towards the sect the animosity they displayed to Jesus. The new believers were strict and pious people, somewhat resembling in their manner of life the Pharisees themselves. The rage which the latter manifested against the founder arose from the superiority of Jesus—a superiority which he was at no pains to dissimulate. His
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delicate raillery’s, his wit, his charm, his contempt for hypocrites, had kindled a ferocious hatred. The apostles, on the contrary, were devoid of wit; they never employed irony. The Pharisees were at times favorable to them; many Pharisees had even become Christians. The terrible anathemas of Jesus against Pharisaism had not yet been written, and the accounts of the words of the Master were neither general nor uniform. These first Christians were, besides, people so inoffensive, that many persons of the Jewish aristocracy, who did not exactly form part of the sect, were well disposed towards them. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, who had known Jesus, remained no doubt with the Church in the bonds of brotherhood. The most celebrated Jewish doctor of the age, Rabbi Gamaliel the elder, grandson of Hillel, a man of broad and very tolerant ideas, spoke, it is said, in the Sanhedrim in favour of permitting gospel preaching. The author of the Acts credits him with some excellent reasoning, which ought to be the rule of conduct of governments, on all occasions when they find themselves confronted with novelties of an intellectual or moral order. “If this work is frivolous,” said he, “leave it alone, it will fall of itself; if it is serious, how dare you resist the work of God? In any case, you will not succeed in stopping it.” Gamaliel’s words were hardly listened to. Liberal minds in the midst of opposing fanaticisms have no chance of succeeding. A terrible commotion was produced by the deacon Stephen. His preaching had, as it would appear, great success. Multitudes flocked around him, and these gatherings resulted in acrimonious quarrels. It was chiefly Hellenists, or proselytes, habitues of the synagogue, called Libertini, people of Cyrene, of Alexandria, of Cilicia, of Ephesus, who took an active part in these disputes. Stephen passionately maintained that Jesus was the Messiah, that the priests had committed a crime in putting him to death, that the Jews were rebels, sons of rebels, people who rejected evidence. The authorities resolved to dispatch this audacious preacher. Several witnesses were suborned to seize upon some words in his discourses against Moses. Naturally they found that for which they sought. Stephen was arrested and led into the presence of the Sanhedrim. The sentence with which they reproached him was almost identical with the one which led to the condemnation of Jesus. They accused him of saying that Jesus of Nazareth would destroy the Temple and change the traditions attributed to Moses. It is quite possible, indeed, that Stephen had used such language. A Christian of that epoch could not have had the idea of speaking directly against the Law,
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inasmuch as all still observed it; as for traditions, however, Stephen might combat them as Jesus had himself done; nevertheless, these traditions were foolishly ascribed by the orthodox to Moses, and people attributed to them a value, equal to that of the written Law. Stephen defended himself by expounding the Christian thesis, with a wealth of citations from the written Law, from the Psalms, from the Prophets, and wound up by reproaching the members of the Sanhedrim with the murder of Jesus. “Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart,” said he to them, “you will then ever resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers also have done. Which of the prophets have not your fathers prosecuted? They have slain those who announced the coming of the Just One, whom you have betrayed, and of whom you have been the murderers. This law that you have received from the mouth of angels you have not kept.” At these words a scream of rage interrupted him. Stephen, his excitement increasing more and more, fell into one of those transports of enthusiasm which were called the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. His eyes were fixed on high; he witnessed the glory of God and Jesus by the side of his Father, and cried out: “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of God.” The whole assembly stopped their ears, and threw themselves upon him, gnashing their teeth. He was dragged outside the city and stoned. The witnesses, who, according to the law, had to cast the first stones, divested themselves of their garments and laid them at the feet of a young fanatic named Saul, or Paul, who was thinking with secret joy of the renown he was acquiring in participating in the death of a blasphemer. In all this there was an observance to the letter of the prescriptions of Deuteronomy, chapter xiii. But viewed from a civil law point, this tumultuous execution, carried out without the sanction of the Romans, was not regular. In the case of Jesus, we have seen that it was necessary to obtain the ratification of the Procurator. It may he that this ratification was obtained in the case of Stephen and that the execution did not follow his sentence quite so closely as the narrator of the Acts would have us believe. It may have happened also that the Roman authority was at this time somewhat relaxed. Pilate had been, or was about to be, suspended from his functions. The cause of this disgrace was simply the too great firmness which he had shown in his administration. Jewish
