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Chapter 9
“My Church”
Matthew 16:16-19
The First Seventy Years
Jesus was crucified in the year 30, and the last of His Twelve Apostles died in 100AD, a span of time of 70 years. That period in history is called the Apostolic Age of the Church when the Twelve Apostles were alive, beginning with the Pentecost event and ending with the death of the Apostle John near the end of the first century. Our prime source for this time period is the New Testament, especially the Book of Acts and the Epistles
When Jesus said, “I will build My church ...” (Matt. 16:18) God obviously had a specific purpose in mind for the future. This statement is a clear exposition of the mind of God touching His purpose and plan in bringing the salvation of humanity through His Church.
What Church is Jesus referring to? Peter confessed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, and our Lord declared that He would build His Church upon this confession - the confession that as to His Person He is the Son of God, and as to His work He is the Christ of God. This Church would comprise all the saved, that is, all who in the purpose of God are redeemed by virtue of the shed Blood of the Lord Jesus, and are born again by the operation of His Holy Spirit. This is “My Church,” the Body of Christ. Since the Church is the Body of Christ, it can only be one.
Not only does the Apostle Paul identify and define the Body of Christ, he also defines how that entity is to function as a body of believers as the “Church.” Romans 16:5 says “… greet the Church that is in their house.” Paul refers to the Church in their house—not a church building, but a body of believers. The Church is the Body of Christ, of which He is the head. Ephesians 1:22-23 says, “And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the Church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” The body of Christ is made up of all believers in the Risen Christ from the day of Pentecost (Acts chapter 2) until Christ returns to take them into heaven.
For Paul, the Church is not a building or a denomination. According to the Bible, the Church is the Body of Christ—all those who have placed their faith in the Risen Christ for salvation (John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 12:13). Local churches are gatherings of members of the Spiritual Church. The local church is where the members of the Spiritual Church can fully apply the “body” principles of 1 Corinthians chapter 12: encouraging, teaching, and building one another up in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The members of “My Church” are the actual body of believers. They are the ones who are truly regenerate and have believed, by faith, in the true Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord. The true Christian is indwelt by the Lord Jesus (John 14:23) through the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the Christian Church is figuratively said to be the Body of Christ.
We can quibble and expound ad infinitum as to the translation of Greek and Hebrew words used to identify the Body of Christ, but when all is said and done everyone knows we are talking about the “Church” in one way or another. Yes, it is true, the meaning of the word “Church’ has gone through a long process of development and change from its inception in the Bible to our present day. But for purposes of discussion the English word “Church” will be used to describe a community of believers-the Body of Christ—not a building, nor a place of worship, nor a legal institution.
The purpose of "My Church" is God’s divine and perfect plan to present and receive unto Himself a body without spot or blemish, as an expression of His humanity; God came in human form to fulfill that plan. Is that an accurate statement reflecting the mind of God and His purpose for man? A reading of Holy Scripture confirms it. A people called out for His name, redeemed, conformed to His Son’s image, made to be an immense, incomprehensible, all-surpassing gift of love from the Father to the Son. It is a redeemed people — the Church-The Body of Christ — promised to the Son before time began. The unfolding purpose of God in bringing all humanity together in one body, by the vicarious suffering and death of Christ. The result of this unfolding is the Church. This is God’s eternal plan for His Church and humanity. This is the purpose of God’s Creation.
God Introduces His Church
Jesus and his disciples had been walking along together, and as they approached the borders of Caesarea Phillippi he posed a question, asking of them, “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?” Some of them answered saying “that thou art John the Baptist: some Elijah; and others; Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” Then Jesus said. “But whom say ye that I am?”. And here Peter speaks up, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” after which Jesus said, “And I say unto you, that you are Peter, and upon this Rock I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Did those disciples understand what Jesus was saying? Yes, because Jesus was speaking in their language as a fellow Jew. As Jews they were all well versed in Holy Scripture and everything Jesus said was in that context. Those disciples knew full well the meaning of the word Jesus actually said (“ekklesia”). It was in reference to a local assembly of believers of God as an "assembly" or "congregation,” in which they were already members. And Jesus, as their Messiah, was telling them they were to be an important part of his future plans for mankind.
That English word “church” is not a translation of the Greek word "ekklesia" (or similar word) used by Jesus as he addressed his disciples. Rather, modern use of the word "church" almost always has reference to (1) a religious institution or organization, or (2) to a material building called a "church." That was not the meaning of the common Greek word "ekklesia" at the time the Scriptures were written. I’m not going to pursue this issue any further in my Treatise because it is so widely covered elsewhere in the literature, and the word “church” has found its permanent residence in our English vocabulary. I will however, make a distinction between “Church” (capitalized), meaning the Body of Christ, and “church” as an institution. It’s the “Church,”(My Body) that Jesus meant when He said “My Church,” He wasn’t indicating a Jewish synagogue or similar institution.
The Apostleship Begins
Jesus Christ selected twelve men from among his early followers to become his closest disciples. As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him. And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness of disease. Jesus called unto Himself those whom He wished (Mark 3:13-14) This was an intervening act of God; they were not volunteers, they were to be His closest companions, to travel, share food, experiencing firsthand His life and ministry, and to preserve a permanent record of this experience. They were key components of His plan of redemption for all mankind.
Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: the first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. These twelve Jesus sent forth and commanded them, saying, go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. (Matthew 4:18-22; 9;9;10:1-6). These Jews(i.e. the lost sheep) were not lost in the physical sense, but those who had lost their spiritual bearing.
“And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would: and they came unto him. And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils: And Simon he surnamed Peter; And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder: And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite, And Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him: and they went into an house.” (Mark 3:13-19).
Many people followed Jesus, but those twelve were the only ones whom Jesus recorded as being special. The fact that he picks twelve, rather than ten or fifteen, is a reference to the twelve tribes of Israel-His chosen people.
Upon gathering them together, Jesus authorizes his Apostles to do three things: preach, heal sickness, and cast out devils. These are three things which Jesus has been doing himself, so he is entrusting them with continuing his mission. There is, however, one notable absence: forgiving sins. This is something which Jesus has done, but not something the apostles are authorized to do. Jesus wanted to make sure that this power remained with God and was not something that just anyone would be able to claim. That, however, raises the question of why Catholic priests and other “representatives” of Jesus today assume that prerogative. It is simply a misreading of Jesus’s command concerning binding and loosing.
“And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities.” (Matthew 11:1)
The office of Apostle is a critical work of the New Testament Church. It is listed first in the "gifts" given to the church (Ephesians 4:11), and the church is described as being "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone" (Ephesians 2:19-21). Jesus provided His Church with certain "gifts" to aid the completion of her work (Ephesians 4:7-16). "And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." (Ephesians4:11-13)
The first in this list of spiritual offices is that of Apostle. The original word for apostle was a generic Greek word (apostolos) that meant ambassador, or "a delegate, messenger, one sent forth with orders". Consequently, the same Greek word could be used commonly. The Old Testament prophet, Ahijah, was an "apostle", or messenger sent with a message for Jereboam's wife (I Kings 14:6). In Philippians 2:25, Epaphroditus was declared to be an "apostle", or messenger, sent to Paul by the church of Philippi. Finally, Jesus Himself is declared by the "Apostle and High Priest of our confession", sent by God (Hebrews 3:1; 1:1-2). So, the word, apostle, should not always be understood with a specialized, narrow connotation, related to an office of the church. However, the word is most often used in the Bible in a special sense, as a chosen, spiritual ambassador representing Christ. According to Matthew 9:9; 10:1-5; Mark 2:14; 3:13-19; Luke 5:27-29; 6:12-16; Acts 1:13-26; and I Corinthians 15:7-10,
the complete list of Jesus' Apostles consists of:
The Office of Apostleship and the nature and work of their office is best described by Jesus in His commission to them:
"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." (Matthew 28:19-20) "... you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." (Acts 1:8)
“And with great power the Apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.” (Acts 4:33).
In the early days of the Church, the Apostles served as the primary means of inspired communication and direction from the Lord to His people: At the Pentecost event Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them ... "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call." And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation." Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the Apostle's doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the Apostles. (Acts 2:14, 38-43)
The Twelve Apostles were not just a possible source of spiritual truth and knowledge. They were the only source of revelation. To be out of fellowship with their teaching was to be separated from God. The Apostles' doctrine was the final word from God.
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life -- the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us -- that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.” (I John 1:1-4)
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ... We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error”. (I John 4:1, 6)
“For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. ... Or did the word of God come originally from you? Or was it you only that it reached? If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord. But if anyone is ignorant, let him be ignorant”. (I Corinthians 14:33-38)
In addition to providing spiritual nourishment in the form of inspired teaching and preaching, the Apostles also performed extraordinary miracles to confirm the divine source of their message. On other occasions, they were the focal point of miraculous events.
A compendium from Scriptures of such miraculous events are listed here:
Lastly, as Christ's ambassadors, the Apostles provided direction and organization for the church: Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostle's feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need. (Acts 4:34-35)
However, the primary nature of their work was always spiritual, and when the work of benevolence became too distracting, additional roles were created: Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, "It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word." (Acts 6:1-4)
The qualifications of the Twelve many people today teach and preach the gospel of Christ. So, what made the Twelve Apostles unique? First, they were inspired by the Holy Spirit. Note these comforting words that Jesus offered to His Apostles, before He sent them on their first mission:
"You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you." (Matthew 10:18-20)
Later, Jesus promised the Apostles that after His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, they would soon be given the Holy Spirit, who would lead them into "all truth":
"These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you." (John 14:25-26)
"However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come." (John 16:13)
Later in the Bible narrative, we read that the Apostles did indeed claim to have received the Holy Spirit, Who had provided them with "all truth" (I Corinthians 2:10-16; II Peter 1:2-3). Amazingly, we also learn that if we read what they wrote, the New Testament of the Bible, we can gain the same knowledge and understanding that they had (II Timothy 3:14-17; Ephesians 3:3-5). Not surprisingly, this requires diligent study and a sincere love for the truth (II Timothy 2:15; Matthew 5:6; II Thessalonians 2:9-12). The Apostles represented Christ by speaking for Him in His place and by His authority. It was through this inspiration that the Apostles were able to serve as ambassadors for Christ, proclaiming His will in His stead, "binding" and "loosening" tenets of the Christian faith (John 13:20; Matthew 16:19; 18:18). They made Jesus' will known on all essential spiritual subjects through infallible inspiration (II Peter 1:2-4); therefore, the Twelve Apostles were very distinct when compared to today's fallible preachers and teachers, who gain their understanding not by inspiration, but through study of the Apostles' inspired writings - the New Testament.
Furthermore, the Apostles were specifically and directly chosen by Jesus Himself to serve as eye-witnesses (Luke 6:13-16; Acts 1:23-26). Consequently, the Apostles were also required to be witnesses of the resurrected Christ. Of course, all Christians can in a sense teach the gospelof Christ, but none today can bear witness as the Apostles did. They were "eye-witnesses" of Jesus. They could personally attest of His miracles, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. It is in this special sense that the Bible speaks of the Apostles as "witnesses" for Christ. (Luke 24:45-48; Acts 1:8; 21-26; I John 1:1-4; II Peter 1:16-21).
In addition to Christ's specific selection, it was these qualities which made the Apostles unique and defines their role and office. They represented, and still represent, the will of Jesus on all matters, in addition to providing eye-witness testimony to His miracles and resurrection.
The Bible teaches that there are apostles today, but no, apostleship is not an office that continues to be filled by modern people. It was generally not an office that was left for another to fulfill. In fact the Bible teaches that the same twelve Apostles are still Apostles today:
"Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." (Matthew 19:27-28)
We can note two important points from this passage: First, the number of thrones was limited to twelve, just as there were twelve tribes of Israel. Second, the reign of the apostles was in conjunction with Christ's reign! Their reign began with His reign and would continue for the duration of His reign. Therefore, the same Apostles reign today that reigned during the delivery of the New Testament. Furthermore, please observe that no one can today fulfill the other qualities of an Apostle: Jesus' personal selection, Holy Spirit inspiration, and eye-witness of Christ's ministry and resurrection. Therefore, there are no modern apostles - only those who have reigned since ancient days.
After an intensive discipleship course and following his resurrection from the dead, the Lord fully commissioned the Apostles (Matthew 28:16-2, Mark 16:15) to advance God's kingdom and carry the gospel message to the world. God carefully selected and used each of these simple men to carry out his exceptional plan.
Christians see the Apostles as a connection between the living Jesus, the resurrected Jesus, and the Christian Church that developed, and continues to develop, after Jesus ascended to heaven. The Apostles were witnesses to Jesus' life, recipients of Jesus' teachings, witnesses to appearances of the resurrected Jesus, and recipients of the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. They were authorities on what Jesus taught, intended, and desired.
Effect of the Crucifixion on the Apostles
Matthew 4:20
Initially, the death of Jesus came as a great shock and disappointment to the Eleven(Judas hung himself). They were devastated by the crucifixion. Earlier, in Matthew 19:27 Peter said to Jesus, “We have left everything to follow you.” And in John 6:68 he said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” In John 20:9 we also learn that they “did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.” From the perspective of His followers, while Jesus was being crucified, everything they had hoped in and believed in was dying before their eyes.They assumed all was lost and they planned to “pack it in” so to speak. The Twelve, after being with Jesus for nearly three years, didn't yet understand the Cross and its ramifications.
"Let these sayings sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men. But they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them, that they perceived it not: and they feared to ask him of that saying." " (Luke 9:44,45).
They couldn't even get up the courage to ask Him,”What are you talking about?" They had no idea that in a few days He would be crucified. To them He was The Christ, the promised Messiah. And all they had to do was just believe that. That was their article of faith. That's all that was expected of them to believe. Nothing else had been revealed.
They were still steeped in the Old Testament program, and his crucifixion didn’t appear according to plan at all. They were only looking forward to their King, Jesus Christ, and the glorious Kingdom the Old Testament proclaimed. They were looking forward to the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecies, which included His first coming, and then His rejection and then Pentecost and then was to come the wrath and vexation - the seven years of Tribulation. Then was to come the Second Coming, then the Kingdom; that glorious Kingdom on earth, which had been promised ever since you might say, Abraham. The purpose of Christ’s whole earthly ministry was to prepare Israel for this glorious Kingdom. They would have the establishment of the Kingdom, and Israel would be the foremost of the nations. Jesus is in their midst, and He’s fulfilling all the Old Testament promises. He’s proven now for three years who He is. The Nation of Israel could have had it all, but what did they do? They rejected it. And in their unbelief and their rejection of everything—culminating, of course, in the crucifixion.
When Jesus was arrested at Gethsemane on the eve of his crucifixion, what did those disciples do? “Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled." (Matt.26:56). They ran away in fear and defeat. But these same men after the Resurrection had no such fear. What made the difference? The power of Resurrection!!
Jesus restored His disciples’ faith and gave them hope following His Resurrection from the dead, when He made a number of appearances to His followers—no less than ten of these are recorded in Scripture. On the evening after His resurrection Jesus appears to the ten Apostles (Thomas is absent), A week later, on a Sunday, Jesus appears to the disciples with Thomas present. Doubting Thomas becomes convinced. Jesus appeared to them over a period of forty days and these men became fearless Christians ready to die for their God.
Earlier Jesus’ followers did not understand what the Scripture said about Him. That’s why once their faith was restored Jesus moved to ground their faith through Scripture. We see this in Acts 1:2-3 where we find Jesus giving the Apostles commandments and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Again in Luke 24 we see Jesus, beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, explaining to His disciples what was said in the Scriptures concerning himself. The disciples’ “were estatic” as Jesus “opened the Scripture” to them. They once were blind to the truth of the Bible but Jesus gave them spiritual sight. With their faith restored and strengthened, Jesus’ final instructions to the Apostles in Matthew 28:19 was to “go and make disciples of all nations” by sharing with the world the great things that Jesus has said and done.
Most of Christendom today believe that was the great commission to carry His Word to the Gentiles. We know initially, they were commanded to go to Jew only. It was not until many years after Paul completed his missionary work to the Gentiles that they themselves left Jerusalem.
The Great Commission
Remembering that the Bible is a progressive revelation beginning with the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 12. In verse 2, here we have the promise of Israel becoming a nation but in verse 3 God also promises something for the rest of world [the Gentiles]. So obviously one way or another God is going to reach out to the whole world--- someday. We know when Israel was fresh out of Egypt and Moses went up to God on Mount Sinai [Exodus 19:5-6], that Israel was given a prospect--- that someday the Jews would become priests-not just the tribe of Levi, but all the tribes. To be certain that the prospect is not forgotten, Isaiah is led by the Spirit to write in Isaiah 42: 6 that the Jewish people are to be a light of the Gentiles. Again, in chapter 60, Isaiah tells Israel that the gentles ''shall come to thy light.'' And in Isaiah 62, Isaiah writes that the Gentiles ''shall see thy righteousness''. But, in order for Israel to attain this goal, God gave them covenants of promise. After Abraham, they received the covenant of law, [Exodus 19 and 20], the land covenant [Deuteronomy 30:3], the Davidic covenant [II Samuel 7:16] and the new covenant [Jeremiah 31:31-35]. All of this was like a highway to the kingdom but in the kingdom there will be a remnant of both Israel and Gentiles. We know that only believers can go into the kingdom, so how does God arrange that? He will accomplish that by using 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel [not just the tribe of Levi] which will mean that there are144,000 Jews who will fulfill the great commission of Matthew 28 and Mark 16. And they will be preaching the gospel of the kingdom as found in Matthew 24:14-(And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come). They will reach all nations, all kindred's, and peoples of all languages. [Revelation 7:9]. That is the purpose of the so-called great commission.
So it follows that when the tribulation ends there will be a few survivors from all the nations of the world [Isaiah 24:6] but there will be lost survivors as well as believers so God will bring them all before the King [Matthew 25:31]. The lost will be sent to face His perfect justice while the believers will go into the kingdom. We know from Zechariah 13:8 &9 that a third of Israel will go into the kingdom [approximately 5 million] so compared to Israel, other nations will only have a few. Consequently, Israel will enjoy the privilege of ministering to these Gentiles. Everything fits. Most of Christendom claims ownership of the great commission, but they do it by misreading the Scriptures [II Peter 5:16].
In Israel’s unbelief, they lost their opportunity to be evangelists during the Kingdom because God changed His prerogative, and said only believers will go into the Kingdom. But then God gave Israel a second chance to yet evangelize the nations. They’re going to fulfill the great commission, which was never given to the church in the first place. They’re going to fulfill it during the Tribulation by 144,000 Jews who are going to circumvent the globe. Go to Revelation chapter 7 where the 144,000 are sealed at the beginning of the Tribulation. The two witnesses are the preachers that these 144,000 young Jews will be listening to. “And I heard the number of them who were sealed: and there were sealed 144,000 of all (that means twelve) the tribes of the children of Israel.” (Revelation 7:4). After they’re sealed, they’re going to go out and begin to proclaim the gospel of the Kingdom as Jesus said they would in Matthew 24. “And after this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and languages, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands:” (Revelation 7:9). The word languages means the whole world! It says they preached to all the nations and all the languages and all the tribes. All the nations are going to have representatives of the work of these 144,000.
In his so-called “Great Commission speech” why, after commanding the Twelve Apostles in Matthew 10:5 & 6 to go not to Gentiles, does Jesus reverse the command in Mark 16:15 and Matthew 28:19, where he tells them just as plainly to go to the Gentiles? Because in His foreknowledge He knew the program to follow the Tribulation.
The Great Commission in (Matthew 28:16 to 20) was provisionally given to the Twelve disciples provided the Nation of Israel could have maintained her relationship with God, and become the vehicle between God and the Gentiles as outlined in the Old Testament, but we know they didn't. You would think they would have said, "Now it's time for us to spread out and go across the Roman Empire." But do they? If they were carrying out what we call the Great Commission, at least after this experience, you would think they would have taken off for Egypt, and Greece and all points outside of Israel. But this was not the case. They went back to Jerusalem. Even so, right after the ascension of Jesus, Christianity consisted of approximately 1000 believers and was centered in Jerusalem. “And they went forth, and preached everywhere(within Judea to Jew only)the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen” (Mark 16:20 KJV). Within a year we learn from the book of Acts and other New Testament books, their numbers swelled within the borders of Judea to approximately 10,000 believers.
The Bible doesn’t record what happened to most of the original Apostles of Jesus after spending from 10 to 20 years in Jerusalem following His Ascension. We learn the most from the letters of Paul and the Book of Acts, but as to the lives of the remaining Apostles we are frustrated reading tales(called tradition) written 50 to 100 years after the fact by so-called church fathers. Those Patristic records are not Holy Spirit inspired writings, yet they are valuable in the sense of contributing to our only religious history of that period. Those early church records are difficult to interpret and seldom reliable. It becomes an exercise in futility trying to sift fact from fiction. One is left to believe what they want to believe. As for myself, I rest on the biblical record.
The first record for a non-Jewish region of the world to hear the gospel was Samaria (Acts 1:8). Philip, like Stephen, was one of the men chosen to serve the church family in practical ways when the dispute regarding Hellenist widows arose (Acts 6:5). He was one of those Jews forced to flee persecution (Acts 8:1), ending up in Samaria. “Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was great joy in that city.” The disciples of Christ had negative feelings toward Samaritans (Luke 9:51-54). These attitudes may have been reinforced by The Lord’s mandate concerning where they should go to preach the Gospel (Matt. 10:5). Also, the people of Samaria had been under the influence of a sorcerer named Simon Magus of Gitta for a long time (Acts 8:11). Simon had seduced them with error and bewitched them with sleight of hand. However, Philip shook the kingdom of Satan to its very foundations with the confirmed word of God (Acts 8:13; cf. Mark 16:17-20). So much so, that the whole church of the Devil and Simon were converted to Christ (Acts 8:12,13). While severely challenged by their previous error and Simon's transgression the church in Samaria soon became a center for evangelism throughout the province (Acts 8:25).
Philip’s gospel was not the Gospel of Grace that Paul preached, because it had not yet been revealed to those residing in Jerusalem. Like all the Jerusalem Christians, Philip preached the Old Testament Gospel of the Kingdom, teaching repentance and believing that Jesus was the Son of God, The Christ; repentance and water baptism was going to the Nation of Israel by way of Jesus and the Twelve. And now Philip was continuing it. There is no mention of Salvation by the finished work of the Cross in his preaching. There is no mention of believing in His death, burial and Resurrection for Salvation as proclaimed by the Apostle Paul in this Age of Grace. But they are still emphasizing that the One they crucified was indeed The Christ. We must never confuse the two gospels. I try to pay attention to what scripture actually says, not what many think it might have said.
Most of the twelve were still in Jerusalem 5 to 10 years later, some were still there for upwards of twenty years. Not only are they still there, but they won't leave even under intense persecution. Now that should tell us something. The reason they didn’t leave was because they knew they had no God-given right to leave, and besides they thought they might miss Him if He should return. They were commanded to stay and present the Gospel of the Kingdom to the Nation of Israel. With the hope that Israel would still accept their King and then Christ could have come and set up His Kingdom. They understood that once they had The King and the Kingdom then they could bring Gentiles to The King, their Messiah. They knew what the Old Testament taught about that.
“Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. So when they had testified and preached the word of the LORD, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans”. (Acts 14, 25). Like Philip, Peter and John went preaching the Kingdom gospel. Peter and John remained in Samaria long enough to confirm the disciples in the faith and impart to them the necessary spiritual gifts (Acts 8:14,15). Note: This is the first and only time in the New Testament that evangelism was done by Apostles outside of Jerusalem, but it still only involved Philip, Peter, and John. No biblical record exists that Peter and the Eleven ever ministered to Gentiles, except when Peter went to Cornelius, and that was a special case for another purpose.
The twelve disciples would not leave Jerusalem, but many of the believers did. This is twelve or thirteen years after Pentecost. Some of the believing Jews migrated up to Antioch. Scholars differ in their opinion as to whether Peter went to Antioch before the well-known Jerusalem council took place, or afterwards. "And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus." ( Acts 11:20). A Grecian was a Jew who was a native of Palestine. A Greek was a Gentile. So it wasn't unusual for Grecians to be approached with this. "And the hand of the Lord was with them (indeed, because God was ready to move things out to the Gentile world): and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord. Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch." (Acts 11:21,22).
What was the problem for these Jews? Gentiles were being saved! This is only for the Jews. So when they at Jerusalem heard what was going on up at Antioch, they sent Barnabas to check out what they were doing up there because it was not right according to Jewish thinking. When Barnabas saw the sudden influx of Gentiles into the church at Antioch, the Holy Spirit moves him to find Saul who is the one who has had three years of revelation from the Risen Lord. He's the one with all the answers. And paraphrasing Barnabas, "Saul, things are happening down there at Antioch, and I know, as God has revealed to me, that you are the man we have to have. You are the one who has the message now for these Gentiles. God has opened their hearts. God has opened the door, and evidently God is going to move out into the Gentile world.” We can see it coming. “ And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians (what's the next word?) first in Antioch." (Acts 11:26).
Why not at Jerusalem? The Jerusalem church had been in operation for about twelve years already. The Bible never calls them Christians. Why? Because they were still under the Judaistic umbrella. They had believed for their Salvation that Jesus was The Messiah of Israel. But the Christians at Antioch also believed for their Salvation that Jesus had died for them, that His blood had been shed for their sins, and that He had been raised from the dead. In other words Antioch is being presented with Paul's Gospel of Grace. And he differentiates it from anything that had ever gone before, because it had been a secret hidden in the mind of God until He revealed it to the Apostle Paul while he was in Arabia. And now God is going to do something totally different. He's going to save the whole human race, Jew and Gentile alike, by the one and only Gospel that Christ died, was buried, and rose from the dead. (Ref: I Corinthians 15:1-4).
Following the Pentecost event the remnant of Jewish Christians continued to observe the Sabbath, but also met together on the first day, Sunday, referred to as "the Lord's day." These early followers were all Jews continuing to observe the Law of Moses, all the while now believing that Jesus was the Son of God. Even some Pharisees came to faith (Acts 15:5). Hellenistic Jews from all over the Roman empire were among the initial converts. Jesus forbid these Hellenized Jews to take the gospel to the Gentiles but to go only to other Jews. The Risen Lord then chose a special man, Saul of Tarsus, a Hellenized Jew, to take the gospel of grace to the Gentiles.
