03: Gathering the Saints & Defending the Faith

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In this session we’ll review the Development of Scripture, Worship, and Leadership in the Early Church.

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INTRODUCTION

Writing to the Roman Emperor Trajan, Pliny the Younger, whom we mentioned last time, described the worship practice of Christians in the early second century:

“They were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang an anthem to Christ as God, and bound themselves by a solemn oath not to commit any wicked deed, but to abstain from all fraud, theft and adultery, never to break their word, or deny a trust when called upon to honor it.”[i]

Couple of interesting things you notice about that: For one thing, it’s clear Christians considered Jesus to be God from the beginning of the New Testament church. Trajan was emperor from about 98 A.D. to 117 A.D. so we have very early evidence of Christians believing Jesus is God and we have it from a source hostile to the faith. This is contrary to much liberal scholarship that says the notion that Jesus was God was a later invention, that the first Christians didn’t believe that.

For another, it’s interesting that a government official who was involved in arresting Christians basically describes them as model citizens - people who were faithful in their marriages, people who didn’t break their word, people who valued truth.

So in this part we’ll explore the nature of early Christian worship gatherings, how the ordinances of baptism and communion were practiced, how the canon of Scripture was formed, and how the church leadership developed.

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THE PRACTICE OF EARLY CHRISTIAN GATHERINGS

After Jesus ascended into heaven, Christians began to meet together for times of teaching and praise. As we mentioned the first week, during the earliest decades of the faith, many believers who were Jewish, still worshipped in the Temple and observed the Sabbath.

In addition, the Bible indicates that Christians met in private homes, like that of Priscilla and Aquila mentioned in Romans 16. Many of these meetings were probably held in secret during times of intense persecution. The house church is still a common thing today in China because of official persecution. It makes Christian meetings less conspicuous. Christians also met in cemeteries such as the catacombs in Rome as well. It was not until the late second and early third centuries that buildings were erected specifically to serve as meeting places for a church.

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The oldest church that has been discovered is at the ruins of Dura-Europos that was a Roman town in what is now Syria. It is essentially a house but with a hall or room added for the specific purpose of Christian worship – more specifically for baptism.

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There were frescos discovered in this room depicting Jesus as the Good Shepherd, His healing of the paralytic and of Jesus and Peter walking on water. It dates from approximately 250 A.D.

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It was discovered during the 1930’s and the frescos were removed and are now in a museum at Yale University. Sadly, Wikipedia says the building was likely destroyed by ISIS during the Syrian civil war.

Christians met on the first day of the week, as we still do today. This, of course, was in celebration of the resurrection of Christ that happened on the first day of the week. Within several years, this first day of the week had come to be known as “the Lord’s Day,” as John calls it while he is exiled on the Isle of Patmos:

Rev 1.10 “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet”

So how did the church service that we're familiar with today originate?

Because of its connection to Judaism and the primarily Jewish make up, early Christian worship was patterned after the familiar model of worship in the synagogue. The elements that were typical of synagogue worship tend to be typical of Christian worship still today.

There was prayer, singing of hymns and psalms, and scripture reading and after that someone taught or commented on the reading. You get a glimpse of what synagogue worship was like in chapter 4 of Luke’s gospel when Jesus attends the synagogue in Nazareth and is asked to read and then expound upon the reading.

This is very similar to how we continue to conduct the teaching portion of our worship service today. And we’re told that at the conclusion of the Passover meal where the Lord’s Supper was instituted “when they had sung a hymn” they departed for the Mount of Olives (Matthew 26:30).

If available, apostolic letters would be read but until the New Testament began to take shape in the mid-second century, most of the Scripture-reading and teaching was from the Old Testament. So, apparently the Old Testament actually has value for Christians.

The early Christians practiced two ordinances as commanded by the Lord Jesus – baptism and the Lord’s Supper, again as we still do today.

The Church took baptism quite seriously, often mandating intensive study and preparation before a believer could be baptized, and usually required that baptism be overseen if not administered by an elder or bishop.

This seems to have been in part because the church was so distinct from the culture. Surrounded by a world hostile to their beliefs, early Christians needed to keep their faith and their community pure, and to make sure that any new members clearly understood the Gospel and were committed to the church. Being a Christian in those days was not for the faint of heart.

Luke 14:28 “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?”

When I was going to Eastern Europe on mission trips many years ago, this is how it was still done. As a holdover from Communist days, they made very sure that someone was a follower of Christ before baptizing them. You didn’t get saved one Sunday then baptized the next – even as an adult. This was for two reasons. You wanted someone to count the cost, to realize that by identifying with the church they were putting themselves at odds with the government and the culture. Secondly, you wanted to protect yourself from those who would try to infiltrate the church to do her harm.