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fanaticism had rendered his life insupportable. Possibly he was tired of refusing the outrages these frantic people demanded of him, and the proud family of Hanan had reached the point that they no longer required the sanction of the Procurator to pronounce sentences of death. Lucius Vetellius (the father of him who was emperor) was then imperial legate at Syria. He sought to win the good graces of the population; and he restored to the Jews the pontificial vestments, which, since the time of Herod the Great, had been deposited in the tower of Antonia. Instead of sustaining the rigorous acts of Pilate, he lent an ear to the complaints of the natives and sent Pilate back to Rome, to answer the accusations of his subordinates (commencement of the year 36). The chief grievance of the latter was that the Procurator would not lend himself with sufficient complacency to their intolerant behests. Vitellius replaced him provisionally by his friend Marcellus, who was undoubtedly more careful not to displease the Jews, and, consequently, more willing to indulge them in their religious murders. The death of Liberius (16 March, 37) only encouraged Vitellius in this policy. The two first years of the reign of Caligula was an epoch of general relaxation of the Roman authority in Syria. The policy of that prince, before he lost his reason, was to restore to the peoples of the East their autonomy and their native chiefs. It was thus that he established the kingdoms or principalities of Comagene, of Herod Agrippa, of Soheym, of Cotys, of Polemon II., and permitted that of HarĂŞth to aggrandise itself. When Pilate arrived at Rome, the new reign had already begun. It is probable that Caligula held him to be in the wrong, inasmuch as he confided the government of Jerusalem to a new functionary, Marcellus, who appears not to have excited, on the part of the Jews, the violent recriminations which overwhelmed poor Pilate with embarrassment, and filled him with disgust. At all events, that which is important to remark is, that in that epoch the persecutors of Christianity were not Romans; they were orthodox Jews. The Romans preserved in the midst of this fanaticism a principle of tolerance and of reason. If we can reproach the imperial authority with anything, it is with being too lenient, and with not having cut short with a stroke the civil consequences of a sanguinary law which visited with death religious derelictions. But as yet the Roman domination was not so complete as it became later; it was only a sort of protectorate or suzerainty. Its condescension even went the
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length of not putting the head of the emperor on the coins struck during the rule of procurators, so as not to shock Jewish ideas. Rome did not yet, in the East at least, seek to impose upon vanquished peoples her laws, her gods, her manners; she left them, outside the Roman laws, their local customs. Their semi-independence was simply a further indication of their inferiority. The imperial power in the East, at that epoch, resembled somewhat the Turkish authority, and the condition of the native population, that under the Rajahs. The notion of equal rights and equal protection for all did not exist. Each provincial group had its jurisdiction, just as at this day the various Christian Churches and the Jews have in the Ottoman Empire, In Turkey, a few years ago, the patriarchs of the different communities of Rajahs, provided that they had some sort of understanding with the Porte, were sovereigns as far as their subordinates were concerned, and could sentence them to the most cruel punishments. As Stephen’s death may have taken place at any time during the years 36, 37, 38, we cannot, therefore, affirm whether Caiaphas ought to be held responsible for it. Caiaphas was deposed by Lucius Vitellius, in the year 36, shortly after the time of Pilate; but the change was inconsiderable. He had for a successor his brother-in-law, Jonathan, son of Hanan. The latter, in turn, was succeeded by his brother Theophilus, son of Hanan, who continued the Pontificate in the house of Hanan till the year 42. Hanna was still alive, and, possessed of the real power, maintained in his family the principles of pride, severity, hatred against innovators which were, so to speak, hereditary. The death of Stephen produced a great impression. The proselytes solemnized his funeral with tears and groaning. The separation of the new secretaries from 80 AD Judaism was not yet absolute. The proselytes and the Hellenists, (more strict in regard to orthodoxy than the pure Jews), considered that they ought to render public homage to a man who respected their constitution, and whose peculiar beliefs did not put him without the pale of the Law. Thus began the era of Christian martyrs. Martyrdom was not an entirely new thing. Not to mention John the Baptist and Jesus, Judaism at the time of Antiochus Epiphanus, had had its witnesses, faithful even to the death. But the series of courageous victims,