Jesus, the Creator God, knew that prophetic Old Testament program was going to stop with His crucifixion, and in His wisdom and foreknowledge, made the overtures to bring about the Apostle Paul and the Age of Grace. This change of program came about as the result of Israel’s unbelief. Even after they had crucified Jesus, Peter continued preaching his head off trying to make them understand that Jesus was the Messiah. He told them that if they would only repent and receive the Holy Spirit, all would be well, and they could still have their promised Kingdom and King of Kings, but they would hear none of this. That is when God chose Paul to go to the Gentiles in their place and call out a people in His name.
The Jerusalem Church
The Judeo-Christian church in Jerusalem was the first church following the death of Jesus. It is well-known the first church grew out of Jerusalem; From Jerusalem, Judeo-Christian communities spread out through Palestine and beyond Transjordan and Syria. At the same time there were Judeo-Christans in Asia and other parts of the Empire. The mother Church, which remained for a long time at the head of the Judeo-Christian movement was in Jerusalem. It was at first headed by the Apostle Peter himself and then, after his departure from the Holy City, by James, “the brother of the Lord.” When Jesus' immediate followers recognized their partial failure to realize his ideal of the establishment of the kingdom in the hearts of men by the indwelling Spirit and guidance of the individual believer, they set about to save his teaching from being wholly lost by substituting for Jesus's ideal of the kingdom the gradual creation of a visible social organization, the Christian church. The church in Jerusalem was established within the Jewish Kingdom economy. It followed the precepts they knew so well from their Jewish roots. Many members had already become believers during Christ’s earthly ministry; others in Peter’s ministry in the early Acts. They are Jewish believers who as yet have not heard or understood Paul’s Gospel of Grace that you and I believe for our salvation. They had embraced Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah but they were still practicing Judaism, and the Temple was still operating. One could not call them Christians because the Bible doesn’t, but many people do. Remember believers were first called Christians at Antioch, and not Jerusalem. So they’re not Christians per se, they are Jewish believers in the Kingdom Gospel, and they believed for salvation that Jesus was the Messiah of Israel, but they’re still under the Law. They’re still practicing Temple worship. Nobody has told them not to so they’re not being disobedient. That fact had not been revealed to them yet.
During Christ’s earthly ministry He went about all the cities of the Nation of Israel, going into their synagogues and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom. The word "Gospel," means "the good news." So the whole thrust of Christ’s three years of earthly ministry was to proclaim to the Nation of Israel the good news, that the King was now in their midst and he’s offering them opportunity to have the Kingdom. And if He would have the Kingdom, then Israel could become the evangelists and bring in the Gentile world. But, what was Israel’s problem? Unbelief, as always before. And so, in unbelief, they didn’t recognize him as the King and instead they crucified him.
The original mission of Jesus was to proclaim the establishment of the Kingdom of God in the hearts of mankind, and to free mankind from the bondage of those Jewish synagogues of authority. He himself, a child of Jewish parents, raised in the synagogues of his day, later was murdered for his refusal to conform to the authority of that very belief system in which he was raised. Jesus was not wholly opposed to the synagogues; he worked with members of synagogues, and honored and encouraged synagogue members, but, he knew a better way was in the offing. That better way was to introduce the concept of God’s Grace, and the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
The Risen Lord’s message through the Apostle Paul was one of spiritual liberation—liberation from set dogmas, creeds, and established Jewish tenets—into a new way of realizing and finding God, who, he taught, indwells every human soul. This new way of discovering God and recognizing Truth had nothing to do with setting up synagogues. Instead, it proclaimed that the Kingdom is within each of us, discoverable by each individual. To accomplish His plan He called on the Apostle Paul.
The New Testament
For all practical purposes, Christianity enters history with the appearance of Paul whose writings are the earliest datable Christian documents. In the next three centuries, as the new religion rapidly spread across the Roman world, it becomes easier and easier to track its development up to its consummate political triumph, Constantine's conversion in the early fourth century.
Citing the widely accepted scholarship of Norman l. Geisler writing in The Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics(copyright 2007), he determined the New Testament was written between 40 and 80 AD by the Apostles of Jesus Christ and their contemporaries. Probably one or two Gospels were written as early as seven years after the crucifixion. These letters were all composed within the lifetimes of eyewitnesses and contemporaries of the events. This places the veracity of the New Testament beyond reasonable doubt, notwithstanding its Divine sponsor. Solid evidence suggests that the Books of Mark and Acts must have been written within the lifetime of the Apostles and contemporaries of the events. They must be accepted as historical. The cumulative evidence places the New Testament within the first century, and the lives of eyewitnesses.
The Holy Spirit guided the Apostles to put the Word into a written form. This was an expected and natural development; otherwise the redemption and revelation brought by Jesus Christ could have been lost. The written Word had great significance, and as time passed it received priority over the oral form of transmission. Actually, the written Word was a fixation of the oral form and carried the same message from God. The Apostles and their associates' writings were brought together by the Christian brotherhood into the New Testament Scriptures.
These books were treasured and preserved. It is only logical that the Apostles kept copies of their manuscripts. They were precious. The writers of the Gospels no doubt had copyists reproducing their manuscripts from the very start so they could be sent to the new churches, and the copyists would have had to keep either the original or a copy to do this. It is only logical having put such effort into a manuscript that it was to be distributed. It is unlikely that Paul would write such a major work as Romans without preserving it. There was too much chance that it might be lost in transit to Rome -- or even misplaced by the church in Rome -- for him not to keep a copy. Other authors may also have kept copies of their letters. But above all, the Holy Spirit saw to the overseeing of the distribution and preservation of the books He inspired.
Today we have the Holy Bible which is a composite of the inspired writings of God. Even in the early Church Satan was making his presence known and causing confusion about the relation of the Mosaic Law and Old Covenant to the Gospel and New Covenant. The spread of the Christian Church during its first seventy years is one of the most amazing phenomena in all of human history. As the apostles opened work in more distant areas, one way they kept in contact with new churches was through letters. The new Christians had to be nurtured; so the four Gospels, the history of the church, and letters of encouragement and correction were written. At first these writings were sent out individualy, but much later these books were brought together and sent to the outlying churches as a group. In some cases these books had to be translated into the disciples' native languages. Both the collection and translation factors required identity of which books were authoritative and belonged to the New Testament canon. The written Word quickly received a place of high significance; those who received it gave it special status because they knew it was the message they had heard from the Apostles. We have evidence that the written Word was very early placed on the same level as the Old Testament Scriptures. Paul's letters were read in church gatherings with the same authority as Old Testament Scriptures (Col. 4:16. I Thess. 5:27). Peter was aware of Paul's letters to the churches and classed his letter with the Scriptures (II Peter 3:15). John presupposed that his Book of the Revelation would be read as other Scriptures (Rev. 1:3).
Scripture teaches that Satan was at work developing a cadre of false teachers(gnostics). There is no doubt that the gnostics existed and had their own gospels very early in the history of the Church. They were present early in the life of the church, well before the end of the first century. We know this because there are letters from the apostles condemning gnostic tenets and making it clear that some in the church held to them.
It was inevitable that the Twelve Apostles would die, and with time the authority of their oral teachings would be perverted and subject to being treated as legends and myths all at the hands of Satan. “For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist (II John 7). And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world (I John 4:3 ).
This scripture states that the 'spirit of Antichrist is not confessing that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh and that apparently some of his teachings began when John was still alive.
I hold that Satan is the ultimate source of this "false knowledge”(gnosticism) as well as the one responsible for perpetuating these anti-God philosophies throughout history.
Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek: gnostikos, "having knowledge") is a modern name for a variety of ancient religious ideas and systems, present in Christian circles in the first and second century AD. Gnosticism is the word appropriated by Satan as a “cover” to his never-ending plan to deceive the whole world (Revelation 12:9). Beginning with Genesis 3:1-5, his words to Eve in the Garden of Eden bear a striking resemblance with the core of gnostic thought and teaching. This sentiment that God is untrustworthy, and that His Word is suspect, has been a regular feature of “Satan’s gnosis” in mankind's relationship with God ever since.
In concert with the gnostic problem , another major difficulty arose in tracing the growth of Christianity from its beginnings as a Jewish messianic movement, and its relations to the various other normative-Jewish, sectarian-Jewish, and Christian-Jewish groups is presented by the fact that what ultimately became normative Christianity was originally but one among various contending Christian trends. Once the "gentile Christian" trend won out, and the teaching of Paul became accepted as expressing the doctrine of the Church, those Jewish Christian groups and gnostics were then pushed to the margin and ultimately excluded as heretical. Being rejected both by normative Judaism and the Church, they ultimately disappeared. Nevertheless, several Jewish Christian sects (such as the Nazarenes, Ebionites, Elcesaites, and others) existed for some time, and a few of them are still active.
Paul exposed Satan’s attempt at heretical indoctrination(gnosis) of the faithful in several of his letters: He said that the 'mystery of lawlessness' group(gnostics) already was arising in his day:“Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-7) So, Paul said that there were two groups. The 'brethren' and those who followed the 'mystery of lawlessness'(the gnostics).
Paul wrote that there were "empty talkers and deceivers, especially the circumcision party" (Titus 1:10). Paul asked Timothy to "charge some that they teach no other doctrine, neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions [promote speculations] rather than godly edifying" (I Timothy 1:3-4). John wrote that "as ye have heard that antichrist shall come. . . . They went out from us" (I John 2:18, 19). After the Apostles were gone God knew these antichrists would question the authority of certain of the writings that did not agree with their ideas, leading to the need to clarify which books were inspired.
Paul addresses standard gnostic and Jewish teaching in 1 Cor.15. There he says there are some among the Corinthians saying ‘there is no resurrection from the dead.’(1 Cor. 15:12). Both Jews and Gnostics did deny the divinity of Jesus, and they even denied he was actually the Christ. The apostle John has even more references to Gnosticism. It is clear that the gnostics are ‘those who are trying to seduce you.’ (1 John 2:26) and it is almost certain that Diotrephes, who refused to receive John, was a gnostic teacher who gained leadership of one of John’s churches (3 John 9). The gnostics were visibly banned from the churches by the mid-second century, and they no longer appeared to be a significant threat by the mid third century. However, Satan continued with his gnostic scheme throughout the ensuing centuries, and it is with us to this very day.
Certainly what happened concerning the list of canonical books and their preservation was tied to Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit was active in bringing the books together. As mentioned earlier, the Church is "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord" (Eph. 2:20-21). Christ is the corner stone, and He promised the apostles that "the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you" (John 14:26); thus the Apostles built upon Him to form the foundational truths to guide the Church.
Preserving the Faith
Jesus said: “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth”. (John 4:23-24) True successors of Jesus' disciples would worship God in spirit and truth--the faith once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3).
According to the New Testament, the Holy Spirit was given through the laying on of the hands of Christ’s apostles or elders (Acts 8:17; 9:17; 19:6; 1 Timothy 4:14; 2 Timothy 1:6). It was the laying on of hands and not simply the death or some statement by (or to) Peter that only authorized succession through Peter's death in Rome.
Paul taught Timothy of Ephesus (one of his successors who he laid hands upon):
“Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands”. (2 Timothy 1:6). “And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also”. (2 Timothy 2:2).
The Apostle Paul noted that there were three leaders in Jerusalem during one of his visits there: "James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars." (Galatians 2:9). James is listed first because James was the leader who actually lived in Jerusalem. Notice that Paul then listed Cephas, who is Peter, and then John, suggesting that Paul considered that Peter, at that time, had higher authority than John then did. When Peter was killed, he no longer held physical primacy over the remaining apostles. Also Peter may have helped train the younger John as a potential successor. We know John greatly outlived Peter and is believed to have lived as late as 98-105 A.D. (he also outlived James).
John was an Apostle(one of the Twelve), the other early leaders in Rome were only presbyters or elders. It is not logical that John, being one of the Twelve, would subordinate to those elders, claiming to have been “bishop of Rome” with primacy over all Christianity after Peter died, and while John was still alive. Since John was the lone survivor of the Twelve, it is clear that he was the one true successor--who had been appointed by Jesus Himself. This is consistent with Scripture.
It is generally accepted by most Bible Scholars that succession simply needed to pass from any of the original Apostles to anyone who was ordained by an apostle . An apostolic ministry appears to be required in order that Christian proclamation and pastoral care may be extended to peoples of various times and places. The pastoral leaders must be seen as endowed with the authority of him who said, “He who hears you hears me.” (Luke 10:16). Yet this identity must not be too materialistically understood, as though Christ were somehow reincarnated in his ministers(a pope for example), or as though their relationship to him were independent of their solidarity with the ongoing community of Christian faith.
In Jesus Christ, “the same yesterday and today and forever”. (Heb. 13:8). The Church has a stable reference point The Church of all times must be in real and visible continuity with the original apostolic community of the first disciples whom Jesus gathered about Himself. The Church is constituted on the one hand by its relationship to Jesus Christ, and on the other hand by its relationship to those to whom it mediates the presence of Christ.
The Apostle Paul confirmed that the concept that the true church was built on more than just the Apostle Peter and that Jesus was the Rock. In his letter to the Ephesians the Apostle Paul makes clear that the Church was not just built on Peter but is built on the spiritual foundation of the apostles (plural) and the prophets, with Jesus as the chief cornerstone, and including all the members in the church as well: “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit”. (Ephesians 2:19-22). This verse is a clear endorsement of apostolic succession being based upon the teachings (especially the inspired writings) of the apostles and prophets as opposed to only some type of bishop succession that Paul does not mention in this passage. Also, this passage does not imply that any single city, nor bishop to bishop transfer, is required for succession (which, biblically was prophesied to be impossible, (cf. Hebrews 13:14). Furthermore, as Jesus and Peter used the term prophets (see Matthew 7:12;26:56; Acts 3:18-25) as a description of part of the Bible and the fact that the apostles wrote nearly all books of the New Testament, And Luke recorded this concerning Paul: “From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. And when they had come to him, he said to them: "You know, from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you...Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves..." (Acts 20:17-18,28-30).
From the above passages we see that Paul taught leaders of the church that they were to teach others faithfully, but that even those who appear to be Christian successors/leaders could be a problem. Paul writes in I Cor.55-56, that 500 witnesses to the resurrection were still alive, and he specifically mentions the Twelve and James the brother of Jesus.
The entire New Testament was written down through the efforts of only eight men. Six of them were chosen Apostles of Jesus. Three were eyewitnesses of his life and ministry - the Apostles Matthew, Peter and John.Two were physical half-brothers of Jesus - James and Jude. One, Paul, was specially called by the Risen Lord to be the Apostle to the Gentiles and for three years was personally taught by Jesus Christ(in Arabia) through visions. The last two were Mark - who penned the Gospel of Mark under Peter’s supervision - and Luke, who authored the Gospel of Luke and Acts(60-62AD) under the Apostle Paul's supervision . Luke, who only wrote two books (Luke and Acts) wrote 27% and Paul who wrote eight books wrote 25% of the New Testament.We can have full faith and confidence that the original Greek text, as preserved in the Byzantine text, is the very Word of God.
Paul chosen by the Risen Lord
When God in His foreknowledge decided to introduce the Age of Grace He knew Paul was the man to fulfill His plan. To differentiate Law and Grace. “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” (Matt. 5:17). Jesus Christ did not suggest here that the binding nature of the law of Moses would remain forever in effect. Such a view would contradict everything we learn from the balance of the New Testament (Romans 10:4; Galatians 3:23-25; Ephesians 2:15). The Law still stands, but by dying in our place, Jesus took away the penalty due us for breaking the Law, giving us immunity from prosecution. So Jesus didn’t abolish the Law. Then Paul goes on to teach Jesus abolished the consequences for breaking the Law, but argued passionately that we should adopt behavioral standards that in fact are consistent with God’s Law. Not because we’re accountable for doing so, but because of the indwelling Holy Spirit in all believers, that is how we express our gratitude for the fact that we aren’t. There is no conflict between grace and the Law, properly understood. Christ fulfilled the Law on our behalf and offers the power of the Holy Spirit, who motivates a regenerated heart to live in obedience to Him. Paul makes this so clear in his teaching on the Body of Christ.
The Apostle Paul is the only source for the Body of Christ metaphor, but its origin can only be understood by returning to the Old Testament.
The Kingdom of Heaven was specifically promised to the Nation of Israel. In II Samuel chapter 7 God promised King David that through him would result a genetic line of kings, leading all the way up to the King of Kings, Jesus of Nazareth. The whole purpose of His first coming was not only to present Himself as the Creator God of the universe, but also as the Promised Messiah, Redeemer, and King of Israel. When Israel rejected all the things pertaining to Jesus as the King and the Kingdom then God did something totally different.
What God told Israel during His earthly ministry is an entirely different set of directions from what Paul gives us in what we call the parenthetical Age of Grace. The Body of Christ is also within the Kingdom of God, so when we speak of being in the Kingdom, for us it is really not appropriate, and yet, to a degree, it is, because when you’re a member of the Body of Christ, you’re a member of God’s Kingdom. But to be definitive, we should identify it as the Body of Christ. It must be noted that when we’re a member of the Body of Christ, we’re also a member of The Kingdom of God. Absolutely! But it’s more definitive to say we’re in the Body of Christ.
Paul states, "And He is the head of the body, the church:…" (Colossians 1:18a) We don’t say He is the King of the Church, like He is in the Kingdom, but now He’s the head of the Church, the Body of Christ. This means it’s a physical connection in a spiritual realm. Nevertheless, just like our head is part of our body, Christ is the head of this out-called Body of Christ.
Notice the difference between the terminologies of the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, and the Body of Christ. Those are all entities that are mentioned over and over in Scripture. But the Body of Christ is not found anywhere except in Paul’s epistles. Yet, it is part of the Kingdom of God, as is the Kingdom of Heaven. Everything that pertains to the righteous side of God is in the Kingdom of God. In other words, the angelic hosts and believers of every age, are all part and parcel of the Kingdom of God, and it will be that Kingdom that carries on into all eternity. That’s why, in Revelation, it speaks so specifically of the wicked who are outside. They will never become part of the Kingdom of God.
All of the Old Testament is full of prophecies concerning the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God, but that portion of Scripture is totally silent when it comes to the Body of Christ. Paul makes it so plain that it was kept secret since the ages began. In his epistles Paul speaks of the body, which is the Church- the Body of Christ, and why it is so totally segregated from all the things promised to Israel. Because, it is a revelation of things that have been kept totally secret, all the way up through Biblical history, until they are revealed to the Apostle Paul. Don’t go back to the Old Testament and try to find a verse that refers to the Body of Christ. You won’t find it. Don’t try to go into the Old Testament or the four Gospel’s or Revelation and find a reference to the out-calling of the Saints, where every member will be raised incorruptible. You won’t find it. Because it, alone, is associated with the mysteries revealed to Paul. This one man, is going to take the Gospel of the Grace of God, and he’s going to be the beginning of what we call the Body of Christ(My Church!) And it all reverts back to that verse in Acts chapter 9, where God said, "I will send this man far hence to the Gentiles." For what purpose? To call out the Body of Christ.
Paul was the first sinner saved by grace that began that long line of sinners saved and brought into the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ had its beginning on the road to Damascus. Up until that time it was unheard of, it was unknown, it was still part of the mysteries. Beginning with Paul’s salvation at that time, every believer in this Age of Grace will come into the Body of Christ.
Because of their unbelief in Jesus Christ as their Messiah, God let Israel go down into the dispersion. God’s original plan called for Israel to bring His plan to the world, but they failed Him causing God to use another Jew named Saul(Paul) to fulfill His plan. Through Paul He began calling out a people for His name during this age of Grace we are still in.
In Acts chapter 15 the tabernacle of David was fallen down, and while it is fallen down God is going to call out a group of Gentiles for His name which is the Body of Christ. He will keep Israel in spiritual blindness for a period of time, "Until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in."
What's the fullness of the Gentiles? The Body of Christ. So, when the Body of Christ, this out calling of Gentiles is complete, God will take that entire Body to heaven. Then He can pick up where He left off with Israel in their blindness and fulfill all those Old Testament prophecies. So, as we speak, God is calling out the righteous, the Body of Christ, while Israel has been out in dispersion, But as of 1948AD she is now back in her land, and everything is being set up for the end-time Second Coming of Christ, and all the while the Body of Christ continues to fill up.
We know everything that Jesus said during his earthly ministry was before the cross, and was under the Law. So, everything He said during His earthly ministry has a law-keeping connotation to it. And that doesn’t fit for us in the Body of Christ. Now while the Risen Lord is opening up this Age of Grace, He isn’t on earth ministering to us like He did to Israel, He is now in heaven, and He designated the Apostle Paul to carry out His plan. And to that spokesman Paul, He revealed everything that you and I need to know in this Age of Grace.
Paul’s teachings on the Body of Christ
The concept of the Body of Christ metaphor for the Church is found nowhere else in Scripture other than in the writings of the Apostle Paul.
Paul informed the Corinthian church that they were "God's building." The Church is built upon only one foundation, Jesus Christ, and none other can be laid. Both Peter and Paul treated the Church as a living structure. According to Paul, the Church is built upon the foundation of Christ.
Old Testament Israel possessed a distinct Levitical priesthood, but the New Testament Church in its entirety is now a "holy priesthood" and a "royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2:5, 9). The key to understanding how the temple imagery is applied to the Church is to remember that the propitiatory sacrifice of the Lamb of God sanctifies us as His temple through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. The Church is made holy in and through the presence of the triune God.
The Church as the body was also one of Paul's favorite metaphors; he utilized it extensively in Romans, 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, and Colossians. This "body" of Christ has both a "head" and "members." The "head of the body, the Church," is Christ Jesus. He is simultaneously the source, sustenance, and goal of all that exists (Colossians 1:15-18). The fullness of the deity dwells in Him, and He reconciles us with God through His death upon the cross (1:19-22). The complete life of God comes to the Church through her head (2:9-10). All things in creation have been placed "under His feet," for God "gave Him to be head over all things." Through Christ's headship, we share fully in the divine life and in His rule. All things are "under" Christ and "to" the Church, "which is His body, the fullness of the One who fills all things in every way" (Ephesians 1:22-23). Christ's life thoroughly permeates the Church.
“ But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23-24)
To be a Christian is to be united with Christ Himself. We, the Church, are God's building, Christ's bride and body, and the Holy Spirit's temple. We are His because God made Himself ours. These images picture that glorious mystery of God's love for His people and the opportunity He has given for us to live and function in intimate fellowship with Him and each other, now and forevermore.
The following teachings of Paul relative to the Body of Christ are taken directly from Scripture:
“There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling: Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake; and in my flesh, I do share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.
“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord.”
“Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it. For just as we have many members, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all of the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.’
“For by one Spirit we were baptized into the body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.”
“Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread, but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly; if prophecy, according to the proportion of faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches; in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who give, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.”
So it is the Risen Lord’s direct connection to Paul that is of such great significance to all of us. Our Lord chose Paul out of all mankind to reveal mysteries that were hidden from eternity past, and are now made manifest. The salvation of all mankind was made manifest to Paul by the Risen Lord.
“Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. (1 Cor. 15:1-8)
Paul preached the Gospel of Christ. He became Christianity’s leading voice. But what is this gospel? It is the gospel of Jesus Christ. That God was born of a virgin that he became man. That he came so others might live. That he died a horrific death on the cross for the salvation of many. That Jesus is the truth, He is the way, and He is the life. The only way to salvation is through our belief in Him. The most important part though is the resurrection. It is the key to life, to everything. If Christ did not rise from the dead then there is no belief. There is no salvation.
Throughout his entire missionary journeys Paul preached the gospel of the Risen Lord. Not the Lord on the cross. He preached a living Lord that presented Himself to him and others after the crucifixion. Many of us stop at the foot of the cross. Paul is urging us not to do this. He is telling us to go beyond the cross, beyond the tomb, to the living breathing Lord that was resurrected. The resurrection again is the Key to life. If he did not rise our faith would be in vain.
Wherever Paul went they heard of the resurrection and believed it. It was through their belief that they were saved. This was an act of God adding to the Body of Christ(My Church!).
We now know the value and necessity of becoming a member of the Body of Christ, because that’s our path to eternal salvation. We must work to get people to become believers and become members of the Body of Christ. Because if you’re not a member of the Body of Christ, if the Lord comes tonight, you’re left behind. If you’re not a member of the Body of Christ and death overtakes you before today is over, you become one of the lost. But every believer today becomes a member of the Body of Christ. I don’t care if you’re Baptist, Lutheran, or whatever, if you’re a member of the Body of Christ, you’re eternally safe. If you’re not a member of the Body of Christ, you will come under God’s perfect judgment for the lost which remains a great unknown.
So how does one get into the Body of Christ? The bottom line is that every believer will become a member of the Body of Christ. So what does it mean to be a believer? If you truly believe Paul’s one and only Gospel, "For by one Spirit are we all baptized (Not with water, this is an act of the Holy Spirit that places the believer into the Body of Christ. So, by one Spirit all have been baptized -) into one body,…" (I Corinthians 12:13). And when does that happen? The moment we believe Paul’s Gospel for our salvation!!!! And what’s the Gospel? That Jesus Christ, God the Son, the Creator of everything, went to that Roman cross, shed His blood and died for our sins, was buried, and rose from the dead! That’s the one and only Gospel! Believing that gospel transforms people and places them into the Body the moment they believe it.
Paul and “My Church!”
We know from Matthew 28:16 to 20 that Jesus gave the great commission to the Twelve. Then he told them they were to go to Jew only. It appears that eventually they did go to the Gentiles; bits of history in the New Testament, as well as tradition, indicates this. But it took a lot of prodding. And not only were they slow in moving out, they were slow to reach those Gentiles who were right nearby; and to accept them on an equal footing when they did reach them.
The Christian Church “The Body of Christ” did not become “My Church” as stated by Jesus, until the advent of the Apostle Paul. Only then did “My Church” become a reality-a Church that comes from God. Think about it. The Church was planned in the mind of God before the first angel was created. That Church still exists today because of God's eternal plan and carries forth His eternal purpose. Is the Kingdom of God in any sense of the word to be identified as the Church? The answer is no because there was still a time when the rule of God existed but not the Church. God is from eternity, the Church is not. But it was in His mind. The Church could not become a reality until man was created.
When we take up the challenge to follow Jesus, truly follow him, we are submitting to the kingdom rule of God. And it’s the King who gives significance to his people, the Church(the Body of Christ). John makes it clear that Jesus(our King) is the head of the Body. “Therefore Pilate said to Him, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." (John 18:37)
To this point in our Treatise, we have shown that the Church is the principal objective to the Plan of God. This aspect of His plan is so important that God has gone the extra mile to make sure His Body of believers understand fully why this is so. First, He used the metaphor of the Body of Christ, and then He provides additional emphasis by means of a second metaphor equating His Church to a bride.
