Transcript CHURCH HISTORY PART 1

THE STUDY OF
CHURCH HISTORY
20 January 2008
Clogher Valley Bible Class
WHY STUDY CHURCH HISTORY?
It is a Biblical discipline; Exodus 13:14-16,
Joshua 5:19-24, Psalm 78:1-8.
It enables us to trace the hand of God in the
preservation of his people.
It helps us to learn from the mistakes of a
past generation.
We are taught from past experience how to
deal with our present problems.
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THE BEGINNING OF CHURCH HISTORY
Immediately after the close of the Book of Acts.
Paul is a prisoner in Rome, year is 64AD.
What will now happen to the Christian Church?
Unlike Biblical history we do have the benefit of
an inspired account.
Nevertheless using a combination of secular
historians and Christian writers a picture of the
development of the Kingdom of Christ on earth
emerges.
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PART 1
The Death of Paul to the
Emergence of the Papacy
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FIRST ROMAN PERSECUTION
Nero – AD 64.
Rome was destroyed by fire.
Nero was blamed.
Christians were blamed to shield Nero
(Tacitus).
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THE CRUELTIES OF NERO
Christians were crucified.
Some were clad in hides of beasts and attacked by
dogs for entertainment.
Others were set on fire and used as human torches
when daylight failed.
Tacitus wrote that Christians were “destroyed, not
for public good but to gratify the cruelty of an
individual”.
It is believed that this was the period when Paul
was martyred.
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THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM
70 AD.
Pivotal event in New Testament prophecy;
Matthew 24:15-28, Luke 19:41-44.
Christ was quite adamant would be fulfilled
in “this generation” (Matthew 24:34).
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THE DETAILS
The Christians fled because of Christ’s warnings.
The Jews resisted stubbornly and bravely.
The Roman general was called Titus.
He used a Jewish defector called Josephus as his
negotiator who recorded the details.
1,100,000 Jews died and 97,000 survivors were
sold as slaves.
Titus only left a piece of the western wall and
three towers as a monument to the mighty city that
he had razed to the ground.
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THE PURPOSE
The Jewish people were judged for their blatant
disregard of God.
They were judged for their treatment of Christ.
It was a sure sign that the Kingdom of God was
now spiritual and not material with the abolition of
the Jewish state.
The temple which lay at the heart of ceremonial
worship was no longer required after Christ’s
sacrifice.
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Progress in Days
of Persecution
70 AD – 311 AD
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The Pliny Trajan Letters – 112 AD
Pliny was the Roman Governor of Bithynia (Asia Minor or
Turkey, Acts 16:7 and 1 Peter 1:1).
Trajan was the Emperor who pursued a policy of
persecuting believers.
Pliny described Christian worship; they met at day break
for singing unto Christ.
They abstain from theft, adultery and other evils.
Trajan instructed Pliny not to seek out Christians but to
punish them if a complaint is received.
This correspondence would indicate that Christianity's
spread was a concern in the highest places in Rome.
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The Martyrdom of Ignatius
He was Bishop of Antioch for
40 years
He knew the apostles
He was taken from Antioch to
Rome as an old man.
He was killed by lions before
45,000 spectators at the
amphitheatre.
Before he died he said, “I am
God’s grain to be ground
between the teeth of wild
beasts, so that I can become a
holy loaf for the Lord.”
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JUSTIN MARTYR
Born in 100 AD he was the first apologist for Christianity.
Apologist comes from the Latin “apologia” which means
to answer. He answered for the faith against Christ’s
enemies.
After searching for peace in pagan philosophies he was
converted at 32 years of age after talking to a man by the
seaside.
His writings speak of Christian practices; worship on the
Lord’s Day, scripture reading, the sermon, prayers, the
Lord’s Supper and almsgiving.
Justin was martyred in 165 AD.
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THE DEATH OF POLYCARP
He was a disciple of John who became Bishop of
Smyrna.
When aged 86 arrested and refused to called the
Emperor “Lord” or God 155 AD.
As he did not fear the wild beasts he was burned to
death.
He was heard praying, “I thank thee that I have been
deemed worthy to receive the crown of martyrdom,
and that I may die for thee and for thy cause”.
The watching crowds marvelled at his faith.
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THE LYONS MARTYRS
In France it is recorded that a group of
Christians were arrested and tortured.