One of the sources we have for these early church practices is a book called The Didache, also called “The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles. Didache is Greek for “Teaching.” It claims to be the teaching of the Apostles but most scholars date it in the mid-second century. If so, while it could be a compilation of their teachings that were been passed down, it would not have been written directly by them.

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On baptism, it records the following instructions:

This is how to baptize. Give public instruction on all these points, and then ‘baptize’ in running water, “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” If you do not have running water, baptize in some other. If you cannot in cold, then in warm. If you have neither, then pour water on the head three times “in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.’ Before the baptism, moreover, the one who baptizes and the one being baptized must fast, and any others who can.”[ii]

It was around the ordinance of baptism that some of the earliest divisions in the church occurred:

· Should infants be baptized?

· What happens at baptism? Is it regenerative or symbolic?

The first recorded mention of infant baptism comes in about 200 AD from the pen of Tertullian, and he condemns the practice of infant baptism. He wrote about book called “On Baptism” where he says of baptism:

According to everyone’s condition and disposition, and also his age, the delaying of baptism is more profitable, especially in the case of little children.

He says it is better to wait basically until you can be sure of the person’s profession.

But by about 250 or so, other church leaders wrote in defense of the practice, and it became more and more prevalent in the fourth and fifth centuries. This changed gradually but many believe it’s was in response to the next issue we’re going to discuss, what baptism accomplishes.

As to what baptism actually accomplishes, some early church leaders believed baptism had salvific or regenerative qualities – that is, it actually removes sin and brings salvation. That view is still held today by the Church of Christ, among Protestants, as well as the Roman Catholic Church. Others held to what we’d consider the biblical view that baptism serves as an outward sign and seal of an inward reality: our faith in Christ.

Coupling regenerative baptism with the belief we’re all born tainted by original sin led some to believe baptising infants was necessary so they wouldn’t go to hell if they died. Remember that infant mortality in the past was a bigger issue than we’re used to. Also, once Christianity was legal and became, in many ways, indistinguishable from being a citizen of the state, baptism was seen as kind of a right of passage into not only the church but into society. Everybody’s born physically then baptized because…well, everybody is.

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The early church also practiced the Lord’s Supper, or communion. Another source we have for early Christian practices is Justin Martyr’s work “First Apology,” written around 150 A.D. It gives a detailed account of early Christian gatherings. In it, Justin records that the Lord’s Supper was a “memorial of the passion” of Christ. He writes:

At the end of our prayers, we greet one another with a kiss. Then the president of the brethren is brought a bread and a cup of wine mixed with water; and he takes them, and offers up praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and the Holy Ghost, and gives thanks at considerable length for our being counted worthy to receive these things at his hands. When he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all the people present express their joyful assent by saying Amen. . . . Then those whom we call deacons give to each of those present the bread and wine mixed with water over which the thanksgiving was pronounced, and carry away a portion to those who are absent. We call this food “Eucharist.”[iii]

In most cases, the first part of the service was open to anyone, including the times of Scripture-reading, prayer, singing, and exhortation. The second part of the service, however, which included the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper, was reserved only for those who were baptized believers in Christ. Again, this is very similar to how we do it today.

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THE CANON OF SCRIPTURE

The reliability of scripture is one of the most common points on which Christianity is attacked so it's important to know something about how the New Testament canon came about. It was not, as people like the author Dan Brown assert, the result of a power struggle several hundred years after the events took place where the people with the most power got their books included and the losers’ books were removed.

In many ways, the most remarkable aspects about the development of the Canon of Scripture are how early the church reached practical agreement, and how little dissension emerged. The word comes from the Greek word (kanon), meaning “rule or standard,” and with it Christians describe the standard books of the Bible which provide the final “rule and authority” for our faith. (Ruler story)

Christianity had scriptures from Day One.

Of course, because of their roots in Judaism, early Christians already affirmed biblical authority, for they saw the Hebrew Scriptures, or the Old Testament, as the Word of God.

Romans 1:1-2 “1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures...”

They just faced the question of which books should be added to this Old Testament canon.

Christians immediately accepted the writings of the apostles, such as Paul’s letters, as authoritative and inspired by God. Even within the Bible, in II Peter 3:15-16

2 Peter 3:15–16 ESV

15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

the apostle Peter recognizes Paul’s writings as “Scripture.” These epistles were circulated widely among different churches in the first and second centuries. Early Christians also recognized the four Gospels, and by the end of the second century the church had in practice a collection a New Testament Scriptures including the Gospels, Acts, and Paul’s letters.