The Bride of Christ.
The first person to picture Christ as a groom was John the Baptist (John 3:29). In his understanding, Christ is a groom and His bride is the messianic community. The apostle Paul also used the metaphor of the Church as Christ's bride. In Ephesians 5:22-33, Paul compared the relationship between Christ and the Church to that of a husband and wife. In this most perfect of relationships, Jesus Christ is the "head of the Church," while the Church submits humbly to Him.
John the Apostle also found the metaphor of the bride of Christ helpful. In the book of Revelation, he pictured the Church as "the bride, the Lamb's wife" in her eschatological glory (Revelation 21:9).
There are probably as many as twenty metaphors in Scripture describing the Church, but the two most noted metaphors are the Body and the Bride of Christ. Most churches in Christendom teach the Church is the “bride of Christ.” But the phrase “bride of Christ” itself does not occur in the Bible. This doesn’t mean the marriage metaphor isn’t widely covered. There are at least 19 Bible verses related to what we term the Bride of Christ in the KJV, and there are many more verses related to the subject at hand.
Paul teaches that Christ, the Bridegroom, has sacrificially and lovingly chosen the Church to be His bride (Ephesians 5:22-33). A bride is a woman to whom a man has committed Himself. So, the Church is the people to whom Christ is committed. This is a passage that is often considered crucial in understanding the obligations of husbands and wives in Christian marriages. In my estimation, this is the single most beautiful passage of Scripture regarding the relationship of Christ to His Church. It speaks of the most intimate of all relationships, that of a husband to his wife.
Just as there was a betrothal period in biblical times during which the bride and groom were separated until the wedding, so is the bride of Christ separate from her Bridegroom during the church age. Her responsibility during the betrothal period is to be faithful to Him (2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:24). When the very last saint enters the Body of Christ(the Church), the Church will be called to heaven and there united with the Bridegroom. The first event in Heaven for believing Christians will be the marriage of Christ and His Bride, the Church. The official “wedding ceremony” will take place and, with it, the eternal union of Christ and His bride will be made manifest (Revelation 19:7–9; 21:1-2).
In the final eternal state, believers will have access to the heavenly city known as New Jerusalem, also called “the holy city” in Revelation 21:2 and 10. The New Jerusalem is not the Church, but it takes on some of the Church’s characteristics. In his vision of the end of the age, the apostle John sees the city coming down from heaven adorned “as a bride,” meaning that the city will be gloriously radiant and the inhabitants of the city, the redeemed of the Lord, will be holy and pure, wearing white garments of holiness and righteousness. The city is called the bride because it encompasses all who are the bride, just as all the students of a school are sometimes called “the school.” Members of the Body of Christ will become the bride of Christ, and we wait with great anticipation for the day when we will be united with our Bridegroom. Until then, we remain faithful to Him and say with all the redeemed of the Lord, “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20).
Our marriage metaphor has its roots in the Old Testament. The idea of God related to His people in a marital relationship may be found in a few selected verses that reveals this truth to us.
“I will betroth you to Me forever.” Hosea 2:19
“For your Maker is Your husband.” Isaiah 54:5
“Return, O backsliding children, says the Lord, for I am married to you.” Jeremiah 3:14
“I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them.” Jeremiah 31:32
Numerous other times the prophets of old spoke of Israel as the chosen bride of God, she whom God would love forever. This imagery continues on in the New Testament, as Jesus referred to Himself as the bridegroom in Matthew 9:15. John the Baptist used the same metaphor in John 3:29. The virgins of Matthew 25:1-13 wisely met the bridegroom, having neatly trimmed their lamps.
The Apostle Paul warned against false teachers who were seducing the Corinthian Christians away in 2 Corinthians 11:2. And the Apostle John writes of the glorious marriage supper of the Lamb, of which all believers will partake. The idea is that true believers, comprising the Church, are now engaged to Christ and the marriage will be consummated upon the outcalling of the saints preceding the Tribulation.
From the metaphor of the bride as the model of the Church and her relationship with Jesus. we can derive a few principles of how we ought to be related to Jesus. As his bride we should love Him supremely. Jesus is the object of the Church’s affection. Everything in the Church should be centered on Jesus because Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her, thus the believers’ resolute commitment to Jesus.
As His bride we are to be intimate with Him. Intimacy is a fundamental requirement of marriage. It speaks of that familiarity, closeness, and confidence that comes from being in a stable relationship; just as the husband and wife become one flesh in the marital relationship, so we become flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone.
As His bride we are faithful to Him. What this means is you forsake all others. Fidelity is the cornerstone of marriage. As a husband is faithful to his wife, so we are to be faithful to Christ. Jesus died for all sinners; He died for you. Therefore, He has conjugal rights with you and you alone. He is to be your first love and He deserves your devotion and fidelity. In commitment to Christ we take upon ourselves His name, unashamedly, in absolute commitment, in total purity.
“For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church”. (Ephesians 5:30-31)
We’ve been speaking in metaphors. That is, the Body and the Bride of Christ. The past tense is used when the Church is referred to as the bride of Christ. This is because the whole purpose of Christ, as revealed to us, is to have a bride. Even His death was for the purpose of obtaining a bride. Although He will obtain His bride in the future, the work was finished in the past. Concerning the present, the Church is the Body of Christ, which the Lord is presently adding to and nourishing. Through the eyes of the Lord, the Church as the bride has two positions: as to her life, the Church is presently the Body of Christ, but regarding her future, she is the bride of Christ. As to the union of Christ with the Church, the Church is His Body; and regarding the intimate relationship of Christ with the Church, the Church is His bride.
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Part II
THE REST OF THE STORY
To this point in our Treatise, regarding the life of Paul, and the origin of the Church, our primary source has been Holy Scripture. From hereon we are confronted with the vagaries of classical secular history. Following the Apostolic period and the written biblical record, the reliability of church history for the next 200 years is always suspect. Nearly every record and source can be, and usually is, challenged.
Trying to make sense out of Christian church history is enough to make one’s head spin. And that is exactly the plan of Satan. Satan has set out to lie and confuse leading to unbelief.
While the Christian church was initially centered in Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, and the seven churches of Revelation, it became decentralized in the 2nd century. It would be a mistake to romanticize the early church as an age of purity. It could have been pure if it weren’t for the work of Satan. We know the early churches always had their problems and internal struggles. This became even worse during the second century when false interpretations of Jesus and his message were everywhere. A church father named Irenaeus listed about twenty varieties of Christianity. These Christian factions consisted of groups of persons forming a cohesive, usually a contentious minority, sincere but misguided. They knew the Will of God; they believed the Resurrection; they knew right from wrong; they knew what they wanted to know; the upshot of all this was these different factions believed that everybody else was, if they didn’t agree, simply wrong.
Many so-called secret teachings, myths, and poems were attributed to Jesus or His disciples. Various sects claimed to own Jesus' true legacy. They believed He was either a magician, a guru, an angel, or a prophet. One such sect was Ebionism. According to Irenaeus, the Ebionites used only the Gospel of Matthew( a form of Jewish Christianity). Ebionism was neither Judaism nor Christian. This is but one example of what was taking place throughout Christendom at that time. Christians at that time were plagued by many factions who claimed they represented the 'true' teachings of Jesus. To name a few of the upstart isms present during the second century we have, Gnostism, Marcionism, Montanism, Arianism,and Novatianism. And that doesn’t complete the list. Isn’t that enough to make you wonder?. All of these isms attracted many followers and with the help of Satan muddied the waters of Christendom. Satan couldn’t have been more successful. He was now ready to put the frosting on the cake with the man Constantine.
The plan of Satan now becomes evident. The book has been written, we now know how it came about. All of that confusion and dissention in the first centuries after Jesus was a prelude to Satan’s plan to create a power elite within Christianity he could use to weaken and corrupt our faith by entangling it in political favor. The tool was the man Constantine, the mechanism was the Roman Catholic Church.
Constantine and the Roman Catholic Church
Constantine was the emperor of the Roman Empire from 306 to 337A.D. Initially he ruled from the city of Rome, until 324 when he founded the new city of Constantinople (formerly named Byzantium). He was the first emperor to legalise Christianity in the Roman empire.
Prior to the advent of Constantine the Christian Church was already a flourishing movement throughout the Roman empire, and already had a significant presence in the city of Rome. At that period in history one could call it a catholic church in Rome. All of the Christian churches in existence at that time considered themselves to be “catholic.” with a small “c”.
The modern Roman Catholic Church that exists today boldly, but mistakenly, traces its beginning back to the original church which was established in Jerusalem in AD 30. It is believed by all that there was a Christian church located in Rome almost certainly by AD 40. and Catholic tradition holds that the Apostle Peter founded the church at Rome in 42A.D. and served as its first pope and Vicar of Christ for the next 25 years. He was succeeded by an unbroken line of Divine popes to this very day. History proves otherwise.
How Christianity spread from Jerusalem to Rome.
Historians have never uncovered the exact origin of the Christian movement at Rome. From what I have learned from those historians the most accurate record is derived from Holy Scripture. But from what I have read concerning the general history of Rome I have made my own determination as to what may have transpired.
It appears there has been a significant Jewish presence in Rome as early as 50B.C. By the time Jesus was born in in Bethlehem it is estimated there were approximately 30,000 Jews living in Rome. Those Jews living in Rome formed a close-knit community and followed the Old Testament program to the letter. They maintained a distinct Jewish identity but scholars have noted the lack of evidence for a central organization or leadership structure that oversaw the different synagogues.
And in accordance with their teachings they maintained a very close connection with the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, especially the annual feast known as Pentecost.
Now enter Jesus. The resulting Judeo-Christian movement in Jerusalem. It goes without saying that many of this Judeo-Christian sect found their way from Jerusalem to Rome within months following the death of Jesus.
After the death of Jesus, members of the newly formed Judeo-Christian movement throughout the Middle East continued to visit Jerusalem once a year to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost at the Temple. The Apostle Peter stated that this event was the beginning of a continual outpouring that would be available to all believers from that point on, Jews and Gentiles alike. This means that many of those Jews living in Rome were in close contact with their brethren in Jerusalem not only because the Jerusalem church was termed the “Mother Church,” of the Twelve Apostles, but that was where their main Temple was located.
Biblical Records
Acts 2:10 includes visitors from Rome in the list of people who witnessed the events of Pentecost. A number of scholars suggest that these temporary residents of Jerusalem may have taken the gospel back to Rome and met regularly in “house churches.”
In Acts 6:9, Luke mentions Stephen’s confrontation with Jews from the Synagogue of the Freedmen. They are likely freed slaves. If some of these freedmen eventually received the gospel message, their contact with freed slaves elsewhere could have facilitated the spread of the gospel to other regions, including Rome. The geographical spread of the gospel to new regions would have been further encouraged when persecutions against Christians erupted in Jerusalem (see Acts 8:1).
Clues from Acts may be incorporated into a wider model that surmises that geographical dispersions of Christians in the first century likely brought Christianity to Rome. Both Roman inhabitants who visited Jerusalem before returning to Rome and Jews who settled into Rome for the first time may have played a role. Once Jewish Christians reached Rome, they would have had relatively unhindered ministry access in the synagogues, since no Jewish controlling authority could step in to quickly and definitively oppose them.
The present Roman Catholic Church teaches Peter was the carrier of the gospel to Rome. The mysterious reference in 12:17 (Peter “went to another place”) opens the door to speculation that Rome was his destination. While Roman Catholic tradition asserts that Peter’s ministry as bishop of Rome spanned 25 years. Rom 15:20-24 intimates that Peter’s ministry to the Romans may have dissuaded Paul from interfering with Peter in Rome. Other biblical evidence rules out such a continuous presence.
In the fourth century, the theologian Ambrosiaster wrote on the beginnings of the Roman church: “It is established that there were Jews living in Rome in the times of the apostles, and that those Jews who had believed [in Christ] passed on to the Romans the tradition that they ought to profess Christ but keep the law … One ought not to condemn the Romans, but to praise their faith; because without seeing any signs or miracles and without seeing any apostles, they nevertheless accepted faith in Christ.” It is unlikely Ambrosiaster had an ax to grind with the Catholic church when he made that statement.
Catholic apologists are quick to discount the value of Ambrosiaster’s viewpoint as independent testimony. Even so, one would expect that the memory of a prominent founder such as Peter or Paul would not likely be forgotten if one of them had indeed established the church of Rome.
Based on a study of relevant biblical and extra-biblical documents, it is generally agreed that non-apostolic Jewish Christians brought the faith of Christ to Rome in the early decades of the church. After generating both interest and controversy within the synagogues, Christianity was forced to reorganize in the wake of Claudius’s edict against the Jews. The resulting Gentile-dominated church that received Paul’s letter in the late 50’s met in small groups around the city of Rome but maintained communication and held onto a common identity and mission. Paul left his mark on these believers, though he merely strengthened the work that had already begun to flourish in Rome. Beyond these main points, scholars still differ on the exact timeline of the birth and growth of the Christian community, as well as on to what degree Roman reactions against Jewish instability stem from disagreements about Christ. This is simply another example of the spread of the early church during the decades following Christ’s death and resurrection.
Constantine
Outside of Jesus and the Apostle Paul, no one has had a greater impact on human history and Christianity than this man. The first half of the fourth century in Christendom heralded the age of the Emperor Constantine the Great. From 312 to 337 A.D., Constantine will forever be inseparable from the formation and success of the Roman Catholic Church. The immense changes in the Christian church brought about by Constantine's legalization of Christianity, and the subsequent transformation of Christianity into the main Roman religion ended the position of Christians as a minority sect. But as we know from world history, this great windfall for Christianity instituted by Constantine was meant for the Roman Catholic Church alone.
Most popular accounts of church history recognize the importance of Constantine’s role in shaping world history, but most do not recognize that an in-depth study of his life and times is required to get at the truth as to exactly how the Roman Catholic Church came to the fore in the following centuries.
Scholars of all stripes are ready to discuss Constantine's religious background and his conversion to Christianity, but only a handful ever consider the role of Satan in this period of church history, even though Jesus Himself warns of his continued presence.
If you understand the plan of Satan and how Christianity changed after Constantine you will understand a great deal about church history. Roman Catholics present Constantine as laying the foundation for the Papacy, Protestants see him as the one responsible for leading the early Church away from its initial simplicity to the formation of an all-powerful imperial apostate church.
We can best come to a knowledge of the truth of how all this came about by learning who the man Constantine was; how he came to make the decisions he made, and the effect those decisions had on shaping world history.
Although much has been written, virtually nothing about Constantine is known with certainty. One has to be very careful when researching the life of Constantine. This is because propaganda embellished all aspects of his life, as was true of most Roman emperors. One of the prime sources of information during this era is Eusebius of Caesarea who knew Constantine personally. He was a friend of the family, and it is clear from his writings that he was out “to feather his own nest” so to speak. Scholars have proved conclusively the bias and exaggeration introduced by Eusebius, so we always keep “tongue in cheek” when quoting him.
The early years
The exact year and the place of Constantine’s birth are unknown. As best we know he was born in about 272AD at Naissus (modern day Nis in Serbia). There are no surviving histories or biographies dealing with Constantine's life and rule. The most used source is Eusebius of Caesarea's Vita Constantini, a dubious biased work, that is a mixture of eulogy and biography portraying him as a great leader. The best we can do is make some educated guesses as to his worldview, and fill in some of the missing parts of his life through the lives of the important people he associated with.
Constantine was the son of Flavius Valerius Constantius and Helena, born 2 February, 272AD. His father Constantius was Co-Roman Emperor from 293 until his death on 25 July, 306AD, at which time Constantine became emperor. This family’s hertiage was fully pagan, and this had to rub off on Constantine. I hearken back to the old country adage, “You can take the boy off the farm, but you can’t take the farm off the boy.” It’s one thing to adopt a new religious affiliation, and it’s another to renounce all of one’s previous religious upbringing . You will see later on in this chapter that Constantine retained much of his pagan heritage.
His father, Constantius, came from a humble pagan background. He was the son of a goat-herder and a freedman’s daughter. But he rose from a lowly soldier in the Roman army to become emperor of the Western Roman Empire. An able military commander, Constantius inspired loyalty in his soldiers. Historians claim he was uneducated, but his known accomplishments and astute military and political decisions were those of a person of high intelligence.
Constantine’s mother Helena became a woman of legend bordering on fairytail. The Roman Catholic Church elevated her to sainthood. From the best historical records, we find Helena was born and grew up in the Roman province of Illyricum (modern Bosnia) in the mid Third Century. Helena also came from a humble pagan background, and her family was probably quite poor because she found it necessary to work in a tavern as a servant girl, an occupation no daughter of a wealthy man would choose. In fact the status of stabvlaria, or tavern girls were little better than prostitutes in the Roman world. If that is a true record of her early life, she most likely was a product of the same pagan culture that was prevalent throughout the empire at that time, which knew nothing of Christianity. The exact nature of her relationship with Constantius is unknown, but they had a son Constantine and a daughter Helena.
Constantius, who was a high ranking Roman officer when he met Helena, may not have been able to make her his legal wife. Then in 290AD Constantius separated from Helena. He did this to further his career by marrying Theodora, the stepdaughter of Emperor Caesar Maximian. It is believed that it was after being abandoned by Constantius, that the pagan Helena adopted the Christian God. Catholic apologists are prone to ascribe to Constantine’s mother Helen as the source of his “TAKE” on Christianity. For a period of time Helena lived in obscurity, but she became rich and influential during the reign of her son Constantine .
Following his marriage to Theodora in 293, Constantius was elevated to the status of an emperor by Diocletion. Constantius temporarily moved his family to the court of the emperor Diocletian in Nicomedia (modern-day Izmit, Turkey). When Diocletian became the Roman emperor in 284 he divided the Roman Empire into the East and the West. Both regions would have an Augustus (senior emperor) and a Caesar (junior emperor). Each emperor would manage their allocated regions. The aim of this reorganization, known as theTetrarchy, was to deal with conflicts on multiple fronts in the Roman Empire. Constantius was assigned to Britain (York England) where he moved his family. At that time the young boy Constantine, at the request of Diocletion, was sent back to Nicomedia to be raised in the imperial household of the emperor Galerius, who was Diocletian’s Caesar. Legend has it that Diocletian insisted that Constantine live at this court as a defacto hostage to insure that Constantinus did his bidding. Having spent his teen years living in the emperor’s court would certainly have had a profound impact on his religious mindset and worldview. Take note! This was an all-pagan environment.
While under the roof of the pagan Galerius, with all its advantages, Constantine grew to adulthood. His entire personality and background was a product of that culture, lock-stock-and barrel. Now what do you think that culture consisted of? What would that environment produce over a period of thirteen years?
While living at the imperial palace the astute Constantine was all “eyes and ears” as he observed the antics of Galerius and Diocletian as it related to the repression of Christians. He learned from Galerius who finally admitted that his policy of trying to eradicate Christianity had failed, saying: "wherefore, for this our indulgence, they ought to pray to their God for our safety, for that of the republic, and for their own, that the republic may continue uninjured on every side, and that they may be able to live securely in their homes." The last edicts of persecution against the Christians were published, and this policy of repression was maintained by him until the appearance of the general edict of toleration, issued from Nicomedia in April 311AD, Initially one of the leading figures in the persecutions, Galerius gives the text of the edict in his moralized chronicle of the bad ends to which all the persecutors came, De Mortibus Persecutorum. This marked the end of official persecution of Christians.
Although forced to live in Diocletion’s court at Nicomedia, Constantine made the most of his circumstances. He received his education from the intellectuals whom Diocletian patronized. It was from this court in Nicomedia in 303AD Diocletion began his great persecution of the Christians throughout the eastern cities. Christianity had become a major domestic policy issue, and Constantine observed all that went on. Witnessing the ever present court intrigues, Constantine learned the arts of a courtier as well. His training in treachery would be used to great effect later in life. More importantly, it is essential to take note of how Constantine was a first-hand witness to the politics of Diocletion’s tetrarchy. There seems no doubt Constantine was privy to everything that was taking place. After all, he accompanied Diocletian and his Caesar Galerius into many battles in the Middle East. His tenure as military tribune under these emperors was very successful, which means he was privy to all the planning and military strategy Diocletion and Galerius had to offer. His experience gained within this leadership had to become an important factor in formulating his worldview. Although Constantine developed a lifelong dedication to learning, he was not cast as an intellectual, . He had an interest in philosophy and encouraged learning through his decrees that favored intellectuals. No doubt he was well versed as a typical religious pagan, and then when exposed to Christian theology he took it upon himself to become expert in that as well. Also during his association with Diocletion and Galerius, he developed the political and military acumen needed to seize the Roman Empire for himself.
His father Constantius became the Western Augustus upon Diocletions’ self-imposed abdication in 305, while Galerius became the Eastern Augustus. Because his father was now Augustus, many expected Constantine to become his successor. But the Tetrarchy was not hereditary by nature. Instead, Galerius, who had greater power, appointed his partisans, Severus and Maximinus Daia, as the new Caesars.
This turn of events did not sit well with Constantine and he began to look for ways to feather his own nest so to speak. Constantius, probably aware of his son’s ambitions and need for help, sent a letter to Galerius requesting Constantine’s assistance in Britain.
The Roman emperor at that time was Diocletian, who had come to the throne in 284AD. For the post of imperial colleague in the West, Diocletian now chose Maximianus, who became the Roman emperor in the West in April, 286AD. Diocletian would continue to rule in the East. In 293AD, Diocletian chose a Caesar who would succeed him on the throne. Diocletian's plan was for two augusti to rule for twenty years and then abdicate. Maximianus was told to do the same and chose the successful and loyal general Constantius in 305AD, and raised him to the rank of Augustus, senior western emperor, and acclaimed as emperor by the army at Eburacum(York, England). In 305AD, Diocletian willingly and Maximianus reluctantly gave up their thrones and passed along the leadership of empire. Meanwhile, Constantine had become a popular general in his own right and Constantius immediately invited his son to join him in Britain. Galerius really did not want the young man to leave, considering him almost a hostage to ensure that his father did not make any moves against him (Galerius). He grudgingly gave permission for Constantine to leave. According legend Constantine secured the approval of Galerius after a heavy night of drinking. Then, without waiting for Galerius to change his mind, Constantine left in the middle of the night before he was expected to and made a wild ride towards the coast of Gaul where his father was about to set sail for Britain. In doing so, he successfully escaped from the clutches of Galerius and the interception of Severus along the way. He arrived just in time to catch the fleet before it left for England. Father and son were now reunited after thirteen years. The truth of this story is uncertain. But the fact remains that before the summer of 305AD, Constantine had reunited with his father. The reunion of father and son was to be a very brief one. A year later in 306AD, Constantius became sick and died at York. After his father's death he now had the means to gain greater control and the wherewithal to fulfil his destiny. The problem on the horizon was that both Constantius and Maximianus had sons who fully expected, as the sons of emperors, to accede to power.
After the abdication of Diocletian and his father Maximian, Maxentius expected to become Caesar, but instead he was given the title of Princeps and semi-retired to Rome. In 306AD, the inhabitants of Rome rebelled against Galerius, who had issued a recent decree that meant they would lose their tax-free status. The citizens of Rome hailed Maxentius as Augustus. Galerius sent Severus II to reclaim Rome. However, the army of Severus defected over to Maxentius. Severus fled to Ravenna, but eventually surrendered in the hopes of a pardon, but Maxentius executed him near Rome on 16 September 307.
After the death of Severus and defeat of Galerius, Maximian and Galerius asked Diocletian to come out of retirement for a brief time. They met at Carnuntum, near Vienna. Licinius became Augustus in place of Severus and Constantine was officially recognized as Caesar. All agreed that Maxentius was a usurper and needed to be dealt with. .
Maxentius asked his father, Maximian, to come out of retirement. Then father and son repelled an attack by Galerius. They formed a brief alliance with Constantine. Constantine married Fausta, the daughter of Maximian. Maximian, however, tried to seize power in Rome in April of 308. His attempted coup failed and he fled to Gaul and the protection of his son-in-law, Constantine. In 308, Maxentius also lost the province of Africa when local troops there hailed Alexander of Carthage Augustus. It is noteworthy that a milestone found in Africa mentions only two Augusti- Constantine and Domitius Alexander. Alexander became an ally of Constantine, at least as far as they both had a common enemy- Maxentius. In 310 Constantine learned of Maximians’ betrayal of Galerius, and Maximian was forced to commit suicide. Maxentius, ironically, deified his father and blustered about avenging his death. The army of Maxentius then went to Carthage circa 311 and put Alexander to death
Upon defeating Alexander, Maxentius then met Constantine in battle at Milvian Bridge outside of Rome on October 28, 312 A.D., Maxentius could have stayed in heavily fortified Rome, but the citizens of Rome were restless and Maxentius was worried. He consulted the Sibylline Books, where he learned "on October 28 an enemy of the Romans will perish". His army left the city and crossed over to the right bank of the Tiber. Constantine's forces routed the army of Maxentius at the battle of the Milvian Bridge. Ancient accounts vary- a pontoon bridge collapsed or a linchpin was pulled out early causing it to collapse, and Maxentius, along with many of his soldiers, drowned. Constantine’s soldiers recovered his body and paraded his head through Rome on a pike; and later it was sent to Africa.
History declares the battle of Milvian Bridge was no ordinary battle if the account by Eusebius is accepted as fact. He records that on the day before the battle Constantine had a vision “He says that while he was praying with fervent entreaty, a most marvelous sign appeared to him from heaven, the account of which might have been hard to believe had it been related by any other person. But since the victorious emperor himself long afterwards declared to the writer of this history, when he was honored with his acquaintance and society, and confirmed his statement by an oath, who could hesitate to accredit the relation, especially since the testimony of aftertime has established its truth? He said that about noon, when the day was already to decline, he saw with his own eyes the trophy of a cross of light in the heavens, above the sun, and bearing the inscription, CONQUER BY THIS. At this sight he himself was struck with amazement, and his whole army also, which followed him on this expedition, and witnessed the miracle. That night , Jesus himself appeared in Constantine’s dream and told him that, even though outnumbered, he would win the battle. By the sign of the cross he would win. In the morning, Constantine ordered his soldiers to paint their banners and shields with the symbol of the cross. He then carried his army to victory”--Eusebius of Caesarea, Life of Constantine, Chapter 28.