Such was their courage that many were
converted to Christ.
One, a young slave girl called Blandina was
placed in a red hot chair, inserted into a net
and tossed repeatedly into the hair by a bull.
Afterwards her throat was cut.
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A CHURCH IN HIDING
By the end of the first century the Christian
Church was forced underground.
The catacombs of Rome are tangible evidence of
this.
These are a network of underground passages
beneath and about the city of Rome.
Christian symbols such as the dove, the fish and
the bread are painted on the walls and can be seen
to the present day.
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TIMES OF PEACE
From 211 AD to 249 AD the church was free from
persecution.
Alexander Severus had a mother who was favourable to
Christians and he would even quote scripture.
For the first time Christians built public buildings.
In these years men like Cyprian detected a worldly carnal
spirit creeping in among the people of God.
He for one believed that the subsequent persecution were
God’s way of both chastening his people and separating
the wheat from the chaff.
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PIOUS CYPRIAN
Cyprian was the bishop of the North African church in Carthage.
He was born in 200 AD, converted late in life and elected as
Bishop by the people while relatively young in the faith.
He entered into a dispute with the Bishop of Rome indicating he
knew nothing of Papal supremacy.
He was a firm believer in taking truth simply from the
scriptures.
He asserted the priesthood of all believers.
Persecution broke out again in 249 AD under the Decius and his
successor Valerian.
He was beheaded for his faith in 258 AD.
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THE TENTH PERSECUTION
UNDER DIOCLETIAN
303 AD – 311 AD.
It was chiefly instigated by Galerius and
Maximin who were responsible for the
Government of Asia.
This was the final and most fearful Roman
persecution.
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THE FOUR EDICTS
1. That Christians should lose their offices and
property, that they be banned from worship and
that the scriptures be burnt.
2. All ministers be imprisoned.
3. Ministers were to be refused release unless they
offered sacrifices to heathen gods and were
counted enemies of the state.
4. The magistrates were directed to use all means
of torture to convert Christians to Paganism.
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THE WRATH OF GOD
Pillars were raised and medals struck in
honour of the Diocletian and Galerius for
bringing about the end of Christianity.
After 8 years Galerius was eaten of worms
and called on Christians to pray for him.
From his deathbed he not only apologised
but admitted his failure to destroy
Christianity and gave Christians liberty.
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MAXIMIN AND THE FAMINE
Galerius’ successor pursued the same policy of persecution
which continued throughout the empire.
There was a fearful famine accompanied by terrible
disease.
Christians risked their own lives to help the suffering and
bury the dead.
The Romans blamed the persecutions for their calamities.
Maximin gave Christians liberty and restored their
confiscated properties.
He turned his attention to the pagan priests who
encouraged him to kill the Lord’s people.
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WHY DID THE ROMANS
PERSECUTE THE CHURCH?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Roman Emperors hated gods which they did not
recognise.
The Emperors regarded the Christian mandate to spread
God’s Kingdom into the whole earth regardless of
frontier to be very dangerous.
Christians refused to be part of public events which were
dedicated to heathen gods. They were regarded as anti
social and secretive and were therefore suspect.
Christians threaten the business interests of trades
associated with paganism.
Christians were regarded as arousing the anger of
Roman gods who send famines, earthquakes ect…
S.M. Houghton, “Skecthes From Church History”.
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THE SLIDE FROM
FREEDOM TO APOSTACY
312 AD – 800 AD
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CONSTANTINE
He was:
A devout worshipper
of the Sun.
Won the Empire by
war.
Murdered Crispus his
first son.
Murdered his second
in the bath.
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THE EDICT OF MILAN
A treaty drawn up with his rival from the
east, Lucinus.
“We have long considered that freedom
should not be denied”
Christianity could now put its years of
persecution behind.
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CONSTANTINE
The Theory
Saw a cross in the
sky before fighting
his last battle for
Rome.
Converted to
Christianity
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The Fact
Was head of the pagan
state religion until his
death.
He recognised that the
influence of Christianity
could be a political tool to
help him control the
Empire.
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THE ADOPTED RELIGION
Christianity became the official religion of
the Empire.
Sunday became the official day of rest and
worship.
Ministers received liberal salaries from the
state.
Buildings were erected by the Government.
