The Divisions of Church History

Definition: Church History is the history of the application to human nature of the principles taught by Jesus Christ, and the perversion of those principles.

The history is not simply collection of facts (even though facts are extremely important) or academic exercise in remembering of facts, but also interpretation, lessons we can n learn from the facts. Somebody said: “Those who don’t learn from history will repeat it.”

Church history shows how The Holy Spirit worked thru the history and it can be encouragement for us. We can connect past and present, and find meaning for our present work and life as a Christian.

If we know our past we can understand our present better. Different beliefs and liturgical practices become more understandable in the light of past history.

Church history helps us to correct evils within the church and avoid errors. The present is usually product of the past and the seed of the future. Ignorance of the Bible and the history of the Church is major reason why many advocate false theologies or bad practices. “There is nothing new under the sun” the Scripture says.

Church history also offers edification, inspiration or enthusiasm that will stimulate high spiritual life.

“For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that through patience and through comfort of the scriptures we might have hope”. (Rom 15:4)

The reading of the Church history has many practical values for the Christian worker, be he evangelist, pastor or teacher. Many church doctrines are better understood in the light of their history.

Church history can be very important in interpretation of the Scripture (hermeneutics).

Dictators always altered history in order to propagate their ideas. Studying the History of the Church give freedom and meaning for us as Christians.

“The man who has steadied the history of the Church will never again be denominationally provincial. He will sense the unity of the true Body of Christ throughout the ages. He will also be humble as he encounters the giants of his spiritual past and realizes how much he owes to them. He will become more tolerant of those who differ with him on non-essentials but who, with him, accept the great basic doctrines of Faith, such us the vicarious death and resurrection of Christ, which were emphasized by Paul in I Cor. 15:3-4.”[1]

Israeli people we encouraged by God to learn and remember their history. It was extremely important for their faith. In their songs, rituals and worship they did things to remind them of their past, especially how God led them to that time. The Bible itself is a historical book: yet the key to the Bible story is God working in His people. The same true for us Christians.

It has to be noticed that periodization of church history is an artificial device to separate data in history into segment to help the student.

God prepared the world for the coming of Christ and Christianity which followed.

“When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” (Galatians 4:4,5)

Cf. Isaiah 44:28 “That saith of Cyrus, he is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure...”

Cf. Isaiah 45:1 “ Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand have I holden, to subdue nations before him....”

These prophesies were given 150 years before Cyrus was even born, much less been made King of Persia. This illustrates God’s sovereignty in planning and knowing human history in advance, and also in using whom He will at a moment in time, to accomplish HIS PLAN.

· The sense of unity: the empire was an object lesson of government over many nations. So Christianity could rule all men’s lives.

· Universal language. Te Koine for the Greco–Roman world. This facilitated preaching and the writing of the Word of God in a common dialect.

They believed in morality, there are things that are right and wrong, while for Romans whatever worked – was right.

It can be said that Greeks came as close to idea of God as man in his ability could (without the revelation of God).

Notice different teaching style of the Greek and the Jews. Jewish teaches would live with their disciples and would teach they on the go while Greeks would have them sit in a class room and write down what the teacher had to say. Also Greek language had better developed system of expressing abstract concepts, why Jewish scholars would express their concepts using stories. They have more precise words for abstract concepts (which was beneficial for the development of theology).

Chief characteristic of the Greeks was their thirst for wisdom - 1Cor. 1:22-23; Acts 17:21

While Romans and Greeks provided more negative religious contribution (their religions were empty systems of beliefs with no meaning), Jews provided more positive and intimate contribution.

Notice that Greeks as well as Romans had always a lot of respect for the Jewish religion. They always knew that there was something special and significantly different about Jewish God.

- Worship of the old Roman and Greek gods had waned. Caesar Augustus tried to bring state worship which developed into veneration of past and reigning Emperors.

- Greek philosophies had failed. Epicureanism (341 - 270 B.C - and Stoicism (340 -265 B.C.) were either too superficial or too lacking in human sympathy to meet the real needs of man.

- The age was decadent - morality had become lax and vice prevailed. The tendency of society was steadily downward.

The disciples’ task was: "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth. ”" (Acts 1:8 NASB)

Disciples were devoted Jews and naturally they saw church exclusively in Jewish context. It is not surprising that many Jewish Christians back than understood that a Gentile first would have to become a Jew and than he could a Christian. In fact, when first pagans got saved, they did not know what to do with them (in some similar ways we don’t know what to do with Jewish Christians today).