Prior to the battle of Milvian there is no historical evidence that Constantine had turned from his pagan upbringing and had already adopted the Christian faith. The debate as to just when and how, and how deeply, Constantine came to adopt the Christian god has been long and inconclusive. It was thirteen years after the battle that the vision story was first told to Eusebius. If the Eusebius account is true, then Constantine is technically a prophet for receiving Divine signs and having Jesus appear to him. From this account is there any doubt about what happened at the Milvan Bridge in 312AD? A close look at Holy Scripture and the archaeology left behind helps set the record straight.
Was Constantine’s Vision a miracle from God or Satan?
In all of my research on the man Constantine and his conversion to Christianity, I have yet to see one reference that questions his “vision” as a direct intervention by God Himself. The Roman Catholic Church accepts the historical accounts of Eusebius as fact, and eventually included him along with their list of saints. But what do we learn from the Word of God concerning miracles?
The biblical record of the Apostle Paul clearly shows that Divine miracles and prophecy had ceased by the end of the Apostolic Age. Within a century of Christ’s resurrection, and upon the death of the last Apostle, all miracles and signs had ceased permanently. A careful search of the writings of the early Church indicates that there are no references to these "gifts" continuing beyond the last Apostle in 100AD. Constantine could not possibly have been the recipient of a Divine miracle, nor could he have prophesied with Divine certainty the events of the following day.
While 1 Corinthians 13 is mostly looked at as the great chapter of love in the Bible, that is not what is under consideration by the Apostle in the broader context of the book. Paul is discussing the use of miraculous gifts in chapters 12-14 of 1 Corinthians. In chapter 13 he is drawing a distinction between miracles and the way of love. Notice what he says in the middle of the chapter regarding what is going to remain and what is going to cease (verse 8). “Charity (love) never faileth: but whether there be prophesies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.” Paul is saying the miraculous is going to cease but love is not. In 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 nine spiritual gifts are mentioned, including prophecy, tongues, and knowledge (supernatural). In verse 8, Paul maintains in this passage that miracles would be done away. In the statement to follow, verses 9 and 10, he tells us when this would happen: “For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away.” Now at the end of the chapter he adds two more things to the concept of love that shall not cease. These three things together are faith, hope, and love. These three will abide, but the miraculous will cease. Some people say that miracles have not ceased yet, but will cease when Jesus comes. This is what they say “that which is perfect” means in verse 10. However, “that which is perfect” cannot mean Jesus because when Jesus comes hope will be done away with. Paul writes in Romans 8:24 “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?” When Jesus comes again, we will see Him and no longer need have hope in Him. If “that which is perfect” is Jesus, then not only must miracles cease at that time, but hope as well. But Paul says in verse 13 that hope abides. So “that which is perfect” must be something other than Jesus. In fact, “that which is perfect” has already come. “That which is perfect” is the completely revealed word of God. James calls it the “perfect law of liberty” in James 1:25. Additionally, we read that Ephesians 4:7-13 also talks about when miracles will end. The gifts that were given (apostles, prophets, etc) were given UNTIL we all come to the “unity of the faith.” This means that when the “Unity of the Faith” came, there was no longer a need for the miraculous gifts. The unity of the faith is no less than God’s complete revealed word.
Apostolic authority and all other authority rests in the word which stands completed and fulfilled. Neither an apostle nor even an angel from heaven could add anything to , or take anything away from, to alter the perfect law of liberty which had been revealed before 70 A.D., (Gal. 1:8,9). Once this message was confirmed in the fulfillment of all things further inspiration and confirmation was no more needed then than it is needed today! Were the apostle John and other disciples of the miraculous period any less equipped or competent to live in a post-miraculous age than the generations of their succeeding counterparts? Did they not experience the state of the perfect just as we are today? To argue for inspired apostles after the fulfilled, confirmed arrival of the "perfect" is to deny that very confirmation and perfection. Lastly, the end of the age, the revelation or day of Christ, the full-grown man, the coming of the perfect, seeing "face to face," the redemption of the purchased possession, receiving the inheritance, and the unity of the faith are all equivalents in time and meaning having occurred in 70 A.D. with the fall of Jerusalem. The Bible makes abundantly clear that this is the time of the end or cessation of miracles.
Constantine Had a Vision
Citing Holy Scripture, we can only conclude that Constantine’s vision was not the result of Divine intervention by the Christian God. But let’s assume he actually believed he experienced a vision even if not Divine. This not far-fetched in the least. Constantine was the product of pagan Roman culture. A search of the literature reveals the people of Rome from time immemorial have been rabidly religious, even though misguided. This appetite for divine gods to depend on for daily guidance was pervasive throughout ancient Roman society. From the lowest slave to the emperor everyone’s daily life was constrained within a cult mentality ruled by one god or another(sometimes several). And it had been that way for hundreds of years. As a Roman you were “born” into that culture. Constantine’s forbears and Constantine himself grew up within that culture, and it is validly within our prerogative to assume Constantine was a religious pagan fanatic. Everything concerning his religious performance throughout his entire life bears this out.
So what does modern science have to say about persons like Constantine and visions? I cite a book titled “Are You Getting Enlightened or Losing Your Mind?-- A Spiritual Program For Mental Fitness” by Dennis Gersten, M.D.(Harmony, a Division of Crown Books. May 1997).
It is not uncommon for military men anticipating an up-coming battle may experience visions of one sort or another. Visions may occur spontaneously, in a normal state of consciousness, or they may occur as part of an altered state, a mystical state of union.
Our General Constantine anticipating his upcoming battle could easily come under that modern scientifically developed description for his vision considering his pagan mindset, the circumstance, and possibly being inebriated. As for the account by Eusebius thirteen years later we know all too well his proclivity for embellishment.
For one thing Constantine’s entire religious life up to that point was based on pagan gods. Like most pagans Constantine found it easy to accept the Christian god as being no different than any other god he knew. “Why not try out this new god--it couldn’t hurt” was the rule of the day for pagans. And because he noted that the persecution of Christians was to no avail, it appeared to him this god must be very powerful. On that basis he decided it would be prudent to take advantage of this all powerful god that was dumped in his lap.
To top it all off Constantine won this great battle, which reinforces his conclusion that it could not have happened without the assistance of an all-powerful god. “By golly I’ve got something here, and I’m going to run with it!!” That’s a bit facetious, but no one really knows what was in the mind of Constantine.
The written record does not provide conclusive answers. As a result scholars and others who have a vested interest in a particular point of view as it pertains to the historical record are sometimes carried away into flights of fancy. My research reveals to me that most credible historians have missed the mark in their quest to understand our thesis because they don’t fully understand the connection between Roman paganism and Christianity. However, the record is clear concerning the overall pagan mindset during this period in history. This is our only means to come to an understanding of Constantine’s worldview. For instance, most Roman emperors thought of themselves as highly religious, and attributed their success as a world power to their collective piety in maintaining good relations with the gods. For ordinary Romans, pagan gods were a part of daily life. They were known for the great number of deities they honored They had never been obligated to cultivate one god or one cult only. There were gods of the upper heavens, gods of the underworld and a myriad of lesser deities between. In pagan Rome religion was less a spiritual experience than a contractual relationship between mankind and the forces which were believed to control people's existence and well-being. The Roman was by nature a very superstitious person. Emperors would tremble and even legions refuse to march if the omens were bad ones. This was the world Constantine grew up in, and he was no exception.
Milvian was a pivotal battle in history and Constantine’s vision is one of the great "what if" questions. What if this was an act of Satan? Was this in the plan of God? The upshot of all this and providence being what it is we find Constantine won the battle and it is at this point in history that the man Constantine comes on the scene as the undisputed ruler of the Western Empire. At the same time he adopts the Christian god and becomes the instrument leading to the formation of an elite powerful church.
In 315 A.D., the Roman senate dedicated a monumental arch between the Palatine Hill and the Colosseum, along the road taken by the triumphal processions, to commemorate the victory of Constantine over Maxentius. Don’t think for a minute that Constantine didn’t have a hand in the format of that arch. The main inscription reads: To the Emperor Caesar Flavius Constantinus, the greatest, pious, and blessed Augustus: because he, inspired by the divine, and by the greatness of his mind, has delivered the state from the tyrant and all of his followers at the same time, with his army and just force of arms, the Senate and People of Rome have dedicated this arch, decorated with triumph.
The huge Arch which remains to this day was topped with a bronze statue of the emperor riding in Apollo’s chariot. There are no crosses on banners and shields, and no images of Jesus. But there are carvings of pagan gods. The arch is decorated with eight columns, each topped with a statue of a Dacian nobleman repurposed from Emperor Trajan’s Forum (built during the 2nd century AD). The eight statues of Dacians (of which seven survive today, plus one replica from the 18th century) were probably picked because they looked like magi wearing the Phrygian caps Constantine had his name carved with the words “divinely inspired” on the frontispiece, but it was the giant statue of Apollo that overlooked the arch.
Many scholars conclude that Constantine fabricated the episode of his vision in order to win the allegiance of the Christian soldiers in Maxentius’s army. To secure the help of Roman officers in eliminating other claims to his crown, he also embraced their Mithraic cult, all the while worshipping the sun-god Apollo, the supreme god of the empire at the time. He then mixed all the cults into one in order to bring about unity among his subjects.
Those cults were not that different to begin with. The Mediterranean sun-god Mithras was worshipped for giving his blood for the eternal salvation of the souls of his followers. He died and was resurrected. Apollo had a halo around his head, soon to be lent to Jesus in artistic Christian depictions of the Savior. Mithras’s birthday was December 25, the beginning of Saturnalia – soon to become Jesus’s birthday, even though there is no note of it in the Bible. The new capital of the empire was named – as not to take sides – not after Jesus or Mithras or Apollo, but after Constantine.
In the heart of Constantinople, a huge column stood, with a bronze statue of Apollo bearing Constantine’s face on top and an alleged relic of the true cross inside provided by his mother Helena.
In Eusebius’s first account of the battle there is no mention of divine visions and dreams. Constantine’s biographer only learned about them thirteen years after the battle, at a banquet the emperor held for the Christian church leaders. Constantine convinced Eusebius to rewrite history and Eusebius was happy to comply with the request of an emperor who now endorsed the Christian faith.
The Advent of Religious tolerance
From their first appearance in Rome Christians had endured intermittent persecution, which at times was severe. There always existed an imperial precedent for the suppression of the Christian Church and the making of martyrs. By 250A.D. the Christian presence throughout the empire was becoming notable, and under the emperor Diocletion the Church endured its most thoroughgoing persecution to that point in history.
Within a year after seizing absolute power Constantine began to implement his personal agenda, which in effect became a theocratic monarchy. Constantine set himself up as being the connecting link between God and the world, at the same time viewing the state as an earthly reflection of divine law. Within this environment of monotheism, and philosophical salvation and deification, Constantine’s agenda evolved. The era of Constantine was the beginning of an enslavement of the Roman Church by the state. His actual conversion to Christianity is suspect because it did not originally involve baptism, which was the only previously recognized form of entry into the Church. But from this point on Constantine embraced everything “Christian.”
In 313AD The Edict of Milan was pronounced. The document is more accurately seen as his first step in creating an alliance with the Christian God, whom Constantine now considered the strongest Deity. Constantine at that time was more concerned about social stability and the protection of the empire from the wrath of the Christian God than he was for justice or care for the Christians. The Edict of Milan is more indicative of the Roman culture’s obsession with seeking the gods' intervention than of Constantine's or Licinius’s religious beliefs. The sense of urgently righting wrongs reflects the leaders' desires to avoid unfavorable consequences, which in this case included social unrest and further conquests. The sooner the Romans maintained a state of justice with the Christians, the sooner the state could become stable because, it was thought, the forces of evil would be more balanced. Constantine was known to be superstitious and believed enough in the existence of the pagan gods to not want to offset the balance of good and evil. Because Constantine held this fear of all the gods worshiped in the Roman Empire at that time, this fear of and desire to form an alliance with the Christian God demonstrated in the Edict of Milan is insufficient to claim he was then a Christian.
This was not the only time Constantine reshaped history to suit his needs. He rewrote Maxentius’s rule in the books, turning a good emperor into a Christian persecutor and an incompetent tyrant. Recent discoveries by, among others, archeologists at the University of Rome La Sapienza show that Maxentius never oppressed Christians, and that many Roman buildings attributed to Constantine had been in reality erected by Maxentius.
It is no surprise that the history emperors left behind is not reliable. But even when investigative archeologists have a strong case to revisit that history, does it matter now to a world built on those centuries old tales? For myself, I think it does!
The revised biography of Constantine by Eusebius leaves some doubt, but defers to the emperor, who he says swore an oath as to the truth of his vision. Can one hang their hat on the oath of a Roman emperor who is capable of murder? These two things (the arch and Vita Constantini) come as close as we can get to valid evidence about that distant time. And they do pose an interesting question in regard to the truth.
How do we know that we have “all” of Bishop Eusebius’ writings and who says that the emperor didn’t convince Eusebius to rewrite the history. Did 300 Spartans really manage to hold off the million-man Persian army seven days? Says who? On what authority? And the list could go on indefinitely. At some point, we’re forced to place our trust somewhere… with some “authority” based upon our own best judgment after doing our own research.
Whose authority to eventually trust is key to this discussion. Most historians insist that only primary sources should ever be considered to uncover the truth. Yet I know of no genealogist who hasn’t found errors by prime sources in their research. Even prime sources can be wrong. Consider opposing testimony by sincere witnesses at a court trial. All are under oath, yet, see things differently, and here we are talking about short spans of time—not tens or hundreds of years.
The Edict of Milan and the Church
After the battle of Milvian emperors Constantine and Licinius decided to divide the Roman world between them. As a result of this settlement, Licinius became sole Augustus in the East, while his brother-in-law, Constantine, was supreme in the West. The emperor Licinius was married to the half-sister of Constantine. Their marriage was the occasion for the jointly-issued "Edict of Milan" that reissued Galerius' previous edict allowing Christianity to be professed in the Empire. This co-authored Edict was the most significant binding proclamation in all of world history It heralded the appearance of the notion of religious liberty in the Roman Empire, which eventuated in the formation of the institutionalized Roman Catholic Church. Formerly, It marked the agreement between Constantine I, who ruled the western lands, and Licinius, who controlled much of the East, to put a stop to the persecution of Christians. They spoke in terms of widespread tolerance. "We have also conceded to other religions the right of open and free observance of their worship for the sake of the peace of our times, that each one may have the free opportunity to worship as he pleases. This regulation is made that we may not seem to detract from any dignity of any religion." For this period of time these were revolutionary ideas, and their influence, at least in Western Christian lands, was most profound. This Edict opened the floodgates for Christian advancement, however, it wasn’t until a decree implemented by Emperor Theodosius in 380AD that Christianity was decreed the formal religion of the Roman Empire.
Both men had many motives for their action, and their motives were mixed. Being shrewd politicians, they could see which way the wind was blowing. Constantine had long concluded that the persecution of Christians was a futile endeavor. By the time of the Edict, all the empire’s major urban centers had majority- or plurality-Christian populations. Even the rural populations had been similarly Christianized. In every sector of society — military, education, commerce, government — Christians were present and making great inroads. Constantine had learned from Galerius that persecution was counter-productive. Why did Constantine and Licinius do what they did? That question may never be answered with finality.
One of Constantine’s hand-picked intellectuals, Lactantius, wrote eloquently in defense of religious freedom – “Torture and piety are quite different things; truth cannot be joined to force or justice to cruelty.” No doubt Lactantius had the ear of Constantine and was one of his close advisors. We know he tutored Constantine’s son at Trier, Germany. Lactantius was raised in the traditional pagan Roman religions and also had served as an advisor to Diocletion. He converted to Christianity at that time, and because of his opposing views on Christian persecution, he was removed from Diocletion’s court. By the time Constantine raised him from obscurity, he was a respected Christian thinker, an old man who had run the course and could make a sound and sympathetic case for tolerance. His influence on Constantine’s worldview appears to be providential
In effect, Constantine became a patron of the Christian faith. He supported the Church financially, had an extraordinary number of basilicas built, granted privileges (e.g., exemption from certain taxes) to clergy, promoted Christians to high-ranking offices, returned property confiscated during the Great Persecution of Diocletian, and endowed the church with land and other wealth. In all her previous history the Christian Church had been denied official status: usually she was suppressed and persecuted. Now, under Constantine, not only is the Church officially recognized, but Christianity becomes the favored religion of the Empire. Having given the Church a favored place, Constantine assumed the right to guide all ecclesiastical affairs and when necessary to enforce a settlement to any controversy as well as Church policies and doctrines, simply, “as Emperor he called the shots.”
The Council of Nicea
The Council of Nicea was one of the most momentous events of human history. In a nutshell I liken it to a “World Series.” At Nicea, theologians came from all over the world to play for the title. Constantine called the game, but he was no theologian. He is best described as the “umpire.” He set the rules of the game, but the theologians were the players. After a seven-day series, there were winners and losers. In the case of Nicea the best team won, and the title has never been overturned. Now let’s get serious!
It was a council of Christian bishops convened in the Bithynian city of Nicaea(now Iznik, Bursa province, Turkey) by theRoman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325. He organized the Council and presided over it, but did not cast any official vote. One could call it the first ecumenical council held by the Christian church , and is best known for its formulation of the Nicene Creed, the earliest dogmatic statement of Christian orthodoxy.
The origins of Nicea were both political and theological. Constantine had a problem on his hands. He had decided to favor Christianity, but he didn’t really understand its theology, and soon found himself at the center of a smoldering 100-year old doctrinal dispute about Jesus Christ’s divinity and relationship to the Father. Complex unanswered questions about Jesus Christ as the Word — how he could be fully God and fully man, his preexistence — left the door wide open to misinterpretation and heresy.
Using the Arian controversy as pretext, Constantine saw it as a great opportunity to carry out a comprehensive agenda that in the end was made to order for his closest advisors. The Council of Nicea was held as much to hold the Roman empire together as much as it was to hold the Church together. So many Romans had become Christians under Constantine that a Church split could easily become a split in the empire. Constantine would have none of that. Constantine had emerged victorious in a series of civil wars against the emperor Maxentius and Licinius and was now the sole ruler of both west and east by 324AD. Then in 325 He called the Council of Nicea, which is known as the First Ecumenical Council. This refers to the fact that it called all Christian leaders to gather together for the first time. This was the first one to include all Christian leaders near and far.
However it was, whether it was his idea or that of his ecclesiastical advisors( Lactanius and Hosius) Constantine interjected himself into a widespread theological controversy over the nature or status of the Son/Logos and its relation to the nature of God. In 323 Hosius was the bearer of Constantine's letter to Bishop Alexander and Arius, in which he urged them to reconciliation. On the failure of the negotiations in Egypt, Constantine convened the First Council of Nicea, probably in agreement with the local bishop of Rome, and perhaps on the advice of Hosius. Hosius presided at the Council although it is unclear whether he was nominated by Constantine. We know Constantine was in complete charge of the whole affair, but the extent to which he delegated his authority was not made explicit. After all he was the emperor and could not be ignored. We know Hosius took up the busy work of drawing up its canons and the Nicene Creed. After the Council Hosius returned to his diocese in Spain.
An interesting piece of Church history arises when one "John of Persia" signed his name to the roster and wrote that he was head of all churches in Persia and India. This little aside tells us what was taking place in church leadership and organization at the time. We don’t know what his exact title was, but most likely he was a bishop who claimed leadership over a specific geographical area containing many churches. This concept we now recognize as the formation of a diocese. The term diocese was not in common use at that time, but this is an indication that this is what was occurring in church organization.
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THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH
Only 53 years after the death of Constantine the Roman Catholic Church(RCC) finds its permanent place in history. In the year 380AD the three co-ruling emperors of the Roman Empire together issued the Edict of Thessalonica:
"It is our desire that all the various nations which are subject to our Clemency and Moderation, should continue to profess that religion which was delivered to the Romans by the divineApostle Peter, as it has been preserved by faithful tradition, and which is now professed by the Pontiff Damasus and by Peter, Bishop of Alexandria, a man of holiness. According to the apostolic teaching, and the doctrine of theGospel, let us believe in the one deity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, in equal majesty and in a holy Trinity. We authorize the followers of this law to assume the title of Catholic Christians; but as for the others, since, in our judgment they are foolish madmen, we decree that they shall be branded with the ignominious name of heretics, and shall not presume to give to their conventicles the name of churches. They will suffer in the first place the chastisement of the divine condemnation and in the second the punishment of our authority which in accordance with the will of Heaven we shall decide to inflict”.
This edict made Christianity the state church of the Roman Empire.Emperor Theodosius declared the Nicene Trinitarian Christianity to be the only legitimate imperial religion and the only one entitled to call itself Catholic. Other Christians he described as "foolish madmen" .He also ended official state support for the traditional pagan religions and customs. The edict re-affirmed a single expression of the Apostolic Faith as legitimate in the Roman Empire. It ordered all subjects of the Roman Empire to profess the faith of the bishops of Rome and of Alexandria, making Nicene Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire. The edict was followed in 381 by the First Council of Constantinople, which affirmed the Nicene Symbolum and gave final form to the Nicene-Constantin opolitan Creed. In 383, the Emperor ordered the various non-Nicene sects (Arians, Anomoeans, Macedonians, and Novatians) to submit written creeds to him, which he prayerfully reviewed and then burned, save for that of the Novatians. The other sects lost the right to meet, ordain priests, or spread their beliefs. Theodosius forbade heretics to reside within Constantinople, and in 392 and 394 confiscated their places of worship.
The Christian persecution of pagan Roman religion under Theodosius I began in 381, after the first couple of years of his reign in the Eastern Roman Empire. In the 380s, Theodosius I reiterated Constantine's ban on former pagan customs of Roman religion, prohibited haruspicy on pain of death, pioneered the criminalization of magistrates who did not enforce laws against polytheism, broke up some pagan associations and approved attacks on pagan Roman temples.
Between 389–392 he promulgated the "Theodosian decrees" (instituting a major change in his religious policies), which removed non-Nicene Christians from church office and abolished the last remaining expressions of the pagan Roman religion by making its holidays into workdays, banned blood sacrifices, closed pagan Roman temples, confiscated temple endowments and disbanded the Vestal Virgins. The practices of taking auspices and witchcraft were punished. Theodosius refused to restore the Altar of Victory in the Senate House, as asked by pagan senators.
At the same time, Christian church leaders took advantage of the situation, and became increasingly influential, eroding the emperors' powers. For example, when Bishop Ambrose threatened to withhold the sacraments, Emperor Theodosius accepted the penance the Bishop assigned him. Emperor Theodosius made Christianity the official religion in 390 C.E.
The rise of the Roman Christian church and the fall of the Roman Empire are linked through various events. The Roman Christian church grew rapidly with Roman citizens who despised secular rule. Christian views clashed in every way with what was then the social standard for upper Roman and Greek society. Rome fell with the help of Christianity. The followers of Christianity did not like secular rule, and Rome was based on bureaucracy and the rule of the emperor. When the emperor gave a decree, the Roman people obeyed. Christians were slow to obey and they did not always listen. If the emperor’s rules conflicted with the ideals of Christianity and the will of god, the Christians would not follow the will of the emperor. This is caused for dissonance throughout the empire. Throughout the remaining years of the Roman Empire after the rise of Christianity the Romans continued in a slow decline. As the Roman Empire fell Christianity not only aided in the decline but reveled in it. The more the Empire declined the more poor, and middle class citizens of Rome embraced Christianity. This led to a rapid increase in both the amount of Christians and the resistance to government, and at the same time the Bishop of Rome became a prominent person.
Many prominent members of the Roman society fled the city and went east when they knew that the barbarians were coming. When Rome fell, there was no emperor left, but the bishop of Rome was not attacked by the barbarian tribes because they were partial to the Christians. As a result the bishop of Rome filled the vacuum of leadership, and replaced the emperor. He was not only the undisputed spiritual leader, but became the political leader as well. His authority went almost unchallenged. This set the final stage for the ensuing papal system. The Roman Catholic Church then became the ruling force in Europe after the fall of Rome.
As Imperial Rome declined in leadership, the world in general was in a mess and the Roman church had become decidedly worldly. It was at that time we find a strong urge to find some way to counter this state of affairs. A movement called monastic living was instituted with Anthony of Thebes of Egypt in A.D. 270. In the ensuing decades the movement flourished. Men became hermits who separated themselves from all worldly practices and congregated together in monasteries. Monasticism came about because of the worldliness that had entered the church. Men desired to live holy lives, but could not because the pull of the world was too strong both inside and outside of the church.
As misguided as these monastic orders were in light of Scripture, they became a formidable movement. Whatever spiritual strength there was in the Middle Ages (and there was very little), it was probably found in the monks. What books were left from the Roman and Greek cultures were preserved and recopied by the monks. Monasticism was also the force that emphasized the separation of clergy and laity.
The fall of the Roman Empire was not an “instant” collapse. The "invading" Germanic tribes tended to be Roman educated, former Roman generals, who took over the existing Roman power structure, and sought to maintain most of its institutions. Thus, the new kings of the west still claimed allegiance to the Eastern Emperor, left the senate in place, and maintained the basic structure of empire for a long time (for example, Boethius was a senator, a consul, and the magister officiorum, all Roman offices, decades after deposition of the final Roman Emperor). The final collapse of these structures came centuries after the "fall of the western empire" with the destruction wrought by the Muslim invasions of the seventh century and the accompanying end of the Mediterranean trading culture that had defined antiquity. It's also important to note that most of the Germanic tribes were, by this point, Christian, albeit primarily of the Arian variety (this set up a society where the ruling elite were largely Arians, while the mass of folks were Nicaean). So, the first answer is that the Church survived the collapse of Empire, because there's a large degree to which the structures of Empire didn't really collapse all that hard, at least not for a while. The bishops of the Church had become increasingly integrated into the social/civic structure of the later empire. As centralized power weakened, someone still had to fill the vacuum and run things, and that fell to the bishops, which of course just ensconced them deeper into the power structures of post-imperial Europe.
The Eastern Roman Empire was still kicking, still very powerful, and the Church of the east was still united to that of the west. Even if every individual in the west had been slaughtered by mindless pagan hordes, you still had an intact and very robust ecclesiastical structure in the East. In fact, the Greeks dominated the Church during this time period, for more than 200 years. The Pope was appointed by the Eastern Emperor( apostolic succession?). Believing that Christianity was true, there was a concerted effort to sustain the Church during times of need. It's a very simple explanation, but simple explanations are often true.
