Church History A.D. 101 to A.D. 200

Church History A.D. 101 to A.D. 200

This era of Christianity begins with the peaceful death of the apostle John, who died at a ripe old age in the city of Ephesus where he had long served his church. Timothy may have buried the Apostle John, but he would have also been quite old, and would not have lived much longer.

And so with the death of the apostle John, so died the days of the Apostles, and there was no first hand information about Jesus. So it was at this time that people began collecting all kinds of information and literature about Jesus. The Four gospels and a number of other accounts of Jesus life would begin to be read as Scripture in the Church. Before these times, the only Scripture would be the Old Testament, and a number of apocryphal texts.

The New Testament was not compiled during this period, but it was all agreed that the writings about Jesus at that time bore authority.

The population of Christianity grew and grew throughout this century. In fact Wikipedia states that in the year 166 “Bishop Soter writes that the number of Christians has surpassed the Jews ^[47]” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_the_2nd_century)

But with the rise in population, there was also a major rise in heresies. Main heresies seemed to be as to whether Jesus was really God, or whether Jesus was really Human, which are still very much present to this very day.

It was also during this time that the Catholic Church began, and the Eastern Orthodox also had its root in this century.

The Shepherd of Hermas was a very influential book at the time, which was an allegorical Christian book.

There was persecution on every hand by the Romans, who resisted the Christian religion.

So as you can see it was a very interesting time.

Years 101-110

The second Epistle of Peter was supposedly written during this time. Certain Christian scholars believed that Peter was not actually the author of the second Epistle and that it was written in the early 2^nd century. Personally I have no reason to believe that the authorship of this epistle is invalid, but I must accept what the experts say, as it is not given to me of the Lord to dispute them.

An important figure at this time was Ignatius of Antioch.

Ignatius was a student of the Apostle John, and was appointed as the bishop of Antioch, which at the time was the base of the Christian faith, and what was discussed at Antioch had weight with all the Christians in the world.

But the bishop of Antioch was not a pope, as the early church realised that no human could ever be infallible.

Ignatius was eventually martyred by the Romans and given to be eaten by lions.

Years 111 – 120

Bishop Polycarp was of importance in those days. He was the bishop of Smyrna and was taught by the Apotle John.

Polycarp was eventually martyred, being burned at the stake. The Catholics made him a Saint, but God made him something even greater!

At that time the structure of the church was much different to what we have now. There were no pastors, and definitely no youth ministers! And the top of the church was the Bishop, and then there were the Elders, and then the Deacons. Each church would have been independent but would have an Apostolic father with some oversight to their doctrines. The Bishop would be the head of the church and would be responsible before God for the welfare of the Church. The Bishop would preach and teach. The Elders would also be ordained to preach and teach, and would not necessarily be old in years, but would be an expert in the Faith and in doctrine. The Deacons would not be preachers, or if so very rarely, but they would be in charge of the daily running of the building, and they would be in charge of the worship.

Years 121 – 130

Not only were the Christians being persecuted by the Romans, but they began to be persecuted by fellow Jews.

Rabbi Tarphon was of priestly lineage and attempted to burn all copies of the gospels of Jesus’ life that he could find, and also persecuted the Christians themselves.

Years 131 – 140

There was a Jewish Rabbi called Rabbi Akiva who believed that Simon Bar Kosiba was the Messiah. Bar Kosiba seemed to really like this idea, and decided to lead a rebellion against the Romans. He was apparently of Royal lineage and must then have been some kind of relation to our Lord Jesus Christ. But he pretended to be the Messiah. But we know that all attempts to be like God must fail, and in the same way, so failed this rebellion. And from then on Simon Bar Kosiba was known as a deceiver.

Years 141 – 150

It was about this time that the Shepherd of Hermas was written.

At this time Marcion of Sinope attempted to become the Bishop of Rome (the position which became known as Pope) but was rejected, so he went off and started his own sect, and taught that the old testament was all false and he had his own version of the gospel that he believed was the only truth. This brought the Catholic Church to attempt to agree on some select books that they would name as the inspired New Testament. Over time this became the 27 books that we have in our Bibles this day.

Years 151 – 160

A sect very present at this time was Montanism, which was named after its founder Montanus. It was an early form of the Charismatic movement, and people began speaking in tongues and great emphasis was placed on the spontaneity of the Holy Spirit. But the sect was labelled as a heresy at that time. It’s strange that it has come back after all these years, yet no-one has labelled it a heresy!

