3. The effect of the fall of Jerusalem was to draw a sharp line of _division between Jews and Christians_. Before, the two cla.s.ses had been closely related, and confused in the popular mind. Thenceforth the two streams ran further and further apart, and have continued apart even to our own time. All Jewish rites ceased in the church, Christians could no longer be Jews; and after 125 A. D. Jews could no longer be Christians without renouncing Judaism. The church was now thoroughly a Gentile, non-Jewish church. Note in the gospel of John how "the Jews" are everywhere named as enemies of Christ (John 5. 16; 7. 1; 11. 8; 18. 36); and yet the author of this book was himself a Jew by birth and training; but at the time of writing he had ceased to be a Jew.
II. =St. John at Ephesus.= Ephesus, at the western end of Asia Minor, was now the leading city of Christianity. It is probable that the apostle John pa.s.sed the last thirty years of his life in that city. He was revered as the _last of the apostles_; but he was not a statesman or man of affairs; rather a mystic and man of meditation. It is supposed that he died about 100 A. D. but the date is not certain.
III. =The Rise of the Heresies.= 1. This was the inevitable _result of the Greek mind_ working on the simple doctrines of the gospel. The Christian doctrine was Jewish; and the Jewish mind was not given to subtle intellectual questions. But when Christianity ceased to be Jewish and began to Gentile it was dominated by the Greek spirit of restless inquiry. Asia Minor was the home of wild, uncontrolled thinking. Sects almost without number appeared, wrangled, and divided over every article of the creed. The more mysterious the question, the more apart from practical life and from human interest, the more fascinating became the study.
2. Two great cla.s.ses of sects embraced many minor groups.
1.) _The Ebionites._ Strict Jews, who sought to make Christianity a branch of Pharisaism, keeping the Jewish law. 2.) _The Gnostics._ People with peculiar views concerning the nature of G.o.d, heavenly beings, the nature of Christ.
3. The _results_ of these controversies were both good and evil. 1.) _Good_ in that the clashing of ideas aided in _fixing_ in permanent form the true _doctrines_ of the church. 2.) But far more _evil_; for the energies of the members were absorbed in debate and controversy; the spiritual life of the church greatly declined; the aim ceased to be devotion to Christ, but was now orthodoxy in belief. Christianity became a creed, instead of an inner spiritual life.
IV. =The Second Imperial Persecution=; under the emperor Domitian, son of t.i.tus, about A. D. 95. This was far more widely extended than the former persecution under Nero; and it was followed by a long series of persecutions, wherein untold thousands of Christians were put to death.
The inevitable conflict had come between Christianity and the Roman empire, and it lasted two hundred years; but at its close the cross was triumphant over the Roman eagles. It is not difficult to see the _causes_ of this _struggle_:
1. _Heathenism was hospitable_, welcoming new G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses, while _Christianity was exclusive_, opposing with all its might every other form of worship.
2. _Idol-worship_ and its services were _interwoven_ with all the _life of the people_; personal, family, social, political. Temples, statues, festivals were constantly in evidence; on all occasions there were rites of worship. But here was a growing mult.i.tude of people who stood aloof from these exercises. It was not strange that these people were regarded as enemies of society and of the state.
3. Certain forms of religion were allowed in the Roman empire, but all new forms were forbidden. _Judaism was a permitted_ religion. As long as Christianity was looked upon as a branch of Judaism, it was allowed. But after the fall of Jerusalem it stood alone, an unlicensed form of worship, hence under suspicion; suspicion readily becoming enmity.
4. _The worship of the emperor_ was the one most prevalent throughout the empire. A statue of the reigning emperor stood in every city, and it was a test of loyalty to offer libations of incense before it. This worship is doubtless referred to in an enigmatic manner in such pa.s.sages as 2 Thess. 2. 3, 4. Rev. 13. 1, 4, 8, 18. This worship was refused by the Christians, who were for that reason regarded as disloyal.
From these causes persecution after persecution arose; hundreds of thousands perished; yet in spite of the persecution, the church grew rapidly.
Blackboard Outline
PART ONE
=En. Ag.= Ag. shad. Comp. Paul. Diff. Ch. 125 A. D. "Sec. ra. m."
I. =Fa. Jer.= 1.) Reb. A. D. 68-70. 2.) Siege pred. Chr. with.
Pel. 3.) Eff. div. Je. Chr.
II. =Jhn. Eph.= Last. Ap. 100 A. D.
III. =Ris. Her.= 1. Gre. min. 2. Eb. Gnos. 3. Res. 1.) G. 2.) Ev.
IV. =Sec. Imp. Per.= Dom. 95. Caus. 1. Heath. hosp. 2. Id. wor. int.
li. 3. Jud. per. rel. Chr. unlic. 4. Wor. Emp.
Review Questions
What is said of the period after the death of St.
Paul? Between what years is there very little history?
What companions of St. Paul were living at the time of his death? What became of these men? Wherein was the church of a later period different from that of the earlier time? What reason is a.s.signed for these changes? Name the four princ.i.p.al events in the period under consideration. When did the rebellion of the Jews against the Roman empire begin? What was the result of this rebellion? What became of the Christians in Jerusalem at the opening of the Jewish war? What was the after history of Jewish Christianity? What was the effect of the fall of Jerusalem on the relations between Christianity and Judaism? Who was the last of the twelve apostles on the earth? Where did he live? What was his character?
