Second Century Timeline

Posted on 12/17/2013 by Paul Pavao

I was going to do a part 2 on my introduction to the Second Century Timeline. Restless Pilgrim, who has been a tireless follower of this blog, asked about quotes from Ignatius. He deserves a medal for tolerating me so long. That’s not the point of mentioning him, though. The point is he made me realize I left out some really important quotes concerning the ecclesiastical life and structure of the second century churches.

I’m going to let the introduction, part 2, go. Instead, we’ll cover those things by thoroughly covering Ignatius. Today we’ll make our timeline of events and people of the second century, and then we’ll describe those people and events in later posts.

If you’re used to thinking about history as a boring academic subject that has to be passed to get a diploma, which is almost the only thing many of us learned about history in high school, then take heart. If you are a Christian who cares what the apostles taught, these are the most exciting and influential people in all of your history. Nothing boring about them at all, and they fought and shed as much blood as any hero of any nation anywhere. Among the Christians, however, it was not just men who were mighty warriors.

Do I compare men with [your Roman heroes]? Boys and young women among us treat with contempt crosses and tortures, wild beasts, and all the bugbears of punishment with the inspired patience of suffering. (M. Felix, Octavius 37, c. AD 200)

Second century timeline

AD 95-96: 1 Clement, an anonymous letter from the Church at Rome to the Church at Corinth universally attributed to Clement of Rome. (It’s been pointed out in comments that this may have an earlier date, which is true, but 95-96 is the most accepted date.)

AD 107 or 116: Ignatius’ seven letters. If I remember correctly, his letters are given these two dates because of the timing of the emperor Trajan’s visits to Asia Minor. Either way, he wrote all seven letters while in captivity on his way to Rome to be killed by wild animals in the arena. He was very excited about it.

Note that The Ante-Nicene Fathers, which is where my links are sending you, include both the longer versions of his letters and some spurious letters. Read only the first paragraph of any Ignatius links I send you, too. The second paragraph is always from the later, amended edition of his letter.

AD 80-130:

The Didache (or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles): A very early and interesting church manual, which includes The Two Ways, a tract which is also found in the Letter of Barnabas.

Letter of Barnabas: This letter addresses the Law of Moses, then appends the “Two Ways” tract.

Letter to Diognetus: This is my favorite early Christian writing. It is poetic, beautiful, and addresses Christians in the society at large, true holiness, and the redemption accomplished by the Word of God come in the flesh.

117-138: Apology of Aristides. This is a recent discovery. I’ve read it, and I’ve forgotten most of what it says. There is a text and good introduction at EarlyChristianWritings.com. It refutes Roman paganism.

120-140: Polycarp’s letter to the Philippians. Like Ignatius, Polycarp is held by tradition to have been appointed as a bishop by apostles. The dates on this letter are my opinion. I think scholars would have to allow that it could have been written even in the 150’s.

132-135: Bar-Kokhba Rebellion: Simon Bar-Kokhba was another claimant to be the Jewish Messiah. He led a rebellion against Rome and drew many followers. It has immense importance to Jewish history, of course, as it crushed the Jews’ hopes for regaining their homeland for more than 17 centuries. For Christian history, this rebellion helps with dating. The Letter of Barnabas, for example, is believed to be before AD 130 just because it never mentions the crushing of the Jews in 135. Its focus on Jewish practices make it likely he would have at least mentioned it, had it already happened.

150’s: Justin Martyr’s writings. He has many writings. His First Apology is a thorough general description of Christianity addressed to the emperor. It contains the first description of an early Christian meeting. His Dialogue with Trypho, in my opinion, is the closest we will ever get to knowing what Jesus said to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24).

c. 155: Martyrdom of Polycarp: There is an excellent description of his martyrdom in the Ante-Nicene Fathers.

c. 160: Montanus prophesied in a church in Phrygia. His prophecy was rejected by the church. His church graciously allowed him an appeal to two others, who also rejected his prophecy. Refusing to repent, he started a sect now called the Montanists. They taught that the Holy Spirit was giving new revelation and new, stricter rules to the church now that it had grown up some. Allowances like remarrying after a spouse died, according to Montanus, were for the hardness of hearts of the Christians in their infancy. In spite of this rejection of the apostles’ inspired revelation of the Gospel, their teaching influenced even Tertullian, one of the most prolific writers of the early third century. (The Catholic Encyclopedia has an excellent summation of the chronology of Montanism.)

150-180: Here we have Tatian, Theophilus, and Athenagoras, all very different characters.

Tatian eventually left the faith for his own version of gnosticism, but before he did, he left us a few writings including a harmony of the Gospels known as the Diatessaron. Since this is a harmony of our four Gospels, it’s one more testimony (among many) that Irenaeus (see below) did not sort the Gospels from 30 down to 4, as claimed by Bart Ehrman, a noted pro-gnostic scholar. He was originally a disciple of Justin.

Theophilus was the seventh bishop of Antioch. His To Autolycus is a thorough description of the Christian faith. He has an extensive section on the Trinity, which I found very useful for In the Beginning Was the Logos. He is also one of the best references for a literal, 24-hour-day interpretation of Genesis 1 (which I don’t agree with). I have a web page that considers 6,000 years by Theophilus’ dating, which is very interesting.

