History of Christ's Church, Part 1

The Pillars

Why Study Church History?

1. Studying church history is important because most contemporary Christians don't know much about It. But they should.

Sadly, most contemporary evangelicals know very little about the history of Christianity. Even in Reformed circles, an understanding of church history often goes back to only the Reformation. But the history of the gospel spans all the way back to the New Testament.

If your knowledge of church history jumps from the apostle John ( on Patmos) to Martin Luther ( inWittenberg), with little to nothing in between, you ought to consider filling in the gaps. The 1,500 years between Pentecost and the Reformation include many significant people-fellow believers and faithful leaders-whom God used in strategic ways to advance His kingdom purposes.

~van~e_licalc hurch history-all 2,00? years of it-is a goldmine of theological treasure. In their attempts to

JUvemlize the church, many evangelical congregations spurn history as if it were outdated and unimportant

We do ourselves a great disservice if we choose to remain ignorant. •

Does ,Go_dc onsider history to be important? Certainly He does. Though it is not church history, God used

Israels history to teach them spir_it~al truths t~roughout the Old Testament (see Deut. 6:21-25). And in

the New Testament: the Holy Spmt saw fit to mspire a book of church history, starting from the Day of

Pentecost and runmng through Paul's first Roman imprisonment.

While the inspired record of church history ends with the book of Acts, Christians are blessed to

have :wonderful resources t_hat detail the history of the church from the first century to the present. Those

who _ignore th_e profound n_ches of their own spiritual heritage don't know what they are missing-namely,

the hfe-changmg opportumty to be challenged, instructed, and encouraged in the faith by those who've gone

before us.

2. Because God is at work in history. Equally, history is a testimony to God's sovereign providence.

pl~rdt n the c~iche, but it really is His story. Everything is working according to His plans, and He is orchestrating

a o 1t for His eternal glory (see 1 Cor. 15:20-28). God declares Himself to be the Lord of history:

Isaiah 46:9-10-"Re?1ember t~e former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other;

I_am Go~, and t~ere 1s no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient

times th~ngs which have not been done, saying, 'My purpose will be established, and I will

accomplish all My good pleasure:"

St~dying church histo? re~inds us that our God is on His throne. He reigns. He is perfectly accom lishin

His purposes and prov:denllally preserving His people and His truth in every generation. No matte;' how g

immo_ra! or antagom~tlc toward God society becomes, we already know how history ends. What comfort

there 1s m remembermg that the Lord of history is working all things together for His glory and our good.

On~ of the greatest theological lessons any believer can learn is to rest in the sovereignty of God The

Scriptures are filled wit~ examples of men and women who trusted God and acted upon their fa.ith in Him

(se~ Heb._ l l). Church ~isto?, likewise, consists of wonderful examples of faithful Christians whose lives are

testlmomes to the providential care of their heavenly Father.

3. Because the Lord Jesus said He would build His church. To study church history is to watch His promise unfold.

In Matthew 16:15-18, we read,

[Jesus] said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the

Christ, the Son of the living God:' And Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona,

because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. I also say

to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades

will not overpower it:'

The church is established on the gospel truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. The church's

unconquerable history is evidence that He is indeed who He claimed to be.

The church is the only institution that Jesus ever established. That alone is reason enough to study church

history. Moreover, His promise-that the gates of hell will never overpower the church-gives us reason to

hope even when the church appears to be weak and infirm. Christ's promise keeps us optimistic, because

our hope is in Him and not in the things of this world.

When we study church history, we are reminded of those times when the gates of hell appeared ominous

and threatening, and yet the church survived and prevailed through God's power. When courageous

Christians were severely persecuted to the point of death for the sake of the truth; or when Arianism

threatened to overrun the Roman Empire and Athanasius stood, seemingly alone, against the world; or

when the sacramental system of the late-medieval church threatened to eclipse the gospel of grace; or when

liberal theology infiltrated the universities of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Western society •••

These and countless other examples embolden us to face today's challenges and persecutions with the

confidence of knowing that we belong to a cause that cannot fail.

4. Because church history is our history. As believers, we are members of the body of Christ, and part of the bride of Christ.

When we study the history of the church, we are not merely studying people, places, and events. We are

studying the history of Christ's bride. If we belong to Christ, then we, too, are part of that bride. As Paul

explained to the Ephesians,

Ephesians 5:25-27-"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and

gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing

of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having

no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless:'

When we study church history, we come to see who we are, where we've come from, and how we fit into the

flow of God's kingdom work in the world. We are studying our spiritual family tree. The Lord Jesus Himself

cares deeply about His bride (see Rev. 1-3), and we should, too.

On a practical note, one of the great ways to remind ourselves that we are part of a body of believers that

spans the centuries is through singing hymns. When we sing hymns like Be Thou My Vision (a sixth-century

Irish hymn) or O Sacred Head Now Wounded (penned by either Bernard of Clairvaux in the twelfth century

or Arnulf of Louvain in the thirteenth) or A Mighty Fortress (written by Martin Luther in the sixteenth

century), we connect ourselves to the history of the church.

Knowing the history behind the hymns reminds us that we belong to the corporate body of believers, the

universal church. Just as we have brothers and sisters across the world, we also have brothers and sisters