Years 161 – 170

Legend tells that at this time Lucius of Britain, learns about Jesus, and asks for missionaries to come to the British Isles and teach them about Jesus.

Years 171 – 180

The Dietessaron was a very interesting piece of work. It was an ancient book written during this period, and the author attempts to join 4 Gospels together to form one continuous string of events. It is interesting to see the whole life of Jesus spread in from of you. I have not read the book but would be really interested in it.

There was a persecution of the Church at Lyon at that time. The Roman Emporer at the time was Matcus Aurelius.

It was also during this time that the Christian movie “The Robe” was based.

Years 181 – 190

Apollonius the Apologist was martyred in Rome at this time. An apologist was a Christian who used the learned style of arguing that the Greeks and learned Romans used, and tryed to prove the Scriptures using that method.

Also of importance during this period was Saint Irenaeus who was a student of Polycarp. Irenaeus was one of the earliest Christians to attempt to make sense of the prophesies in the book of Revelation. Revelation would have been important to him as the author was the Apostle John who was the teacher of Polycarp, who was in turn Irenaeus’s teacher, so he would have learned a lot about the Apostle John.

At this time Pope Victor 1 changed the language of the Mass from Greek to Latin, which it has remained to this day.

Years 191 – 200

Natalius Takes bishopric in Rome over a small heretical group, and challenges the pope’s authority, he is eventually reconciled to the current pop and has to beg for mercy.

Also of importance at that time was Polycrates of Ephesus who differed with the pope on doctrines concerning the Passover.

Sextus Julius Africanus was a Christian historian at that time, and although most of his works are not known now, he has had a lot of influence on later historians.

Conclusion

We have come to the end of our second sermon on the History of the Church. We have heard about the growth of the church, but we have also learned about the growth in heresies, and the shaping of the Catholic Church as it is today. The Catholic Church didn’t apostatize all in one go, but it was a gradual decline right up until the time of Luther and Calvin.

But in spite of all that oppose, God has always been faithful to the Christian faith and He has never let it waiver and die, but the Church has steadfastly grown and been nourished throughout history.

I pray that The Lord will use this study for the furtherance of the Gospel and that it will be of some profit to someone’s soul!

Amen!

Church History A.D. 1 – A.D. 100

Church History A.D. 1 – A.D. 100

I have decided to take a break from my Genesis series, and start this new 20 sermon series on the history of the Church.

In this series I will focus on a whole century of church history in each sermon, and so today we will focus on the very first century.

A.D. 1 was a very special year and of great importance to the church of God: It was the year in which our Lord Jesus Christ was born, and without Him there would surely be no church.

Also in that first year John the Baptist was born.

A lot of the history that we shall study today you will find in the Gospels and in the Acts, and as I have only a sermon’s length to discuss this weighty subject, I recommend that you read diligently those books of the Bible, as they will more fully expound what I am attempting to teach this day!

Years 1 – 30 A.D.

There is very little known about these years, when our Lord Jesus Christ was in His youth. We know that Christ did never sin, and I am certain that He never wasted any time, so those early days must have been very important, yet because there is so little said about them in the Scriptures, it seems that the events that happened, if told, would not be of so much benefit to us.

There are however apocryphal books about Jesus first 30 years which are generally termed “the Infancy Gospels”, the most well known being The Infancy Gospel of Thomas, where Jesus does a number of miracles and instead of being taught by His teachers, He teaches them. Doubtless a lot of what is written in these infancy Gospels is true, but as we have not been given them in our Bible, it probably means that God did not see them as profitable for our souls.

John the Baptist started his ministry in the later part of this period.

Years 31 – 33 A.D.

These years are the years of our Lord Jesus Christ’s ministry on this earth. These 3 years are the foundation of all Christianity and our most holy faith!

You can read about these years in the four infallible Gospels of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Here is a brief outline:

Jesus calls 12 disciples near the beginning of His ministry, the most important of these being Peter, James, and John.

Then Jesus begins to preach and to do many miracles.

Then the last week Of Jesus life is what we call the Passion of Christ. Jesus is betrayed by his own Disciple, one of the 12, Judas Iscariot. Jesus dies upon a cross to atone for our sins. And 2 days later Jesus rises from the grave, and lives again.

After the resurrection, Jesus was on the earth for about 40 to 50 days, and in that time He did many more miracles.

Then our Lord leaves this world and ascends up into Heaven.

Then on the 50^th day after the Resurrection of our Lord, not long after His ascension, The disciples were meeting for praise and prayer in the city of Jerusalem, and the Holy Spirit comes down upon them all, and anoints them to preach.

