Episode 3 – The Early Church Pre 100AD Part 1
This is Episode 3 – The Early Church Pre 100AD Part 1
Welcome to another episode of Living a True Christian Life or as it’s also known The Hidden History of the Church. I’m your host and guide Hank Wilson. Why Hidden History of the Church? Too many people today only know Christianity from what they see on TV and through social media. Too many have no idea of how Christianity started or what the real purpose of the church is supposed to be.
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What are the churches and ministers supposed to be doing? Are they supposed to be standing in a pulpit with a holier-than-thou look condemning people to hell? Are they called to stand in front of their congregation and tell them that God wants them to be materially rich? Did Jesus instruct them to tell their followers that they are supposed to hate those who are different? No, the churches and those who “preach the gospel” are supposed to tell people about Jesus, what He actually said and promised us. No more, no less, so let’s travel back in time and continue our visit with the early church.
Last episode I discussed the fact that the early followers of Jesus were not known as Christians, they were in fact Jews. They were members of a Jewish sect called, “the Way” or “the Nazarenes” It is generally accepted that the term “Christian” was first used in the city of Antioch around 40 AD. The story is told in the book of Acts 11:19-26, “So then those who were scattered because of the persecution that occurred in connection with Stephen made their way to Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews alone. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks as well, preaching the good news of the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord. The news about them reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas off to Antioch. Then when he arrived and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord; for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and faith. And considerable numbers were added to the Lord. And he left for Tarsus to look for Saul; and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers of people; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.” In fact, the term “Christianity” was never used until Ignatius of Antioch did so around 100 AD, and that was almost 70 years after the crucifixion of our Lord.
Since it had a foothold in Jerusalem the question arises why didn’t the church survive and grow in Jerusalem? Simple, Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. They destroyed the city and tore down the Temple when they crushed a Jewish revolt that began in 66 AD when Jewish rebels, who opposed Roman rule, took control of Jerusalem and put the Sadducee leaders to death. They did so because they believed the Sadducees were Roman collaborators and is the case throughout history those who collaborate with perceived enemies are often themselves considered enemies. During the takeover by the rebels the followers of Jesus departed the city and took up residence in Pella. This effectively severed all relations the Christ followers had with their fellow Jews and a schism has existed since. Those Jewish-Christians who were in Pella did try to maintain relations with their fellow Jews, that ended when the Christians failed to support another Jewish revolt that took place in 132-135, when they were considered traitors. After that second revolt Christians left Pella and other communities and as a result there was no observable Christian community in the region until the 4th century.
So, what was taking place with the church between say 50 AD and 100 AD? Other than the letters of Paul and what is written in the Book of Acts, we really have no clear idea. In fact, we’re really not even certain when the original apostles died. Well, we do know when Judas offed himself, and we’re pretty sure that Peter was crucified during Nero’s reign. The others? Well, we think they gave their lives for the Gospel approximately in this order.
James the Great: He was the first apostle to be martyred, beheaded by executioners’ swords in Jerusalem around 44–45 AD. Yes, I know the story of Steven, but he was not one of the early Apostles, he became a disciple after the crucifixion. Philip: Crucified in Hierapolis, Turkey around 54 AD. James the Lesser: Thrown from the top of a temple and bludgeoned to death in Ostrakine, Egypt around 63 AD. Peter: As I mentioned Church tradition says he was crucified upside down in Rome around 64 AD. Andrew: Crucified in Patras around 70 AD. Thomas: We believe was stabbed with a spear in India around 70 AD. Matthew: Stabbed by a sword in Ethiopia between 60–70 AD. Nathanael (Bartholomew): Flayed to death by a whip in Albanopolis, Caucasia around 70 AD. Matthias (he replaced Judas) Stoned while hanging on a cross in Ethiopia around 70 AD. Judas Thaddeus: Beaten with sticks to death in Beirut around 72 AD. . Simon the Zealot: Sawed in half in Persia around 74 AD. John the apostle that Jesus loved was not martyred, he died a natural death around AD 90.
Their deaths emphasize that the danger they faced in telling people about Jesus. They were considered dangerous by others around them, not because they wanted power but because they cast doubts on what people believed. Once they left Jerusalem and interacted more with the outside world, including cultures such as the Greeks, Romans, and others, they encountered a world filled with beliefs that were vastly different than what they would have known as observant Jews. Regardless of the obstacles they continued to preach and teach, and people followed them, and the word spread, but how? How did this group of men and women who had no formal training in theology, who for the most part were just normal everyday folks succeed?
They weren’t part of any organized or recognized group, and we do know there wasn’t yet any formalized worship structure or centralized meeting places. In fact, you can pretty much believe there was a wide variety of teachings and ways that the faith was spread. Remember in 1st Timothy 2:12, where Paul writes. “But I do not allow a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. “ You can bet, there were groups that did allow women to preach and teach, but Paul was from a society where women had no rights, in fact, women could not give testimony in court.
