CIRCUMSTANCES THAT
TRANSFORMED
THE EARLY CHURCH
(THE FIRST 400 YEARS)
Much of the material covered in this class series can be found in Church History in Plain
Language by Bruce L. Shelley. It is recommended that you purchase the book for your
personal study. It can be purchased at Christian Book Distributors, Peabody, MA.
(www.christianbooks.com). Current price is $9.99 plus shipping.
The flow of the outline will be as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
The geographical limits of the church circa AD 100.
Social & Cultural influences
Persecutions
Early Heresies
Bible Construction
The significance of the Bishop’s authority.
Outreach to the Intellectuals
Geographical Extent of the Roman Empire Circa 100 AD.
1. Backround (AD 70 – AD 100).
A. Christianity started in large cities and spread to the smaller towns and
villages.
B. After AD 70 (the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, Christianity
moved North and eventually West. If Jerusalem was the womb from
which Christianity was born , Antioch was the cradle because it became
center.
C. The church expanded West into Ephesus (Asia Minor - Turkey) and
Bithynia (Northwest Asia Minor)
D. The church moved West to Rome (By AD 250 an estimated 30,000
Christians were in Rome.
E. Beyond this, the western movement into Spain, France and Britain was
Slow.
F. The church also moved into North Africa such as Carthage and Cyrene.
G. Eventually, the church was established in Alexandria (by John Mark ?).
The main figures in the 1st 400 years of the Early Church.
Tertullian
Polycarp
Iranaeus
Ignatius
Justin
Origen Cyprian
100’s AD
Trajan
Clement of Alexandria
200’s AD
Montanus
Marcion
Muratorian Cannon
Constantine
300’s AD
Decius
Diocletian
2. Cultural & Social Impact of the Church.
A. The church consisted of simple humble people (ie., slaves, women,
soldiers, vendors, etc.,). Celsus (a critic of the church) charged that
only lower class uneducated people were become Christians. Toward
end of the 2nd century other people were becoming Christians.
Apologists (Christians who wrote in defense of the faith) wrote in
defense of the gospels. The Apologists in the AD 100 to AD 200 are:
a. Justin Martyr who discipled Tatian
b. Athengoras
c. Theophilus of Antioch
d. Melito (Bishop of Sardis in Asia Minor)
e. Iranaeus Bishop of Lyons (wrote 5 books against Gnostic heresies)
f. Tertullian (Father of Latin Theology) Born 150 AD was the
first person to use the Latin word for Trinity in Carthage.
g. Pantaneus in AD 185 was teaching in Alexandria and went to India
h. Clement took over the teaching in Alexandria.
B. Why did the Gospel spread?
a. The burning conviction from being close to the crucifixion.
b. Christianity met the needs of the heart (unlike stoicism).
c. People took notice of how Christian’s expressed love (eg.,
(Christians took care of the poor, widows, orphans, etc)
Christians also made sure the poor brethren got proper burials.
d. Persecution of the martyrs (witnesses) was advertisement.
3. Persecutions – Governmental & Social
A. If the official position of the Roman government was religious
tolerance why were the Christians persecuted? Because they
were involved in proselytizing and they refused to worship the
emperor.
B. Tertullian stated that Christians don’t follow the crowds in
religious beliefs.
I. Rejected Pagan Gods and social events like feasts, gladiator
Contests, holidays.
II. Limited in Vocations- Mason couldn’t build pagan temples
School Teacher – couldn’t teach pagan religions
Nurse – pagan priests would be chanting in the halls.
III. In AD64 Nero burned Rome and accused the Christians.
He persecuted them and made Christianity a crime.
IV. Misunderstanding of the Lord’s Supper (Cannibalism or Orgy).
V. The people were very patriotic towards Rome because they
cleared the roads of robbers and the seas of pirates. Tyrants
were deposed. People were grateful for Rome. The people had
to burn incense and proclaim Caesar (Decius 249 – 251 AD) as
Lord. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t receive the certificate of loyalty.
The only exception was made for the Jews.
4. Heresies: beliefs that challenged orthodox Christianity.
A. Definitions:
a. Theology – rational thought about God.
b. Religion – Belief in God and our effort to live by our beliefs.