The Spreading of the Gospel

The Disciples begin to spread the Gospel to the Jews that live in Jerusalem and the surrounding areas.

It seems that at first the Disciples thought that the good news about Jesus was only to be given to the Jews, as it had always been before the birth of Christ. But it was shown to the Disciples that they should also preach to the gentiles also and that the whole world should know about Jesus and what He has done for us on the cross.

The ministries of the 12 Disciples

Judas Iscariot had no ministry as he was the traitor of our Lord and after he betrayed Jesus, he became very remorseful and went out and hanged himself.

Peter

Peter was the First Disciple to preach and he preached to a very large congregation after that he was anointed by the Holy Spirit.

After that Peter preached mainly to the Jews, but apparently spent a bit of time in Rome, where tradition tells us that he was crucified.

Andrew

Tradition tells us that Andrew was a missionary and may have even got as far as Scotland, where he was made the patron Saint. The Scottish flag is the flag of Saint Andrew.

Tradition also states that Andrew, like his brother Peter was crucified.

There is an apocryphal book called “the Acts of Andrew” which tells of the miracles and preaching of Andrew, although many people doubt the truth of that book.

James

James was the very first of the Apostles to be martyred. His murder is told in the book of Acts, where Herod orders for him to be killed with a sword.

John

John was the disciple beloved by Jesus, and his mission was mostly to the Mediterranean area.

John wrote 3 letters which we have in our Bibles.

And he also wrote the book of the Revelation, which he wrote which he was in prison on the island of Patmos (in the Mediterranean).

John lived to a very old age. Tradition tells us that he died a natural death in Ephesus. If this is true he may well of served with Timothy who was an Elder at the Church at Ephesus.

Phillip

Not much is known of Phillip, who is not the Phillip mentioned in Acts 8. ( I will tell of him later)

Tradition tells us that he was either crucified upside down or beheaded. His tomb has recently been found, in a town in modern Turkey. http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/07/27/tomb-st-philip-apostle-discovered-in-turkey/?test=latestnews

Barnabas (aka Nathaniel)

Barnabas Traditionally is said to have gone as a missionary to India. And like every other Apostle, it is said that Barnabas was martyred.

Matthew

Matthew is best known as the author of the Gospel of Matthew. He is reported to have died as a martyr.

Thomas

Thomas who is often called “doubting Thomas” went as a missionary to India. There is an apocryphal book entitles “The Acts of Thomas” which tells of Thomas’s mission to India.

James (brother of Jude)

Very little is known of the apostle James, but it is believed that he wrote the Epistle of James.

Thaddeus (aka Lebbaeus aka Jude)

Again best known for his Epistle: the book of Jude.

Simon the Zealot

Very little is known of this disciple and seems to take the place of the smallest, but we know that God will always exalt those who take the lowest place.

Other major figures at this time

Paul

Paul was and is the best ever known missionary, and all servants of God aspire to be like him.

Paul went on 4 main missionary journeys which we read about in the book of Acts.

He was the main influence in the life of Timothy.

Tradition tells that Paul was martyred in a Roman amphitheatre.

Barnabas

Barnabas also travelled as a missionary with Paul for the first part of his ministry. They split up as a result of an argument.

Silas

Silas was Paul’s companion after Barnabas had left him.

Phillip the Evangelist

Phillip is who we read about in acts 8 where he preaches to the Ethiopian Eunuch.

The Ethiopian church is still alive to this day, and is the source of a lot of our apocryphal works including the long lost book of Enoch.

Timothy

Timothy travelled with Paul, and learned from him. He became an Elder in Ephesus.

Make disciples of all nations

The words of Jesus in the end of Matthew chapter 28 tell of the great commission. It tells the disciples to go into all the world and make disciples of every nation. This the disciples did, and within 100 years, the gospel had spread to every known corner of the world. And you know what was so amazing about that? They weren’t allowed to, the world was against them, yet they still went to the entire world, the majority of them were even murdered for it yet they spread the Gospel.

Now look at yourself, there are no laws against telling people about Jesus, we even have laws that say you have freedom of belief. So tell me where have you spread the Gospel? If the Apostles could spread the Gospel so much under persecution, how much better should we do, who have complete freedom of religion?

Well, I hope that this sermon has been informative. In our next sermon we will look at the 2^nd century and how the Gospel advanced in that time.

I pray that the Lord will add His blessing on what has been said today, and that something will remain to the benefit of your soul.

Amen!