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beginning with Saint Stephen, has exercised a peculiar influence upon the history of the human mind. It introduced into the western world an element which it lacked, to wit, absolute and exclusive faith, the idea that there is but one good and true religion. In this sense, the martyrs began the era of intolerance. It may be avouched with great assurance, that he who can give his life for his faith would, if he were master, be intolerant. Christianity, when it had passed through three centuries of persecution, and became, in its turn, dominant, was more persecuting than any religion had ever been. When people have shed their blood for a cause they are too prone to shed the blood of others, so as to conserve the treasure they have gained. The murder of Stephen, moreover, was not an isolated event. Taking advantage of the weakness of the Roman functionaries, the Jews brought to bear upon the Church a real persecution. It seems that the vexations pressed chiefly on the Hellenists and the proselytes whose free behavior exasperated the orthodox. The Church of Jerusalem, which though already strongly organized, was compelled to disperse. The apostles, according to a principle which seems to have seized strong hold of their minds, did not quit the city. It was probably so, too, with the whole purely Jewish group, those who were denominated the “Hebrews.� But the great community with its common table, its diaconal services, its varied exercises, ceased from that time, and was never re-formed upon its first model. It had endured for three or four years. It was for nascent Christianity an unequalled good fortune that its first attempts at association, essentially communistic, were so soon broken up. Essays of this kind engender such shocking abuses, that communistic establishments are condemned to crumble away in a very short time, or to ignore very soon the principle upon which they are founded. Thanks to the persecution of the year 37 the cenobitic Church of Jerusalem was saved from the test of time. It was nipped in the bud, before interior difficulties had undermined it. It remained like a splendid dream, the memory of which animated in their life of trial all those who had formed part of it, like an ideal to which Christianity incessantly aspires without ever succeeding in reaching its goal. Those who know what an inestimable treasure the memory of Menilmontant is to the members still alive of the St. Simonian Church, what friendship it creates between them, what joy kindles in their eyes, when they speak of it,
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will comprehend the powerful bond which was established between the new brethren, from the fact of having first loved and then suffered together. It is almost always a principle of great lives, that during several months they have realized God, and the recollection of this suffices to fill up the entire after-years with strength and sweetness. The leading part in the persecution we have just related belonged to that young Saul, whom we have above found abetting, as far as in him lay, the murder of Stephen. This hot-headed youth, furnished with a permission from the priests, entered houses suspected of harboring Christians, laid violent hold on men and women and dragged them to prison, or before the tribunals. Saul boasted that there was no one of his generation so zealous as himself for the traditions. True it is, that often the gentleness and the resignation of his victims astonished him; he experienced a kind of remorse; he fancied he heard these pious women, whom, hoping for the Kingdom of God, he had cast into prison, saying during the night, in a sweet voice: “Why persecutest thou us?� The blood of Stephen, which had almost smothered him, sometimes troubled his vision. Many things that he had heard said of Jesus went to his heart. This superhuman being, in his ethereal life, whence he sometimes emerged, revealing himself in brief apparitions, haunted him like a specter. But Saul shrunk with horror from such thoughts; he confirmed himself with a sort of frenzy in the faith of his traditions, and meditated new cruelties against those who attacked him. His name had become a terror to the faithful. 1.
Lk 6:22-23
2.
Epistle 10 (to Emperor Trajan), 96 (in Bettenson et al, Documents of the Christian Church, p. 3).
3.
Epistle 76, Ante-Nicene Fathers 5.403.
4.
"The tradition of martyrdom has entered deep into the Christian consciousness." Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of Christianity, Volume I: Beginnings to 1500, rev. ed. (Prince Press, 2000), p. 81.
5.
Mark Galli, "The Persecuting Emperors." Christian History, Issue 27 (Vol. XI, No. 3), p. 20.