One of the things we see throughout the history of the church is that sometimes it takes an external threat or challenge to force Christians to clarify and defend our beliefs, and canonization was no exception. In the mid-second century, a heretic in Rome named Marcion began attracting followers and tried to form a different canon of Scripture.

In fact...

The Canon of Scripture (Marcion and His Teaching) - F.F. Bruce

Marcion is the first person known to us who published a fixed collection of what we should call New Testament books

From Theopedia:

“The proposed canon consisted of the Gospel of Luke and several of Paul's epistles; however, Marcion edited the writings by deleting any references that appeared to approve of the Old Testament and the creator God of the Jews.

Marcionism rejected the Old Testament God, claiming that Jesus represented the true sovereign God who was different from the God of the Hebrew people.”

Early Christians rightfully condemned Marcion for his heresy. But challenges such as his and others (such as the Montanists, who claimed to still be receiving divine revelation through their prophets) forced the church to officially recognize the canon of Scripture - that it was already using in practice. The church developed a simple set of standards for inspiration.

· The document had to have been written by an apostle or close associate of an apostle (for example Mark). The only exceptions to this were James & Jude, Jesus’ half brothers brothers.[iv]

· Had to have been written during the time when the Apostles were living (by 100 A.D. Many believe that the New Testament was completed prior to 70 A. D.)

· It had to agree with the faith and doctrine in the acknowledged and undoubted letters of the apostles.

· It had to be functioning as scripture widely within the church.

The majority of the New Testament gained early and wide acceptance among the churches.

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The earliest list we have of New Testament canonical books is from a document called the Muratorian Fragment discovered in the 16th century by a man name Antonio Muratori.

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It lists:

4 Gospels (2 directly)

Acts

13 Letters of Paul

Jude

1 & 2 John

Revelation

So 22 of the 27 New Testament Books.

The Muratorian Canon is believed to have been compiled around 170 A.D – less than 150 years after Jesus walked on the earth.

The Lexham Bible Dictionary Date of Origin

Today many scholars date the origin of this list to approximately AD 170–200. A second-century date of composition is based largely upon the fragment’s reference to the Shepherd of Hermas. Before arguing that the writing should not be read alongside the prophets and apostles, the author notes that the Shepherd was written during the tenure of bishop Pius of Rome. Pius may have served as the bishop of Rome until sometime between AD 154 and 161.

One reason the Shepherd of Hermas was rejected as canonical according to the document is that it was written too recently. The only book included in this list that we no longer include is the “Wisdom of Solomon” which ended up in the Apocrypha and not the New Testament proper.

Other evidence for a very early canon is that most of the 27 books of the New Testament are quoted extensively by the Church Fathers – men who were the next generation of church leaders after the Apostles, many of whom knew the Apostles. It's been said that the New Testament can be reproduced almost entirely out of the writings of the church Fathers.

The first written document we have that lists all 27 books of the New Testament is Athanasius’s Easter Letter written in 367 A.D. The church officially recognized (did not ‘create’) the New Testament we have today as canon at the Councils of Carthage (393 A.D.) and Hippo (379 A.D.). (F.F. Bruce quote from book)

Second video if time

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LEADERSHIP STRUCTURE IN THE EARLY CHURCH

Though the Lord Jesus is the ultimate head of His church, He instituted human leaders from the very beginning. Paul and the other apostles were careful to appoint officers in every church they planted. By the middle of the first century, the New Testament tells us that the churches had two offices: “deacons,” and “elders” or “overseers.” The Didache also gave instructions on the government of the church. About church officers, it reads:

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You must, then, elect for yourselves bishops and deacons who are a credit to the Lord; men who are gentle, generous, faithful, and well-tried. For their ministry to you is identical to that of the prophets and teachers.[v]

At first, each church had its own elders or bishops. As the Church continued to grow through the third century, though, the bishops were unable to keep up with the responsibility of so many people. Instead, the bishops became leaders over thousands of people and perhaps scores of congregations in a single city. Presbyters, or priests, were appointed to assist the bishop in his duties.

All of the churches of a city were under the care of the bishop. In Rome, for example, the bishop performed all baptisms and personally blessed all the bread and wine for the Eucharist, which the presbyters would then carry to the congregations scattered throughout the city. The bishops were also solely responsible for the finances of the churches, which would eventually contribute to all manner of scandal and abuse.