Athenagoras is simply unknown. He wrote an apology called A Plea for the Christians. It has Montanist leanings, but no one knows whether he was really a Montanist or whether some of their ideas were already gaining traction in the church before Montanus was ejected from the church. For example, he refers to remarrying after a spouse dies as “a specious adultery” (adultery cloaked by being officially legal). It, too has an excellent section on the Trinity.

185: Irenaeus wrote Against Heresies about this time, a huge five-volume work against the gnostics. His thorough research on gnosticism, in order to refute them, is our best knowledge about them. The last three books, and especially the last two, cover almost everything that has to do with Christianity and Christian teaching in his day. He also wrote Proof of the Apostolic Preaching, which is a much shorter way to get his general teaching on Christianity.

190-200: Clement of Alexandria was a prolific writer. It is thought that he was the teacher of new converts in the church at Alexandria. He taught Origen in Origen’s youth, and both Clement and Origen are highly speculative teachers. Clement’s writings touch on everything. He even talks about exercise, eating gravy, how to sit in public, and much, much more. He and Justin before him quote philosophers and poets favorably on a regular basis, though they considered Christianity to be the true philosophy. Most other writers take a more negative attitude toward the “sophists.”

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Delays and My Health

Posted on 12/14/2013 by Paul Pavao

I spent the entire day yesterday at Vanderbilt Cancer Center getting the first part of my 2-year post-transplant checkup. It took the whole day, and everything was wonderful:

  • My eyes have not had any Graft-vs-Host (attacks from my immune system) for the last six months. The wonderful, exuberant, sweet ophthalmologist, whom I will miss, told me I don’t ever need to come back. I though GVH of the eyes was a lifelong problem. Whoo hoo!
  • Still cancer free, and 2-years is coming up in a month when I’m allowed to use the word “cured,” even though nothing is 100%.
  • My triglycerides, very heightened by the steroids I have to take, come down from 460 to 180. Whoo hoo!

The albumen levels in my urine were TERRIBLE. I have no symptoms, but that’s indicative a kidney problem. Little scary. My other kidney number, creatinine level, was back down in normal range.

Basically, though, everything’s fine. In fact, they’re so fine that now they want to do all the poking and prodding that they would like to do to all healthy people. If you’re healthy, though, you can usually just dodge things like colonoscopies and prostate checks by never going to the doctor. I go to the doctor at least every two months and usually much more often than that. They are always asking if I’ve had this or that, and they want me to have everything.

Since I had cancer, I am giving in … once for each item.

Anyway, it’s made for a pretty busy couple of weeks. I will get back to blogging as soon as I can, probably next week.

I’ll give you additional news. Part of what is keeping me busy is that I am finally working regularly on Yippee! I Have Leukemia. I came up with a paragraph for my query letter and proposal (used to get a literary agent for traditional publishing) that I really like:

Why is the suffering, pain, and risk of training, preparing, and scaling a mountain an adventure to be tackled with joy, yet an equally difficult and much more risky battle with leukemia is not? I will never climb Mt. Everest, but I can find the same thrill and conquest climbing Mt. Improbable.

That pretty much sums up my attitude toward a cancer that kills about 75% of the people who get it. I figured all things work together for good for those who love God and are called for his purpose, so I’d act like that was true. The battle with leukemia was not just “my trial.” It was good.

The daughter of a friend of mine got me a T-shirt that says, “It’s all good.” I wore it a lot, and I still wear it even though it has holes in it. Thanks, Katie!

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Second Century Timeline: Introduction

Posted on 12/08/2013 by Paul Pavao

Whoo hoo! Yeah!

This century … will … be … FUN.

You know, I try to write this blog the way I would talk in front of an audience. Outside of church, where I and most others in the church have spoken to 250 to 300 people, the biggest audiences I ever speak to, folks who for some unknown reason come out to hear me on purpose, is 40-50 people.

I do pretty well with them. I can see their faces. I can tell whether they’re really gripped by the subject. If so, I dig in and give them the facts, fast and furious. Everyone’s dazed but happy at the end. If not, we go slow, I throw in a lot of stories, a bit of my own wry humor, which people laugh at about 50% of the time, and I ask the audience questions to keep them focused. We have a good time, and hopefully they learn something, too.

On a blog, I can’t see you. I’ll find this post six months from now and think, “I started a blog with ‘Whoo hoo! Yeah!’?? How goofy is that?”

Does that ever happen to any of you who blog?

Well, today I feel pretty “whoo hoo” about digging into the second century church, so that’s how we’re starting.

We Don’t Speak Great Things, We Live Them

The second century is not about the events. Yes, the Bar-Kochba rebellion is important. Whole books could have and have been written about it. The story of Montanus is really interesting, and so is the doctrine at the root of Montanism. The era of the apologists is important and interesting. Their arguments against the Romans, the emperor, and the gnostic heretics all take surprising turns that we can learn from.

But their lives!

The Christians of the second century got to live a faith that is terrifying to us in North America. We dream of such a faith. We idolize those who have lived such a faith, but few of us really put in the effort that grows such a faith.

