The Story of Christianity: Volume 1: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation

by Justo L. González

the earliest persecution was aimed mostly at what were called Hellenistic Christians, and that the Hebrews had much less difficulty.

a church is being born beyond the confines of Judea, and that church, although not founded by the apostles, still acknowledges their authority.

most of our story will deal with Gentile Christianity.

The earliest Christians did not consider themselves followers of a new religion. All of their lives they had been Jews and they still were. This was true of Peter and the twelve, of the seven, and of Paul. Their faith was not a denial of Judaism but was rather the conviction that the messianic age had finally arrived.

Christians in Jerusalem continued to keep the Sabbath and attend worship at the Temple. To this they added the observance of the first day of the week, in which they gathered to break bread in celebration of the resurrection of Jesus.

In that early church, authority was vested primarily in the twelve

James soon became the leader of the church in Jerusalem.

Soon persecution grew fiercer and more general.

the Jewish-Christian polemic continued long after the church had become mostly Gentile.

they were also the first to take the Christian message to those areas.

The mission of Philip in Samaria, and the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch, are possibly the first indications of the church’s willingness to receive non-Jews.

while the earliest Christian expansion was mostly the result of the witness of those Jewish Christians of Hellenistic tendencies who had to flee Jerusalem, the mother church approved of their work, both among Hellenistic Jews and among Gentiles.

most of these first Gentile converts were not completely alien to Judaism.

Paul’s significance to the early spread of Christianity ought not to be exaggerated.

Paul’s greatest and most unique contribution to the shaping of early Christianity was not so much in the actual founding of churches. Rather, it was in the Epistles that he wrote in connection with that activity,

mostly these nameless Christians were merchants, slaves, and others who traveled for various reasons, but whose travel provided the opportunity for the expansion of the Christian message.

The growth of the Gentile church brought about a number of changes, particularly in the life of worship.

as increasing numbers of Gentiles sought to join the church it was found necessary to provide for them more extensive periods of teaching and training before they were admitted into the church by baptism.

It is clear, from the enormous difference in their use of the Greek language, that the John of Revelation did not write the Fourth Gospel—

In truth, most missionary work was not carried out by the apostles, but rather by the countless and nameless Christians who for different reasons—persecution, business, or missionary calling—traveled from place to place taking the news of the gospel with them.

The early Christians did not believe that they were following a new religion.

the Christian message to Jews was not that they should abandon their Jewishness. On the contrary, now that the messianic age had begun, they were to be better Jews.

For those early Christians, Judaism was not a rival religion to Christianity, but the same faith,

when Christianity entered the scene, Jews saw it as simply another sect.

in most of the New Testament it is the Jews who persecute Christians, who in turn seek refuge under the wing of Roman authorities.

Romans, Jews, and Christians agreed that what was taking place was a conflict among Jews.

Roman authorities began to become cognizant of Christianity as a religion quite different from Judaism.

it is clear that Tacitus did not believe that the fire in Rome was set by Christians.

to the eyes of a Roman such as Tacitus, who loved his culture and society, Christians appeared as haters of humankind.

there is no mention of any persecution outside the city of Rome, and therefore it is quite likely that this persecution, although exceedingly cruel, was limited to the capital of the empire.

Eventually, Vespasian gained control of the government, and during his reign and that of his son Titus Christians were generally ignored by the authorities.

Since Christians worshiped an invisible God, pagans often declared them to be atheists.

As for Christians, after Domitian’s fall no one seems to have taken notice of them, and therefore they were granted a few years of relative peace.

the genuine “acts” are among the most precious and inspiring documents of early Christianity.

If they refused, he had them executed, not so much for being Christians as for their obstinacy.

On the one hand, the nature of their crime is such that the state should not waste time seeking them out. On the other hand, if they are accused and refuse to recant, they should be punished.

Christians, by the mere fact of being such, were not committing any crime against society or against the state.

once accused and brought before the authorities, Christians had to be forced to worship the gods of the empire, or face punishment.

Christians were not punished for crimes committed before being brought to trial, but for what seemed t...

there was no general persecution of Christians throughout the empire at this time, but that only those brought before the courts were condemned.

He was ready to seal his witness with his blood, and any move on the part of Christians in Rome to save him would be an obstacle to his goal.

This was important for those early Christians, who believed that martyrdom was not something that one chose, but something for which one was chosen by God.

After the death of Commodus, there was a period of civil war, and Christians were once again ignored in favor of more pressing matters.

during the entire second century Christians were in a precarious position. They were not constantly persecuted. Sometimes they were persecuted in some areas of the empire, and not in others.

it was not usually the worst emperors, and sometimes some of the best, who persecuted Christians.

For a number of reasons, some of them justified, the authorities saw in Christianity a movement with subversive overtones, and therefore sought to suppress it, not because they were corrupt or ill-informed, but rather as a matter of policy in defense of the integrity of the state.

Throughout the second century, and well into the third, there was no systematic persecution of Christians. It was illegal to be a Christian; but those who followed the new faith were not sought out by the authorities.

Given such circumstances, Christians felt the need to refute rumors and misconceptions regarding their beliefs and practices.

Many of the rumors that the apologists sought to dispel were based on misunderstandings of Christian practice or teaching.

Such notions—and many other similar ones—were fairly easy to refute, for it sufficed to show that Christians followed principles of conduct that were not compatible with such wild imaginings.