In theory, all the bishops were equal, but in practice, those over the larger cities gradually exerted more and more influence. Great centers of trade and learning were seen as having greater authority. The mother church at Jerusalem had occupied the position of authority until 70 A.D. when the Romans destroyed the city. After that, the center of authority shifted west and rested on the churches of Alexandria, Antioch, Rome, and Carthage.

Very early in the history of Christianity - at least in the west, Rome became the pre-eminent church in the Empire. The capital city’s political grandeur and the traditions of Peter’s and Paul’s martyrdoms there led to Rome being recognized as the greatest of the churches. As early as the late second-century, 200 years before the city’s primacy would be authoritatively claimed, Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons in modern-day France said:

It is a matter of necessity that every church should agree with this church [the church of Rome] on account of its pre-eminent authority.[vi]

Of course this doesn’t mean that the 2nd century bishops of Rome had the primacy that its later bishops would assert, but it is clear that the seeds of the papacy were sown very early. You’ll notice that the Pope is often also referred to as “The Bishop of Rome.” Theoretically, he’s the local pastor for all the Christians in Rome as well as the head of the RCC in general.

Rome’s supremacy did not go unquestioned, however. Though the formal split between West and East, between the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, would not occur until the 11th century, the seeds of division can be seen as early as the 2nd century.

For example, Victor, Bishop of Rome from 189-199, threatened to excommunicate the Eastern Churches in Asia Minor for disagreeing with him on the correct date for Easter. The Eastern Church used the Greek language and emphasized a more mystical understanding of the faith, whereas the Western Church used Latin and emphasized a more rational faith.

Some of the differences and errors we have seen – whether on baptism, or church leadership, or disputes between East and West – raise questions about why parts of the church went wrong so early. There are a few reasons. First, remember that only Christ is infallible; as sinful people, all Christians will make mistakes.

We even see this in the New Testament, when Paul tells the Galatians in chapter 2 how he had to rebuke the Apostle Peter for potential legalism. Second, the early church did not always have the clear guidance of Scripture, mostly because of a very limited number of copies, limited literacy, and also because some questions were still being settled over the canon. Third, many parts of the culture – intellectual, spiritual, and moral – were negative influences on the faith. And the early Christians were the first to wrestle with these problems – which include some of the same challenges that still face Christians today.

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CHURCH FATHERS

After the deaths of the apostles, other leaders emerged to take their place. Because of the tremendous influence they would exert on the development of doctrine and practice in the Church, these men are called “Fathers.” Essentially they are the first post-apostolic generation of church leaders. This is sometimes called the “Patristic” era of the church from the Latin word for father “Pater.”

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Two of the earliest are known as “Apostolic Fathers” because they were trained by one or another of the Apostles. These were Ignatius of Antioch and Polycarp. For the sake of time, we’ll talk about three of these Fathers in more detail then provide a summary of a few others.

Paul called Timothy his “son in the faith.” Just like we have physical descendants, we also have, or should have, spiritual ones. The same is true for the Apostles.

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Ignatius was the Bishop of the church in Antioch early in the second century. He was either the second or third bishop of that church with the Apostle Peter being the first. Roman authorities under Emperor Trajan captured Ignatius and brought him to Rome. What little survives about his life is contained in seven letters that he wrote to various churches during this long journey to Rome for his martyrdom. Ignatius argued that there should be only one bishop over each congregation, instead of the plurality of elders that Clement addresses in his letter to Corinth. Determined to validate his faith by dying as a martyr, upon arriving in Rome to stand trial he begged the church there not to do anything to block his execution, which took place in 117 AD.

Hebrews 11.35 “Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life.”

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His letters survive and are known as the Ignatian Epistles.

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In his Epistle to the Ephesians he he greets the church warmly, he urges them to pursue Christian unity and to submit to their bishop and urges them to stand firm against false teachers.

Remember when Paul said farewell to the Ephesians in Acts he told them:

Acts 20:28–31 ESV

28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. 29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears.

Ignatius writes to them:

Ante-Nicene Fathers 1: The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus Chapter VII

For some are in the habit of carrying about the name [of Jesus Christ] in wicked guile, while yet they practise things unworthy of God, whom ye must flee as ye would wild beasts. For they are ravening dogs, who bite secretly, against whom ye must be on your guard, inasmuch as they are men who can scarcely be cured.

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Among the most eminent of the early apologists was Justin Martyr. Justin began as a pagan philosopher from Palestine. One day while meditating alone on the seashore, perhaps in Ephesus, a stranger approached Justin, pointed out the faults in his thinking, and exposed him to the ancient Jewish prophets and their witness of Christ - again here you see the early church using the Old Testament as scripture.

