Into Darkness

Introduction

Summer series

1 Corinthians 2:1–5 NASB95

And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

Setting Sail

The Church was just getting started. This was the second generation of believers. With Christ ascended back into heaven, and most of the original followers of Christ either persecuted or dead, this was the first generation to embark on the Christian mission without Jesus or and Apostle present.

The Challenge: What is the Christian Faith All About?

Challengers:

Gnostics - “secret knowledge”

Montanists - passion without truth

Celsus - criticism from the Jews and Gentiles

Response: Apostolic Fathers

Clement of Rome - Dear Corinth, unify

Ignatius of Antioch - hold to good theology

Polycarp - love those who are hard to love

Didache - How to run church

Epistle of Barnabus - allegory and legalism

Shepherd of Hermas - how to live a godly life

Response: Apologists

Justin Martyr

Athenagoras of Athens

Theophilus of Antioch

Response: Point out Heresy

Irenaeus

Lesson:

The Church turned to God’s Word and wise counsel to solve the problems it faced.

Signs of Danger:

The influence of philosophy and the desire to be accepted by the world made the church curious about allegorical interpretation and fitting Scripture into secular categories.

Learning the Ropes

The Challenge: Theology vs. Philosophy?

Response: Christian Thinkers

Clement of Alexandria - integrate Christianity with the thinking of the day

Tertullian - stick with Scripture

Origen of Alexandria - used worldly categories and set the stage for heresy

Response: Christian Authority

Cyprian - the bishop has great authority

Lesson:

Christians wrestled with how to fit in with the culture around them and stay respectible and unified as a church.

Signs of Danger:

Christians began to compromise what the Bible says to fit into what was acceptible in the culture, and because they were relying less on Scripture alone, they began to keep unity through emphasizing the authority of men.

Weathering the First Storm

The Challenge: What is the Trinity

The Challenger:

Arius - heretic who denied the deity of Jesus

Response:

Alexander of Alexandria

Council of Nicaea - the Nicene Creed

Council of Constantinople

Council of Ephesus

Council of Chalcedon

Athenasius

Cappadocian Fathers

Lesson:

The Church can gather and study God’s World to answer important questions about the Christian faith.

Signs of Danger:

Certain churches began to be seen as more important than other ones.

Weathering the Second Storm

The Challenge: Who is Jesus?

Response:

Alexandria - increasingly allegorical view of the Bible

Antioch - return to a biblical hermeutic

Response:

Western church seeks to explain things very precisely

Eastern church seeks to preserve mystery

Lesson:

How you interpret the Bible is very important to how you understand the Gospel and how you live.

Signs of Danger:

Disagreements between theological positions start turning into political and personal attacks instead of a closer look at Scripture.

Rot Leads to Splitting

The Challenge: What (or Who) Defines the Church?

Response:

The Western church gives more and more power to Rome to decide what it thinks

The Eastern church grows increasingly frustrated with the power and pride of Rome

The Western Church officially begins to call itself the Roman Catholic Church

The Eastern Church officially stops caring what the Western Church thinks

Response:

The filioque controversy

The Great Schism

Lesson:

The Church wasn’t split by doctrine, but by a lack of humility and love. It became proud and selfish.

Signs of Danger:

The Church now looks to Rome more than Jesus or Scripture for its authority.

Salvation becomes more about obeying the voice of Rome than about obeying the voice of God.

Darkness Falls

The Challenge: What Is the Gospel?

The Response:

Papal power

Political power

The Response:

The Scholastic movement

Dualism

Secular/Sacred

Common/Clergy

Latin/Vulgar

People/God

Gospel/Grace

Response:

Increasing corruption

Increasing persecution

Increasing suffering

Lesson:

When the Church strays from the purity of the Gospel, great evil covers not only the individuals who stray, but the world around them.

Hope:

God is setting the stage for a surprise...