It exists in the world today even without a lost ingredient I will talk about throughout this history. U.S. believers who make mission trips to areas where Christians have endured mosquito-infested swamps, then swam across raging rivers pulling a large, plastic-wrapped batch of Bibles into some country where they have forbidden–U.S. believers who make trip to those areas come back profoundly changed. It’s hard to hold onto that change in the worldly, affluent, unbelieving, logical west. We are full, blind, and have all we need. A friend of mine calls the whole USA “Disneyland.”

There was a time when Christians were all like they are in persecuted countries.

Let me say now that we can be that way even in countries where “Christians” are the majority. We’ll talk more about that when we eventually wander into the third century.

Today, I just want to give you an introduction to some of the second century Christians and what they said about the way they live. (Note: in doing so, we are going to include some first century Christians who wrote after the time of the apostles.)

Corinth Repents Because of Paul’s Letter

Who ever lived among you and did not find your faith to be as fruitful of virtue as it was firmly established? Who did not admire your sobriety and the moderation of your godliness in Christ? Who did not proclaim the magnificence of your habitual hospitality? Who did not rejoice over your perfect and well-grounded knowledge? You did everything without partiality, walked in the commandments of God, being obedient to those who led you, and giving all appropriate honor to the elders among you. (1 Clement 1)

This preceded a rebuke that they had fallen into dissension and envy again, putting out a couple of their elders for what Clement (or the church of Rome) felt was no good reason. Nonetheless, this letter gives us a thorough picture of how the Corinthians heeded Paul’s admonishments to them, even if a generation later they found themselves having problems again.

The Godly Lives of Christians

You forbid, yet commit, adulteries; we are born men only for our own wives. You punish crimes when committed; with us, even to think of crimes is to sin. You are afraid of those who are aware of what you do; we are afraid even of our own consciences, without which we cannot exist. Finally, from your numbers the prisons boil over, but there is no Christian there unless he is accused on account of his religion or has deserted it. (M. Felix, The Octavius, c AD 200)

Let me be clear, though, that if we thought wealth was useful for us, we would ask God for it. We are confident that God would answer us in some measure, because he possesses everything. But we would rather despise riches than possess them. What we want is innocence, and what we pray for is patience. We prefer being good to being lavish. (ibid.)

We despise the bent brows of the philosophers, because we know them to be corrupters, adulterers, and tyrants. They have great eloquence, but they’re speaking against vices that they themselves live in. We, on the other hand, who do not carry our wisdom in our clothes, but in our minds, don’t speak great things; we live them. We boast that we have found what they have sought for with the utmost eagerness but have not been able to find. (ibid.)

We who formerly delighted in fornication now embrace chastity alone. We who formerly used magical arts dedicate ourselves to the good and unbegotten God. We who valued above all things the acquisition of wealth and possessions now bring what we have into a common stock and share with every one in need. We who hated and destroyed one another and would not live with men of a different tribe because of their different customs now, since the coming of Christ, share the same fire with them.
   We pray for our enemies and attempt to persuade those who hate us unjustly to live according to the good precepts of Christ. This is so that they may become partakers with us of the same joyful hope of a reward from God, the Ruler of all. (Justin, 1 Apology 14, c. AD 155)

We … continually remind each other of these things. The wealthy among us help the needy, and we always keep together. For all things with which we are supplied, we bless the Maker of all through his Son Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit. … They who are well to do and willing give what each thinks fit, and what is collected is deposited with the president. He helps the orphans, widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in need. [He helps] those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us. In a word [he] takes care of all who are in need. (Justin, ibid. 67)

It is mainly the deeds of a love so noble that lead many to label us. “See,” they say, “How they love one another!” For themselves are animated by mutual hatred. “How they are ready even to die for one another!” For they themselves will sooner put to death. …
   No tragedy causes dissension in our brotherhood … the family possessions, which generally destroy brotherhood among you [Romans], create fraternal bonds among us. One in mind and soul, we do not hesitate to share our earthly goods with one another. All things are common among us but our wives. (Tertullian, Apology 39, c AD 210)

Persecution

Christians … love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life. They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonored, and yet in their very dishonor are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; they are insulted, and repay the insult with honor; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life. (Anonymous, Letter to Diognetus 5, c AD 100)

Don’t you see them exposed to wild beasts for the purpose of persuading them to deny the Lord, yet they are not overcome? Don’t you see that the more of them that are punished, the greater the number of the rest becomes? This does not seem to be the work of man. This is the power of God. These are the evidences of his appearance. (ibid. 7)

I’m going to throw in a comment here. We love logic here in the west, and we use it to persuade the lost, including atheists. Somehow, we think that our careful historical arguments about the resurrection or our salvos against evolution are going to convert them. I’m not saying that logic isn’t a useful tool. I know that discussions of the evidence for the resurrection have had powerful effect on many people, but that is because the resurrection is at the heart of the Gospel.

The anonymous author of the Letter to Diognetus said the best evidences for the truth of our faith are the things we do. Jesus concurred, telling us our love for one another will prove we belong to him (Jn. 13:34-35), and our unity will prove he comes from God (Jn. 17:20-23). Having seen holiness, love, and unity in small groups and a large one, I can tell you nothing softens a heart to the Gospel like saints who let the love of God and holiness come out of them together.