Finally, the church at Rome achieved absolute power when the emperor Valentinian III ordered the famous decree of June 6, 445, which recognized the primacy of the bishop of Rome based on the merits of Peter, the dignity of the city, and the Nicene Creed (in their interpolated form); ordained that any opposition to his rulings, which were to have the force of law, should be treated as treason; and provided for the forcible extradition by provincial governors of anyone who refused to answer a summons to Rome.
We now know that the western world would never be same and the Roman church would never be the same after the death of Constantine. It didn’t take long for the Roman church to accommodate itself to the taste of secular power. When the power of pagan Rome declined , the power of the local Roman church increased as it accumulated more power and influence. When the emperor Constantine blended paganism and Christianity Rome eventually became the religious capital of the world.
It took some time, but a revolutionary new course had been set. Christianity had finally prevailed. As the State religion it suddenly became a well funded organization.The local Roman church became the authorized faith of the Roman Empire by the end of the fourth century. It was not until the 4th and 5th centuries that papal primacy, helped by myths and legends, became permanent . This marked the beginning of the rise of the Bishops of Rome to the position of not just religious authority, but also of the power to be the ultimate ruler of the kingdoms within the Christian community (Christendom), which it has since retained.
By the end of the 5th century, the global Christian population was estimated at about 10 million, all under the leadership of Rome. As the political power of the Roman empire dwindled, the more the church became the stabilizing and unifying source for Roman society, outlasting the empire, and in a sense eventually replacing it. And with this new found power the Roman church, which in earlier times had known such prolonged oppression, did not shrink from becoming an oppressor on its own.
The Church hierarchy saw themselves as the one who had the power to be in contact with God on behalf of the people. The people themselves were unable to do that and needed the hierarchy to stay on the right path and by submitting themselves to the Church they would be guided to salvation. Those who strayed from the path were sinners on their way to eternal damnation, those who questioned the church were heretics and persecuted. Only through the Church and its hierarchy could people learn how to live a good life and be saved. The tricky path on earth had to be followed correctly and the regulations for this were carefully laid out in canons which were supervised and controlled by the Church. The sacrament of baptism could get a person free of the ‘original’ sin, the sacrament of confession made it possible to eliminate the sins the people encounter during the life on earth, but only after serious contrition did the sinner obtain absolution after penitence was done. Indulgences could assist them in this process they could be obtained through good works, going on pilgrimages, fighting in crusades, having holy masses dedicated to them after their death, donate money for cathedral building, altars in churches and towards the end of the Middle Ages one could actually buy indulgences .An indulgence was usually the substitution of one kind of act or deed for another.
The Reformation
A review of the history of the medieval church clearly reveals a number of separate factors that contributed to the advent of the Protestant Reformation The Reformation cannot be explained as simply an aspect of the dissolution of the Middle Ages; but it certainly cannot be understood apart from this. We can cite three movements that were contributory: 1. Renaissance humanism which represented an outlook upon life which was essentially different from that represented by the medieval church. Humanists, in fact , were for reform. 2. Mysticism. Mystics helped to undermine the church whose life they intended to restore. This was inevitable, for the emphasis upon the direct personal experience of God contradicted the notion that God was known and mediated exclusively through the church as the sacramental agent. 3. Nominalism, which was a new philosophy that had implications for understanding man, church, and society. Man now felt unique. These three factors represent religious and intellectual movements mostly unaware of their threat to the medieval unity and therefore also to the medieval church. Also, one can ponder what might have happened if the printing press had not been invented in time to carry Luther’s prophetic protest and provide a great outlet for his positive gospel message.
Of course, the key to reform came from Martin Luther. Initially, Luther wasn’t as much concerned about the corruption he observed first hand with the papacy and clergy as he was with anxiety over the state of his own soul. As a young priest he believed only the church had a remedy for sins confessed. If a man confessed his sins, he could be absolved and then he could carry out the prescribed penance. Only so could he become righteous. For Luther, this was not enough to satisfy his conscience. He could not put aside the question of certainty under God. The impossibility of finding assurance drove Luther even to wonder whether God was just at all. The connection of righteousness and deliverance challenged the conception that the former always meant the demanding , judicial, fearful justice of God. If that was so, it could hardly be associated with deliverance.
It wasn’t until Luther understood the passage in Romans 1:17 which refers to the gospel as the disclosure of justice or righteousness of God. For Luther this verse became the basis for a new understanding. He had discovered that the gospel spoke about a righteous God who indicated his faithfulness, mercy, and love toward men who knew they were not righteous. Here was disclosed a God who, without rescinding his demand upon men was righteous also in another way. Without asking a sign of worth, he extended his mercy to those who trusted him rather than themselves and their activities. Now the accent shifted from him who was actually righteous to him “who through faith is righteous.” It is faith or trust springing from direct encounter with the redeeming presence. This was the logic of righteousness proclaimed in the Bible.
This was the central point of Luther’s faith at the time he posted the ninety-five theses in protest against the abuses surrounding the sale of indulgences. Here he did not reject indulgences outright. He rejected only the abuses. He did not believe the papacy had the power to remit guilt in respect to the least of venial sins, nor could indulgences be said to have any effect on purgatory. He claimed the Pope could only change or cancel those penalties imposed by his own authority or by canons of the church. Luther believed indulgences were valid only when confined to such human and organizational discipline and had no necessary relation to the final destiny of any individual believer.
Luther discovered early on that his ninety-five theses did not issue in the debate he first anticipated. Instead of being invited to discussion, he was ordered to recant. The rest is history.
For an assessment of the RCC, see Appendix II of this Treatise.
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“My Church”
Yes! If it wasn’t for Constantine the Roman Catholic Church would have no significant history. But it does have a long history, and the record is there for everyone to see. Having given the local Roman Church the world, what Constantine could not anticipate was the enormous impact his life and ideas would have on the remaining history of the world.
After Constantine died in 337AD, The church of Rome would rapidly come to dominate the entire western world. While a political and economic decline characterized Western Europe between 500 and 1000 C.E., the Catholic Church filled the ensuing vacuum and emerged as the most powerful institution the world had ever seen. The plan of Satan.
God Answers Satan
Once more God intervenes in history to answer Satan. Spiritual Power is arguably the most influential power of all. In the wrong hands, it even gives the power to make judgments even about the eternal fate of another person. With unlimited power the Catholic Church hierarchy lost its bearings resulting in all manner of apostasy.
In time it became obvious that enough was enough and a total reformation was required. Instead of a flood, God found another way. He called out the man Luther. The Reformation could be likened to “The Great Escape.” Out from under the thumb of the Roman Catholic hierarchy. But Satan is still the god of this world, ruling and reigning by means of Islam, Buddhism, and the New(Pagan) Age, and Catholicism.
The answer was a remnant gathering of believing Christians analogous to the pseudo-denominational "house churches" of the first century. The source of the Body of Christ. All believing in the Risen Jesus Christ as their LORD and savior in the only way they know how. Based solely on the written Word of God as found in Holy Scripture.
The “Church” is to be a “lighthouse” in the community, pointing people toward our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The “Church” is to promote the Gospel of Christ to complete the Body of Christ. So, what is the one and only gospel? Paul summarizes the gospel of grace in his letter to the Corinthians:
“Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time… (1 Cor 15:1-6)
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The Week of Tribulation is fast approaching. The Body of Christ which has been growing for 2000 years is almost ready to be taken to heaven. God’s remnant church down through the ages has been scorned, ridiculed hated and despised and hunted down and killed and almost all of this was done by “their own.” And now these very people will have one last chance to join with that Body and escape the final judgment that is coming upon the whole world. Some will, most will not.
God in His grace is willing to go to great lengths to save the some who will, this is the mark of His great love for the world. And so God is raising up this Body of Christ in small gatherings of Bible believers where His presence can be found in the midst of a great drought and famine which we are in and which is merely a pre-cursor to the final judgement. Will you join us and take your place with the few?
He’s waiting, and waiting, and waiting for His Bride, the Body of Christ to finally be consummated with Him in glory. And so He is the head over all things to the Body, which is His Church.
“MY CHURCH”
FOR THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY
Chapter 9
“My Church”
Matthew 16:16-19
The First Seventy Years
Jesus was crucified in the year 30, and the last of His Twelve Apostles died in 100AD, a span of time of 70 years. That period in history is called the Apostolic Age of the Church when the Twelve Apostles were alive, beginning with the Pentecost event and ending with the death of the Apostle John near the end of the first century. Our prime source for this time period is the New Testament, especially the Book of Acts and the Epistles
When Jesus said, “I will build My church ...” (Matt. 16:18) God obviously had a specific purpose in mind for the future. This statement is a clear exposition of the mind of God touching His purpose and plan in bringing the salvation of humanity through His Church.
What Church is Jesus referring to? Peter confessed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, and our Lord declared that He would build His Church upon this confession - the confession that as to His Person He is the Son of God, and as to His work He is the Christ of God. This Church would comprise all the saved, that is, all who in the purpose of God are redeemed by virtue of the shed Blood of the Lord Jesus, and are born again by the operation of His Holy Spirit. This is “My Church,” the Body of Christ. Since the Church is the Body of Christ, it can only be one.
Not only does the Apostle Paul identify and define the Body of Christ, he also defines how that entity is to function as a body of believers as the “Church.” Romans 16:5 says “… greet the Church that is in their house.” Paul refers to the Church in their house—not a church building, but a body of believers. The Church is the Body of Christ, of which He is the head. Ephesians 1:22-23 says, “And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the Church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” The body of Christ is made up of all believers in the Risen Christ from the day of Pentecost (Acts chapter 2) until Christ returns to take them into heaven.
For Paul, the Church is not a building or a denomination. According to the Bible, the Church is the Body of Christ—all those who have placed their faith in the Risen Christ for salvation (John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 12:13). Local churches are gatherings of members of the Spiritual Church. The local church is where the members of the Spiritual Church can fully apply the “body” principles of 1 Corinthians chapter 12: encouraging, teaching, and building one another up in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The members of “My Church” are the actual body of believers. They are the ones who are truly regenerate and have believed, by faith, in the true Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord. The true Christian is indwelt by the Lord Jesus (John 14:23) through the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the Christian Church is figuratively said to be the Body of Christ.
- "So we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another." (Rom. 12:5,)
- "For the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ." (Eph. 4:12,)
We can quibble and expound ad infinitum as to the translation of Greek and Hebrew words used to identify the Body of Christ, but when all is said and done everyone knows we are talking about the “Church” in one way or another. Yes, it is true, the meaning of the word “Church’ has gone through a long process of development and change from its inception in the Bible to our present day. But for purposes of discussion the English word “Church” will be used to describe a community of believers-the Body of Christ—not a building, nor a place of worship, nor a legal institution.
The purpose of "My Church" is God’s divine and perfect plan to present and receive unto Himself a body without spot or blemish, as an expression of His humanity; God came in human form to fulfill that plan. Is that an accurate statement reflecting the mind of God and His purpose for man? A reading of Holy Scripture confirms it. A people called out for His name, redeemed, conformed to His Son’s image, made to be an immense, incomprehensible, all-surpassing gift of love from the Father to the Son. It is a redeemed people — the Church-The Body of Christ — promised to the Son before time began. The unfolding purpose of God in bringing all humanity together in one body, by the vicarious suffering and death of Christ. The result of this unfolding is the Church. This is God’s eternal plan for His Church and humanity. This is the purpose of God’s Creation.
God Introduces His Church
Jesus and his disciples had been walking along together, and as they approached the borders of Caesarea Phillippi he posed a question, asking of them, “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?” Some of them answered saying “that thou art John the Baptist: some Elijah; and others; Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” Then Jesus said. “But whom say ye that I am?”. And here Peter speaks up, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” after which Jesus said, “And I say unto you, that you are Peter, and upon this Rock I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Did those disciples understand what Jesus was saying? Yes, because Jesus was speaking in their language as a fellow Jew. As Jews they were all well versed in Holy Scripture and everything Jesus said was in that context. Those disciples knew full well the meaning of the word Jesus actually said (“ekklesia”). It was in reference to a local assembly of believers of God as an "assembly" or "congregation,” in which they were already members. And Jesus, as their Messiah, was telling them they were to be an important part of his future plans for mankind.
That English word “church” is not a translation of the Greek word "ekklesia" (or similar word) used by Jesus as he addressed his disciples. Rather, modern use of the word "church" almost always has reference to (1) a religious institution or organization, or (2) to a material building called a "church." That was not the meaning of the common Greek word "ekklesia" at the time the Scriptures were written. I’m not going to pursue this issue any further in my Treatise because it is so widely covered elsewhere in the literature, and the word “church” has found its permanent residence in our English vocabulary. I will however, make a distinction between “Church” (capitalized), meaning the Body of Christ, and “church” as an institution. It’s the “Church,”(My Body) that Jesus meant when He said “My Church,” He wasn’t indicating a Jewish synagogue or similar institution.
The Apostleship Begins
Jesus Christ selected twelve men from among his early followers to become his closest disciples. As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him. And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness of disease. Jesus called unto Himself those whom He wished (Mark 3:13-14) This was an intervening act of God; they were not volunteers, they were to be His closest companions, to travel, share food, experiencing firsthand His life and ministry, and to preserve a permanent record of this experience. They were key components of His plan of redemption for all mankind.
Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: the first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. These twelve Jesus sent forth and commanded them, saying, go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. (Matthew 4:18-22; 9;9;10:1-6). These Jews(i.e. the lost sheep) were not lost in the physical sense, but those who had lost their spiritual bearing.
“And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would: and they came unto him. And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils: And Simon he surnamed Peter; And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder: And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite, And Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him: and they went into an house.” (Mark 3:13-19).
Many people followed Jesus, but those twelve were the only ones whom Jesus recorded as being special. The fact that he picks twelve, rather than ten or fifteen, is a reference to the twelve tribes of Israel-His chosen people.
Upon gathering them together, Jesus authorizes his Apostles to do three things: preach, heal sickness, and cast out devils. These are three things which Jesus has been doing himself, so he is entrusting them with continuing his mission. There is, however, one notable absence: forgiving sins. This is something which Jesus has done, but not something the apostles are authorized to do. Jesus wanted to make sure that this power remained with God and was not something that just anyone would be able to claim. That, however, raises the question of why Catholic priests and other “representatives” of Jesus today assume that prerogative. It is simply a misreading of Jesus’s command concerning binding and loosing.
“And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities.” (Matthew 11:1)
The office of Apostle is a critical work of the New Testament Church. It is listed first in the "gifts" given to the church (Ephesians 4:11), and the church is described as being "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone" (Ephesians 2:19-21). Jesus provided His Church with certain "gifts" to aid the completion of her work (Ephesians 4:7-16). "And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." (Ephesians4:11-13)
The first in this list of spiritual offices is that of Apostle. The original word for apostle was a generic Greek word (apostolos) that meant ambassador, or "a delegate, messenger, one sent forth with orders". Consequently, the same Greek word could be used commonly. The Old Testament prophet, Ahijah, was an "apostle", or messenger sent with a message for Jereboam's wife (I Kings 14:6). In Philippians 2:25, Epaphroditus was declared to be an "apostle", or messenger, sent to Paul by the church of Philippi. Finally, Jesus Himself is declared by the "Apostle and High Priest of our confession", sent by God (Hebrews 3:1; 1:1-2). So, the word, apostle, should not always be understood with a specialized, narrow connotation, related to an office of the church. However, the word is most often used in the Bible in a special sense, as a chosen, spiritual ambassador representing Christ. According to Matthew 9:9; 10:1-5; Mark 2:14; 3:13-19; Luke 5:27-29; 6:12-16; Acts 1:13-26; and I Corinthians 15:7-10,
the complete list of Jesus' Apostles consists of:
- Simon, who was called Peter
- Andrew, Peter's brother
- James the son of Zebedee
- John, James' brother
- Philip
- Bartholomew
- Thomas
- Matthew, the tax collector, also called Levi son of Alphaeus
- James the son of Alphaeus
- Thaddaeus (or, Lebbaeus Thaddeaeus), also known as Judas the son of James
- Simon the Canaanite and Zealot
- Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus and fell by his sin
- Matthias, who replaced Judas
- Paul, who was originally called Saul
The Office of Apostleship and the nature and work of their office is best described by Jesus in His commission to them:
"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." (Matthew 28:19-20) "... you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." (Acts 1:8)
“And with great power the Apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.” (Acts 4:33).
In the early days of the Church, the Apostles served as the primary means of inspired communication and direction from the Lord to His people: At the Pentecost event Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them ... "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call." And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation." Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the Apostle's doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the Apostles. (Acts 2:14, 38-43)
The Twelve Apostles were not just a possible source of spiritual truth and knowledge. They were the only source of revelation. To be out of fellowship with their teaching was to be separated from God. The Apostles' doctrine was the final word from God.
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life -- the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us -- that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.” (I John 1:1-4)
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ... We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error”. (I John 4:1, 6)
“For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. ... Or did the word of God come originally from you? Or was it you only that it reached? If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord. But if anyone is ignorant, let him be ignorant”. (I Corinthians 14:33-38)
In addition to providing spiritual nourishment in the form of inspired teaching and preaching, the Apostles also performed extraordinary miracles to confirm the divine source of their message. On other occasions, they were the focal point of miraculous events.
A compendium from Scriptures of such miraculous events are listed here:
- Acts 1:26-2:4 - All the Apostles spoke in unlearned, foreign languages.
- Acts 3:1-11 - Peter and John instantly healed a crippled man, unable to walk from birth.
- Acts 4:23-31 - Room was shaken and people were filled with Holy Spirit after Apostles' persecution, release, and prayer.
- Acts 5:1-11 - Peter sentenced Ananias and Sapphira to be miraculously struck dead.
- Acts 5:12-16 - Sick people healed by Peter's shadow passing over them. Multitudes of sick and demon-possessed were healed.
- Acts 5:17-21 - All the Apostles were freed from prison by an angel, who instructed them to go preach again.
- Acts 8:14-25 - Peter and John bestowed miraculous powers to others by laying their hands on them.
- Acts 9:32-35 - Bedridden and paralyzed man was instantly healed by Peter.
- Acts 9:36-43 - Peter raised Dorcas from the dead
- Acts 10:44-48 - Peter preached to the first Gentile converts, who began speaking in foreign languages, while Peter was preaching.
- Acts 12:5-19 - Peter was freed from prison by an angel.
- Acts 13:8-12 - Paul condemned and struck Elymans blind.
- Acts 14:8-11 - Paul instantly healed a crippled man, who had never walked.
- Acts 14:19-20 - Paul "curiously" survived being stoned to death.
- Acts 16:16-24 - Paul casts out a demon of a fortune-teller.
- Acts 16:25-30 - An earthquake opened all the doors and released all the chains in a prison, where Paul was kept.
- Acts 9:1-9, 15-16; 16:6-10; 18:9-10; 20:22-23; 22:17-21 - Paul received visions from the Lord and the Holy Spirit.
- Acts 19:1-6 - Paul laid hands on people, imparting the Holy Spirit, by which they spoke foreign languages.
- Acts 19:11-12 - "unusual miracles by the hand of Paul". For example, handkerchiefs that he touched could be used to heal people and cast out demons.
- Acts 19:13-17 - A demon openly recognizes Jesus and Paul, when unsanctioned people attempt to cast out the demon.
- Acts 19:7-12 - Paul raised Eutychus from the dead, after he fell out of a third story window.
- Acts 27:23-26, 44 - Paul received a message and prophecy from an angel.
- Acts 28:3-6 - Paul was bit by a deadly, venemous viper, which did not even cause him to swell.
- Acts 28:7-10 - Paul healed Publius' father and many other sick people.
- II Corinthians 11:22-33 - Paul "curiously" survived an enormous amount of persecution.
- II Corinthians 12:1-6 - Paul (presumably) was carried to "Paradise" in a vision.
- Romans 15:18-19; II Corinthians 12:11-12 - Paul worked the signs of an Apostle" among the Corinthians and other churches.
- II TImothy 1:6 - Paul bestowed a spiritual gift (prophecy? I Timothy 4:14) on Timothy by laying his hands upon him.
Lastly, as Christ's ambassadors, the Apostles provided direction and organization for the church: Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostle's feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need. (Acts 4:34-35)
However, the primary nature of their work was always spiritual, and when the work of benevolence became too distracting, additional roles were created: Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, "It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word." (Acts 6:1-4)
The qualifications of the Twelve many people today teach and preach the gospel of Christ. So, what made the Twelve Apostles unique? First, they were inspired by the Holy Spirit. Note these comforting words that Jesus offered to His Apostles, before He sent them on their first mission:
"You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you." (Matthew 10:18-20)
Later, Jesus promised the Apostles that after His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, they would soon be given the Holy Spirit, who would lead them into "all truth":
"These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you." (John 14:25-26)
"However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come." (John 16:13)
Later in the Bible narrative, we read that the Apostles did indeed claim to have received the Holy Spirit, Who had provided them with "all truth" (I Corinthians 2:10-16; II Peter 1:2-3). Amazingly, we also learn that if we read what they wrote, the New Testament of the Bible, we can gain the same knowledge and understanding that they had (II Timothy 3:14-17; Ephesians 3:3-5). Not surprisingly, this requires diligent study and a sincere love for the truth (II Timothy 2:15; Matthew 5:6; II Thessalonians 2:9-12). The Apostles represented Christ by speaking for Him in His place and by His authority. It was through this inspiration that the Apostles were able to serve as ambassadors for Christ, proclaiming His will in His stead, "binding" and "loosening" tenets of the Christian faith (John 13:20; Matthew 16:19; 18:18). They made Jesus' will known on all essential spiritual subjects through infallible inspiration (II Peter 1:2-4); therefore, the Twelve Apostles were very distinct when compared to today's fallible preachers and teachers, who gain their understanding not by inspiration, but through study of the Apostles' inspired writings - the New Testament.
Furthermore, the Apostles were specifically and directly chosen by Jesus Himself to serve as eye-witnesses (Luke 6:13-16; Acts 1:23-26). Consequently, the Apostles were also required to be witnesses of the resurrected Christ. Of course, all Christians can in a sense teach the gospelof Christ, but none today can bear witness as the Apostles did. They were "eye-witnesses" of Jesus. They could personally attest of His miracles, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. It is in this special sense that the Bible speaks of the Apostles as "witnesses" for Christ. (Luke 24:45-48; Acts 1:8; 21-26; I John 1:1-4; II Peter 1:16-21).
In addition to Christ's specific selection, it was these qualities which made the Apostles unique and defines their role and office. They represented, and still represent, the will of Jesus on all matters, in addition to providing eye-witness testimony to His miracles and resurrection.
The Bible teaches that there are apostles today, but no, apostleship is not an office that continues to be filled by modern people. It was generally not an office that was left for another to fulfill. In fact the Bible teaches that the same twelve Apostles are still Apostles today:
"Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." (Matthew 19:27-28)
We can note two important points from this passage: First, the number of thrones was limited to twelve, just as there were twelve tribes of Israel. Second, the reign of the apostles was in conjunction with Christ's reign! Their reign began with His reign and would continue for the duration of His reign. Therefore, the same Apostles reign today that reigned during the delivery of the New Testament. Furthermore, please observe that no one can today fulfill the other qualities of an Apostle: Jesus' personal selection, Holy Spirit inspiration, and eye-witness of Christ's ministry and resurrection. Therefore, there are no modern apostles - only those who have reigned since ancient days.
After an intensive discipleship course and following his resurrection from the dead, the Lord fully commissioned the Apostles (Matthew 28:16-2, Mark 16:15) to advance God's kingdom and carry the gospel message to the world. God carefully selected and used each of these simple men to carry out his exceptional plan.
Christians see the Apostles as a connection between the living Jesus, the resurrected Jesus, and the Christian Church that developed, and continues to develop, after Jesus ascended to heaven. The Apostles were witnesses to Jesus' life, recipients of Jesus' teachings, witnesses to appearances of the resurrected Jesus, and recipients of the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. They were authorities on what Jesus taught, intended, and desired.
Effect of the Crucifixion on the Apostles
Matthew 4:20
Initially, the death of Jesus came as a great shock and disappointment to the Eleven(Judas hung himself). They were devastated by the crucifixion. Earlier, in Matthew 19:27 Peter said to Jesus, “We have left everything to follow you.” And in John 6:68 he said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” In John 20:9 we also learn that they “did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.” From the perspective of His followers, while Jesus was being crucified, everything they had hoped in and believed in was dying before their eyes.They assumed all was lost and they planned to “pack it in” so to speak. The Twelve, after being with Jesus for nearly three years, didn't yet understand the Cross and its ramifications.
"Let these sayings sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men. But they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them, that they perceived it not: and they feared to ask him of that saying." " (Luke 9:44,45).
They couldn't even get up the courage to ask Him,”What are you talking about?" They had no idea that in a few days He would be crucified. To them He was The Christ, the promised Messiah. And all they had to do was just believe that. That was their article of faith. That's all that was expected of them to believe. Nothing else had been revealed.
They were still steeped in the Old Testament program, and his crucifixion didn’t appear according to plan at all. They were only looking forward to their King, Jesus Christ, and the glorious Kingdom the Old Testament proclaimed. They were looking forward to the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecies, which included His first coming, and then His rejection and then Pentecost and then was to come the wrath and vexation - the seven years of Tribulation. Then was to come the Second Coming, then the Kingdom; that glorious Kingdom on earth, which had been promised ever since you might say, Abraham. The purpose of Christ’s whole earthly ministry was to prepare Israel for this glorious Kingdom. They would have the establishment of the Kingdom, and Israel would be the foremost of the nations. Jesus is in their midst, and He’s fulfilling all the Old Testament promises. He’s proven now for three years who He is. The Nation of Israel could have had it all, but what did they do? They rejected it. And in their unbelief and their rejection of everything—culminating, of course, in the crucifixion.
When Jesus was arrested at Gethsemane on the eve of his crucifixion, what did those disciples do? “Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled." (Matt.26:56). They ran away in fear and defeat. But these same men after the Resurrection had no such fear. What made the difference? The power of Resurrection!!
Jesus restored His disciples’ faith and gave them hope following His Resurrection from the dead, when He made a number of appearances to His followers—no less than ten of these are recorded in Scripture. On the evening after His resurrection Jesus appears to the ten Apostles (Thomas is absent), A week later, on a Sunday, Jesus appears to the disciples with Thomas present. Doubting Thomas becomes convinced. Jesus appeared to them over a period of forty days and these men became fearless Christians ready to die for their God.