· Church was founded in Jerusalem first. It was a natural center of Jewish life.

· The gospel was preached to Samaritans (who were of Jewish and pagan origin). Philips visit to Samaria (Acts 8:5-25).

· At that time God makes fundamental shift in the mind of one of the outstanding leader of the Early Church – Apostle Peter about caring the Gospel to the Gentiles.

When decision was made that gentiles don’t have to be converted to Judaism first before they become Christians it released gentile churches from Jewish control. After Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 it was not longer looked as the center of Christianity. This removed the possible danger that Christianity might never outgrow the swaddling of Judaism.

Notice: When there was persecution (after death of Stephen) in Jerusalem, Christians spread in the country, and kept preaching the Gospel.

But the main task of taking the gospel to the Gentiles lay upon shoulders of the Apostle Paul.

At that time big church grows in Antioch, the Christians first were called “Christians”.

Paul was the key man to spread the Gospel beyond the boundaries of Palestine. Not only he went to preach, he also developed doctrinal base for this endeavor. Note: he never forgot his fellow Jews. In every new place he went he would go to synagogue first. It was not only Paul who went with the good news to other nations, as the church became more gentile phenomena all the apostles went to all the places they could.

· In order for the Gospel to be preached to the Gentiles serious shift had to be made in the mind of many Christians of the time. They have to move from essentially Judaism to Christian doctrine. They were all Jews, devoted Jews. They had their Jewish mind set. Very serious move had to be made on their part.

· The man who could make such a move was Apostle Paul (man-bridge). Notice his unique loyalties:

§ He had the best Jewish education a person could get at the time. He was trained at the feet of Gamaliel.

§ He was also a citizen of Tarsus, gentile city. He knew the Greek culture, philosophy, mind set.

§ He was naturally born Roman citizen. Which he could use later to his advantage.

· When he was called up for the ministry, Paul became the propagator of the Gospel. He was fulfilling the great commission for the church given by Christ. He was trying to preach at the places were nobody preached before. While the missionary ministry of the other disciples was more spontaneous, Paul was different in following:

Notice: many problems Paul dealt with in the first century are still relevant today. Probably more important, be believe that they were inspired by the Holy Spirit.

§ Not the Law (fulfillment off), but the Cross of Christ (His redemptive death) is the base of our salvation

· Paul rejected the cyclical theory of history, but he saw cataclysmic supernatural view of history that takes into account unregenerate man’s failure and God’s power to fulfill His divine plan.

· Paul was polemist, he fought for the purity of Christian doctrine of the day.

§ He fought Judaizers on one hand (very narrow Jewish view of Christianity) (legalism)

· Jerusalem council was probably the most important council in the history of the Christian church. Paul would never forget the lesson of that council.

While other of the disciple’s work is mentioned briefly in the book of Acts, it is Paul’s work which dominates from Chapter 13 to Chapter 28. His missionary journeys demonstrate his great heart of love for those whom his Lord came to save. Paul desired to take it to all people. He stood before kings, queens, ambassadors, governors and local rulers in his desire to spread God’s word.

While he was going forward in Asia Minor other disciples were spreading God’s word and power around Palestine, Arabia and the Mediterranean Sea and its islands. Africa heard,and Europe. Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria became centers of Christianity in the Mediterranean areas, and Constantinople and Rome became centers within the Roman Empire. These latter two would become the issue of conflicts that reach into our time today 1900 years later as we enter the new millennium.

The growth of the church was phenomenal, “the Lord adding daily such as should be saved.” The known “civilized” world was reach in one generation.

During this first generation of the Church, the great writings of the Apostles, especially Paul, Peter, John, Jude, and Luke became circulated, read and known amongst the churches and believers. These writings, along with the already accepted canon of Jewish Scripture we know as the Old Testament, have become our “BIBLE.”

Luke tells us that numerous Gospels were written at that day. There was a lot of writing by Christian authors. The writings of the Fathers do much to fill the gap in historical knowledge between the New Testament period and the latter part of the fourth century. The leading men of the Church, by pen as well as by voice, formulated apologetic and polemical literature as they faced external persecution and internal heresy.