Already impressed by the constancy of Christians facing martyrdom - people are dying for this belief, there must be something to it, Justin was convinced and became a Christian in about 132 A.D.

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After his conversion he wrote:

"A fire was suddenly kindled in my soul. I fell in love with the prophets and these men who had loved Christ; I reflected on all their words and found that this philosophy alone was true and profitable. That is how and why I became a philosopher. And I wish that everyone felt the same way that I do."

Like the Apostle Paul who immediately began to preach Christ to the Jews, Justin immediately set out to prove the truth of Christianity to Greek philosophers. Focusing on Christ as the “Logos” or “Word” that we read of in John 1. In a work called “The Hortatory Address to the Greeks,” Justin lays out how Christ and Christianity are superior to the Greek philosophers and urges his hearers to turn to Christianity. He begins it by saying:

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“As I begin this hortatory address to you, ye men of Greece, I pray God that I may know what I ought to say to you, and that you, shaking off your habitual love of disputing, and being delivered from the error of your fathers, may now choose what is profitable.”

Justin earned his name “Martyr” in about 165 when he was beheaded in Rome, reportedly after he had bested a pagan philosopher in a debate.

Justin went on to found a Christian school in Rome and wrote two “apologies,” one of which was to the Roman Emperor Antonius Pius to explain the Christian faith and make the case for the acceptance of Christians in Roman society

In this work, he also provided a detailed view of Christian worship at the time:

On the day called Sunday there is a gathering together in the same place of all who live in a given city or rural district. The memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits. Then when the reader ceases, the president in a discourse admonishes and urges the imitation of these good things. Next we all rise together and send up prayers.

When we cease from our prayer, bread is presented and wine and water. The president in the same manner sends up prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people sing out their assent, saying the 'Amen.' A distribution and participation of the elements for which thanks have been given is made to each person, and to those who are not present they are sent by the deacons.

Those who have means and are willing, each according to his own choice, gives what he wills, and what is collected is deposited with the president. He provides for the orphans and widows, those who are in need on account of sickness or some other cause, those who are in bonds, strangers who are sojourning, and in a word he becomes the protector of all who are in need. (vii)

Before being martyred he was given the chance to save his life by sacrificing to the gods to which Justin replied:

"No one who is rightly minded turns from true belief to false."

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Another Church Father, Irenaeus studied under Polycarp and became bishop of the church at Lyons in 177 when its bishop, Pothinus, was imprisoned and later martyred. You have to be a pretty dedicated believer to agree to be pastor of a church where the previous guy was killed for the faith! Irenaeus directed most of his writings against Gnosticism that Gary took us through last week. Two of his works survive.

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He is also one of the Fathers the Lord used to help validate the provenance of the Gospels.

Holman QuickSource Guide to Christian Apologetics Who Wrote the Books?

In about AD 180, Irenaeus passed on the history of the Gospels that he had learned from Polycarp, who had in turn received his information from John. According to Irenaeus:

“Matthew published his Gospel among Hebrews in their own language, while Peter and Paul were preaching and founding the church in Rome. After their departure Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, also transmitted to us in writing those things which Peter had preached; and Luke, the attendant of Paul, recorded in a book the Gospel which Paul had declared. Afterwards John, the disciple of the Lord, who also reclined on his bosom, published his Gospel, while staying at Ephesus in Asia”

In Against Heresies he appeals to the apostolic writings to show that the God of Moses is the same as the God and Father of Jesus Christ—thus the Old Testament must be taken as sacred Scripture.

“The First Bible Teachers: Christian History Timeline,” Christian History Magazine-Issue 80: The First Bible Teachers (2003),.

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In his introduction, he says:

Five Books of S. Irenaeus against Heresies B. I. Proem § 1

I have judged it needful, on meeting with the writings of those who call themselves disciples of Valentinus; and also after conversation had with some of them, and understanding their drift; to declare unto thee, well-beloved, their portentous and deep mysteries, “cwhich all men receive not,” because all have not yet spit out their brains: that thou also, having learned them, mayest disclose them to all who are with thee, and exhort them to avoid the depth of these men’s folly, and blasphemy against Christ

[i]Pliny the Younger, Letters x.96. AD 112 [ii] “The Didache” in Richardson, Cyril C. ed. Early Christian Fathers (New York: Touchstone 1996), pp.174-75. [iii] Justin, Apology I 65-66, AD 150 [iv]Guide To Christian Apologetics, Doug Powell, p.121 [v] The “Didache” in Richardson, 178. [vi] Quoted in La Tourette, History of Christianity, Vol. 1, p.118

[vii] Justin Martyr | Christian History | Christianity Today