Earlier Jesus’ followers did not understand what the Scripture said about Him. That’s why once their faith was restored Jesus moved to ground their faith through Scripture. We see this in Acts 1:2-3 where we find Jesus giving the Apostles commandments and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Again in Luke 24 we see Jesus, beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, explaining to His disciples what was said in the Scriptures concerning himself. The disciples’ “were estatic” as Jesus “opened the Scripture” to them. They once were blind to the truth of the Bible but Jesus gave them spiritual sight. With their faith restored and strengthened, Jesus’ final instructions to the Apostles in Matthew 28:19 was to “go and make disciples of all nations” by sharing with the world the great things that Jesus has said and done.
Most of Christendom today believe that was the great commission to carry His Word to the Gentiles. We know initially, they were commanded to go to Jew only. It was not until many years after Paul completed his missionary work to the Gentiles that they themselves left Jerusalem.
The Great Commission
Remembering that the Bible is a progressive revelation beginning with the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 12. In verse 2, here we have the promise of Israel becoming a nation but in verse 3 God also promises something for the rest of world [the Gentiles]. So obviously one way or another God is going to reach out to the whole world--- someday. We know when Israel was fresh out of Egypt and Moses went up to God on Mount Sinai [Exodus 19:5-6], that Israel was given a prospect--- that someday the Jews would become priests-not just the tribe of Levi, but all the tribes. To be certain that the prospect is not forgotten, Isaiah is led by the Spirit to write in Isaiah 42: 6 that the Jewish people are to be a light of the Gentiles. Again, in chapter 60, Isaiah tells Israel that the gentles ''shall come to thy light.'' And in Isaiah 62, Isaiah writes that the Gentiles ''shall see thy righteousness''. But, in order for Israel to attain this goal, God gave them covenants of promise. After Abraham, they received the covenant of law, [Exodus 19 and 20], the land covenant [Deuteronomy 30:3], the Davidic covenant [II Samuel 7:16] and the new covenant [Jeremiah 31:31-35]. All of this was like a highway to the kingdom but in the kingdom there will be a remnant of both Israel and Gentiles. We know that only believers can go into the kingdom, so how does God arrange that? He will accomplish that by using 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel [not just the tribe of Levi] which will mean that there are144,000 Jews who will fulfill the great commission of Matthew 28 and Mark 16. And they will be preaching the gospel of the kingdom as found in Matthew 24:14-(And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come). They will reach all nations, all kindred's, and peoples of all languages. [Revelation 7:9]. That is the purpose of the so-called great commission.
So it follows that when the tribulation ends there will be a few survivors from all the nations of the world [Isaiah 24:6] but there will be lost survivors as well as believers so God will bring them all before the King [Matthew 25:31]. The lost will be sent to face His perfect justice while the believers will go into the kingdom. We know from Zechariah 13:8 &9 that a third of Israel will go into the kingdom [approximately 5 million] so compared to Israel, other nations will only have a few. Consequently, Israel will enjoy the privilege of ministering to these Gentiles. Everything fits. Most of Christendom claims ownership of the great commission, but they do it by misreading the Scriptures [II Peter 5:16].
In Israel’s unbelief, they lost their opportunity to be evangelists during the Kingdom because God changed His prerogative, and said only believers will go into the Kingdom. But then God gave Israel a second chance to yet evangelize the nations. They’re going to fulfill the great commission, which was never given to the church in the first place. They’re going to fulfill it during the Tribulation by 144,000 Jews who are going to circumvent the globe. Go to Revelation chapter 7 where the 144,000 are sealed at the beginning of the Tribulation. The two witnesses are the preachers that these 144,000 young Jews will be listening to. “And I heard the number of them who were sealed: and there were sealed 144,000 of all (that means twelve) the tribes of the children of Israel.” (Revelation 7:4). After they’re sealed, they’re going to go out and begin to proclaim the gospel of the Kingdom as Jesus said they would in Matthew 24. “And after this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and languages, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands:” (Revelation 7:9). The word languages means the whole world! It says they preached to all the nations and all the languages and all the tribes. All the nations are going to have representatives of the work of these 144,000.
In his so-called “Great Commission speech” why, after commanding the Twelve Apostles in Matthew 10:5 & 6 to go not to Gentiles, does Jesus reverse the command in Mark 16:15 and Matthew 28:19, where he tells them just as plainly to go to the Gentiles? Because in His foreknowledge He knew the program to follow the Tribulation.
The Great Commission in (Matthew 28:16 to 20) was provisionally given to the Twelve disciples provided the Nation of Israel could have maintained her relationship with God, and become the vehicle between God and the Gentiles as outlined in the Old Testament, but we know they didn't. You would think they would have said, "Now it's time for us to spread out and go across the Roman Empire." But do they? If they were carrying out what we call the Great Commission, at least after this experience, you would think they would have taken off for Egypt, and Greece and all points outside of Israel. But this was not the case. They went back to Jerusalem. Even so, right after the ascension of Jesus, Christianity consisted of approximately 1000 believers and was centered in Jerusalem. “And they went forth, and preached everywhere(within Judea to Jew only)the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen” (Mark 16:20 KJV). Within a year we learn from the book of Acts and other New Testament books, their numbers swelled within the borders of Judea to approximately 10,000 believers.
The Bible doesn’t record what happened to most of the original Apostles of Jesus after spending from 10 to 20 years in Jerusalem following His Ascension. We learn the most from the letters of Paul and the Book of Acts, but as to the lives of the remaining Apostles we are frustrated reading tales(called tradition) written 50 to 100 years after the fact by so-called church fathers. Those Patristic records are not Holy Spirit inspired writings, yet they are valuable in the sense of contributing to our only religious history of that period. Those early church records are difficult to interpret and seldom reliable. It becomes an exercise in futility trying to sift fact from fiction. One is left to believe what they want to believe. As for myself, I rest on the biblical record.
The first record for a non-Jewish region of the world to hear the gospel was Samaria (Acts 1:8). Philip, like Stephen, was one of the men chosen to serve the church family in practical ways when the dispute regarding Hellenist widows arose (Acts 6:5). He was one of those Jews forced to flee persecution (Acts 8:1), ending up in Samaria. “Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was great joy in that city.” The disciples of Christ had negative feelings toward Samaritans (Luke 9:51-54). These attitudes may have been reinforced by The Lord’s mandate concerning where they should go to preach the Gospel (Matt. 10:5). Also, the people of Samaria had been under the influence of a sorcerer named Simon Magus of Gitta for a long time (Acts 8:11). Simon had seduced them with error and bewitched them with sleight of hand. However, Philip shook the kingdom of Satan to its very foundations with the confirmed word of God (Acts 8:13; cf. Mark 16:17-20). So much so, that the whole church of the Devil and Simon were converted to Christ (Acts 8:12,13). While severely challenged by their previous error and Simon's transgression the church in Samaria soon became a center for evangelism throughout the province (Acts 8:25).
Philip’s gospel was not the Gospel of Grace that Paul preached, because it had not yet been revealed to those residing in Jerusalem. Like all the Jerusalem Christians, Philip preached the Old Testament Gospel of the Kingdom, teaching repentance and believing that Jesus was the Son of God, The Christ; repentance and water baptism was going to the Nation of Israel by way of Jesus and the Twelve. And now Philip was continuing it. There is no mention of Salvation by the finished work of the Cross in his preaching. There is no mention of believing in His death, burial and Resurrection for Salvation as proclaimed by the Apostle Paul in this Age of Grace. But they are still emphasizing that the One they crucified was indeed The Christ. We must never confuse the two gospels. I try to pay attention to what scripture actually says, not what many think it might have said.
Most of the twelve were still in Jerusalem 5 to 10 years later, some were still there for upwards of twenty years. Not only are they still there, but they won't leave even under intense persecution. Now that should tell us something. The reason they didn’t leave was because they knew they had no God-given right to leave, and besides they thought they might miss Him if He should return. They were commanded to stay and present the Gospel of the Kingdom to the Nation of Israel. With the hope that Israel would still accept their King and then Christ could have come and set up His Kingdom. They understood that once they had The King and the Kingdom then they could bring Gentiles to The King, their Messiah. They knew what the Old Testament taught about that.
“Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. So when they had testified and preached the word of the LORD, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans”. (Acts 14, 25). Like Philip, Peter and John went preaching the Kingdom gospel. Peter and John remained in Samaria long enough to confirm the disciples in the faith and impart to them the necessary spiritual gifts (Acts 8:14,15). Note: This is the first and only time in the New Testament that evangelism was done by Apostles outside of Jerusalem, but it still only involved Philip, Peter, and John. No biblical record exists that Peter and the Eleven ever ministered to Gentiles, except when Peter went to Cornelius, and that was a special case for another purpose.
The twelve disciples would not leave Jerusalem, but many of the believers did. This is twelve or thirteen years after Pentecost. Some of the believing Jews migrated up to Antioch. Scholars differ in their opinion as to whether Peter went to Antioch before the well-known Jerusalem council took place, or afterwards. "And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus." ( Acts 11:20). A Grecian was a Jew who was a native of Palestine. A Greek was a Gentile. So it wasn't unusual for Grecians to be approached with this. "And the hand of the Lord was with them (indeed, because God was ready to move things out to the Gentile world): and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord. Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch." (Acts 11:21,22).
What was the problem for these Jews? Gentiles were being saved! This is only for the Jews. So when they at Jerusalem heard what was going on up at Antioch, they sent Barnabas to check out what they were doing up there because it was not right according to Jewish thinking. When Barnabas saw the sudden influx of Gentiles into the church at Antioch, the Holy Spirit moves him to find Saul who is the one who has had three years of revelation from the Risen Lord. He's the one with all the answers. And paraphrasing Barnabas, "Saul, things are happening down there at Antioch, and I know, as God has revealed to me, that you are the man we have to have. You are the one who has the message now for these Gentiles. God has opened their hearts. God has opened the door, and evidently God is going to move out into the Gentile world.” We can see it coming. “ And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians (what's the next word?) first in Antioch." (Acts 11:26).
Why not at Jerusalem? The Jerusalem church had been in operation for about twelve years already. The Bible never calls them Christians. Why? Because they were still under the Judaistic umbrella. They had believed for their Salvation that Jesus was The Messiah of Israel. But the Christians at Antioch also believed for their Salvation that Jesus had died for them, that His blood had been shed for their sins, and that He had been raised from the dead. In other words Antioch is being presented with Paul's Gospel of Grace. And he differentiates it from anything that had ever gone before, because it had been a secret hidden in the mind of God until He revealed it to the Apostle Paul while he was in Arabia. And now God is going to do something totally different. He's going to save the whole human race, Jew and Gentile alike, by the one and only Gospel that Christ died, was buried, and rose from the dead. (Ref: I Corinthians 15:1-4).
Following the Pentecost event the remnant of Jewish Christians continued to observe the Sabbath, but also met together on the first day, Sunday, referred to as "the Lord's day." These early followers were all Jews continuing to observe the Law of Moses, all the while now believing that Jesus was the Son of God. Even some Pharisees came to faith (Acts 15:5). Hellenistic Jews from all over the Roman empire were among the initial converts. Jesus forbid these Hellenized Jews to take the gospel to the Gentiles but to go only to other Jews. The Risen Lord then chose a special man, Saul of Tarsus, a Hellenized Jew, to take the gospel of grace to the Gentiles.
Jesus, the Creator God, knew that prophetic Old Testament program was going to stop with His crucifixion, and in His wisdom and foreknowledge, made the overtures to bring about the Apostle Paul and the Age of Grace. This change of program came about as the result of Israel’s unbelief. Even after they had crucified Jesus, Peter continued preaching his head off trying to make them understand that Jesus was the Messiah. He told them that if they would only repent and receive the Holy Spirit, all would be well, and they could still have their promised Kingdom and King of Kings, but they would hear none of this. That is when God chose Paul to go to the Gentiles in their place and call out a people in His name.
The Jerusalem Church
The Judeo-Christian church in Jerusalem was the first church following the death of Jesus. It is well-known the first church grew out of Jerusalem; From Jerusalem, Judeo-Christian communities spread out through Palestine and beyond Transjordan and Syria. At the same time there were Judeo-Christans in Asia and other parts of the Empire. The mother Church, which remained for a long time at the head of the Judeo-Christian movement was in Jerusalem. It was at first headed by the Apostle Peter himself and then, after his departure from the Holy City, by James, “the brother of the Lord.” When Jesus' immediate followers recognized their partial failure to realize his ideal of the establishment of the kingdom in the hearts of men by the indwelling Spirit and guidance of the individual believer, they set about to save his teaching from being wholly lost by substituting for Jesus's ideal of the kingdom the gradual creation of a visible social organization, the Christian church. The church in Jerusalem was established within the Jewish Kingdom economy. It followed the precepts they knew so well from their Jewish roots. Many members had already become believers during Christ’s earthly ministry; others in Peter’s ministry in the early Acts. They are Jewish believers who as yet have not heard or understood Paul’s Gospel of Grace that you and I believe for our salvation. They had embraced Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah but they were still practicing Judaism, and the Temple was still operating. One could not call them Christians because the Bible doesn’t, but many people do. Remember believers were first called Christians at Antioch, and not Jerusalem. So they’re not Christians per se, they are Jewish believers in the Kingdom Gospel, and they believed for salvation that Jesus was the Messiah of Israel, but they’re still under the Law. They’re still practicing Temple worship. Nobody has told them not to so they’re not being disobedient. That fact had not been revealed to them yet.
During Christ’s earthly ministry He went about all the cities of the Nation of Israel, going into their synagogues and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom. The word "Gospel," means "the good news." So the whole thrust of Christ’s three years of earthly ministry was to proclaim to the Nation of Israel the good news, that the King was now in their midst and he’s offering them opportunity to have the Kingdom. And if He would have the Kingdom, then Israel could become the evangelists and bring in the Gentile world. But, what was Israel’s problem? Unbelief, as always before. And so, in unbelief, they didn’t recognize him as the King and instead they crucified him.
The original mission of Jesus was to proclaim the establishment of the Kingdom of God in the hearts of mankind, and to free mankind from the bondage of those Jewish synagogues of authority. He himself, a child of Jewish parents, raised in the synagogues of his day, later was murdered for his refusal to conform to the authority of that very belief system in which he was raised. Jesus was not wholly opposed to the synagogues; he worked with members of synagogues, and honored and encouraged synagogue members, but, he knew a better way was in the offing. That better way was to introduce the concept of God’s Grace, and the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
The Risen Lord’s message through the Apostle Paul was one of spiritual liberation—liberation from set dogmas, creeds, and established Jewish tenets—into a new way of realizing and finding God, who, he taught, indwells every human soul. This new way of discovering God and recognizing Truth had nothing to do with setting up synagogues. Instead, it proclaimed that the Kingdom is within each of us, discoverable by each individual. To accomplish His plan He called on the Apostle Paul.
The New Testament
For all practical purposes, Christianity enters history with the appearance of Paul whose writings are the earliest datable Christian documents. In the next three centuries, as the new religion rapidly spread across the Roman world, it becomes easier and easier to track its development up to its consummate political triumph, Constantine's conversion in the early fourth century.
Citing the widely accepted scholarship of Norman l. Geisler writing in The Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics(copyright 2007), he determined the New Testament was written between 40 and 80 AD by the Apostles of Jesus Christ and their contemporaries. Probably one or two Gospels were written as early as seven years after the crucifixion. These letters were all composed within the lifetimes of eyewitnesses and contemporaries of the events. This places the veracity of the New Testament beyond reasonable doubt, notwithstanding its Divine sponsor. Solid evidence suggests that the Books of Mark and Acts must have been written within the lifetime of the Apostles and contemporaries of the events. They must be accepted as historical. The cumulative evidence places the New Testament within the first century, and the lives of eyewitnesses.
The Holy Spirit guided the Apostles to put the Word into a written form. This was an expected and natural development; otherwise the redemption and revelation brought by Jesus Christ could have been lost. The written Word had great significance, and as time passed it received priority over the oral form of transmission. Actually, the written Word was a fixation of the oral form and carried the same message from God. The Apostles and their associates' writings were brought together by the Christian brotherhood into the New Testament Scriptures.
These books were treasured and preserved. It is only logical that the Apostles kept copies of their manuscripts. They were precious. The writers of the Gospels no doubt had copyists reproducing their manuscripts from the very start so they could be sent to the new churches, and the copyists would have had to keep either the original or a copy to do this. It is only logical having put such effort into a manuscript that it was to be distributed. It is unlikely that Paul would write such a major work as Romans without preserving it. There was too much chance that it might be lost in transit to Rome -- or even misplaced by the church in Rome -- for him not to keep a copy. Other authors may also have kept copies of their letters. But above all, the Holy Spirit saw to the overseeing of the distribution and preservation of the books He inspired.
Today we have the Holy Bible which is a composite of the inspired writings of God. Even in the early Church Satan was making his presence known and causing confusion about the relation of the Mosaic Law and Old Covenant to the Gospel and New Covenant. The spread of the Christian Church during its first seventy years is one of the most amazing phenomena in all of human history. As the apostles opened work in more distant areas, one way they kept in contact with new churches was through letters. The new Christians had to be nurtured; so the four Gospels, the history of the church, and letters of encouragement and correction were written. At first these writings were sent out individualy, but much later these books were brought together and sent to the outlying churches as a group. In some cases these books had to be translated into the disciples' native languages. Both the collection and translation factors required identity of which books were authoritative and belonged to the New Testament canon. The written Word quickly received a place of high significance; those who received it gave it special status because they knew it was the message they had heard from the Apostles. We have evidence that the written Word was very early placed on the same level as the Old Testament Scriptures. Paul's letters were read in church gatherings with the same authority as Old Testament Scriptures (Col. 4:16. I Thess. 5:27). Peter was aware of Paul's letters to the churches and classed his letter with the Scriptures (II Peter 3:15). John presupposed that his Book of the Revelation would be read as other Scriptures (Rev. 1:3).
Scripture teaches that Satan was at work developing a cadre of false teachers(gnostics). There is no doubt that the gnostics existed and had their own gospels very early in the history of the Church. They were present early in the life of the church, well before the end of the first century. We know this because there are letters from the apostles condemning gnostic tenets and making it clear that some in the church held to them.
It was inevitable that the Twelve Apostles would die, and with time the authority of their oral teachings would be perverted and subject to being treated as legends and myths all at the hands of Satan. “For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist (II John 7). And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world (I John 4:3 ).
This scripture states that the 'spirit of Antichrist is not confessing that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh and that apparently some of his teachings began when John was still alive.
I hold that Satan is the ultimate source of this "false knowledge”(gnosticism) as well as the one responsible for perpetuating these anti-God philosophies throughout history.
Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek: gnostikos, "having knowledge") is a modern name for a variety of ancient religious ideas and systems, present in Christian circles in the first and second century AD. Gnosticism is the word appropriated by Satan as a “cover” to his never-ending plan to deceive the whole world (Revelation 12:9). Beginning with Genesis 3:1-5, his words to Eve in the Garden of Eden bear a striking resemblance with the core of gnostic thought and teaching. This sentiment that God is untrustworthy, and that His Word is suspect, has been a regular feature of “Satan’s gnosis” in mankind's relationship with God ever since.
In concert with the gnostic problem , another major difficulty arose in tracing the growth of Christianity from its beginnings as a Jewish messianic movement, and its relations to the various other normative-Jewish, sectarian-Jewish, and Christian-Jewish groups is presented by the fact that what ultimately became normative Christianity was originally but one among various contending Christian trends. Once the "gentile Christian" trend won out, and the teaching of Paul became accepted as expressing the doctrine of the Church, those Jewish Christian groups and gnostics were then pushed to the margin and ultimately excluded as heretical. Being rejected both by normative Judaism and the Church, they ultimately disappeared. Nevertheless, several Jewish Christian sects (such as the Nazarenes, Ebionites, Elcesaites, and others) existed for some time, and a few of them are still active.
Paul exposed Satan’s attempt at heretical indoctrination(gnosis) of the faithful in several of his letters: He said that the 'mystery of lawlessness' group(gnostics) already was arising in his day:“Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-7) So, Paul said that there were two groups. The 'brethren' and those who followed the 'mystery of lawlessness'(the gnostics).
Paul wrote that there were "empty talkers and deceivers, especially the circumcision party" (Titus 1:10). Paul asked Timothy to "charge some that they teach no other doctrine, neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions [promote speculations] rather than godly edifying" (I Timothy 1:3-4). John wrote that "as ye have heard that antichrist shall come. . . . They went out from us" (I John 2:18, 19). After the Apostles were gone God knew these antichrists would question the authority of certain of the writings that did not agree with their ideas, leading to the need to clarify which books were inspired.
Paul addresses standard gnostic and Jewish teaching in 1 Cor.15. There he says there are some among the Corinthians saying ‘there is no resurrection from the dead.’(1 Cor. 15:12). Both Jews and Gnostics did deny the divinity of Jesus, and they even denied he was actually the Christ. The apostle John has even more references to Gnosticism. It is clear that the gnostics are ‘those who are trying to seduce you.’ (1 John 2:26) and it is almost certain that Diotrephes, who refused to receive John, was a gnostic teacher who gained leadership of one of John’s churches (3 John 9). The gnostics were visibly banned from the churches by the mid-second century, and they no longer appeared to be a significant threat by the mid third century. However, Satan continued with his gnostic scheme throughout the ensuing centuries, and it is with us to this very day.
Certainly what happened concerning the list of canonical books and their preservation was tied to Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit was active in bringing the books together. As mentioned earlier, the Church is "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord" (Eph. 2:20-21). Christ is the corner stone, and He promised the apostles that "the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you" (John 14:26); thus the Apostles built upon Him to form the foundational truths to guide the Church.
Preserving the Faith
Jesus said: “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth”. (John 4:23-24) True successors of Jesus' disciples would worship God in spirit and truth--the faith once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3).
According to the New Testament, the Holy Spirit was given through the laying on of the hands of Christ’s apostles or elders (Acts 8:17; 9:17; 19:6; 1 Timothy 4:14; 2 Timothy 1:6). It was the laying on of hands and not simply the death or some statement by (or to) Peter that only authorized succession through Peter's death in Rome.
Paul taught Timothy of Ephesus (one of his successors who he laid hands upon):
“Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands”. (2 Timothy 1:6). “And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also”. (2 Timothy 2:2).
The Apostle Paul noted that there were three leaders in Jerusalem during one of his visits there: "James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars." (Galatians 2:9). James is listed first because James was the leader who actually lived in Jerusalem. Notice that Paul then listed Cephas, who is Peter, and then John, suggesting that Paul considered that Peter, at that time, had higher authority than John then did. When Peter was killed, he no longer held physical primacy over the remaining apostles. Also Peter may have helped train the younger John as a potential successor. We know John greatly outlived Peter and is believed to have lived as late as 98-105 A.D. (he also outlived James).
John was an Apostle(one of the Twelve), the other early leaders in Rome were only presbyters or elders. It is not logical that John, being one of the Twelve, would subordinate to those elders, claiming to have been “bishop of Rome” with primacy over all Christianity after Peter died, and while John was still alive. Since John was the lone survivor of the Twelve, it is clear that he was the one true successor--who had been appointed by Jesus Himself. This is consistent with Scripture.
It is generally accepted by most Bible Scholars that succession simply needed to pass from any of the original Apostles to anyone who was ordained by an apostle . An apostolic ministry appears to be required in order that Christian proclamation and pastoral care may be extended to peoples of various times and places. The pastoral leaders must be seen as endowed with the authority of him who said, “He who hears you hears me.” (Luke 10:16). Yet this identity must not be too materialistically understood, as though Christ were somehow reincarnated in his ministers(a pope for example), or as though their relationship to him were independent of their solidarity with the ongoing community of Christian faith.
In Jesus Christ, “the same yesterday and today and forever”. (Heb. 13:8). The Church has a stable reference point The Church of all times must be in real and visible continuity with the original apostolic community of the first disciples whom Jesus gathered about Himself. The Church is constituted on the one hand by its relationship to Jesus Christ, and on the other hand by its relationship to those to whom it mediates the presence of Christ.
The Apostle Paul confirmed that the concept that the true church was built on more than just the Apostle Peter and that Jesus was the Rock. In his letter to the Ephesians the Apostle Paul makes clear that the Church was not just built on Peter but is built on the spiritual foundation of the apostles (plural) and the prophets, with Jesus as the chief cornerstone, and including all the members in the church as well: “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit”. (Ephesians 2:19-22). This verse is a clear endorsement of apostolic succession being based upon the teachings (especially the inspired writings) of the apostles and prophets as opposed to only some type of bishop succession that Paul does not mention in this passage. Also, this passage does not imply that any single city, nor bishop to bishop transfer, is required for succession (which, biblically was prophesied to be impossible, (cf. Hebrews 13:14). Furthermore, as Jesus and Peter used the term prophets (see Matthew 7:12;26:56; Acts 3:18-25) as a description of part of the Bible and the fact that the apostles wrote nearly all books of the New Testament, And Luke recorded this concerning Paul: “From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. And when they had come to him, he said to them: "You know, from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you...Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves..." (Acts 20:17-18,28-30).
From the above passages we see that Paul taught leaders of the church that they were to teach others faithfully, but that even those who appear to be Christian successors/leaders could be a problem. Paul writes in I Cor.55-56, that 500 witnesses to the resurrection were still alive, and he specifically mentions the Twelve and James the brother of Jesus.
The entire New Testament was written down through the efforts of only eight men. Six of them were chosen Apostles of Jesus. Three were eyewitnesses of his life and ministry - the Apostles Matthew, Peter and John.Two were physical half-brothers of Jesus - James and Jude. One, Paul, was specially called by the Risen Lord to be the Apostle to the Gentiles and for three years was personally taught by Jesus Christ(in Arabia) through visions. The last two were Mark - who penned the Gospel of Mark under Peter’s supervision - and Luke, who authored the Gospel of Luke and Acts(60-62AD) under the Apostle Paul's supervision . Luke, who only wrote two books (Luke and Acts) wrote 27% and Paul who wrote eight books wrote 25% of the New Testament.We can have full faith and confidence that the original Greek text, as preserved in the Byzantine text, is the very Word of God.