· There is reasonable assurance that the writings of the New Testament were completed just before the end of the first century.

· Men who knew the apostles and apostolic doctrine continued writing Christian literature. The name “Father of the Church” has its origin in the use of the name “father”, which was given to bishops, especially in the West, to express affectionate loyalty. It was increasingly used from the third century. These men were usually bishops. There are certain characteristics appear in their writings:

§ Beside Origen or Clement of Alexandria they influenced very little by the philosophy of the day

§ They had a great reverence for the Old Testament, and they leaned heavily on it in developing their ideas

§ Clement of Rome in his epistles stresses exalted position of the bishops or elders in the church at the end of the first century. Obedience to the bishop is to be the practical guarantee of Christian unity.

They are elected by Christ through the Holy Spirit. Their main purpose is to guard the main truth of the Gospel. There were four or five offices specified by Ap. Paul: Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and/or teachers. Many think that pastor and teacher may be designations of the same man.

Apostles were personally chosen by Christ and were personal witnesses of His Life, Death and Resurrection. [i]

Prophets seem to be one of the prominent offices of the early church. They proclaimed and preached the Gospel, revealed hidden truth, and foretold the future.

These elected by the people (with a prayer and guidance of the Holy Spirit) and tied to a local church. These offices grew by divisions and functions according to the growth of the church.

The growth of the monarchial bishop did not come until after the end of the apostolic age in the second century.

The main task seems to be conduct of public worship (1 Tim. 5:17; Titus 1:5-9) along with responsibility for the good government and orderly discipline of the church.

The deacons cared for the poor and looked after the temporal needs of the church. For their qualifications see Acts 6:3, 1Tim. 3:8-14.They were also aiding elders in serving of the elements of the communion.

Worship is the upward reach of the human spirit through religious exercises that bring the soul into the presence of God.

Corporate worship always had special meaning for Christians. There were some concerns expressed by Paul regarding worship service in Corinthian church (1 Cor. 14:40).

Early Christians did not think of a church as a place of worship, but church signified a body of people in personal relationship with Christ. They met in homes, the temple, public auditoriums, and in the synagogues when they were permitted to do so. The place was not as important as the matter of meeting for fellowship with one another and for worship of God.

During the first century two cervices were held on the first day of the week. That day was selected as the day of worship because it was the Day of Resurrection of Christ (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2; Rev. 1:10).

§ The morning service most likely included the reading of the Scripture (Col. 3:16)

§ During evening service they would have agape (love feast, 1 Cor. 11:20-22) first

By the end of the first century the agape feast was generally dropped, and communion was moved to the morning service.

Pliny described the Christians to Trajan as those who met before daybreak, sang hymns and took vows to lead an ethical life.

Lords supper and Baptism were two sacraments that the early church used, and they were instituted by Christ.

1. Baptism - the outward sign of an inward cleansing the sign of discipleship. (Matt. 28:19)

Immersion seems to have been widely practiced in the first century, but, according to Didache, baptism could be performed by pouring water or large amount of water were available. Only baptized could take part in the Communion.

2. The Lord’s Supper - instituted to commemorate Christ’s atoning work on Calvary, to be continued UNTIL HE COMES. (1 Cor. 11:23-33)

This was a period after the apostles. The church had to fight persecution form outside and heresies from inside. It was very critical period for the church yet it had passed it with flying colors.

As the church became distinguished from Judaism it became “illegal religion”, which was considered a threat to the safety of the Roman state. Romans were suspicious of anybody who would consider something more authoritative than the state.

Christians refused to offer incense on the altars devoted to the genius of the Roman emperor. The very purpose of that procedure was to propagate unity within the state. Many Christian meeting were conducted in secret which would bring up Roman suspicions.

Some Romans considered Christians to be atheists, because they worshiped invisible God. There were all kinds of rumors generated about Christians. They were accused of incest, cannibalism and unnatural practices. Some said they were worshiping donkey’s head, ate infants in sacrifice.

Christians had a great appeal to the lower classes and slaves and were hated by the influential aristocratic leaders of society.

They propagated equality of all people, which could be seen as a threat to the slave-owners, and total social order.

Christians separated themselves from the social amoral life. Temples were full of prostitutes. Christian moral lifestyle was a silent rebuke to the people of the Roman Empire.

There was a great industry developed around Roman and Greek religions. Christians created a threat to those industries (Acts 19:27).