Now it is evident that no one can terrify or subdue us who have believed in Jesus over all the world. For it is plain that, though beheaded, crucified, thrown to wild beasts, chains, and fire, and all other kinds of torture, we do not give up our confession; instead, the more such things happen, the more others—in even larger numbers—become faithful and worshippers of God through the name of Jesus.(Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, a Jew 110, c. AD 155)

How many of our people have borne that not their right hand only, but their whole body, should be burned—burned up without any cries of pain … Do I compare men with [your Roman heroes]? Boys and young women among us treat with contempt crosses and tortures, wild beasts, and all the bugbears of punishment with the inspired patience of suffering. And do you not perceive, O wretched men, that there is nobody who either is willing without reason to undergo punishment, or is able without God to bear tortures? (M. Felix, The Octavius 37, c. AD 200)

Unity

The Church, having received this preaching and this faith, although scattered throughout the whole world, yet, as if occupying one house, carefully preserves it. She believes these things … and she proclaims them, teaches them, and hands them down with perfect harmony, as if she possessed only one mouth. (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, I:10:2)

Is it likely that so many churches, and they so great, should have gone astray into one and the same faith? No casualty distributed among many men issues in one and the same result. Error of doctrine in the churches must necessarily have produced various issues. When, however, that which is deposited among many is found to be one and the same, it is not the result of error, but of tradition. Can anyone, then, be reckless enough to say that they were in error who handed on the tradition? (Tertullian, Prescription Against Heretics 28)

There’s a couple things I love about these last two passages …

  1. I knew the churches of the second century were united. Irenaeus ties their unity to their preservation of apostolic truth. The churches were not inventing or developing doctrine, but they were clinging to the teaching of the apostles … and they were living as described in the sections above.
  2. Before reading the books and tracts written by Irenaeus and Tertullian, I would have said I knew the Church, singular and capitalized, was united. I said churches because of Tertullian’s quote above and the rest of Prescription Against Heretics. These were churches, individually clinging to the teaching of the apostles and walking together to hold each other accountable, not one worldwide organization that decreed truth to its member churches.

Unity, love, and obedience to our King are the best evidences against unbelief (Jn. 13:34-35; 17:20-23; 1 Thess. 1:3-10). It is no wonder these impoverished, despised, fringe-of-society Christians triumphed over mighty Rome.

A Second Century Timeline

In the next post, we will go back to making a timeline. There are many more second century writers that I could have used to fill out today’s post. I’ll list them in the timeline in the next post, and give you descriptions and links for them. We’ll probably have to take at least two more days, more likely three or four, with the second century Christians. Not only do you need to be introduced to them, but we should talk about the apologists and then about the two major heresies of the second century, gnosticism and Montanism.

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Daily Passage on Works: Days 44-50

Posted on 12/06/2013 by Paul Pavao

Days 44-50:

I’m trying to this a week at at time now rather than every day.

1 Thessalonians 3:5 We told you earlier that you would suffer troubles, just as it came to pass, as you know. For this reason, when I couldn’t take it any longer, I sent to find out your faith, in case the tempter had tempted you and our work have been useless.

1 Thessalonians 4:1-8: We beseech you, brothers, and we exhort by the Lord Jesus that, in the way you have received from us as to how to walk and please God, you would overflow more and more. For you know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. This is the will of God, your holiness. You should abstain from sexual immorality. Every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in holiness and honor, not in pathological lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God. Let no one take advantage of his brother in this matter because the Lord is the avenger of everyone like that, as we have warned you earlier and testified. For God has not called us to uncleanness, but to holiness. Whoever despises this does not despise man, but God, who has also given us the Holy Spirit.

1 Thessalonians 5:6-9:/strong> Let us not sleep like others, but let us watch and be serious. For those that sleep sleep in the night, and those that are drunk are drunk in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be serious, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus the King.

1 Thessalonians 5:14-15: We exhort you, brothers, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient to everyone. See that no one returns evil for evil to anyone, but always follow what is good, both among yourselves and all men.

1 Thessalonians 5:22 Abstain from every form of evil.

2 Thessalonians 1:4-5: We ourselves boast of you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all the persecutions which you endure, proof of the just judgment of God, so that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer.

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12: We always pray for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling and fulfill all his desire for goodness and the work of faith with power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus the King may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and our Lord Jesus the King.

The Purpose of This Exercise

I hope to reach 180 passages (six months worth) of verses that exhort us to good works without apology and without having to explain “remember, we’re not saved by works.” Jesus and his apostles don’t apologize for their exhortations and warnings concerning good works. They don’t add careful reminders that salvation is not by works. We’ve now seen this in 50 passages. Not verses, passages. Some of them have been 8-10 verses long. I’m sure we are well over 100 verses.

The New Testament has 7956 verses, so we’re at about 1.25% of the NT, and we have barely touched the Gospels which have half those verses.