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THE DANGER OF ACCEPTABLILITY
The Christians were now in leadership in society.
Pagans wanted to become Christian because it was
fashionable.
The Emperor demanded the right to rule the
church and he called council meetings.
Before long the Bishops became became very rich
ruling over cities in a secular fashion.
Over many years the Bishop of Rome slowly
developed in power and influence.
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THE ARIAN CONTROVERSY
Arius; a presbyter from Alexandria insisted that
Christ was not God.
Athanasius of Alexandria opposed him with a
book, “On the Incarnation of the Word of God”.
Constantine called a council meeting at Nicea,
close to present day Istanbul in 325 AD.
300 bishops of the Church insisted that Christ was
a member of the Trinity and Arianism became a
heresy.
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Augustine of Hippo
Of all the Church leaders in this period of decline
Augustine is a shining light.
He was born in North Africa in 354 AD and
speaks highly of his mother.
She prayed for her son as he went to Italy and
lived an immoral life.
In a garden in Milan he sought the Lord after
reading Romans 13:13-14 and his ministry
subsequently brought blessings to many.
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Augustine’s Contribution
His Confessions is one of the greatest personal
testimonies ever written.
He opposed “Pelagius” a British monk who
believed that man was not depraved and that man
has the ability to come to God of his own free will.
Augustine wrote powerfully on the inability of
man in his natural state and of the necessity of
God’s grace.
He died after a prosperous ministry in the year
430 AD.
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THE ANCIENT CELTIC CHURCH
Christianity had come to the British Isles
before the Romans left in 410 AD.
Patrick was a Scotsman who established a thriving
Church in Pagan Ireland. He was born in 373 AD.
Columba was from Donegal and settled in Iona
establishing a monastery from which sent out
missionaries carrying the gospel to Scotland,
583 AD.
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EVANGELISING THE PAGANS
After the collapse of the empire Britain was
invaded by the Angles, Saxons and Jutes.
The Celtic Church in Scotland and
Northumbria met with great success in
reaching out to these heathens.
The Celtic Church was independent of the
Roman Church.
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ROME ARRIVES IN BRITAIN
597 AD – Augustine is sent by Pope Gregory 1st to
convert the English.
The King of Kent was converted and Canterbury
became the Church Headquarters.
Other British Kings followed suit.
In 664 AD at Whitby the Celtic Church in a
conference decided to follow the customs of the
Roman Church and became subservient to the Pope.
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THE VENERABLE BEDE
Handed into the care of monastery at 7 years of age.
Lived all his life in Northumbria.
With a sharpened goose quill and acid he burned his
writings into animal skin.
He wrote 69 books including Bible commentaries, hymns
and secular writings.
England’s first historian.
The first person to produce a calendar based upon the life
of Christ (AD and BC).
He died in 735AD at 62 surrounded by his pupils who
were helping him produce a commentary on John’s
Gospel.
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PAGANISM POLLUTES THE CHURCH
Since Constantine’s time Pagan practices
slowly became normal within the Church.
These included such doctrines as Purgatory,
praying for the dead, holy water and the
worship of the mother with the child.
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PROPHECY FULFILLED IN ROME
Paul wrote that the Antichrist would only be revealed until
that which hindered his arrival would be taken out of the
way, 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12.
Constantine foreseeing the fall of Rome moved the
Emperor’s seat to Constantinople. This gave the Bishop of
Rome more power.
In 476 AD Rome fell to the barbarians and the Bishop of
Rome quickly stepped into the power vacuum and became
a dominant secular force in the new political situation.
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THE MODERN PAPACY DEVELOPS
Innocent 1 insists that no decision can be taken in the
Church without his authority, 402 AD.
Leo 1 strengthens the Pope’s hold on the Western
Churches.
The claim is made that the Pope has the authority of Peter
as the first Bishop of Rome.
Gregory the Great took the responsibility for defending
Italy and he appointed Bishops to represent him in other
places.
In 800 AD Charlemagne King of the Franks was crowned
Holy Roman Emperor by Leo 3rd. Now the Papacy has a
revived Roman Empire to control and usurp.
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The Pope Crowns Charlemagne Holy Roman Emperor
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THE FUTURE
Next time we will consider how the
true church survived in the period of
history which was now beginning
known as the Dark Ages.
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