6.
Maurice M. Hassatt, "Martyr." The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. IX (Robert Appleton Company, 1910).
7.
Everett Ferguson, "Did You Know?" Christian History, Issue 27 (Vol. XI, No. 3), inside cover.
8.
Robert L. Wilkin, "The Piety of the Persecutors." Christian History, Issue 27 (Vol. XI, No. 3), p. 18.
189 9.
Ibid.
10.
Ibid., p. 19.
11.
Latourette, p. 82.
12.
cf. Augustine, City of God, 18.52.
13.
Henry Bettenson and Chris Maunder, eds., Documents of the Christian Church, 3rd. ed. (Oxford UP, 1999), p. 2.
14.
Tertullian, Ad nat., 1.7.
15.
"Nero." Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service. 2005. "Christianity." Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service. 2005.
16.
Suetonius, Domitian, 15.
17.
Philip Schaff, "Persecutions under Marcus Aurelius. a.d. 161–180." History of the Christian Church, 2.2.20.
18.
William H.C. Frend, "Persecution in the Early Church." Christian History, Issue 27 (Vol. XI, No. 3), p. 7.
19.
Ibid.
20.
Ibid, p. 8.
21.
Ibid., p. 9.
22.
"Decius, Gaius Messius Quintus Trajanus." Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service. 2005.
23.
Maurice M. Hassatt, "Martyr." The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. IX (Robert Appleton Company, 1910).
24.
"Diocletian." Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service. 2005.
25.
Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, 110.
26.
"Apologist." Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service. 2005.
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Digital Books THE WORKS of EPICTETUS. CONSISTING OF HIS DISCOURSES, IN FOUR BOOKS, THE ENCITIRIDION, AND FRAGMENTS. A TRANSLATION FROM THE GREEK ON THAT Ol _ ELIZABETH CARTER, BY THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON. BOSTON: LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. 1865. Title: The Gospel Day Author: Charles Ebert Orr Release Date: February 27, 2009 [Ebook 28208] Language: English A Short History of Christianity By John M Roberson, Watts and Co. 1902 (Photocopied) Absolute Surrender and Other Addresses by Andrew Murray Acts of the Apostles: Background and Commentary Written by Robert Jones Acworth, Georgia © 2009 The ACTS of the APOSTLES and AFTERWARDS By STUART ALLEN THE BEREAN PUBLISHING TRUST 52A WILSON STREET, LONDON, EC2A 2ER, ENGLAND An Exposition of the Books of the Old and New Testaments in Five Volumes
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Ancient History: Containing the The History of the Egyptians, Assryians, Chaldeans, Medes, Lydians, Carthaginians, Persians, Macedonians, The Selecuidae in Syria, and Parthinians In Four Volumes Ante – Nicene Christian Library: Translations of the Writings of the Fathers down to A.D. 325 Edited by Rev. Alexander Roberts, D.D., and James Donaldson, LLD. Vol XXL Edinburg
Historical/Legal Apologetics Dr. Johnson C. Philip & Dr. Saneesh Cherian A Calvin Research Group Academic Resource, Module 003A1 - The Word Of God -- I (The Doctrine Of Inspiration) --Calvin Research Group Academic Resource, Module 005A1 IBID Meet the Apostles: Biblical and Legendary Accounts Written by Robert Jones Acworth, Georgia 1999 Meet the Apostles: Biblical and Legendary Accounts Part Two – After the Twelve Written by Robert Jones Acworth, Georgia © 2001 THE WESTMINSTER LIBRARY: A SERIES OF MANUALS FOR CATHOLIC PRIESTS AND STUDENTS EDITED BY THE RIGHT REV. MGR. BERNARD WARD & THE REV. HERBERT THURSTON Reprinted 1926 American Lectures on the History of Religions series 1911-1912 Apology and Religion Among the Greeks and Romans By Franz Cumont, Ph.D., LL. D. G.P. Putnams’s Sons, New York and London, The Knickerbocker Press, 1912