After the year 250 there were many troubles in the empire. Christians were to be blamed for plague, famine and civic unrest. Supposedly people were turning form god’s that is why all these troubles were coming about.

Nero blamed the Christians for the burning of Rome in order to divert suspicion from himself. With refined cruelty he baptized in the blood of the martyrs the city which was to be for centuries the capital of the world. Christians were mangled by vicious dogs, thrown to wild beasts, covered with pitch and lit on fire for illumination at night in Nero’s gardens, or covered with skins of wild animals and then thrown into the amphitheater to die in front of 20,000 spectators who delighted in seeing blood flow.

1) Christianity increased as many unbelievers witnessed such faith and constancy and turned to Christ.

· Even during the periods of heaviest persecution Christianity was spreading. The “blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church.”

· In apostolic era in first century Christians predominantly spread in the Easter part of the empire. By the end of the second century one could find them throughout the empire.

· They estimate that size of the church by 250 was around 5-12% of the general population of the empire.

· Creation of the New Testament canon was forced upon the church by Diocletian persecution. Christians wanted to be sure the books they had to die for and protect the most were really canonical books.

· Persecution cast the lings on the issue of the relations of the church and state. The Christian was to be obedient to the state so long as it did not ask him to violate his moral and spiritual allegiance to God. Other than that they were probably the best citizens of the state.

Some of these controversies were mostly over systems that partly were Christian, but others were purely infidel and pagan. It would seem that every argument voiced against Christianity is anticipated in these early centuries. Every heresy today has some roots in one of the heresies of the early church. Apostle Paul foresaw rise of the heresies after his death: "I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them." (Acts 20:29 - 30 NASB)

· Judaism - Paul contended vigorously here in his epistles to the Romans and Galatians.

· Ebionism - a mixture of Judaism and Christianity. They believed that Jesus was a man who became Messiah by fulfilling the Law, therefore denying the Divinity of Christ.

They upheld Matthew’s gospel and rejected Paul’s writings. After Bar Cocheba rebellion of

Jews between 132-135 when Jerusalem was completely destroyed they ceased to have much influence.

Far greater threat to Christianity came from Greek philosophy. Many people attempted to make

Christianity a system of philosophy. If they would had been successful Christianity would became one

of the mystery Greek religions of the day. There were numerous Gnostic sects with special doctrines of their own.

It was one of the greatest threats with peak of its power in 150. It was not a unified system by any means. There were many versions and forms of that heresy. We don’t know exact origins of that heresy, while Christian tradition relates the origin of Gnosticism to the Simon Magus in the book of Acts (Acts 8:9).

· They believed in dualism of good and evil in the universe (spirit and matter).

· Therefore Jesus could not have had a material body, He was a phantom with seeming appearance of human body or Christ came upon human body for a short time. Also God could not had created men and the universe (matter).

· Christ had conveyed special gnosis or knowledge that would help man to save himself by an intellectual process.

· Salvation was only for the soul. Body was evil and therefore had to kept under strict ascetic practices.

This heresy had some development in Egypt. But the most influential group was in Rome founded by Marcion who came to Rome in about 138. He felt that Judaism was evil and he hated Jewish scriptures and Jehovah of the Old Testament.

§ Took the Pauline epistles and part of the book of Luke as their “Bible”. He created his own “cannon.”

He was expelled from the Roman church and founded his own church. He laid seeds of anti-Semitism in early church. However, unwillingly he contributed to the church, because the church, in self-defense was forced to create canon of authoritative books.

He developed a unique philosophical system in the middle of the third century in Mesopotamia. It was a mixture of Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and Zoroastrianism. Mani proclaimed himself the successor of Buddha, Zoroaster, and Jesus.

It was mystical philosophy. Plotinus was its founder with his school in Rome. The world is an overflow of God and its ultimate goal is re-absorption in God. The Emperor Julian (361-363), who was known as “the Apostate” embraced Neoplatonism and wanted to make it a religion of the empire.

Montanism emerged in Phrygia in 155. It was mostly Christian and it was a reaction to formalism in the church. Around year 170 he proclaimed that he was a prophet and claimed that he would lead people into “all the truth.” Soon he was joined by two women Priscilla and Maximilla. In the state of ecstasy they were uttering oracles or prophecies. They proclaimed the message of the speedy return of Christ. Montanists believed that in him the dispensation of the Holy Ghost started, and the world would shortly come to an end. Montanism was condemned at the Council of Constantinople in 381, and they were declared to be pagans. But Tertullian, one of the greatest church fathers, liked them and became Montanist.