Paul chosen by the Risen Lord
When God in His foreknowledge decided to introduce the Age of Grace He knew Paul was the man to fulfill His plan. To differentiate Law and Grace. “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” (Matt. 5:17). Jesus Christ did not suggest here that the binding nature of the law of Moses would remain forever in effect. Such a view would contradict everything we learn from the balance of the New Testament (Romans 10:4; Galatians 3:23-25; Ephesians 2:15). The Law still stands, but by dying in our place, Jesus took away the penalty due us for breaking the Law, giving us immunity from prosecution. So Jesus didn’t abolish the Law. Then Paul goes on to teach Jesus abolished the consequences for breaking the Law, but argued passionately that we should adopt behavioral standards that in fact are consistent with God’s Law. Not because we’re accountable for doing so, but because of the indwelling Holy Spirit in all believers, that is how we express our gratitude for the fact that we aren’t. There is no conflict between grace and the Law, properly understood. Christ fulfilled the Law on our behalf and offers the power of the Holy Spirit, who motivates a regenerated heart to live in obedience to Him. Paul makes this so clear in his teaching on the Body of Christ.
The Apostle Paul is the only source for the Body of Christ metaphor, but its origin can only be understood by returning to the Old Testament.
The Kingdom of Heaven was specifically promised to the Nation of Israel. In II Samuel chapter 7 God promised King David that through him would result a genetic line of kings, leading all the way up to the King of Kings, Jesus of Nazareth. The whole purpose of His first coming was not only to present Himself as the Creator God of the universe, but also as the Promised Messiah, Redeemer, and King of Israel. When Israel rejected all the things pertaining to Jesus as the King and the Kingdom then God did something totally different.
What God told Israel during His earthly ministry is an entirely different set of directions from what Paul gives us in what we call the parenthetical Age of Grace. The Body of Christ is also within the Kingdom of God, so when we speak of being in the Kingdom, for us it is really not appropriate, and yet, to a degree, it is, because when you’re a member of the Body of Christ, you’re a member of God’s Kingdom. But to be definitive, we should identify it as the Body of Christ. It must be noted that when we’re a member of the Body of Christ, we’re also a member of The Kingdom of God. Absolutely! But it’s more definitive to say we’re in the Body of Christ.
Paul states, "And He is the head of the body, the church:…" (Colossians 1:18a) We don’t say He is the King of the Church, like He is in the Kingdom, but now He’s the head of the Church, the Body of Christ. This means it’s a physical connection in a spiritual realm. Nevertheless, just like our head is part of our body, Christ is the head of this out-called Body of Christ.
Notice the difference between the terminologies of the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, and the Body of Christ. Those are all entities that are mentioned over and over in Scripture. But the Body of Christ is not found anywhere except in Paul’s epistles. Yet, it is part of the Kingdom of God, as is the Kingdom of Heaven. Everything that pertains to the righteous side of God is in the Kingdom of God. In other words, the angelic hosts and believers of every age, are all part and parcel of the Kingdom of God, and it will be that Kingdom that carries on into all eternity. That’s why, in Revelation, it speaks so specifically of the wicked who are outside. They will never become part of the Kingdom of God.
All of the Old Testament is full of prophecies concerning the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God, but that portion of Scripture is totally silent when it comes to the Body of Christ. Paul makes it so plain that it was kept secret since the ages began. In his epistles Paul speaks of the body, which is the Church- the Body of Christ, and why it is so totally segregated from all the things promised to Israel. Because, it is a revelation of things that have been kept totally secret, all the way up through Biblical history, until they are revealed to the Apostle Paul. Don’t go back to the Old Testament and try to find a verse that refers to the Body of Christ. You won’t find it. Don’t try to go into the Old Testament or the four Gospel’s or Revelation and find a reference to the out-calling of the Saints, where every member will be raised incorruptible. You won’t find it. Because it, alone, is associated with the mysteries revealed to Paul. This one man, is going to take the Gospel of the Grace of God, and he’s going to be the beginning of what we call the Body of Christ(My Church!) And it all reverts back to that verse in Acts chapter 9, where God said, "I will send this man far hence to the Gentiles." For what purpose? To call out the Body of Christ.
Paul was the first sinner saved by grace that began that long line of sinners saved and brought into the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ had its beginning on the road to Damascus. Up until that time it was unheard of, it was unknown, it was still part of the mysteries. Beginning with Paul’s salvation at that time, every believer in this Age of Grace will come into the Body of Christ.
Because of their unbelief in Jesus Christ as their Messiah, God let Israel go down into the dispersion. God’s original plan called for Israel to bring His plan to the world, but they failed Him causing God to use another Jew named Saul(Paul) to fulfill His plan. Through Paul He began calling out a people for His name during this age of Grace we are still in.
In Acts chapter 15 the tabernacle of David was fallen down, and while it is fallen down God is going to call out a group of Gentiles for His name which is the Body of Christ. He will keep Israel in spiritual blindness for a period of time, "Until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in."
What's the fullness of the Gentiles? The Body of Christ. So, when the Body of Christ, this out calling of Gentiles is complete, God will take that entire Body to heaven. Then He can pick up where He left off with Israel in their blindness and fulfill all those Old Testament prophecies. So, as we speak, God is calling out the righteous, the Body of Christ, while Israel has been out in dispersion, But as of 1948AD she is now back in her land, and everything is being set up for the end-time Second Coming of Christ, and all the while the Body of Christ continues to fill up.
We know everything that Jesus said during his earthly ministry was before the cross, and was under the Law. So, everything He said during His earthly ministry has a law-keeping connotation to it. And that doesn’t fit for us in the Body of Christ. Now while the Risen Lord is opening up this Age of Grace, He isn’t on earth ministering to us like He did to Israel, He is now in heaven, and He designated the Apostle Paul to carry out His plan. And to that spokesman Paul, He revealed everything that you and I need to know in this Age of Grace.
Paul’s teachings on the Body of Christ
The concept of the Body of Christ metaphor for the Church is found nowhere else in Scripture other than in the writings of the Apostle Paul.
Paul informed the Corinthian church that they were "God's building." The Church is built upon only one foundation, Jesus Christ, and none other can be laid. Both Peter and Paul treated the Church as a living structure. According to Paul, the Church is built upon the foundation of Christ.
Old Testament Israel possessed a distinct Levitical priesthood, but the New Testament Church in its entirety is now a "holy priesthood" and a "royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2:5, 9). The key to understanding how the temple imagery is applied to the Church is to remember that the propitiatory sacrifice of the Lamb of God sanctifies us as His temple through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. The Church is made holy in and through the presence of the triune God.
The Church as the body was also one of Paul's favorite metaphors; he utilized it extensively in Romans, 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, and Colossians. This "body" of Christ has both a "head" and "members." The "head of the body, the Church," is Christ Jesus. He is simultaneously the source, sustenance, and goal of all that exists (Colossians 1:15-18). The fullness of the deity dwells in Him, and He reconciles us with God through His death upon the cross (1:19-22). The complete life of God comes to the Church through her head (2:9-10). All things in creation have been placed "under His feet," for God "gave Him to be head over all things." Through Christ's headship, we share fully in the divine life and in His rule. All things are "under" Christ and "to" the Church, "which is His body, the fullness of the One who fills all things in every way" (Ephesians 1:22-23). Christ's life thoroughly permeates the Church.
“ But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23-24)
To be a Christian is to be united with Christ Himself. We, the Church, are God's building, Christ's bride and body, and the Holy Spirit's temple. We are His because God made Himself ours. These images picture that glorious mystery of God's love for His people and the opportunity He has given for us to live and function in intimate fellowship with Him and each other, now and forevermore.
The following teachings of Paul relative to the Body of Christ are taken directly from Scripture:
“There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling: Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake; and in my flesh, I do share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.
“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord.”
“Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it. For just as we have many members, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all of the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.’
“For by one Spirit we were baptized into the body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.”
“Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread, but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly; if prophecy, according to the proportion of faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches; in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who give, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.”
So it is the Risen Lord’s direct connection to Paul that is of such great significance to all of us. Our Lord chose Paul out of all mankind to reveal mysteries that were hidden from eternity past, and are now made manifest. The salvation of all mankind was made manifest to Paul by the Risen Lord.
“Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. (1 Cor. 15:1-8)
Paul preached the Gospel of Christ. He became Christianity’s leading voice. But what is this gospel? It is the gospel of Jesus Christ. That God was born of a virgin that he became man. That he came so others might live. That he died a horrific death on the cross for the salvation of many. That Jesus is the truth, He is the way, and He is the life. The only way to salvation is through our belief in Him. The most important part though is the resurrection. It is the key to life, to everything. If Christ did not rise from the dead then there is no belief. There is no salvation.
Throughout his entire missionary journeys Paul preached the gospel of the Risen Lord. Not the Lord on the cross. He preached a living Lord that presented Himself to him and others after the crucifixion. Many of us stop at the foot of the cross. Paul is urging us not to do this. He is telling us to go beyond the cross, beyond the tomb, to the living breathing Lord that was resurrected. The resurrection again is the Key to life. If he did not rise our faith would be in vain.
Wherever Paul went they heard of the resurrection and believed it. It was through their belief that they were saved. This was an act of God adding to the Body of Christ(My Church!).
We now know the value and necessity of becoming a member of the Body of Christ, because that’s our path to eternal salvation. We must work to get people to become believers and become members of the Body of Christ. Because if you’re not a member of the Body of Christ, if the Lord comes tonight, you’re left behind. If you’re not a member of the Body of Christ and death overtakes you before today is over, you become one of the lost. But every believer today becomes a member of the Body of Christ. I don’t care if you’re Baptist, Lutheran, or whatever, if you’re a member of the Body of Christ, you’re eternally safe. If you’re not a member of the Body of Christ, you will come under God’s perfect judgment for the lost which remains a great unknown.
So how does one get into the Body of Christ? The bottom line is that every believer will become a member of the Body of Christ. So what does it mean to be a believer? If you truly believe Paul’s one and only Gospel, "For by one Spirit are we all baptized (Not with water, this is an act of the Holy Spirit that places the believer into the Body of Christ. So, by one Spirit all have been baptized -) into one body,…" (I Corinthians 12:13). And when does that happen? The moment we believe Paul’s Gospel for our salvation!!!! And what’s the Gospel? That Jesus Christ, God the Son, the Creator of everything, went to that Roman cross, shed His blood and died for our sins, was buried, and rose from the dead! That’s the one and only Gospel! Believing that gospel transforms people and places them into the Body the moment they believe it.
Paul and “My Church!”
We know from Matthew 28:16 to 20 that Jesus gave the great commission to the Twelve. Then he told them they were to go to Jew only. It appears that eventually they did go to the Gentiles; bits of history in the New Testament, as well as tradition, indicates this. But it took a lot of prodding. And not only were they slow in moving out, they were slow to reach those Gentiles who were right nearby; and to accept them on an equal footing when they did reach them.
The Christian Church “The Body of Christ” did not become “My Church” as stated by Jesus, until the advent of the Apostle Paul. Only then did “My Church” become a reality-a Church that comes from God. Think about it. The Church was planned in the mind of God before the first angel was created. That Church still exists today because of God's eternal plan and carries forth His eternal purpose. Is the Kingdom of God in any sense of the word to be identified as the Church? The answer is no because there was still a time when the rule of God existed but not the Church. God is from eternity, the Church is not. But it was in His mind. The Church could not become a reality until man was created.
When we take up the challenge to follow Jesus, truly follow him, we are submitting to the kingdom rule of God. And it’s the King who gives significance to his people, the Church(the Body of Christ). John makes it clear that Jesus(our King) is the head of the Body. “Therefore Pilate said to Him, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." (John 18:37)
To this point in our Treatise, we have shown that the Church is the principal objective to the Plan of God. This aspect of His plan is so important that God has gone the extra mile to make sure His Body of believers understand fully why this is so. First, He used the metaphor of the Body of Christ, and then He provides additional emphasis by means of a second metaphor equating His Church to a bride.
The Bride of Christ.
The first person to picture Christ as a groom was John the Baptist (John 3:29). In his understanding, Christ is a groom and His bride is the messianic community. The apostle Paul also used the metaphor of the Church as Christ's bride. In Ephesians 5:22-33, Paul compared the relationship between Christ and the Church to that of a husband and wife. In this most perfect of relationships, Jesus Christ is the "head of the Church," while the Church submits humbly to Him.
John the Apostle also found the metaphor of the bride of Christ helpful. In the book of Revelation, he pictured the Church as "the bride, the Lamb's wife" in her eschatological glory (Revelation 21:9).
There are probably as many as twenty metaphors in Scripture describing the Church, but the two most noted metaphors are the Body and the Bride of Christ. Most churches in Christendom teach the Church is the “bride of Christ.” But the phrase “bride of Christ” itself does not occur in the Bible. This doesn’t mean the marriage metaphor isn’t widely covered. There are at least 19 Bible verses related to what we term the Bride of Christ in the KJV, and there are many more verses related to the subject at hand.
Paul teaches that Christ, the Bridegroom, has sacrificially and lovingly chosen the Church to be His bride (Ephesians 5:22-33). A bride is a woman to whom a man has committed Himself. So, the Church is the people to whom Christ is committed. This is a passage that is often considered crucial in understanding the obligations of husbands and wives in Christian marriages. In my estimation, this is the single most beautiful passage of Scripture regarding the relationship of Christ to His Church. It speaks of the most intimate of all relationships, that of a husband to his wife.
Just as there was a betrothal period in biblical times during which the bride and groom were separated until the wedding, so is the bride of Christ separate from her Bridegroom during the church age. Her responsibility during the betrothal period is to be faithful to Him (2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:24). When the very last saint enters the Body of Christ(the Church), the Church will be called to heaven and there united with the Bridegroom. The first event in Heaven for believing Christians will be the marriage of Christ and His Bride, the Church. The official “wedding ceremony” will take place and, with it, the eternal union of Christ and His bride will be made manifest (Revelation 19:7–9; 21:1-2).
In the final eternal state, believers will have access to the heavenly city known as New Jerusalem, also called “the holy city” in Revelation 21:2 and 10. The New Jerusalem is not the Church, but it takes on some of the Church’s characteristics. In his vision of the end of the age, the apostle John sees the city coming down from heaven adorned “as a bride,” meaning that the city will be gloriously radiant and the inhabitants of the city, the redeemed of the Lord, will be holy and pure, wearing white garments of holiness and righteousness. The city is called the bride because it encompasses all who are the bride, just as all the students of a school are sometimes called “the school.” Members of the Body of Christ will become the bride of Christ, and we wait with great anticipation for the day when we will be united with our Bridegroom. Until then, we remain faithful to Him and say with all the redeemed of the Lord, “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20).
Our marriage metaphor has its roots in the Old Testament. The idea of God related to His people in a marital relationship may be found in a few selected verses that reveals this truth to us.
“I will betroth you to Me forever.” Hosea 2:19
“For your Maker is Your husband.” Isaiah 54:5
“Return, O backsliding children, says the Lord, for I am married to you.” Jeremiah 3:14
“I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them.” Jeremiah 31:32
Numerous other times the prophets of old spoke of Israel as the chosen bride of God, she whom God would love forever. This imagery continues on in the New Testament, as Jesus referred to Himself as the bridegroom in Matthew 9:15. John the Baptist used the same metaphor in John 3:29. The virgins of Matthew 25:1-13 wisely met the bridegroom, having neatly trimmed their lamps.
The Apostle Paul warned against false teachers who were seducing the Corinthian Christians away in 2 Corinthians 11:2. And the Apostle John writes of the glorious marriage supper of the Lamb, of which all believers will partake. The idea is that true believers, comprising the Church, are now engaged to Christ and the marriage will be consummated upon the outcalling of the saints preceding the Tribulation.
From the metaphor of the bride as the model of the Church and her relationship with Jesus. we can derive a few principles of how we ought to be related to Jesus. As his bride we should love Him supremely. Jesus is the object of the Church’s affection. Everything in the Church should be centered on Jesus because Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her, thus the believers’ resolute commitment to Jesus.
As His bride we are to be intimate with Him. Intimacy is a fundamental requirement of marriage. It speaks of that familiarity, closeness, and confidence that comes from being in a stable relationship; just as the husband and wife become one flesh in the marital relationship, so we become flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone.
As His bride we are faithful to Him. What this means is you forsake all others. Fidelity is the cornerstone of marriage. As a husband is faithful to his wife, so we are to be faithful to Christ. Jesus died for all sinners; He died for you. Therefore, He has conjugal rights with you and you alone. He is to be your first love and He deserves your devotion and fidelity. In commitment to Christ we take upon ourselves His name, unashamedly, in absolute commitment, in total purity.
“For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church”. (Ephesians 5:30-31)
We’ve been speaking in metaphors. That is, the Body and the Bride of Christ. The past tense is used when the Church is referred to as the bride of Christ. This is because the whole purpose of Christ, as revealed to us, is to have a bride. Even His death was for the purpose of obtaining a bride. Although He will obtain His bride in the future, the work was finished in the past. Concerning the present, the Church is the Body of Christ, which the Lord is presently adding to and nourishing. Through the eyes of the Lord, the Church as the bride has two positions: as to her life, the Church is presently the Body of Christ, but regarding her future, she is the bride of Christ. As to the union of Christ with the Church, the Church is His Body; and regarding the intimate relationship of Christ with the Church, the Church is His bride.
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Part II
THE REST OF THE STORY
To this point in our Treatise, regarding the life of Paul, and the origin of the Church, our primary source has been Holy Scripture. From hereon we are confronted with the vagaries of classical secular history. Following the Apostolic period and the written biblical record, the reliability of church history for the next 200 years is always suspect. Nearly every record and source can be, and usually is, challenged.
Trying to make sense out of Christian church history is enough to make one’s head spin. And that is exactly the plan of Satan. Satan has set out to lie and confuse leading to unbelief.
While the Christian church was initially centered in Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, and the seven churches of Revelation, it became decentralized in the 2nd century. It would be a mistake to romanticize the early church as an age of purity. It could have been pure if it weren’t for the work of Satan. We know the early churches always had their problems and internal struggles. This became even worse during the second century when false interpretations of Jesus and his message were everywhere. A church father named Irenaeus listed about twenty varieties of Christianity. These Christian factions consisted of groups of persons forming a cohesive, usually a contentious minority, sincere but misguided. They knew the Will of God; they believed the Resurrection; they knew right from wrong; they knew what they wanted to know; the upshot of all this was these different factions believed that everybody else was, if they didn’t agree, simply wrong.
Many so-called secret teachings, myths, and poems were attributed to Jesus or His disciples. Various sects claimed to own Jesus' true legacy. They believed He was either a magician, a guru, an angel, or a prophet. One such sect was Ebionism. According to Irenaeus, the Ebionites used only the Gospel of Matthew( a form of Jewish Christianity). Ebionism was neither Judaism nor Christian. This is but one example of what was taking place throughout Christendom at that time. Christians at that time were plagued by many factions who claimed they represented the 'true' teachings of Jesus. To name a few of the upstart isms present during the second century we have, Gnostism, Marcionism, Montanism, Arianism,and Novatianism. And that doesn’t complete the list. Isn’t that enough to make you wonder?. All of these isms attracted many followers and with the help of Satan muddied the waters of Christendom. Satan couldn’t have been more successful. He was now ready to put the frosting on the cake with the man Constantine.
The plan of Satan now becomes evident. The book has been written, we now know how it came about. All of that confusion and dissention in the first centuries after Jesus was a prelude to Satan’s plan to create a power elite within Christianity he could use to weaken and corrupt our faith by entangling it in political favor. The tool was the man Constantine, the mechanism was the Roman Catholic Church.
Constantine and the Roman Catholic Church
Constantine was the emperor of the Roman Empire from 306 to 337A.D. Initially he ruled from the city of Rome, until 324 when he founded the new city of Constantinople (formerly named Byzantium). He was the first emperor to legalise Christianity in the Roman empire.
Prior to the advent of Constantine the Christian Church was already a flourishing movement throughout the Roman empire, and already had a significant presence in the city of Rome. At that period in history one could call it a catholic church in Rome. All of the Christian churches in existence at that time considered themselves to be “catholic.” with a small “c”.
The modern Roman Catholic Church that exists today boldly, but mistakenly, traces its beginning back to the original church which was established in Jerusalem in AD 30. It is believed by all that there was a Christian church located in Rome almost certainly by AD 40. and Catholic tradition holds that the Apostle Peter founded the church at Rome in 42A.D. and served as its first pope and Vicar of Christ for the next 25 years. He was succeeded by an unbroken line of Divine popes to this very day. History proves otherwise.
How Christianity spread from Jerusalem to Rome.
Historians have never uncovered the exact origin of the Christian movement at Rome. From what I have learned from those historians the most accurate record is derived from Holy Scripture. But from what I have read concerning the general history of Rome I have made my own determination as to what may have transpired.
It appears there has been a significant Jewish presence in Rome as early as 50B.C. By the time Jesus was born in in Bethlehem it is estimated there were approximately 30,000 Jews living in Rome. Those Jews living in Rome formed a close-knit community and followed the Old Testament program to the letter. They maintained a distinct Jewish identity but scholars have noted the lack of evidence for a central organization or leadership structure that oversaw the different synagogues.
And in accordance with their teachings they maintained a very close connection with the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, especially the annual feast known as Pentecost.
Now enter Jesus. The resulting Judeo-Christian movement in Jerusalem. It goes without saying that many of this Judeo-Christian sect found their way from Jerusalem to Rome within months following the death of Jesus.
After the death of Jesus, members of the newly formed Judeo-Christian movement throughout the Middle East continued to visit Jerusalem once a year to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost at the Temple. The Apostle Peter stated that this event was the beginning of a continual outpouring that would be available to all believers from that point on, Jews and Gentiles alike. This means that many of those Jews living in Rome were in close contact with their brethren in Jerusalem not only because the Jerusalem church was termed the “Mother Church,” of the Twelve Apostles, but that was where their main Temple was located.
Biblical Records
Acts 2:10 includes visitors from Rome in the list of people who witnessed the events of Pentecost. A number of scholars suggest that these temporary residents of Jerusalem may have taken the gospel back to Rome and met regularly in “house churches.”
In Acts 6:9, Luke mentions Stephen’s confrontation with Jews from the Synagogue of the Freedmen. They are likely freed slaves. If some of these freedmen eventually received the gospel message, their contact with freed slaves elsewhere could have facilitated the spread of the gospel to other regions, including Rome. The geographical spread of the gospel to new regions would have been further encouraged when persecutions against Christians erupted in Jerusalem (see Acts 8:1).
Clues from Acts may be incorporated into a wider model that surmises that geographical dispersions of Christians in the first century likely brought Christianity to Rome. Both Roman inhabitants who visited Jerusalem before returning to Rome and Jews who settled into Rome for the first time may have played a role. Once Jewish Christians reached Rome, they would have had relatively unhindered ministry access in the synagogues, since no Jewish controlling authority could step in to quickly and definitively oppose them.
The present Roman Catholic Church teaches Peter was the carrier of the gospel to Rome. The mysterious reference in 12:17 (Peter “went to another place”) opens the door to speculation that Rome was his destination. While Roman Catholic tradition asserts that Peter’s ministry as bishop of Rome spanned 25 years. Rom 15:20-24 intimates that Peter’s ministry to the Romans may have dissuaded Paul from interfering with Peter in Rome. Other biblical evidence rules out such a continuous presence.
In the fourth century, the theologian Ambrosiaster wrote on the beginnings of the Roman church: “It is established that there were Jews living in Rome in the times of the apostles, and that those Jews who had believed [in Christ] passed on to the Romans the tradition that they ought to profess Christ but keep the law … One ought not to condemn the Romans, but to praise their faith; because without seeing any signs or miracles and without seeing any apostles, they nevertheless accepted faith in Christ.” It is unlikely Ambrosiaster had an ax to grind with the Catholic church when he made that statement.
Catholic apologists are quick to discount the value of Ambrosiaster’s viewpoint as independent testimony. Even so, one would expect that the memory of a prominent founder such as Peter or Paul would not likely be forgotten if one of them had indeed established the church of Rome.
Based on a study of relevant biblical and extra-biblical documents, it is generally agreed that non-apostolic Jewish Christians brought the faith of Christ to Rome in the early decades of the church. After generating both interest and controversy within the synagogues, Christianity was forced to reorganize in the wake of Claudius’s edict against the Jews. The resulting Gentile-dominated church that received Paul’s letter in the late 50’s met in small groups around the city of Rome but maintained communication and held onto a common identity and mission. Paul left his mark on these believers, though he merely strengthened the work that had already begun to flourish in Rome. Beyond these main points, scholars still differ on the exact timeline of the birth and growth of the Christian community, as well as on to what degree Roman reactions against Jewish instability stem from disagreements about Christ. This is simply another example of the spread of the early church during the decades following Christ’s death and resurrection.
Constantine
Outside of Jesus and the Apostle Paul, no one has had a greater impact on human history and Christianity than this man. The first half of the fourth century in Christendom heralded the age of the Emperor Constantine the Great. From 312 to 337 A.D., Constantine will forever be inseparable from the formation and success of the Roman Catholic Church. The immense changes in the Christian church brought about by Constantine's legalization of Christianity, and the subsequent transformation of Christianity into the main Roman religion ended the position of Christians as a minority sect. But as we know from world history, this great windfall for Christianity instituted by Constantine was meant for the Roman Catholic Church alone.
Most popular accounts of church history recognize the importance of Constantine’s role in shaping world history, but most do not recognize that an in-depth study of his life and times is required to get at the truth as to exactly how the Roman Catholic Church came to the fore in the following centuries.
Scholars of all stripes are ready to discuss Constantine's religious background and his conversion to Christianity, but only a handful ever consider the role of Satan in this period of church history, even though Jesus Himself warns of his continued presence.
If you understand the plan of Satan and how Christianity changed after Constantine you will understand a great deal about church history. Roman Catholics present Constantine as laying the foundation for the Papacy, Protestants see him as the one responsible for leading the early Church away from its initial simplicity to the formation of an all-powerful imperial apostate church.
We can best come to a knowledge of the truth of how all this came about by learning who the man Constantine was; how he came to make the decisions he made, and the effect those decisions had on shaping world history.
Although much has been written, virtually nothing about Constantine is known with certainty. One has to be very careful when researching the life of Constantine. This is because propaganda embellished all aspects of his life, as was true of most Roman emperors. One of the prime sources of information during this era is Eusebius of Caesarea who knew Constantine personally. He was a friend of the family, and it is clear from his writings that he was out “to feather his own nest” so to speak. Scholars have proved conclusively the bias and exaggeration introduced by Eusebius, so we always keep “tongue in cheek” when quoting him.