This is a faithful saying, and I want you to affirm constantly that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men. (Tit. 3:8)

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Christian History Timeline: First Century

Posted on 12/05/2013 by Paul Pavao

Thanks to those who pitched in and pointed out things I missed or didn’t realize the importance of. I’m just one guy. I miss all sorts of things. I keep track, however, when corrected, so my picture of history keeps growing.

I’m going to go through the pre-Nicene era a century at a time (or less) with notes:

BC 6-4: Jesus born
AD 28-29: John the Baptist begins preaching

We know this from Luke 3:1-3. Tiberius was caesar from AD 14-29. So his fifteenth year was 28 or 29, depending on the months involved.

AD 33: Jesus crucified and risen

The year of Jesus death and resurrection has to be a year when Nisan 14 falls on Friday. The testimony to Jesus dying on Friday and rising on Sunday is unanimous in the early Christian writings. No one wrestled with “Hey, Friday evening to Sunday morning is not three days and three nights.” They never even mention that “problem.” I have to conclude that what Christian scholars claim is true. Any portion of a day or night could be considered “a day and night” in Hebrew terminology.

AD 33-60: Events of Acts and Paul’s letters

I don’t know the dates or order of Paul’s letters. No one knows them perfectly. I have heard arguments that 1 Thessalonians was Paul’s first letter and that Galatians was. The council in Jerusalem (Acts 15) is usually dated to AD 50. Events like that can be used to date other letters. It’s supposed that Galatians was written before the council, because Paul doesn’t mention its decrees directly. They would definitely have been pertinent to his letter.

The same logic helps with dating Hebrews. It has to be written before the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 or the writer (Paul, Barnabas, or unknown) would have mentioned it. The Book of the Revelation is often dated before AD 70 for the same reason, but that is not agreed upon.

Anyway, I’m nowhere near an expert on the dating of the apostles writings. Gene Edwards claims that Paul persecuted the church and was converted 8 years after Jesus’ resurrection, but I have no idea why he thinks that. Honestly, I’ve had a lot of other things to study, and I’ve just never studied it. It’s been enough for me to know that everything we read in Acts happened during these 30 years.

AD 50: Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15)

Restless Pilgrim mentioned in comments that this council not only changed the course of Christianity by determining that Gentiles did not need to keep the Law of Moses or be circumcised, but it set a precedent for later councils.

It was a bit easier in AD 50 to gather the leading brothers, elders, and apostles for a council like this. The next general council of the church would be almost 300 years later at the Council of Nicea. Even then, most of the bishops were from the Roman empire, though the Gospel had already gone as far as India at least. Most of the bishops were also from the eastern Roman empire where the council was held.

Yes, the apostles were present at the Council of Jerusalem. Yes, the council is recorded in the Bible. Nonetheless, it is apparent that the church(es?) felt free to come together to make decisions on critical issues. It is a testimony to the power of the apostles preaching and to the faithfulness of the churches that we do not read about any councils in the second century, other than three churches getting together to give Montanus a hearing he did not deserve. (I commend their mercy towards him and their wisdom in giving him the boot once they heard his blasphemies.)

In the third century, we do read about area councils. New issuse that came up were …

Well, we’ll get to those in their time.

AD 64-67: Peter and Paul are martyred.

The dates of the other apostles martyrdoms are not well known. John, we are told, lived into the reign of Trajan, who began his reign in AD 98. He was not martyred, but died of natural causes.

Ignatius, who was martyred in either AD 107 or 116, was said to be appointed by “apostles” as bishop of Antioch (Paul’s home church!). Luke’s Acts of the Apostles preserved a lot of Paul and Peter’s activities for us and informs us that James, John’s brother, was put to the sword early on (12:1-2). We depend on hazy tradition for information on the rest of the apostles. I have to think that the “apostles in Asia” that appointed Ignatius may have included not only John or Peter, but also one or two of the others about whom we know less.

Thaddeus was in Edessa, for example, which was in modern Turkey and if not part of Asia Minor was certainly close to it.

AD 70: Fall of Jerusalem

The Roman general Titus destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70. Christians were prepared for this destruction because of the prophecies of Jesus, and they fled when they heard he was coming, as Jesus had commanded them to.

This ended the church in Jerusalem of course, but temporarily. When Jerusalem was rebuilt, circumcised men were not allowed in it, in an attempt by Rome to ensure no Jews returned there. The fact that there was a church in Jerusalem later is proof enough that circumcision was not practiced among Christians.

AD 70-96: End of Apostolic Era

The apostle John probably lived a couple years past this AD 96 date. I chose it, however, because that is first certain date of a Christian writing outside the New Testament. The church at Rome wrote a letter to the church at Corinth, anonymous but unanimously ascribed to Clement and called 1 Clement, mentioning persecution that sets the date of the letter at AD 95-96.

The Letter of Barnabas, The Letter to Diognetus, and The Didache (or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles) are all ascribed first century dates by some, but none of them are certain.

That’s the first century. I’m really looking more forward to doing the second century and telling you a bit about the Christians who wrote during that period.

Now I’m going to go back and make some suggested corrections and additions on the other two timelines I did earlier this week. I welcome suggestions for this one, too.