It reminds us today that church should not just pursue purity of doctrine, also care about emotional needs of people.

Monarchianism was and attempt to preserve unity of God. During third century it was preached by Paul of Samosata in Antioch. In essence they rejected unique personality of Christ. They believed trinity was manifestation of forms rather than of essence. It was an Early Church equivalent of modern Unitarianism.

Easter controversy developed in about the middle of the second century about proper date to celebrate Easter. The church in the East held that Easter should be celebrated on the fourteenth of day of Nisan, the date of the Passover according to the Jewish calendar, not matter what day of the week it fell upon. Polycarp of Asia was opposed in this view Roman Bishop Anicetus, who believed the Easter should be celebrated on the Sunday following the fourteenth of Nisan. Western view point was adopted at the Council of Nicaea in 325.

Donatist controversy developed after 300 as result of the persecution of the Church by Diocletian. Most of it centered in North Africa. In 311 a churchman named Donatus wanted to exclude Caecilian, who was accused of being a traitor, from his office as bishop of Carthage, because Caecilian nad been consecrated by Felix, who had been a traitor during the Diocletian persecution. Donatus argued that the failure to remain true during the persecution invalidated the power of Felix to ordain because he thus committed an unpardonable sin. A synod help at Rome decided that the validity of sacrament does not depend on the character of the one administering the sacrament.

· The necessity to answer to false theologies stimulated development of Christian theology.

· The position of the bishop was strengthened by the emphasis on his office as a rallying point against heresy and error.

False teachings arose (1) through the attempts of ambitious men to assert their authority, or (2) through the overemphasis and consequent misinterpretation of certain Scriptures, or (3) through loveless treatment of the erring minority by the Church. These did not finally weaken the church, but forced it to think out its beliefs and to develop organization.

During second and third century new Christian this literary style was developed. Greatest of the apologists was Justin Martyr and Irenaeus was an outstanding polemists.

Apologists tried to convince the leaders of the state that Christians had done nothing to deserve the persecution being inflicted upon them. Polemists were dealing with the heresies of the day.

This Emperor made an attempt to restore paganism. He did not resort to the sword, but to the pen, for he was a writer. He labored in vain. Polytheism in the Empire was dead. Dying on a battlefield, he recognized his failure and said “you have conquered, Galilean!”

It was not until the reign of Theodosius the Great (379 - 395) that pagan worship was abolished and it became a crime to enter a pagan temple. The penalty was death. Now, the persecuted had become the persecutors.

While this freedom gave the Church easy access to the whole of the Empire, it started the conflict between Church and State which continues to this day.

1. Ulfilas (313 - 383) - Missionary to the Goths around the lower Danube River areas. He translated a large part of the Bible into their language, as he had devised an alphabet for it.

2. Patrick - (389 - 461) - Apostle to Ireland. He established Christianity apart from Rome. Finian of Clonard gave Ireland a form of monasticism that was distinctly Missionary (in emphasis).

4. Columba (521 - 597) - a missionary Monk from Ireland who settled on the Island of IONA. From there he and his missionaries won Northern Scotland. Other missions were then reaching England, France, Germany, and Switzerland.

Churches separated from the “Catholic Church” - these separate churches were caused by unresolved theological disputes, mostly over the nature of Christ issue.

1. The Nestorians - undoubtedly Christians but banished by the controversy in the Council of Ephesus in 431. Nestorius was banished to Persia. He and his followers organized the Nestorian Church headed by an Archbishop who later became “Patriarch of the East”. They had a real missionary zeal and vision. (The controversy at the council of Ephesus was over the question of the title of Mary as the “Mother of God” or as the “Mother of Christ.” Nestorius believed that she was the “Mother of Christ.”)

2. The Monophysites -held that in Christ there was only one nature, instead of two, as the Council of Chalcedon had declared. Out of this Church came the:

3. The Monothelites -held that there was two natures in Christ, but only one governing His life. This doctrine was condemned in the 6^th General Council of Constantinople in 680.