What is said as to his death? What divisions in the church arose at this period? Of what were these divisions the result? What country was the home of the heresies? Who were the Ebionites? Who were the Gnostics? What good result came from these controversies? What evil result followed them? What persecution arose during this period? At what time?
Under what emperor did the persecution begin? How did it compare with the earlier persecution under Nero?
What general causes may be given for the series of imperial persecutions of the Christians? Wherein was heathenism hospitable, and Christianity exclusive? How was idolatry interwoven with the affairs of life? How was this fact adverse to the Christians? How did Christianity come to be looked on with suspicion in the empire? How did the worship of the emperor affect the Christians? What is this worship called in the New Testament? Did these persecutions stop the progress of the church?
PART TWO
Let us consider the =condition of the church= at the end of the first century, seventy years after the Ascension of our Lord.
I. =Its Numbers= cannot be definitely stated; but the church was very large, and growing with marvelous rapidity. Sources of information: 1.) _The catacombs_; cemeteries under and around Rome where Christians only were buried, and wherein they met in times of persecution; occupied between 100 and 400 A. D.; containing in three centuries two million graves of Christians. 2.) A letter of Pliny, Roman governor of Bithynia-Pontus in Asia Minor, 112 A. D., stating that "the temples were almost deserted," "an incredible number of professors." Evidences point to the church, A. D. 100, having already a large proportion of the population of the Roman empire.
II. =Its Membership.= 1. Once the church had been entirely Jewish; then it became Jewish and Gentile; now it was almost everywhere a Gentile church, with a few Jewish members, most of whom had abandoned Jewish rites and rules and were regarded by the Jews as "apostates."
2. _Its social condition_ was varied. It is a mistake to suppose that at any time the early church was composed mainly of slaves and the poorest cla.s.ses. Such there were; but there were also men of wealth, of high rank, and of great influence. There is reason to believe that some relatives of the emperor, previous to 100 A. D. were banished on account of their Christian profession. The gospel had by this time permeated all cla.s.ses.
III. =Its Organization.= We observe in this respect a remarkable change since the period of St. Paul"s ministry. Everywhere the church was hardening into an _ecclesiastical system ruled by bishops_. Bishops are first mentioned late in St. Paul"s ministry (Acts 20. 28; Rev. Ver.
Phil. 1. 1; 1 Tim. 3. 1-7); but it is evident that the word at that time meant no more than "elder;" otherwise the elders of Ephesus would not have been called "bishops" in Acts 20.28. But in an autocratic state the church would naturally become autocratic in its arrangement, ruled from above rather than from below. By 125 A. D. bishops were in control everywhere.
IV. =Its Inst.i.tutions.= Two of these require notice. 1. _The Lord"s Supper._ We have seen how this began as a service in the home, like the Jewish Pa.s.sover, out of which it grew (Acts 2. 46). But among Gentile churches the custom arose of celebrating it at a public meeting, as a supper to which each member brought some share of provision. See 1 Cor.
11. 20-30, an account of abuses that had arisen. By the end of the first century the supper had become a service held at the meeting place of the Christians, but not in public. All except members of the church were excluded from this service, which was held as a "mystery."
2. _The Lord"s Day._ The observance of the first day of the week grew gradually, and with its growth the recognition of the Jewish sabbath declined. Note the development indicated in 1 Cor. 16. 2; Acts 20. 7; Rev. 1. 10. As the church became entirely a Gentile inst.i.tution "the Lord"s day" took the place of the Jewish sabbath.
V. =Its Doctrinal System.= The _theology of St. Paul_, as set forth in Romans and Ephesians, was now accepted as the doctrine of the church.
Notice that St. Peter (1 Pet. 1. 18-21) states the great Pauline principle of justification by faith through the blood of Christ.
VI. =Its Literature.= By 100 A. D. all the books of the New Testament were written, though not all of them were everywhere accepted as authoritative. In some places there were questions about Hebrews, 2 Peter and Revelation; the latter because local in its address, and so recent in origin as not to be known everywhere. But the gospels (except John, which was about 95 A. D. in its date), the Acts and nearly all the epistles were read in all the churches as possessing an inspired authority. Note that, in 2 Peter, Paul"s writings are placed on a par with "the other Scriptures," which must refer to the Old Testament.
VII. =Its Spiritual Life.= It must be admitted that there had been a decline in the fervency of the Christian life in the church. Its moral standards were still high; but spiritual gifts had become less noticeable; the rule of bishops and councils and the controversies over doctrines were weakening the fervor of spirituality. Note the difference in spirit and tone between the writings of the New Testament and those of the early church-fathers in the second century.
Blackboard Outline
PART TWO
=Cond. of Ch.= 100 =A. D.=
I. =Num.= 1.) Cat. 2.) Let. Plin.
II. =Mem.= 1.) Gen. few Je. 2.) Soc. cond. all cla.s.s.
III. =Org.= Ecc. Sys. ru. b. Bish.
IV. =Inst.= Lor. Sup. Lor. D.
V. =Doc. Sys.= Theo. Pau.
VI. =Lit.= N. T.
VII. =Spir. Lif.= Dec.