How Christianity Survived
In today’s episode I will talk about how Christianity Survived in the early days before Christians had any power and were in fact actually persecuted.
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Not only how Christianity survived, but also how it thrived. It was planted, watered, and grew in the face of unrelenting pressure and under constant threat of real persecution.
You see in America today there is a call from many pastors for Christians to control the government. I discussed that during my last episode, about how we need to reject the false theology of Christian Nationalism. There are many Americans who claim to be Christian who truly believe their faith is under siege and that they are being persecuted. As a result, they fear that America is on the verge of collapse and that scares them. They believe that Christianity cannot survive and will be erased from the face of the earth. I understand their fear, I realize that many of them were brought up in homes that had been taught a false gospel. They have been raised in a religious cocoon where they were never taught how to be disciples of Christ. They were never taught how to spread the Gospel and how to make disciples of the world. They were taught that all they had to do was go to church once a week, give their money to the pastor, and life would be good. They were never taught how the church really started. I think it’s time that all Christians learned the facts about the Church and how it’s not supposed to be the money-grubbing, power-hungry monster that it’s become. The early church leaders had NO power, they had no permission to tell people about Jesus. They just did.
Let’s travel back to when the church had an unsteady beginning
“And when they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him, and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they went on stoning Stephen as he called upon the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus receive my spirit!” and falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” And having said this, he fell asleep”.
Those words found in the Book of Acts 7:58-60 tell of the first recorded martyrdom of a follower of Jesus. Within the next 30 years of the original Apostles, all but John (the beloved disciple), and Judas (who hung himself) died martyrs preaching the Gospel. They would not be the last to die, nor would their deaths be in vain.
From that humble and tragic start fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus, the teachings spread from the city of Jerusalem to Damascus in Syria, to Antioch, to Ephesus (F -FUH – SUS) , to every corner of the empire, even the capital Rome. It would spread from a small, Jewish sect called ‘The Word’ to a powerful movement and the seeds planted would grow into the most dominant religion in the world.
One unlikely person would arise and play a key role in the spreading of the faith, Saul.
Saul, he who was an eager witness to Stephen’s death actively hunted and persecuted all followers of Jesus that he could find. While on a trip to capture and jail members of the sect in Damascus, he had an unexpected encounter with the Resurrected Jesus. That moment changed him so greatly that he became the driving force moving the teachings of Jesus and the importance of the Resurrection out of the synagogues to the Greeks and other ‘pagans.
He spread the message person to person, house by house, family by family, synagogue by synagogue, and town by town, providing a message of love and a new way of living. Through his efforts, the sect left the narrow confines of Judaism and found a home among Greeks, Romans, and Arabs; it found a home among the wealthy and slaves, among men and women.
It did this even in the face of persecutions
The church grew in spite of losing its early leaders to martyrdom.
The first of the leaders of the organized group to fall was James the brother of Jesus, the leader of the church in Jerusalem, martyred in AD 62. According to early Church historian Eusebius (YOO – SEE – BEE – UHS), Hegesippus (HE -JESS – EPUS) who lived immediately after the apostles and was a Christian writer in the early Church wrote in his fifth book of memoirs the most accurate account of James’ martyrdom. “ The aforesaid Scribes and Pharisees therefore placed James upon the pinnacle of the temple and cried out to him and said: ‘Thou just one, in whom we ought all to have confidence, forasmuch as the people are led astray after Jesus, the crucified one, declare to us, what is the gate of Jesus.’ And he answered with a loud voice, ‘Why do ye ask me concerning Jesus, the Son of Man? He himself sitteth in heaven at the right hand of the great Power and is about to come upon the clouds of heaven.’….
So they went up and threw down the just man, and said to each other, ‘Let us stone James the Just.’ And they began to stone him, for he was not killed by the fall; but he turned and knelt down and said, ‘I entreat thee, Lord God our father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’…
And one of them, who was a fuller, took the club with which he beat out clothes and struck the just man on the head. And thus he suffered martyrdom.”
‘James the Just’ was not the only leader of the church to be martyred. In the summer of 64 AD, during the reign of the Emperor Nero, the city of Rome burned. According to the Roman historian, Tacitus this event spurred the first mass persecution of the followers of Christ.