Constantinople (381) – to assert the personality of the Holy Spirit and the humanity of Christ

Creeds have usually emerged during major turning points in the history of the church, particularly four critical periods when it was necessary for the church to differentiate itself from others in its environment. The first such turning point was Israel’s division from the nations in her exodus from Egypt. Moses defined Israel’s monotheistic faith in the shema of Deuteronomy 5 (“Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord”)

The second turning point came with Christ. Writers of the New Testament were concerned to distinguish the infant church’s understanding of Christ from the views of its Jewish mother, and they often incorporated short summaries of that faith in their writings.

The ecumenical creeds represent the ways in which the ancient church defined its faith in a Gentile world rich in competing philosophies and religions. And the Reformed confessions show how this branch of Protestantism differentiated itself not only from Roman Catholicism, but also from the other families of Protestant churches.

The Apostle’s Creed was not written by the apostles; it is the culmination of several centuries of reflection on the meaning of the Christian faith. The ancient church used this Creed to identify believers, to instruct new converts, and to provide a unifying confession of faith for worship and liturgy.

The Nicene Creed is the church’s response, partly based on the Apostles’ Creed to a particularly dangerous set of teachings (Arianism) which would have masked the identity of Christ. And, because its unique phrases are meant more to defend than explain the faith; the Nicene Creed has always been used more for teaching than for worship.

The Athanasian Creed (quite certainly Athanasius did not write it) is the latest of the ecumenical creeds, dating back to the early dark ages. Though seldom used in worship, it is one of the clearest definitions of the Trinity and the incarnation ever written.

1. Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith;

2. Which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, with out doubt he shall perish everlastingly.

3. And the catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity;

5. For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit.

6. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is all one, the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal.

9. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Spirit incomprehensible.

12. As also there are not three uncreated nor three incomprehensible, but one uncreated and one incomprehensible.

13. So like wise the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Spirit almighty;

19. For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every person by himself to be God and Lord;

20. So are we forbidden by the catholic religion to say: There are three Gods or three Lords.

23. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding. 24. So there is one Father, not three Fathers,; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits.

25. And in this Trinity none is afore, or after another; none is greater, or less than another.

27. So that in all things, as aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshiped.

29. Furthermore it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

30. For the right faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man.

31. God of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds;; and man of the substance of His mother, born in the world.

32. Perfect God and perfect man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting.

33. Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood.

35. One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of the manhood into God.

37. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ;

38. Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead;

39. He ascended into heaven, He sitteth on the right hand of the Father, God Almighty;

43. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting, and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.

44. This is the catholic faith, which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved.

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from True God, Begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us and for out salvation He came down from heaven: by the power of the a Holy Spirit He became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;

He suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, And his kingdom shall have no end.

We Believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.

We look for the resurrection of the dead And the life of the world to come. Amen.

a. Clement of Rome (30 - 100) is said to have been Bishop of Rome (92 - 100 AD.) His “first Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians” contains whole chapters of the Old Testament (Psalms 51 and Isaiah 53) with quotes from 12 books of the New Testament which proves the early writings of the New Testament Scriptures.

b. Ignatius (about 30 - 116) Bishop of Antioch who guided the Church through the persecution of Domitian and became a martyr under Trajan’s persecution. His writings abound in quotes from all of Paul’s epistles and from I Peter. He stressed the doctrine of the virgin birth.

c. Polycarp (70 - 155) Bishop of Smyrna and friend of Ignatius. His letter to the Philippians is the only writing of his that is extant. He quoted from 10 of Paul’s epistles and from 5 other New Testament books, strong evidence that those writings existed in his day.

They developed theology in many ways we know it today. They applied scientific approach to the Scripture.

5) Augustine (345 - 430) The theologian (p. 155). Made some significant errors – p. 161.

o Placed great emphasis upon salvation from original and actual sin as result of grace (that is why Protestants looked upon him as forerunner of Reformation)

o Emphasized church as a visible institution with the true creed, sacraments and ministry (that’s why the Roman Church looks upon him as the father of Roman ecclesiasticism).

o He insisted on the whole tenor of Scripture in interpreting a part of Scripture

o Negatively he helped to develop the doctrine of purgatory with all its attendant evils.

o Negatively He also emphasized the value of the two sacraments that the doctrine of baptismal regeneration and sacramental grace were logical outcomes of his views.