I looked up very little of what I wrote above. There may be minor mistakes. I don’t think there are any major ones. Thank you for your help in this project should you have corrections. I am not trying to write a history, and I do not want to get too detailed. I just want to outline the period and touch on some interesting things. Acts and the letters of the apostles are the best source for what first century Christianity was like. Most Christians have read them.

The second century is much less well-known, so it’s easier to be interesting .

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The Apostles and the Rise of the Papacy

Posted on 12/04/2013 by Paul Pavao

I’m going to buy myself some time to work on the early church timeline and the notes on the timeline by posting this related video.

The video is an hour long. I try never to do that, but it’s one of those history things where all the facts fall right into place, telling a story and providing an explanation of how things got to be the way they are. I didn’t have to “dig this out” and prove anything. The story just tells itself. It’s complete with maps.

Forgive me for the handwriting on the maps. I drew these out and wrote on them a year ago when my hands were still shaking from chemotherapy, radiation, weakness, and medications. It was hard even to sign my name, much less write on a map with an eletronic pen!

Still, I think everything is legible and comprehensible. You’ll follow this easily. I presented it to about 40 people before I made the video. The video is clearer, but the 40 people had no problem following the less clear version.

If you have any problems seeing this, see it directly on Youtube.

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Super-abbreviated Christian History Timeline

Posted on 12/03/2013 by Paul Pavao

Don’t miss yesterday’s post. It has much more information.

Here’s a very general timeline of Christian history as I see it:

AD 33-70: Apostles/apostolic era
AD 70-325: Pre-Nicene Era.

  • Persecuted
  • The church, with exceptions unavoidable in a world of humans, consists entirely of Christians who know that Jesus expects us to forsake everything and make everything secondary to his will.
  • The church grew rapidly through this period, and the 3rd century saw many of the problems that arise with large numbers: the beginnings of division, increasing lukewarmness, growing hierarchical authority

312-383: The Arian Controversy and the influence of the emperor

  • The change in the church is dramatic. From mostly disciples the church grows to include most Roman citizens, which means disciples are the minority.
  • Since most of the citizens of Rome are in the church, the church can no longer forbid military service nor promote non-violence.
  • Since the church is now mostly nominal, the histories written about the fourth century bear no resemblance to Eusebius’ history of the first three centuries. Ecclesiastical history is replaced by a 4th century history of violence, intrigue, and intervention by the emperor.

312-1500: Middle Ages

  • The church continues along the same path. The idea that a church should consist only of disciples and that those who do not want to follow King Jesus wholeheartedly should be outside the church has been lost.
  • In the west, the hierarchy grows more and more important, more and more corrupt, makes more and more claims for itself, and adds more and more new doctrines to the apostolic faith.
  • There becomes such a separation between the hierarchy and the average Catholic that they are not allowed even to own a copy of the Scriptures, nor are they allowed to hear the Scripture in their own language. This is enforced upon penalty of death, and even men like Thomas Aquinas give reasons why the death penalty for “heretics” is not only appropriate, but necessary.

1500-present: The Protestant Era

Several streams of Protestantism develop over these five centuries.

  • The Lutherans: the first Protestants, born because the German nobles, tired of the Roman Catholic taxes upon their country, defended Martin Luther.
  • The Reformed (John Calvin): Calvin came alone 20 years after was a great writer and orator. His teachings took greater root than Martin Luther’s, and they even influenced the Church of Englaind.
  • High Church Protestant: I’m not sure this is proper terminology. The Church of England separated itself from Rome in the 1540’s (if I remember correctly, but that’s close) because the pope would not approve Henry VIII’s annulment of his marriage. The Church of England was much more open to Protestant theology than Rome, and it became mostly Reformed (Calvinist) in its theology.
  • It was the Church of England, and its Puritans and Separatists, that led to the founding of the Baptists and most of the denominations of the United States.
  • The Anabaptists were the “Radical Reformation.” Eventually, they would splinter worse than any of the other Protestant lineages, but in their early days they displayed all the fire of the pre-Nicene church. The Amish, Mennonites, and German Baptist Brethren are their descendants. I’m not sure exactly why some Baptists claim them as ancestors, but I see no indication that is true. (Feel free to correct me if you know more than I do.)
  • With rare exceptions, all of these streams of Protestantism maintained the policy that poisoned the church in the fourth century: the idea that every citizen should be a member of the church. The Anabaptists returned to a church of disciples only, and so did the Society of Friends (Quakers).

Nowadays I rarely feel that anything I write is complete, especially on this blog. Right now I am of the opinion that this is a good thing which makes more room for dialogue. I think it was a fault of mine, always trying to provide answers.

It is not just the destination; it is also the journey.

This is especially true in our King. If we don’t go through the journey under God, we may find that when we arrive, we are not equipped to handle where he has brought us.

Please feel free to comment, dispute, adjust.

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Christian History Timeline

Posted on 12/02/2013 by Paul Pavao

This is a complete overview of Christian history. I am trying my best, on this page, to make each line equal 25 years so you can feel the passing of time better. As we drill down over the next few days, each line will equal less years.

AD 1 – Jesus is at least 4, probably 6 years old. (see Early Church History Timeline)
AD 33 – Jesus dies on the cross, rises again, and the fullness of Pentecost happens.
AD 70 – Jerusalem is destroyed by Titus. Paul and Peter have died.
AD 90’s – (personal opinion) Gospel of John is the last of the apostolic writings.
c. AD 100 – John, the last of the apostles, dies.
 