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A Third Testament by Malcolm Muggeridge A modern pilgrim explores the spiritual wanderings of Augustine, Blake, Pascal, Tolstoy, Bonhoeffer, Kierkegaard, and Dostoevsky This e-book is a publication of Plough Publishing House, Farmington, PA 15437 Copyright © 2007 by Plough Publishing House Farmington, PA 15437 USA From Babylon to Baghdad Ancient Iraq and the Modern West Biblical Archaeology Society 4710 41st Street, NW Washington, DC 20016 © 2009 Biblical Archaeology Society A N I N Q U I R Y I N T O THE SCRIPTURAL IMPORT OF THE WORDS SHEOL, HADES, TARTARUS AND GEHENNA, T R A N S L A T E D H E L L I N T H E C O M M O N E N G L I S H V E R S I O N. B Y W A L T E R B A L F O U R. R E V I S E D, W I T H E S S A Y S A N D N O T E S, B Y O T I S A. S K I N N E R. B O S T O N : P U B L I S H E D B Y A. T O M P K I N S. 1 8 5 4. Books of the New Testament Contributions to Early Christian Literature By Baron Hermann von Soden, D.D. Translated by The Rev. J. R. Wilkinson, M.A. Edited by The Rev. W.D. Morrison, LL.D. Williams & Norgate, New York: G.P. Putnam”s Sons 1907 IN DARKEST ENGLAND and THE WAY OUT by GENERAL WILLIAM BOOTH (this text comes from the 1890 1st ed. pub. The Salvation Army) COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY THE TRUSTEES OF THE PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION AND SABBATH SCHOOL WORK Printed in the United States of America A BRIEF BIBLE HISTORY: A SURVEY OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS JAMES OSCAR BOYD, Ph.D., D.D. and JOHN GRESHAM MACHEN, D.D. PHILADELPHIA, THE WESTMINSTER PRESS 1922
193 COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY THE TRUSTEES OF THE PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION AND SABBATH SCHOOL WORK The Case for America’ Christian Heritage An Illustrated Journey of How Christianity Built America By Gary DeMar American Vision Press Powder Springs, Georgia Copyright © 2009 THE WAY TO PENTECOST By Samuel Chadwick with Words of Commendation by Dr. Clyde W. Meredith, President Taylor University Published by Light and Hope Publications Berne, Indiana, U. S. A. Printed Book Copyright 1937 ORTHODOXY by GILBERT K. CHESTERTON John Lane Company 1908 This book is in the public domain. Scanned by Harry Plantinga A Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century A.D., with an Account of the Principal Sects and Heresies. Creator(s): Wace, Henry (1836-1924) The Mission and Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries By Adolf Harnack Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library 2005-06-15 The Church and the Ministry in the Early Centuries by Thomas M. Lindsay B O S T O N : P U B L I S H E D by A. T O M P K I N S. 1 8 5 4. Commentaries and Annotations of the Holy Scriptures By The Rev. John Hewlett, B.D. London, Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown Cults, Sects, and Heresies by John Edminston Copyright 1997 2000 KeeBo Corp.
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History of Religion by Allan Menzies, D.D. New York, Charles Schribner’s Sons 1917 Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary by Rev. Roswell D. Hitchcock, D.D., LL.D. Book Catalog #0045, Version 1.00 Institutes of Religion by John Calvin Translated from the original Latin by John Allen Photocopied (New York Public Library) A Brief Introduction to Gnostic Texts The Gospel of Mary, the Gospel of Philip, the Apocalypse of Peter, The Letter of Peter to Philip, and the The Gospel of the Egyptians R.A. Baker Ph.D. Ecclesiastical History Israel: An Archaeological Journey © 2009 Biblical Archaeology Society 4710 41st Street, NW Washington, DC 20016 JERUSALEM IN THE NEW TESTAMENT (Originally published in Jerusalem Past and Present in the Purposes of God. P. W. L. Walker, ed., pp. 53–77. (2nd edn. 1994.) Carlisle: Paternoster. Grand Rapids: Baker. Reproduced by permission of the author.) Tom Wright Judaism and Christianity A Sketch of Thought from Old Testament to New Testament By Crawford Howell Toy Boston Little, Brown, and Co. 1892 LANDMARKS IN THE HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY BY KIRSOPP LAKE, D.D.