o Negatively his interpretation of millennium as the era between the Incarnation and Second Advent of Christ in which church would conquer the world led to the Roman emphasis upon the Church of Rome as the universal Church destined to bring all within its fold.

o Between Paul and Luther the church had no one of greater moral and spiritual stature than Augustine

The early Church was organized in such a way that all members of each congregation played an active role in the Church’s life. The early Church had within her membership, a variety of people with different spiritual gifts that were profitable to the entire local body of believers. The two main areas of gift-function were those Christians who guided and labored in the Word of God, and those who participated in the various congregational ministries of I Corinthians 12:4-11 and Romans 12:3-8. The following is a list of the various ministries as contained in these chapters:

There were many in the early Church who operated in these different realms of the Spirit, but they did not necessarily have names of titles. This was because the early Church considered the work or ministry that was being accomplished much more important than a title, office, or position given to the person that functioned by the grace of God in a certain area of ministry.

Unfortunately, today, because the Church has lost so much of her spontaneous, God-given power of the Holy Spirit in her daily walk, she tends to depend more on the strength and power that accompanies a title, office, or position, rather than experiencing the obvious power of God’s Spirit who needs no long introductions or apologies for His work. The work was more important than the rank, and the early Church put her emphasis on the function of the saints of God rather than on their official position.

The early Church chose out from among her members, those already manifesting the wisdom, character, and anointing of the Lord upon their lives. (Eg. Acts 6:3 and the choosing of the deacons). In this way, the early apostles underscored the principle that it is the man who sanctifies the office and not necessarily the office that sanctifies the man. The Church today would do well to choose out from among her, those who are already functioning in the area of their calling, rather than possibly laying “empty hands on empty heads” and expecting the “dove that has no wings to fly”. The one thought that is clear in all of the writings of the early Church fathers is that the power to render special services to the Church in the areas of ruling or governing, was always founded upon present service and ability to function rather than upon mere rank or position. The early Church fathers did not desire to “fill positions” in the Church just for the sake of filling positions. This same attitude must be restored to the Church today.

Within the first 300 years, there was such a drastic change in the governmental structure of the Church, that she has never yet entirely retrieved herself from its dregs. In the first century Church, there were basically two “offices”: the Bishops (ie., the elders, pastors, overseers, or shepherds) and the Deacons. The oversight of each local congregation was totally in the hands of the local church eldership, while the deacons ministered to the practical needs of the people.

However, the heart of a deacon (or servant) was to be in each bishop. Polycarp of Smryna (whose writings were written c. 110-117) believed that the first duty of the bishops was to be compassionate and merciful, visiting all those with infirmities.

In the second century, however, three offices began to emerge in the Church: the bishop (who was the pastor), the elders, and the deacons. In this structure, unfortunately, the group of local elders had the total power over the one man in the bishop’s or pastor’s office. The good that the Church was only beginning to see was that of God placing His special mantle of leadership upon one man (i.e the senior pastor)who was recognized by the other elders as having that mantle; but who did not use it to be domineering over his fellow elders.

For example, it was James, the bishop or pastor of the local church at Jerusalem, who stood up during the Apostolic Conference concerning the Gentiles and circumcision, and applied the Old Testament to what was happening (Acts 15). As an illustration in practical terms, only one man can actually “steer the bus at any one time”, but the bus driver should consult with his fellow team leaders as how to get to the gymnasium for the game. In this way, God appoints one man among the elders of a local church to be “first among equals”, not in the sense of domination, but in the sense of having a specific mantle for anointed direction.

By the third century, however, the office of the bishop or senior elder in the local congregation was taken to an extreme. During this century, the bishops of various local congregations began to exercise total power and authority over their local elders and deacons. This one man domination also relegated the deacons of each local church to be spiritually suppressed in their function of serving in the local church. Gradually, certain bishops

gained power and authority not only over their own local congregations, but also over many other local congregations. Finally, the office of the local bishop was taken to a non-Biblical extreme in its authority over many elders and their local churches. Almost total power resided with the bishop and not with the local elders as it had originally.

For what reasons did the Church allow such a magnification of the office of the local bishop? Here are some of the reasons:

1. The Church felt that she could more easily stem the tide of immortality and i ntellectualism with giving more power to one man.

2. The Church believed that she could accomplish a greater unity against divisive heresies if she exalted certain strong teachers.