 
 
AD 70-325 – Pre-Nicene Era: we will do a separate timeline on this era.
 
 
303-311 – Great Persecution
312-337 – Constantine ends persecution, “turns his flock over to the church,” and the Council of Nicea happens.
325-383 – The churches in the eastern Roman empire and the emperors fight over the decision of the Council of Nicea
405-476 – Barbarians repeatedly sack the city of Rome and finally take the western Roman empire.
 
 
 
 
 
590-604 – Pope Gregory the Great gains the loyalty of the barbarian kings and is the first pope with full secular and spiritual oversight of the former western Roman empire and Europe.

630-800 – Sorry I don’t know the dates better, but this is the time period of the rise of Islam and its conquest of North Africa.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
1054 – The Great Schism: The bishop of Rome (the pope), who had been battling for sole primacy for a few centuries, excommunicates the bishop of Constantinople, his greatest rival.
 
 
1096-1291 – The Crusades. Historians suggest there were seven major crusades into the Holy Land and even to Constantinople, where the eastern Roman emperor still reigned.
 
 
 
1300-1500 – The Renaissance: the rise of the middle class led to education and learning that was previously limited to monasteries and universities. The Western Great Schism produce multiple popes from 1294-1414.
 
 
 
1453 – Constantinople falls to Muslim Turks
 
 
1517 – Martin Luther nails 95 theses to the cathedral door at Wittemburg beginning the Reformation
1500-1700 – The expansion of Protestantism and the development of a large percentage of our modern denominations
 
 
 
1700-1800 – Two most well-known figures are John Wesley & George Whitefield. This is also the rise of pietism.

1800-1900 – Charles Spurgeon, Charles Finney*, and the Plymouth Brethren movement, which affects almost all Protestants more than we realize. Millerism led immediately to the Seventh Day Adventists and later to the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Joseph Smith and the Mormons also began in the early 19th century, as did the Great Awakening.
1900-2013 – The Pentecostal movement began with the Azusa street revival in 1906. The charismatic movement belongs to the second half of the 20th century.
 
 

* Ironically, Spurgeon.org has an article accusing Charles Finney of being a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

 
A task like this is impossible to be done perfectly by one person. All suggestions for inclusion or exclusion are welcome. I will be expanding only the first 400 years because those are the only ones I’m really qualified to expand.

You can see some of the big gaps in my knowledge above. You can also see that I am focusing on European Christianity. I don’t know Eastern Orthodox history very well.

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The Unity of the Spirit

Posted on 12/02/2013 by Paul Pavao

I was in a discussion on Facebook concerning the nature of the church. I am holding this discussion with a couple of Orthodox church members. One of them provided a bunch of quotes on the church from the “church fathers.”

Some ideas came from that …

  1. I really like a couple of the quotes, so I’m going to share them in this post.
  2. I realized that “church fathers” is a mysterious term to most Protestants. To most of us, they are people in ecclesiastical robes,  belonging to an unspecified era a long time ago and belonging to churches we don’t understand, but that were probably Roman Catholic. So I’m going to share a timeline of church history starting tomorrow, then drill down on it bit by bit over a few posts.

Early Church Fathers on the Spirit and the Church

These are not the church fathers that I normally quote. Tomorrow, I’ll begin explaining why I quote from the “pre-Nicene” or “ante-Nicene” fathers and almost never quote post-Nicene fathers. That will be the “Learn All of Church History in One Week” series. You won’t know any details, but you’ll have a framework of all of church history that you can plug the details into. Basically, we will be building a set of shelves in which you can organize and retain everything you know and will know about Christian history.

Anyway, here’s the quotes:

“What is the unity of the Spirit?” asks Saint John Chrysostom, and he answers, “Just as the spirit, in the body, controls all and communicates some sort of unity to the diversity which arises from the various bodily members, so it is here. But the Spirit is also given in order to unite people who are diverse among themselves in descent and in their way of thinking.” (from http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/christchurchilarion.htm)

Blessed Theodoret says, “You are all considered worthy of a common Spirit; you compose one body.” Blessed Jerome describes: “One body in the sense of the body of Christ, which is the Church; and one Holy Spirit, one single dispenser and sanctifier of all.” (ibid.)

Blessed Paul Pavao would like to say he really likes these quotes.

Hey, those guys were probably more obedient to King Jesus than I am. They were probably better servants to our Master. However, there’s no way they were more blessed than me. Our Father has been very gracious to me, a sinner, as I am sure he has been to you if you have given any effort to following him.

Anyway, back to the point …

Throughout the post I linked after that first quote, there is this emphasis on the Spirit as the source of our unity. I can’t say I followed the point of the whole post because I got lost in my own points after I read the quotes.

There are those who are unified by the Spirit despite their various descents and ways of  thinking. There are those who are being sanctified by the Spirit. There are those who want to please Jesus above everything else in their life, and no matter how good or bad they are at pleasing Jesus, they are the ones who will find the Holy Spirit uniting and transforming them.