196 MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON 1920
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197 By Ernest De Witt Burton The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois The Ancient Church Its History, Doctrine, Worship, and Constitution By W.D. [William Dool] Killen Release Date: September 15, 2005 [EBook #16700] Language: English The Book of Religions By John Hayward Release Date: October 24, 2009 [Ebook #30323] Language: English The Historical Geography of the Holy Lands by George Adam Smith Seventeenth edition Hodder and Stoughton New York and London The Imitation of Christ, Book 1 of 4 by Thomas à Kempis, This version was released February 2, 2001 to the Public Domain. The Christian Treasury Edinburg: Johnstone, Hunter, and Co. Melbourne Place London Groombridge and Sons The Early Religion of Israel The Baird Lecture for 1889 by James Robertson, D.D. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire By Edward Gibbon, Esq. by An English Churchman Vol. V. The Origin of Paul’s Religion by J Gresham Machen, D.D. The MacMillan Co. 1921 The Religion of Babylon and Assryia by Theophilus G. Pinches, LL.D. Archibald Constable & Co. Ltd 1906 The Religion of israel to the Fall of the Jewish State by Dr. A. Kunen
198 Translated from the Dutch by Alfred Heath May Williams and Norgate The Religion of the Ancient Greeks: An Explanation of Their Mythology London The Religion of the Hebrews by John Punnett Peters, Ph.D., SC. D., D.D. Boston and London Ginn and Company, Publishers 1914 The Soul of the Indian: An Interpretation by Charles Alexander Eastman Houghton Mifflin Company; The Riverside Press Cambridge 1911 The Spirit of God by P.C. Mozoomdar Second Edition Boston 1898
The Swedenborg Library Vil. VIII edited by B.F. Barrett From The Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg Philadelphia E. Claxton and Co. - True Christian Religion 1907 The American Swedenborg Printing and Publishing Society The Religion of the Primitives by Rev. Alexander Le Roy Translated by Newton Thompson The MacMillan Co. 1922 The Vanishing Race : The last Great Indian Council written and illustrated by Dr. Joseph K. Dixon Garden City New York, Doubleday, Page and Co. 1908 The Whole Works of Rev. James Ussher, D.D. by Charles Richard Elrington, D.D. Dublin Hodges and Smith MDCCCXLVII THE AWAKENING: O N E M A N ’ S B A T T L E W I T H D A R K N E S S THE PLOUGH PUBLISHNG HOUSE By Friedrich Zuendel The Awakening is based on three chapters (“Der Kampf,” “Die Bussbewegung,” and “Die Wunder”) from Friedrich Zuendel’s biography Johann Christoph Blumhardt, Zürich, Verlag S. Höhr, 1880.
199 The Burial of Jesus Staff for this book: Kathleen E. Miller, Sara Murphy, Steven Feldman, Susan Laden Cover: “Scenes from the Life of Christ: Entombment.” 15th century illuminated manuscript. Jean Colombe Pol de Limbourg. Photo by Erich Lessing Typesetting by Scribe, Inc. © 2007 The Ancient Church: Its History, Doctrine, Worship, and Constitution By W.D. [William Dool] Killen Release Date: September 24, 2005 [EBook #16700] Language: English United, yet Divided By Charles H. Welch A Key to Holy Scripture THE BEREAN PUBLISHING TRUST ISBN 0 85156 155 1 First Published 1919, Reprinted 1957,1962,1965,1970, 1993, 1997 www.abouthumanevolution.net San Diego Museum of Man Footsteps Through Time - Four Million Years of Human Evolution YOU CAN’T STOP PROGRESS Exploring Technology Through the Ages A Study Guide for the Time Tunnel The Hidden Christ:Taking the Gospel into the World by Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt Excerpts from Christus in der Welt by C F Blumhardt, Zwingli Verlag, Zurich, 1958 This e-book is a publication of Plough Publishing House, Farmington, PA