3. The Church began to use one man from each local assembly to represent them to the bishops of other local assembles, which gradually led to the exaltation of this one man over the other local elders.

4. The Church began to desire to have most of the work of the ministry performed by the local bishops because they probably had the most education, which led to mainly the bishops being in charge of education, doctrine, marriages, baptisms, the communion table, the elders, the deacons, and even Church property and monies.

5. The Church began to look mainly to the bishops office for all major teaching, and thus the local elders were considered only “teachers”; whereas the bishop was considered as the joint Apostle/Prophet (the true traveling ministries of the separate apostles and prophets having receded into the background.)

The culmination of this attitude of the bishops’ supremacy can be accurately seen in the way that Ignatius of Antioch referred to the bishop. Ignatius commented, “We ought to regard the Bishop as the Lord Himself”. Consequently, the church digressed into the bishops being considered the apostles, prophets, and evangelists; the local elders being the pastors and teachers; the deacons mainly serving the bishops and elders; the congregational members as being just “not in the ministry” of the Lord

We can thank God, however, that ever since the Reformation He has been constantly restoring the New Testament local church pattern back to His people who have been under the bondage of non-Scriptural authority.

In the Church today, leaders are called “ministers” more than they are called “shepherds”. The word “shepherd” however, is more accurate term to describe a man of God serving Christ’s flock; especially contrasted with the way the word “minister” is used today. Today, the word “minister” refers to an ordained pastor, elder, or reverend who does the work of the Lord on a full-time basis. We need to ask ourselves, however, if this is the New Testament concept of the word “minister”. Are only some members of the Body of Christ “ministers” - or are all members of the Body of Christ “ministers” in the New Testament sense of the word, which is servant?

The word “minister” (or servant) has undergone a very unfortunate and drastic change since it was originally used in the New Testament Church. This change has occurred in two ways: grammatically and theologically.

1. Grammatically: In the early Church (c. 33 A.D.) The grammatical meaning and usage of the word “minister” was that of a verb, (i.e an action word.) The word “minister” of course is intimately connected in meaning with that of the word “Ministry”. Thus, all Christians (whether tent-makers, weavers, fishermen, doctors, or farmers,) in the early Church had a ministry of actively, dutifully, functionally, and effectively doing a work for the Lord and His people. The concept of a “Minister” (a Christian servant) with a “minister (a service in the Body) applied to those who performed various activities of the normal Christian life,(e.g., leading someone to Christ, helping the widows, praying for the sick, exhorting other saints.) The work load of the Church was not in name, title, position, or salary, but in action, commitment, spontaneity, and individual serving. “Ministry” was the action of all Christian believers in extending the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately, the concept of a “minister” and “ministry” gradually changed from its original grammatical meaning and usage. Gradually, the word “minister” began to refer to the name, title, position, or salary of those few who performed certain sacred New Testament activities..(e.g., preaching, water baptism, serving communion, anointing the sick, counseling.) Today the word is no longer an action word but has turned in its usage to a noun, the name of a person, place or thing.

The word “Minister” is today used as a noun because it refers to the title of a special person who has been ordained by a certain denomination to function out of a special office or study (i.e., a place)and to fill a hierarchical position (i.e., a thing). The New Testament presents the word “minister” as a word that describes Christian activity and function and not the mere name of a position, title, or salary-holder.

2. Theologically: In the early Church (c. 33A.D.) The theological meaning and usage of the word “minister” was that which referred to all members of the Body of Christ having a part in serving and not to only some members having such a part. No distinction was made between the “clergy and the laity” as it is today. All of the believers of the early Church were “ministers” (servants) of the Lord Jesus Christ in fulfilling different roles in the kingdom.

Today on the other hand, the word “minister” refers to one man doing the work of the Lord. To the contemporary Church, the one who has the calling of God on his life to serve Christ and the Church is the one man called “pastor”, “Reverend”, “bishop”, or “doctor”. In this framework, the “unordained”, common people are not considered an essential and valid part of the ministry.

The Lord however, Who is the Builder of the Church, will not leave His people in such a destitute state in which only part of His Body is functioning properly. In these last days, God is pouring out His Spirit upon the Church in order to restore to her the truth that all Christians are called to a ministry.

Because of the false concepts of the extreme division between the clergy and laity, many problems have arisen. Some of these problems are:

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