I. Ancient Church History (4 B.C. to 590 A.D.)

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.

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