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The New Strong’s Complete Dictionary of Bible Words Introduced by John R. Kohlenberger, III Thomas Nelson 1996 Early Christian Missions by Schnabel, Echard J. 2004 Turning points: Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity by Noll, Mark A. 2001 A Concise History of the Middle East by Goldschmidt & Davidson 2009 Palestine in the Time of Jesus by Hanson, Oakman and Schrader 2008 Ancient Christian Doctrine by Gerald L. Bray 2009 Keepers of the Keys of Heaven by Roger Collins 2009 Introducing Early Christianity by Laurie Guy 2004 A Concise History of the Christian World Mission by J. Herbert Kane 1997 Introduction to The History of Christianity by Dowley, Briggs, Linder and Wright 2002 Judaism: Revelation of Moses or Religion of Men by Philip Neal 2010
201 Decoding Early Christianity: Truth and Legend in the early Church by Houlden, Hall, Gould and Need 2007 The Emergence of Christianity by Cynthia White 2007 Christianity Through the Centuries by Earl E. Cairns 1996 Heresies by O.J. Brown 1998 Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History by C. F. Crase 1998 The World of Josephus by William Whiston 1980 Great Controversies of the Bible by Robert Ramia-Enriquez 2010 Reformation in Foreign Missions by Bob Finley 2005 The Complete Works of Philo by C.D. Yonge 1997 Dictionary of biblical Imagery by Leland Ryken 1998 Ancient Christian Commentary on Scriptures by Arthur Just, Jr. 2003 Exploring the New Testament Vol. 1 by Wenham and Walton 2005 New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures by NWBT Committee 1984 America’s Christian History by Gary De Mar 2007 1599 Geneva Bible Patriots Edition by Geneva Translations 2010 Handbook of Christian Apologetics by Kreeft and Tacelli 1994 Ancient Wells of Living Water by Rod Parsley 2003 The Lopsided Spread of Christianity by Robert Montgomery 2001 Introduction to the New Testament by Carson and Moo 2005 Church History Vol. 1 by Everett Ferguson 2005 Clay in the Potters Hand by Dorothy Sun 2006 Where is the True Church by Garner Ted Armstrong 1982
202 Genesis 1-11 by David J. Atkinson 1990 Jesus and the Rise of Early Christianity by Paul Barnett 2002 The History of Christian Thought by Jonathan Hill 2007 The Holy Bible in its Original Order by Fred R. Coulter 2008 Old Scofield Study Bible by C. I. Scofield 1999 KJV Bible 1769 Edition by Collins World Publishers 1968
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204 Project MUSE - Journal of Early Christian Studies - Volume 18, Number 1, Spring 2010 Early Christian Studies : University of Notre Dame The Johns Hopkins University Press Classics Links The Oxford handbook of early ... - Google Books Centre for Early Christian Studies Early Church History 101 - early christian church history, the early church fathers, church history for beginners, the New Testament Canon, wine in the bible, ancient world, water baptism, first century, second century, third century, RA Baker, Al Baker, Alan Baker, Dr. Al Baker, Dr. Christopher Craun, Chris Craun, Dr. David Hogg, Dave Hogg Early Christian History Home Page Paul Halsall/Fordham University: Internet History Sourcebooks Project Christian History Timeline History of the Early Church - Early Church.com Church History from Jesus to Constantine-- A.D. 30-313 Early Christian Resources Early Christian Open Directory - Society: Religion and Spirituality: Christianity: Church History: Early Christian Writings Preparing the Ground for Christianity – "Pick'n'Mix" of the Ancient World complex world of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd century christians - Google Search Sketches of Jewish Social Life | Christian Classics Ethereal Library Mission and Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries | Christian Classics Ethereal Library Church and the Ministry in the Early Centuries | Christian Classics Ethereal Library Early Years of Christianity: The Apostolic Era. | Christian Classics Ethereal Library