That is the church. Everything that gets in the way of our acting that spiritual unity out is at best a distraction and at worst evil. We are called to diligently maintain the unity of the Spirit.

“Maintain” means that we already have it.

Acts 5:32 says that God gives the Holy Spirit to those that obey him.* If the Holy Spirit is in us, he will unite us. I think most of us have experienced that feeling. We have met people that we just knew were Christians. There was a draw to them, and they felt the same toward us.

That unity is to be diligently maintained.

What About Important Doctrines?

There are important doctrines. No one denies that. I think most of us agree, however, that God doesn’t give the Holy Spirit to people who deny the basics of the Christian faith.

What are those basics?

There are things that all of us agree are important. The Apostles Creed is a good example. To boil the Apostles Creed down to its basic meaning, we are to believe that God the Father created everything with no exceptions. He created all these things through King Jesus, our Lord, the Son of God, who was born of God before time began, one in substance from the Father (God from God), and that all the things we read about him in the  Gospels really happened. He really was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died for our sins, rose again bodily, and ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father. We also believe in the Holy Spirit.

The Apostles Creed adds that we believe in one church and in one baptism for the remission of sins, but the interpretation of those terms is extremely varied in our day.

Okay, given that these things are important, all debate about anything else needs to be done keeping in mind that if we have unity of Spirit with people, we have to diligently maintain it.

I’m not going to tell you how to maintain it. I saw a discussion on Facebook about whether to fellowship with other Christians if they did not agree with you on head coverings (re: 1 Cor. 11). It’s important that the church discuss these things and draw conclusions. A person who breaks fellowship with a church over such an issue, however, has forgotten that we are to diligently maintain the unity of the Spirit.

How would things be different if that were our attitude? If we could say, “I have my convictions, my Bible interpretations, and my strong opinions. I don’t want to see them dismissed, but if you are my brother or sister, united to me in Spirit, I will diligently maintain that unity until I absolutely cannot. Even then, when I can no longer maintain that unity, I will honestly examine myself to see if there is any change I can make in myself for the sake of the unity of God’s flock.”

After all, if we are able to believe that another person has the Spirit of God, then are we not believing that God has fellowship with that person? And if God does, shouldn’t we?

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Daily Passage on Works: Days 37-43

Posted on 11/29/2013 by Paul Pavao

I’m playing catch-up again. As I said last time, I don’t mind. I need to provide 8 passages today, but I think what I will do is just 7, then catch up again in a few days. I want to use the letters to the 7 churches in Rev. 2 & 3 today.

Today I want you to ask yourself two questions as you read these

  1. By what measure does Jesus judge these churches while they are here on this earth?
  2. Does Jesus clarify at any point that these works he is demanding can only be done by faith?

Day 37-43:

Revelation 2:1-7: To the angel of the church at Ephesus, write: … I know your works, your labor, and your patience, and how you cannot put up with those who are evil … Neveretheless, I have something against you because you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you are fallen, repent, and do the first works. Otherwise, I will come to you quickly and remove your candlestick, unless you repent. You do have this, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans [idolatry and wife-swapping], which I also hate. To him that overcomes I will give him to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

Revelation 2:8-11: To the angel of the church at Smyrna, write … I know your works, tribulation, and poverty (but you are rich) … He that overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.

Revelation 2:12-17: To the angel of the church in Pergamos, write … I know your works and where you live, near Satan’s seat. You hold tightly to my name and you have not denied the faith even in the days in which my faithful witness, Antipas, was slain among you, where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against you because you have among you those who hold the doctrine of Balaam … You also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans … Repent, or I will come to you quickly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth. To him that overcomes I will give to eat of the hidden manna and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written.

Revelation 2:18-26: To the angel of the church in Thyatira, write … I know your works, love, service, faith, patience, and works, and the last to be more than the first. Still, I have a few things against you because you allow that woman Jezebel … to teach and seduce my servants to sexual immorality and to eat things sacrificed to idols. … I will give to each of you according to your works. … He that overcomes and keeps my works to the end, to him I will give power over the nations.

Revelation 3:1-5: To the angel of the church in Sardis, write … I know your works, that you have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead. Pay attention and strengthen the things which remain, which are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. Remember how you have received and heard, hold on tightly, and repent. … You have a few names, even in Sardis, who have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. He that overcomes, that one shall be clothed in white garments and I will not blot his name out of the Book of life.

Revelation 3:7-12: To the angel of the church in Philadelphia, write … I know your works. Behold, I have put an open door in front of you,  which no shuts, and shuts, and no one opens. … Because you have kept the word of my patience, I will also keep you from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world. … Him that overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God …

Revelation 3:14: To the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write … I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot. So, then, because you are lukewarm, I will vomit you out of my mouth. … As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent! … To him that overcomes I will grant to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and have sat down with my Father on his throne.

The Purpose of This Exercise

This is passage 31 of what I hope will be 180 passages (six months worth). The point is to establish that we can exhort each other to good works without apology because Jesus and his apostles certainly don’t apologize for their exhortations or their warnings concerning good works.

This is a faithful saying, and I want you to affirm constantly that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men. (Tit. 3:8)

 

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