The Flood

The Flood << Genesis 6 >> King James Version 1And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 2That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.3And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. 4There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. 5And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 7And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. 8But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. 9These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. 10And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. 13And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 14Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. 15And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. 16A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. 17And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. 18But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. 19And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. 20Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. 21And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. 22Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.

Sermon

1And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,

According to my own calculations, the population of the world at that time could have been more that the population of the world now, in 2011!

2That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

The ‘sons of God’ here probably refer to angels. The women in those days were exceedingly beautiful that even the angel’s desired the fruit of their bodies!

3And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

God here sees that man is living to be almost a millennium old, and God decides that man should not be permitted to stay on this earth for such a long time, so He decides that man shall live to an average of 120 years!

4There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

This is kind of freaky actually, an angel has intercourse with a human woman, and the children turn out to be some kind of super human.

I guess the girls of today just aren’t that attractive any more.

But what I find quite interesting is that Jesus said that the angels of God do not marry, when debating with the Sadducees about the resurrection. So maybe this was quite an unnatural occurrence which happened here!

5And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Does that ring a bell for any of you here?

If you are truly a Christian you will feel that you have a terrible heart that only ever wants to sin. Paul even went so far as to say that he was the “chief” of sinners, the very worst!

6And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

God really hates your sins! See what it did to our Lord Jesus Christ, God the father forsook Him while He suffered for our sins on the cross. Sin really is no small matter!

7And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

You know there are a lot of similarities between that time and now. The population of that time and now are very similar. People are completely wicked now and then, doing unnatural things both now and then. Back then God destroyed the world by a flood, but God has promised that the world will never be destroyed by a flood again, so what’s going to happen to the world now if The Lord decides to punish us?

I’ll tell you what’s going to happen. The world is going to end!

8But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

Will you find grace in the eyes of The Lord when it comes time for the world to end?

Family Tree (part 3)

Family Tree (part 3)

<< Genesis 5 >> King James Version 21And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: 22And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: 23And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: 24And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him. 25And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech: 26And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters: 27And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died. 28And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son: 29And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed. 30And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters: 31And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died. 32And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Sermon

We are just going to do a short session today, as we will attempt to complete this 5^th chapter in Genesis.

So let’s begin:

21And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: 22And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: 23And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:

Enoch was a very special person. It is said that he walked with God. This may well have been a literal walking together, as we read that in Genesis 3 that God walked in the cool of the day.

But what we really should be getting here is that Enoch’s whole life was taking over by the service of God. Everything Enoch did was as unto the Lord, even if he breathed it was only always for the glory of God. Although I do believe that Enoch did sin at times at Paul states that “all” have sinned “and fall short of the Glory of God”.

24And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

Now, all through the chapter up until now, we have read about those that have lived to be very old, but each and every one of them eventually died.

But Enoch here, it never states that he died. And it is generally interpreted here that Enoch never died a natural death, but was taken up into Heaven by-passing death.

But let me first ask you a question:

What is death?

You may wonder what I mean by that question; surely everyone knows what death is?

Do they really?

Has anyone ever come back from the dead to tell us what exactly happened to them?

If you want to hear my definition of death, here it is:

Death is merely the transition from this world into that which is to come, death is a transition that takes no time at all, and thus there is no point at which we can say “this is death”. One moment we are in this world, the next we are in eternity. And thus because death takes no time at all it is safe to say that death does not exist. So thus there should be no need to worry about the state of death, but rather, we should prepare for the world to come: Eternity!

So in reality, I believe that Enoch had to go through the exact same things as we will one day have to! So perhaps, in a way Enoch did die, but death is not what is important, but what is to come after death!

25And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech: 26And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters: 27And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.

Our next character is Methuselah, who is famous as having the longest ever recorded life span! Methuselah lived a total of 969 year, almost a whole millennium!

It has been mentioned that Methuselah dies the same year as the flood, maybe he was a wicked man and died in the flood, or maybe he died just before, I don’t know!

28And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son: 29And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.

Now finally we come to the days of Noah, which starts of the second major part of the book of Genesis.

Lamech knew that Noah was going to be used of God in a special way, but I don’t think he knew exactly how special!

30And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters: 31And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died.

Lamech lived a total of 777 years, and if my maths are correct, he died only 5 years before his father Methuselah and only 5 years before the flood!

32And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

And we are going to hear a lot about Noah in the following chapters.

But that’s all for now.

I pray that the Lord will add His blessing on His holy Word, and help us to meditate therein.

Amen!