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207 A Source Book for Ancient Church History ANF03. Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian | Christian Classics Ethereal Library The Baldwin Project: The Early Church, from Ignatius to Augustine by George Hodges The Baldwin Project: Eighteen Christian Centuries by James White THE BRITISH LIBRARY - The world's knowledge Sacred texts - complete list Worthy Christian Library Links (Von's Books: Free Online Christian Fantasy and Science Fiction.) IPBE LIBRARY OWEN Gospel Grounds IPBE LIBRARY Early Church Docs Philologos | The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah | Contents A Commentary on the New Testament Building Faith in Christ through sermons, biblical studies and reason. Christian History & Theology Adult Sunday School Courses CIN - Nestorius and the Chaldeaeans Building Blocks of Early British History St. Pachomius Library Heresy - Early Church Heresies and Heretics Early Church.org.uk Church Suppression of Paganism and Astrology FRONTLINE: from jesus to christ: why did christianity succeed?: the rise of christianity: sociology | PBS APOLOGISTS IN THE EARLY CHURCH The Apostasy From the Primitive Church
208 Ancient History Items Challenging the Cults: History of the Cults Christian Ethics BibleLessons.com Apostles & Prophets 46 Image Occurrences of Artifact Parthenon Frieze History of the Jews, Vol. 2: From the Reign of Hyrcanus (135 B.C.E.) to the Completion of the Babylonian Talmud (500 C.E.) -- Heinrich Graetz -- History -- ONLINE, OFFLINE, PDF, FREE BOOK PREVIEW -- -- Welcome to eBookShuk.com -- Jewish books, encyclopedia you can read, search, copy, print, and mor Did Christianity Borrow From Pagan Religions? - Probe Ministries Early Christianity Book Publishing: Christian Book Publishers The Earliest Christian Artifacts: Manuscripts and Christian Origins - page 2 | Theological Studies Manuscripts: Bible History - Bible History Links (Ancient Biblical Studies) Jerusalem Perspective Online > Home ORB: Magic Preliminary Discussion Christian Heresy Hall of Church History—The Heretics History of Christianity - ReligionFacts The Early Church http://wolf.mind.net/library/libindex.htm Ancient Texts Library Greek and Roman Materials Public Education Programs 2008-Institute of History, Archaeology and Education
209 Sovereign Potter Bible World History Bible Dr Denis Says... - Bravenet Blog Browse call numbers: BR | The Online Books Page India Trip 2010 - North Park University - Christian, Urban, Multicultural Welcome to World Religions Index Welcome to The Come Reason Web Site - Come Reason Ministries Bible/NT/Early Christianity Early Church History - Cutting Edge Ministries March of the Titans Parchment and Pen » Books THE TRUTH ABOUT THE BURNING TIMES Cult Dynamics by Sword of the Spirit Apologetics Heresy in the Apostolic Church (No. 89) Didaskalos Ministries DM026_3.htm The Barbarian Conversion: From Paganism to Christianity - Richard A. Fletcher Shadow of the Third Century SBL Publications East of the Euphrates: Early Christianity in Asia The Heresy of Orthodoxy – Part 3 « Earliest Christianity Discovery of earliest illuminated manuscript | The Art Newspaper Institute for Scripture Research signifyingscriptures.org - Home
210 Medieval Witches: From Pagan Practice to Witchhunts Neo-Pagan Witchcraft vs Satanism The Cauldron - Witchcraft, Paganism & Folklore. Witches of Ancient Greece and Rome Pilgrimage to Heresy - Home Witchcraft in the church A BRIEF HISTORY OF PAGANISM by Paul DeRienzo DISCUSSION ON WITCHCRAFT, WICCA NEO-PAGANISM AND AFRICAN TRADITIONS Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History CHURCH FATHERS: Home TheologyWebsite.com Library of Congress Home An Early Christian Eucharist | Christian History Ancient Historians - Who Were the Ancient Historians? The Incarnation: Christian Writers of the Second Century Jesus as God in the Second Century TorahCommandments.com - Hebrew Heritage Learning Center Resource Pages for Biblical Studies, main page The New Testament Gateway | NTGateway.com | Dr Mark Goodacre NOBTS - Welcome to the Center for New Testament Textual Studies Codex Sinaiticus - Home Philemon Holland's Pliny Canaanite Phoenician Religion Phoenician Encyclopedia: A Bequest Unearthed, Phoenicia and the Phoenicians, Punic, Canaanites -- Encyclopedia Phoeniciana
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