Church History in Plain Language (Plain Language Series)

by Bruce L. Shelley

Village people in most areas were largely

untouched.

We call these men “the apologists.” Not because they were sorry for anything: the word comes from Greek and means “defense”—such

as a lawyer gives at a trial.

although most of the writings of these apologists were dedicated to the emperors, their real audience was the educated public of the day.

“Toward the end of the second century,” says Gasque, “Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons in Gaul, wrote five monumental books against the gnostic heresies of his area,

“Tertullian’s Apology

He was the first person to use the Latin word trinitas (trinity).

A.D. 185

the third century the Christian church was beginning to assume the proportions of an empire within the empire.

early Christians were moved by a burning conviction.

They knew that men had been redeemed and they could not keep to themselves the tidings of salvation.

Tertullian tells us the pagans remarked, “See how these Christians love one another.” And the pagan’s words were not irony; he meant them.

The church often provided burial service for poor brethren.

In the second half of the second century, at least in Rome and Carthage, churches began to acquire burial grounds for their members.

“Atheism (i.e. Christian faith) has been specially advanced through the loving service rendered to strangers, and through their care for the burial of the dead. It is a scandal that there is not a single Jew who is a beggar, and that the godless Galileans care not only for their own poor but for ours as well; while those who belong to us look in vain for the help that we should render them.”

Finally, persecution in many instances helped to publicize the Christian faith.

The term martyr originally meant “witness,” and that is precisely what many Christians we...

In instance after instance what we find is cool courage in the face of torment, courtesy toward enemies, and a joyful acceptance of suffering as the way appointed by the Lord to lead to his heavenly kingdom.

the church is truly catholic only when it is impelled by the gospel to bring all men to living faith in Jesus Christ.

IN the popular mind, the early church was above all else a noble army of martyrs.

So Polycarp, praying that his death would be an acceptable sacrifice, was burned at the stake. The scene is real. It did happen.

Rome’s basic policy.

remarkably tolerant of religions

countries would add homage to the emperor to their other ceremonies, Rome a...

The Jews,

were the exception.

As long as Roman authorities considered Christians as just one more sect of Jews, followers of Jesus enjoyed this same immunity from imperial pressure.

The Christians, on the other hand, were always talking about their Jesus. They were out to make Christians of the entire population of the empire, and the rapidity of their spread showed that this was no idle dream. Not only did they, like the Jews, refuse to worship the emperor as a living god, but they were doing their utmost to convince every subject of the emperor to join them in their refusal.

It is the term hagios, often translated “saints.”

The Christian, therefore, is a person who is fundamentally different.

Thus, simply by living according to the teachings of Jesus, the Christian was a constant unspoken condemnation of the pagan way of life.

to the Christians these gods were nothing,

The Christian fear of idolatry also led to difficulties in making a living.

the early Christian was almost bound to divorce himself from the social and economic life of his time—if he wanted to be true to his Lord.

This widespread hatred of Christians helps explain the first persecution from Roman hands.

turn this hatred away from himself Nero accused the Christians of having set the fire. The accusation certainly was not true, but large numbers of Christians were arrested and a terrible persecution followed.

It was probably during this persecution that the apostles Peter and Paul suffered martyrdom in Rome.

For long periods Christians were left in peace. But like the sword of Damocles, persecution was always poised above them.

The fact remained, the Christian as a Christian was legally an outlaw.

When the public learned that they were barred from Christian services they simply followed their imaginations from rumor to hatred.

The charge of cannibalism probably started because the Lord’s Supper was practiced in secret.

This secrecy of Christian meetings and the slander of the pagan public created unusual headaches for the usually fair-minded Roman authorities.

Many modern Christians would rather not discuss the central teachings of Christianity. They are not sure that ideas about religion—or theology—are all that important.

Every plank in the platform of orthodoxy was laid because some heresy had arisen that threatened to change the nature of Christianity and to destroy its central faith.

They condemned rival gospels outright. In Galatians, Paul curses those who add Jewish legal requirements to the gospel. First John establishes this point: Christians must believe that Christ came “in the flesh.” And 1 Corinthians fixes belief in the historical resurrection of Jesus as the indispensable basis of salvation.

Thus, John fights on two fronts, against those who thought Jesus was a mere man and against those who believed him to be a heavenly ghost.

The basic belief of the Gnostics was what we call dualism, that is, they believed that the world is ultimately divided between two cosmic forces, good and evil.

Gnosticism holds an important lesson for all Christians who try to disentangle the gospel from its involvement with “barbaric and outmoded” Jewish notions about God and history. It speaks to all who try to raise Christianity from the level of faith to a higher realm of intelligent knowledge and so increase its attractiveness to important people.

Nothing is as fleeting in history as the latest theories that flourish among the enlightened, and nothing can be more quickly dismissed by later generations.