“But all human efforts, all the lavish gifts of the emperor, and the propitiations of the gods, did not banish the sinister belief that the conflagration was the result of an order. Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called “Chrestians” by the populace.
Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilate, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their center and become popular.
Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.”
Tradition holds that it was during this persecution that the crucifixion of the Apostle Peter took place. Tradition also holds that Peter insisted on being crucified upside down since he felt he was not worthy of being crucified in the same manner as Jesus.
Peter would not be the last of the leaders to die in Rome.
There are conflicting theories as to whether the “Apostle to the Gentiles” Saul (Paul) was in Rome during the first Nero persecution. As a Roman citizen, he had certain privileges and rights that those from Palestine did not have, one of those privileges was to be able to select his own method of death. Tradition holds that he preached the Gospel in Rome until his martyrdom around AD 67 when the Emperor Nero ordered him beheaded.
In the book ‘A New Eusebius – Documents Illustrating the History of The Church to AD 337” J. Stevenson collected primary texts from the first century up to the time of the death of Emperor Constantine. It recounts the stories of persecutions of the early Church leaders, including the empire wide persecution by the Emperor Domitian in AD 96, martyrdom of Ignatius of Antioch in AD 108, Polycarp in AD 156, Ptolemy and Lucius AD 160, Justin AD 165, the martyrs of Lyonne and Vienne AD 177, and many more who sacrificed their lives rather than deny Jesus.
In addition to the persecutions there were multiple controversies; false teachers, heresies, and scandals between and among members of the family of believers and Christianity still grew.
Growth in spite of controversies and heresies
Since the majority of the early church teachers shared the story of Jesus orally and since Jesus himself did not write down his teachings, it was inevitable that different interpretations of his message would arise.
In fact, the New Testament itself contains some of earliest records of misunderstandings and/or disagreements with theology.
The Book of Acts details a disagreement between the Apostle Paul and those leaders in Jerusalem over the issue of a person needing to convert to Judaism prior to accepting Jesus as Savior.
In 1st Corinthians Paul deals with a church splintered by the teachings of Apollos who provided a distinct contrast between himself and Paul. Paul wanted to purify the church, while several of the members preferred to retain the immorality of the population that surrounded them.
In 2nd Corinthians, Paul again deals with those in the church who would discredit his teachings. Paul recounts the characteristics and authority of his ministry.
In his Epistle to the Galatians, Paul offers a defense of justification by faith and warns against reverting to Judaism.
The Epistle of James deals with ‘practical’ religion, declaring that it manifests itself in good works, rather than a simple profession of faith.
The First Epistle of John and the Second Epistle of Peter both serve to remind believers to be alert to false teachings.
These are just a few of the many examples of early church leaders having to deal with either dissension or false teachings. Since there was no centralized governing structure in place, various theologies and dissensions would continue to appear over the next 300 years.
That’s going to be all for this episode, next time I want to take a deeper look at those early church leaders. I want to discuss how and why they were successful without having absolute power over everyone. The kingdom of Jesus, is not here on earth and it sure isn’t here in the U.S. Remember as He was standing before Pilate, being tried and on His way to being crucified, we find in John 18:33-36, “33 Therefore Pilate entered the Praetorium again, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, “You are the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own, or did others tell you about Me?” 35 Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests handed You over to me; what have You done? 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” 37 Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this purpose, I have been born, and for this I have come into the world: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice.”
Read your bible, especially the Gospels. If you can’t tell others what Jesus taught, and NOT what some preacher, even me, said he said, then you’re doing your faith a disservice. We are called to BE Christians, not play at being a Christian. We are called to follow His teachings; we are instructed to practice what Jesus preached.
If you have any questions, use the contact form here on the website, I’ll get back to you as quickly as I can.
I’ll talk to you next week, until next time, I’m Hank Wilson, God bless y’all and peace.
If you’re nervous about the future check out my audiobook “Fearless Faith: Finding Hope in the Storms of Life” available from Audiobook suppliers around the globe. Find information on how to listen to it HERE