As an aside, one reason why the story of the resurrection is so unique is that the Gospels tell of the women being the ones who were the first witnesses to the empty tomb. If the writers of the gospels had wanted everyone to not question things they never would have attributed the spreading of the news to the women, they would have claimed that one or more of the guys were first on the scene, but anyway…back to how things spread.
Most modern Christians only know about the books they find in the New Testament. The Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the letters of Paul and other epistles. Have you ever wondered why they are arranged the way they are? Well, when the bible was being put together, many leaders at that time believed that Matthew was written first, then Mark, Luke, and John last. However, over the years, archaeology and research now has many historians agreeing that Mark was actually written first, Mark: AD 60-75, Matthew: AD 65-85, Luke: AD 65-95, and finally John: 75-100. They existed independently for close to 300 years and weren’t put together along with other writings until The Council of Rome in 382 A.D. when the Catholic Church put together the first canon of what was the Christian Bible.
In this episode, I won’t go into the whole scholarly arguments that explain why scholars have changed their minds about which came first, or what books should or shouldn’t be included, that would require a complete episode, but if you’d like me to, I will, just fill in the contact form on the site and let me know, anyway, back to our story…,
We know that Jesus did not write down his teachings, in those days oral histories were one of the main ways people learned. Eventually though, as more and more followers came aboard, the early church leaders decided they needed some formal writings to help organize and codify the church. Now please understand what I mean when I say “church”, the church is the “body of believers” it’s not, as we think of it today, a building or a denomination. It’s everybody.
The vast majority of church historians recognize a document called, “The Didache” (DID-AH-KAY) as the first formal document and it was written around 95 AD. We give it that date because it quotes Matthew’s version of the Lord’s prayer, oh, and this helps us determine the approximate date of Matthew’s gospel. What was the Didache (DID-AH-KAY)?
Think of The Didache (DID-AH-KAY as being the 1st “How Christian’s should behave” writing. We have no idea who wrote it, and its title is simply, “The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles” and in the original manuscript that is followed by, “The Teaching of the Lord Through the Twelve Apostles to the Gentiles.” This has to be considered a foundational document for future generations of Christians. It’s comprised of several sections, with the first focusing on basic Christian theology, morality, and conduct. The next section talks about how church members should administer baptism, communion, and even anointing with oil.
The third section is one that all modern Christians should be required to read and study since it talks about our relations with other Christians, including how to be hospitable. One intriguing part of this section is also how it looks at what we would call early church clerical hierarchy including bishops, deacons, (which we still have), prophets (which have fallen out of favor since they mostly spoke in tongues). Remember, in the early days of the church since, as a whole, the community was relatively small and self-contained, there was no need for “clergy” like we have today.
The final section deals with a revelation of the end times, remember the early church leaders, all believed that Jesus was due back any minute. The Didache (DID-AH-KAY) was written prior to the book of Revelation, and it was not considered significant, especially since the Book of Revelation that is in the current New Testament was not universally accepted until the 7th century.
Since there were no “churches”, and they had no Bibles or other manuals in those early years, and the Gospels weren’t widely known, put together into a single book, and definitely not mass-produced, where and how did early Christians meet? In his book, “The Earliest History of the Christian Gathering: Origin, Development and Content of the Christian Gathering in the First to Third Centuries” Theologian Valeriy A. Alikin takes us back in time. He writes that early on in the years prior to the end of the 1st century, followers would meet in various homes. In those times, the members would usually meet in the evening for a meal and to discuss various issues. This type of meeting was very much something they would have been accustomed to since that was the traditional meeting format for almost everyone in the Roman empire. It was during these meetings that the people would talk about the issues that concerned them, made them happy, made them sad, and this was when they would share teachings and maybe read from one of the letters from either Paul or another early church leaders such as Clement or Barnabas. One example of this format is even found in Acts in chapter 20 verse 11, “When Paul had gone back up and had broken the bread and eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left.” Instead of huge mega-churches, or cathedrals, the early church leaders and members were just normal people who met in a person’s house. Now it was usually a person of some stature in the community, and it was often a married couple. But it was still an informal gathering of people who wanted to tell others about salvation. Maybe we should try going back to that, it seemed to work pretty well.
OK, I think that’s going to it for today.
In the next episode I’ll discuss two of the variations on what Christians taught in the early years, Gnosticism and Marcionism. In the meantime, read your bible, especially the Gospels. I’m not an Old Testament minister, I believe you can get what you need from reading the New Testament and the words of Jesus. And besides, 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’re interested in how Jesus can help you with what you’re going through in your life, you might want to check out my audiobooks. There’s “Fearless Faith: Finding Hope in the Storms of Life” I discusses what we can rely on when facing one of life’s many storms. Have you ever watched a movie where part of the setting is aboard a ship, and someone falls overboard? Or do you remember the scene in the film “It’s a wonderful life” when younger brother Harry falls through the ice? Or how about any movie set in the jungle when a member of the party steps in quicksand and begins to sink? Or any scene set in the mountains where somebody has fallen off a cliff and is stranded?
A Fresh Start: Embrace the Unknown: A Spiritual Guide to Preparing for Life’s Challenges –
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.