B. Sources or Causes of Heresies:
a. Jewish Christian mindset differs from the Greek Christian
mindset in background and culture. They’re attempt to explain
the paradox of Jesus the God-Man. The Jewish heresy was that
Jesus was a mere man who by scrupulously holding to the
Scriptures qualified him to be the Messiah. The Greek heresy
was Docetism which said Christ was a spirit and only appeared
to be a man. The basis of this was dualism which says that
matter is evil and the spirit is good. Therefore Jesus couldn’t
have come in the flesh. It was the beginning of Gnosticism.
Polycarp rebuked Cerenthius for this teaching. The apostles’
creed created in the 2nd century was constructed to refute this
heresy. Man needed redemption because he loved the wrong
things not because his soul is imprisoned in a material body.
Now read 1st Corin 15:33 –ff with this heresy in mind.
5. Bible Construction:
A. Determination of Canon (which means rule or rod).
a. Jewish apocrypha was never quoted by Jesus or his apostles.
The Septuagint was the Greek translation of the OT with the
Apocrypha. Christians in the Eastern portion of the empire
near Palestine rejected the Apocrypha and those of Western
Christianity were influenced by Augustine of Hippo and
accepted them.
B. Criteria
a. Self-evidencing quality of the books.
Justin Martyr’s conversion from philosophy in Ephesus left
him wanting more.
b. Traditionally read letters.
c. Tied to an apostle.
C. Impact of Marcion (AD 140) – A wealthy disciple of Cerdo
a. In the Old Testament, God was full of wrath, but in the new
testament, he became a Christian (a God of love)
b. He accepted some books, garbled others, and accepted only
Paul. He was excommunicated in Rome 144 AD.
c. His teachings forced the Church to accept the Old Testament
making Christianity historic as well as continuous.
D. Montenus (AD156 – AD 172) - Along with Priscilla and Maximilla
were the first ecstatic utterers claiming inspiration of the
Holy Spirit. Church responded by making the original
apostolic writings uniquely authoritative. In 367 AD,
Bishop Athanacious of Alexandria compiled the 1st set.
The churches primary aim was to submit to the apostles.
6. The significance of the Bishop’s authority.
A. Before 100 AD.
a. The apostles were the unchallenged leaders of the church
b. Elders, Bishops, Overseers, Shepherds, taught, led and maintained
public worship.
c. Deacons – assisted the elders.
B. After 100 AD.
a. Single Pastor (church correspondent) in Antioch (Ignatius ~100AD).
b. No single Bishop in Alexandria until 180 AD.
C. How & Why?
a. Gnostics traced their secret knowledge through the years from Jesus.
b. Therefore Hegessipus upon hearing a unified teaching from Palestine
to Rome traced the Roman Bishops lineage back to the apostles.
c. Iraneus in Gaul and Tertullian in North Africa did the same.
D. The Bishops were to determine how the church going to deal with
sin?
a. For instance: If you were tortured to near death before renouncing
Christ? What if you renounced willingly?
b. Cyprian of Carthage was the 1st to come up with this graded system
of penance.
c. Novation in Rome argued against this system and stated that the
Church is a society of saints.
d. Cornelius in Rome argued that the church is a school for sinners
therefore the Bishop could forgive sins.
7. Outreach to the Intellectuals.
A. Tertullian – (early 3rd century) was an opponent to Christian
Reconciliation with Hellenistic philosophy.
Search that you may believe, then stop.
B. Panteneus (180 AD) established a school of Christian Gnosticism.
He won over many a Gnostic to true Christianity by responding to
Pagan theology with Christian answers. He discipled Clement.
C. Clement was versed in Philosophy and Christianity. He was the
Apostle to the Hellenistic individuals. He emphasized the Christian
Purity of the heart and taught that you learn Christianity by trying
to live it. He believed all goodness comes from God. He fled when
the persecutions came. He discipled Origien.
D. Origen came from a Christian home and taught when he was 18.
a. His father Leonides was martyred.
b. He considered his primary task as the exposition of scripture.
c. If the scripture contradicts the nature of God, there must be a
deeper meaning (led to 3 levels of meaning).
I. literal
II. moral application to the soul
III. spiritual – mysteries of the Christian faith
This resulted in Christian believers that maintained their intelligence.
Origen set forth the entire framework of Christianity without dealing
Without the bias of having to refute a specific doctrine.