The early years
The exact year and the place of Constantine’s birth are unknown. As best we know he was born in about 272AD at Naissus (modern day Nis in Serbia). There are no surviving histories or biographies dealing with Constantine's life and rule. The most used source is Eusebius of Caesarea's Vita Constantini, a dubious biased work, that is a mixture of eulogy and biography portraying him as a great leader. The best we can do is make some educated guesses as to his worldview, and fill in some of the missing parts of his life through the lives of the important people he associated with.
Constantine was the son of Flavius Valerius Constantius and Helena, born 2 February, 272AD. His father Constantius was Co-Roman Emperor from 293 until his death on 25 July, 306AD, at which time Constantine became emperor. This family’s hertiage was fully pagan, and this had to rub off on Constantine. I hearken back to the old country adage, “You can take the boy off the farm, but you can’t take the farm off the boy.” It’s one thing to adopt a new religious affiliation, and it’s another to renounce all of one’s previous religious upbringing . You will see later on in this chapter that Constantine retained much of his pagan heritage.
His father, Constantius, came from a humble pagan background. He was the son of a goat-herder and a freedman’s daughter. But he rose from a lowly soldier in the Roman army to become emperor of the Western Roman Empire. An able military commander, Constantius inspired loyalty in his soldiers. Historians claim he was uneducated, but his known accomplishments and astute military and political decisions were those of a person of high intelligence.
Constantine’s mother Helena became a woman of legend bordering on fairytail. The Roman Catholic Church elevated her to sainthood. From the best historical records, we find Helena was born and grew up in the Roman province of Illyricum (modern Bosnia) in the mid Third Century. Helena also came from a humble pagan background, and her family was probably quite poor because she found it necessary to work in a tavern as a servant girl, an occupation no daughter of a wealthy man would choose. In fact the status of stabvlaria, or tavern girls were little better than prostitutes in the Roman world. If that is a true record of her early life, she most likely was a product of the same pagan culture that was prevalent throughout the empire at that time, which knew nothing of Christianity. The exact nature of her relationship with Constantius is unknown, but they had a son Constantine and a daughter Helena.
Constantius, who was a high ranking Roman officer when he met Helena, may not have been able to make her his legal wife. Then in 290AD Constantius separated from Helena. He did this to further his career by marrying Theodora, the stepdaughter of Emperor Caesar Maximian. It is believed that it was after being abandoned by Constantius, that the pagan Helena adopted the Christian God. Catholic apologists are prone to ascribe to Constantine’s mother Helen as the source of his “TAKE” on Christianity. For a period of time Helena lived in obscurity, but she became rich and influential during the reign of her son Constantine .
Following his marriage to Theodora in 293, Constantius was elevated to the status of an emperor by Diocletion. Constantius temporarily moved his family to the court of the emperor Diocletian in Nicomedia (modern-day Izmit, Turkey). When Diocletian became the Roman emperor in 284 he divided the Roman Empire into the East and the West. Both regions would have an Augustus (senior emperor) and a Caesar (junior emperor). Each emperor would manage their allocated regions. The aim of this reorganization, known as theTetrarchy, was to deal with conflicts on multiple fronts in the Roman Empire. Constantius was assigned to Britain (York England) where he moved his family. At that time the young boy Constantine, at the request of Diocletion, was sent back to Nicomedia to be raised in the imperial household of the emperor Galerius, who was Diocletian’s Caesar. Legend has it that Diocletian insisted that Constantine live at this court as a defacto hostage to insure that Constantinus did his bidding. Having spent his teen years living in the emperor’s court would certainly have had a profound impact on his religious mindset and worldview. Take note! This was an all-pagan environment.
While under the roof of the pagan Galerius, with all its advantages, Constantine grew to adulthood. His entire personality and background was a product of that culture, lock-stock-and barrel. Now what do you think that culture consisted of? What would that environment produce over a period of thirteen years?
While living at the imperial palace the astute Constantine was all “eyes and ears” as he observed the antics of Galerius and Diocletian as it related to the repression of Christians. He learned from Galerius who finally admitted that his policy of trying to eradicate Christianity had failed, saying: "wherefore, for this our indulgence, they ought to pray to their God for our safety, for that of the republic, and for their own, that the republic may continue uninjured on every side, and that they may be able to live securely in their homes." The last edicts of persecution against the Christians were published, and this policy of repression was maintained by him until the appearance of the general edict of toleration, issued from Nicomedia in April 311AD, Initially one of the leading figures in the persecutions, Galerius gives the text of the edict in his moralized chronicle of the bad ends to which all the persecutors came, De Mortibus Persecutorum. This marked the end of official persecution of Christians.
Although forced to live in Diocletion’s court at Nicomedia, Constantine made the most of his circumstances. He received his education from the intellectuals whom Diocletian patronized. It was from this court in Nicomedia in 303AD Diocletion began his great persecution of the Christians throughout the eastern cities. Christianity had become a major domestic policy issue, and Constantine observed all that went on. Witnessing the ever present court intrigues, Constantine learned the arts of a courtier as well. His training in treachery would be used to great effect later in life. More importantly, it is essential to take note of how Constantine was a first-hand witness to the politics of Diocletion’s tetrarchy. There seems no doubt Constantine was privy to everything that was taking place. After all, he accompanied Diocletian and his Caesar Galerius into many battles in the Middle East. His tenure as military tribune under these emperors was very successful, which means he was privy to all the planning and military strategy Diocletion and Galerius had to offer. His experience gained within this leadership had to become an important factor in formulating his worldview. Although Constantine developed a lifelong dedication to learning, he was not cast as an intellectual, . He had an interest in philosophy and encouraged learning through his decrees that favored intellectuals. No doubt he was well versed as a typical religious pagan, and then when exposed to Christian theology he took it upon himself to become expert in that as well. Also during his association with Diocletion and Galerius, he developed the political and military acumen needed to seize the Roman Empire for himself.
His father Constantius became the Western Augustus upon Diocletions’ self-imposed abdication in 305, while Galerius became the Eastern Augustus. Because his father was now Augustus, many expected Constantine to become his successor. But the Tetrarchy was not hereditary by nature. Instead, Galerius, who had greater power, appointed his partisans, Severus and Maximinus Daia, as the new Caesars.
This turn of events did not sit well with Constantine and he began to look for ways to feather his own nest so to speak. Constantius, probably aware of his son’s ambitions and need for help, sent a letter to Galerius requesting Constantine’s assistance in Britain.
The Roman emperor at that time was Diocletian, who had come to the throne in 284AD. For the post of imperial colleague in the West, Diocletian now chose Maximianus, who became the Roman emperor in the West in April, 286AD. Diocletian would continue to rule in the East. In 293AD, Diocletian chose a Caesar who would succeed him on the throne. Diocletian's plan was for two augusti to rule for twenty years and then abdicate. Maximianus was told to do the same and chose the successful and loyal general Constantius in 305AD, and raised him to the rank of Augustus, senior western emperor, and acclaimed as emperor by the army at Eburacum(York, England). In 305AD, Diocletian willingly and Maximianus reluctantly gave up their thrones and passed along the leadership of empire. Meanwhile, Constantine had become a popular general in his own right and Constantius immediately invited his son to join him in Britain. Galerius really did not want the young man to leave, considering him almost a hostage to ensure that his father did not make any moves against him (Galerius). He grudgingly gave permission for Constantine to leave. According legend Constantine secured the approval of Galerius after a heavy night of drinking. Then, without waiting for Galerius to change his mind, Constantine left in the middle of the night before he was expected to and made a wild ride towards the coast of Gaul where his father was about to set sail for Britain. In doing so, he successfully escaped from the clutches of Galerius and the interception of Severus along the way. He arrived just in time to catch the fleet before it left for England. Father and son were now reunited after thirteen years. The truth of this story is uncertain. But the fact remains that before the summer of 305AD, Constantine had reunited with his father. The reunion of father and son was to be a very brief one. A year later in 306AD, Constantius became sick and died at York. After his father's death he now had the means to gain greater control and the wherewithal to fulfil his destiny. The problem on the horizon was that both Constantius and Maximianus had sons who fully expected, as the sons of emperors, to accede to power.
After the abdication of Diocletian and his father Maximian, Maxentius expected to become Caesar, but instead he was given the title of Princeps and semi-retired to Rome. In 306AD, the inhabitants of Rome rebelled against Galerius, who had issued a recent decree that meant they would lose their tax-free status. The citizens of Rome hailed Maxentius as Augustus. Galerius sent Severus II to reclaim Rome. However, the army of Severus defected over to Maxentius. Severus fled to Ravenna, but eventually surrendered in the hopes of a pardon, but Maxentius executed him near Rome on 16 September 307.
After the death of Severus and defeat of Galerius, Maximian and Galerius asked Diocletian to come out of retirement for a brief time. They met at Carnuntum, near Vienna. Licinius became Augustus in place of Severus and Constantine was officially recognized as Caesar. All agreed that Maxentius was a usurper and needed to be dealt with. .
Maxentius asked his father, Maximian, to come out of retirement. Then father and son repelled an attack by Galerius. They formed a brief alliance with Constantine. Constantine married Fausta, the daughter of Maximian. Maximian, however, tried to seize power in Rome in April of 308. His attempted coup failed and he fled to Gaul and the protection of his son-in-law, Constantine. In 308, Maxentius also lost the province of Africa when local troops there hailed Alexander of Carthage Augustus. It is noteworthy that a milestone found in Africa mentions only two Augusti- Constantine and Domitius Alexander. Alexander became an ally of Constantine, at least as far as they both had a common enemy- Maxentius. In 310 Constantine learned of Maximians’ betrayal of Galerius, and Maximian was forced to commit suicide. Maxentius, ironically, deified his father and blustered about avenging his death. The army of Maxentius then went to Carthage circa 311 and put Alexander to death
Upon defeating Alexander, Maxentius then met Constantine in battle at Milvian Bridge outside of Rome on October 28, 312 A.D., Maxentius could have stayed in heavily fortified Rome, but the citizens of Rome were restless and Maxentius was worried. He consulted the Sibylline Books, where he learned "on October 28 an enemy of the Romans will perish". His army left the city and crossed over to the right bank of the Tiber. Constantine's forces routed the army of Maxentius at the battle of the Milvian Bridge. Ancient accounts vary- a pontoon bridge collapsed or a linchpin was pulled out early causing it to collapse, and Maxentius, along with many of his soldiers, drowned. Constantine’s soldiers recovered his body and paraded his head through Rome on a pike; and later it was sent to Africa.
History declares the battle of Milvian Bridge was no ordinary battle if the account by Eusebius is accepted as fact. He records that on the day before the battle Constantine had a vision “He says that while he was praying with fervent entreaty, a most marvelous sign appeared to him from heaven, the account of which might have been hard to believe had it been related by any other person. But since the victorious emperor himself long afterwards declared to the writer of this history, when he was honored with his acquaintance and society, and confirmed his statement by an oath, who could hesitate to accredit the relation, especially since the testimony of aftertime has established its truth? He said that about noon, when the day was already to decline, he saw with his own eyes the trophy of a cross of light in the heavens, above the sun, and bearing the inscription, CONQUER BY THIS. At this sight he himself was struck with amazement, and his whole army also, which followed him on this expedition, and witnessed the miracle. That night , Jesus himself appeared in Constantine’s dream and told him that, even though outnumbered, he would win the battle. By the sign of the cross he would win. In the morning, Constantine ordered his soldiers to paint their banners and shields with the symbol of the cross. He then carried his army to victory”--Eusebius of Caesarea, Life of Constantine, Chapter 28.
Prior to the battle of Milvian there is no historical evidence that Constantine had turned from his pagan upbringing and had already adopted the Christian faith. The debate as to just when and how, and how deeply, Constantine came to adopt the Christian god has been long and inconclusive. It was thirteen years after the battle that the vision story was first told to Eusebius. If the Eusebius account is true, then Constantine is technically a prophet for receiving Divine signs and having Jesus appear to him. From this account is there any doubt about what happened at the Milvan Bridge in 312AD? A close look at Holy Scripture and the archaeology left behind helps set the record straight.
Was Constantine’s Vision a miracle from God or Satan?
In all of my research on the man Constantine and his conversion to Christianity, I have yet to see one reference that questions his “vision” as a direct intervention by God Himself. The Roman Catholic Church accepts the historical accounts of Eusebius as fact, and eventually included him along with their list of saints. But what do we learn from the Word of God concerning miracles?
The biblical record of the Apostle Paul clearly shows that Divine miracles and prophecy had ceased by the end of the Apostolic Age. Within a century of Christ’s resurrection, and upon the death of the last Apostle, all miracles and signs had ceased permanently. A careful search of the writings of the early Church indicates that there are no references to these "gifts" continuing beyond the last Apostle in 100AD. Constantine could not possibly have been the recipient of a Divine miracle, nor could he have prophesied with Divine certainty the events of the following day.
While 1 Corinthians 13 is mostly looked at as the great chapter of love in the Bible, that is not what is under consideration by the Apostle in the broader context of the book. Paul is discussing the use of miraculous gifts in chapters 12-14 of 1 Corinthians. In chapter 13 he is drawing a distinction between miracles and the way of love. Notice what he says in the middle of the chapter regarding what is going to remain and what is going to cease (verse 8). “Charity (love) never faileth: but whether there be prophesies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.” Paul is saying the miraculous is going to cease but love is not. In 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 nine spiritual gifts are mentioned, including prophecy, tongues, and knowledge (supernatural). In verse 8, Paul maintains in this passage that miracles would be done away. In the statement to follow, verses 9 and 10, he tells us when this would happen: “For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away.” Now at the end of the chapter he adds two more things to the concept of love that shall not cease. These three things together are faith, hope, and love. These three will abide, but the miraculous will cease. Some people say that miracles have not ceased yet, but will cease when Jesus comes. This is what they say “that which is perfect” means in verse 10. However, “that which is perfect” cannot mean Jesus because when Jesus comes hope will be done away with. Paul writes in Romans 8:24 “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?” When Jesus comes again, we will see Him and no longer need have hope in Him. If “that which is perfect” is Jesus, then not only must miracles cease at that time, but hope as well. But Paul says in verse 13 that hope abides. So “that which is perfect” must be something other than Jesus. In fact, “that which is perfect” has already come. “That which is perfect” is the completely revealed word of God. James calls it the “perfect law of liberty” in James 1:25. Additionally, we read that Ephesians 4:7-13 also talks about when miracles will end. The gifts that were given (apostles, prophets, etc) were given UNTIL we all come to the “unity of the faith.” This means that when the “Unity of the Faith” came, there was no longer a need for the miraculous gifts. The unity of the faith is no less than God’s complete revealed word.
Apostolic authority and all other authority rests in the word which stands completed and fulfilled. Neither an apostle nor even an angel from heaven could add anything to , or take anything away from, to alter the perfect law of liberty which had been revealed before 70 A.D., (Gal. 1:8,9). Once this message was confirmed in the fulfillment of all things further inspiration and confirmation was no more needed then than it is needed today! Were the apostle John and other disciples of the miraculous period any less equipped or competent to live in a post-miraculous age than the generations of their succeeding counterparts? Did they not experience the state of the perfect just as we are today? To argue for inspired apostles after the fulfilled, confirmed arrival of the "perfect" is to deny that very confirmation and perfection. Lastly, the end of the age, the revelation or day of Christ, the full-grown man, the coming of the perfect, seeing "face to face," the redemption of the purchased possession, receiving the inheritance, and the unity of the faith are all equivalents in time and meaning having occurred in 70 A.D. with the fall of Jerusalem. The Bible makes abundantly clear that this is the time of the end or cessation of miracles.
Constantine Had a Vision
Citing Holy Scripture, we can only conclude that Constantine’s vision was not the result of Divine intervention by the Christian God. But let’s assume he actually believed he experienced a vision even if not Divine. This not far-fetched in the least. Constantine was the product of pagan Roman culture. A search of the literature reveals the people of Rome from time immemorial have been rabidly religious, even though misguided. This appetite for divine gods to depend on for daily guidance was pervasive throughout ancient Roman society. From the lowest slave to the emperor everyone’s daily life was constrained within a cult mentality ruled by one god or another(sometimes several). And it had been that way for hundreds of years. As a Roman you were “born” into that culture. Constantine’s forbears and Constantine himself grew up within that culture, and it is validly within our prerogative to assume Constantine was a religious pagan fanatic. Everything concerning his religious performance throughout his entire life bears this out.
So what does modern science have to say about persons like Constantine and visions? I cite a book titled “Are You Getting Enlightened or Losing Your Mind?-- A Spiritual Program For Mental Fitness” by Dennis Gersten, M.D.(Harmony, a Division of Crown Books. May 1997).
It is not uncommon for military men anticipating an up-coming battle may experience visions of one sort or another. Visions may occur spontaneously, in a normal state of consciousness, or they may occur as part of an altered state, a mystical state of union.
Our General Constantine anticipating his upcoming battle could easily come under that modern scientifically developed description for his vision considering his pagan mindset, the circumstance, and possibly being inebriated. As for the account by Eusebius thirteen years later we know all too well his proclivity for embellishment.
For one thing Constantine’s entire religious life up to that point was based on pagan gods. Like most pagans Constantine found it easy to accept the Christian god as being no different than any other god he knew. “Why not try out this new god--it couldn’t hurt” was the rule of the day for pagans. And because he noted that the persecution of Christians was to no avail, it appeared to him this god must be very powerful. On that basis he decided it would be prudent to take advantage of this all powerful god that was dumped in his lap.
To top it all off Constantine won this great battle, which reinforces his conclusion that it could not have happened without the assistance of an all-powerful god. “By golly I’ve got something here, and I’m going to run with it!!” That’s a bit facetious, but no one really knows what was in the mind of Constantine.
The written record does not provide conclusive answers. As a result scholars and others who have a vested interest in a particular point of view as it pertains to the historical record are sometimes carried away into flights of fancy. My research reveals to me that most credible historians have missed the mark in their quest to understand our thesis because they don’t fully understand the connection between Roman paganism and Christianity. However, the record is clear concerning the overall pagan mindset during this period in history. This is our only means to come to an understanding of Constantine’s worldview. For instance, most Roman emperors thought of themselves as highly religious, and attributed their success as a world power to their collective piety in maintaining good relations with the gods. For ordinary Romans, pagan gods were a part of daily life. They were known for the great number of deities they honored They had never been obligated to cultivate one god or one cult only. There were gods of the upper heavens, gods of the underworld and a myriad of lesser deities between. In pagan Rome religion was less a spiritual experience than a contractual relationship between mankind and the forces which were believed to control people's existence and well-being. The Roman was by nature a very superstitious person. Emperors would tremble and even legions refuse to march if the omens were bad ones. This was the world Constantine grew up in, and he was no exception.
Milvian was a pivotal battle in history and Constantine’s vision is one of the great "what if" questions. What if this was an act of Satan? Was this in the plan of God? The upshot of all this and providence being what it is we find Constantine won the battle and it is at this point in history that the man Constantine comes on the scene as the undisputed ruler of the Western Empire. At the same time he adopts the Christian god and becomes the instrument leading to the formation of an elite powerful church.
In 315 A.D., the Roman senate dedicated a monumental arch between the Palatine Hill and the Colosseum, along the road taken by the triumphal processions, to commemorate the victory of Constantine over Maxentius. Don’t think for a minute that Constantine didn’t have a hand in the format of that arch. The main inscription reads: To the Emperor Caesar Flavius Constantinus, the greatest, pious, and blessed Augustus: because he, inspired by the divine, and by the greatness of his mind, has delivered the state from the tyrant and all of his followers at the same time, with his army and just force of arms, the Senate and People of Rome have dedicated this arch, decorated with triumph.
The huge Arch which remains to this day was topped with a bronze statue of the emperor riding in Apollo’s chariot. There are no crosses on banners and shields, and no images of Jesus. But there are carvings of pagan gods. The arch is decorated with eight columns, each topped with a statue of a Dacian nobleman repurposed from Emperor Trajan’s Forum (built during the 2nd century AD). The eight statues of Dacians (of which seven survive today, plus one replica from the 18th century) were probably picked because they looked like magi wearing the Phrygian caps Constantine had his name carved with the words “divinely inspired” on the frontispiece, but it was the giant statue of Apollo that overlooked the arch.
Many scholars conclude that Constantine fabricated the episode of his vision in order to win the allegiance of the Christian soldiers in Maxentius’s army. To secure the help of Roman officers in eliminating other claims to his crown, he also embraced their Mithraic cult, all the while worshipping the sun-god Apollo, the supreme god of the empire at the time. He then mixed all the cults into one in order to bring about unity among his subjects.
Those cults were not that different to begin with. The Mediterranean sun-god Mithras was worshipped for giving his blood for the eternal salvation of the souls of his followers. He died and was resurrected. Apollo had a halo around his head, soon to be lent to Jesus in artistic Christian depictions of the Savior. Mithras’s birthday was December 25, the beginning of Saturnalia – soon to become Jesus’s birthday, even though there is no note of it in the Bible. The new capital of the empire was named – as not to take sides – not after Jesus or Mithras or Apollo, but after Constantine.
In the heart of Constantinople, a huge column stood, with a bronze statue of Apollo bearing Constantine’s face on top and an alleged relic of the true cross inside provided by his mother Helena.
In Eusebius’s first account of the battle there is no mention of divine visions and dreams. Constantine’s biographer only learned about them thirteen years after the battle, at a banquet the emperor held for the Christian church leaders. Constantine convinced Eusebius to rewrite history and Eusebius was happy to comply with the request of an emperor who now endorsed the Christian faith.
The Advent of Religious tolerance
From their first appearance in Rome Christians had endured intermittent persecution, which at times was severe. There always existed an imperial precedent for the suppression of the Christian Church and the making of martyrs. By 250A.D. the Christian presence throughout the empire was becoming notable, and under the emperor Diocletion the Church endured its most thoroughgoing persecution to that point in history.
Within a year after seizing absolute power Constantine began to implement his personal agenda, which in effect became a theocratic monarchy. Constantine set himself up as being the connecting link between God and the world, at the same time viewing the state as an earthly reflection of divine law. Within this environment of monotheism, and philosophical salvation and deification, Constantine’s agenda evolved. The era of Constantine was the beginning of an enslavement of the Roman Church by the state. His actual conversion to Christianity is suspect because it did not originally involve baptism, which was the only previously recognized form of entry into the Church. But from this point on Constantine embraced everything “Christian.”
In 313AD The Edict of Milan was pronounced. The document is more accurately seen as his first step in creating an alliance with the Christian God, whom Constantine now considered the strongest Deity. Constantine at that time was more concerned about social stability and the protection of the empire from the wrath of the Christian God than he was for justice or care for the Christians. The Edict of Milan is more indicative of the Roman culture’s obsession with seeking the gods' intervention than of Constantine's or Licinius’s religious beliefs. The sense of urgently righting wrongs reflects the leaders' desires to avoid unfavorable consequences, which in this case included social unrest and further conquests. The sooner the Romans maintained a state of justice with the Christians, the sooner the state could become stable because, it was thought, the forces of evil would be more balanced. Constantine was known to be superstitious and believed enough in the existence of the pagan gods to not want to offset the balance of good and evil. Because Constantine held this fear of all the gods worshiped in the Roman Empire at that time, this fear of and desire to form an alliance with the Christian God demonstrated in the Edict of Milan is insufficient to claim he was then a Christian.
This was not the only time Constantine reshaped history to suit his needs. He rewrote Maxentius’s rule in the books, turning a good emperor into a Christian persecutor and an incompetent tyrant. Recent discoveries by, among others, archeologists at the University of Rome La Sapienza show that Maxentius never oppressed Christians, and that many Roman buildings attributed to Constantine had been in reality erected by Maxentius.
It is no surprise that the history emperors left behind is not reliable. But even when investigative archeologists have a strong case to revisit that history, does it matter now to a world built on those centuries old tales? For myself, I think it does!
The revised biography of Constantine by Eusebius leaves some doubt, but defers to the emperor, who he says swore an oath as to the truth of his vision. Can one hang their hat on the oath of a Roman emperor who is capable of murder? These two things (the arch and Vita Constantini) come as close as we can get to valid evidence about that distant time. And they do pose an interesting question in regard to the truth.
How do we know that we have “all” of Bishop Eusebius’ writings and who says that the emperor didn’t convince Eusebius to rewrite the history. Did 300 Spartans really manage to hold off the million-man Persian army seven days? Says who? On what authority? And the list could go on indefinitely. At some point, we’re forced to place our trust somewhere… with some “authority” based upon our own best judgment after doing our own research.
Whose authority to eventually trust is key to this discussion. Most historians insist that only primary sources should ever be considered to uncover the truth. Yet I know of no genealogist who hasn’t found errors by prime sources in their research. Even prime sources can be wrong. Consider opposing testimony by sincere witnesses at a court trial. All are under oath, yet, see things differently, and here we are talking about short spans of time—not tens or hundreds of years.
The Edict of Milan and the Church
After the battle of Milvian emperors Constantine and Licinius decided to divide the Roman world between them. As a result of this settlement, Licinius became sole Augustus in the East, while his brother-in-law, Constantine, was supreme in the West. The emperor Licinius was married to the half-sister of Constantine. Their marriage was the occasion for the jointly-issued "Edict of Milan" that reissued Galerius' previous edict allowing Christianity to be professed in the Empire. This co-authored Edict was the most significant binding proclamation in all of world history It heralded the appearance of the notion of religious liberty in the Roman Empire, which eventuated in the formation of the institutionalized Roman Catholic Church. Formerly, It marked the agreement between Constantine I, who ruled the western lands, and Licinius, who controlled much of the East, to put a stop to the persecution of Christians. They spoke in terms of widespread tolerance. "We have also conceded to other religions the right of open and free observance of their worship for the sake of the peace of our times, that each one may have the free opportunity to worship as he pleases. This regulation is made that we may not seem to detract from any dignity of any religion." For this period of time these were revolutionary ideas, and their influence, at least in Western Christian lands, was most profound. This Edict opened the floodgates for Christian advancement, however, it wasn’t until a decree implemented by Emperor Theodosius in 380AD that Christianity was decreed the formal religion of the Roman Empire.
Both men had many motives for their action, and their motives were mixed. Being shrewd politicians, they could see which way the wind was blowing. Constantine had long concluded that the persecution of Christians was a futile endeavor. By the time of the Edict, all the empire’s major urban centers had majority- or plurality-Christian populations. Even the rural populations had been similarly Christianized. In every sector of society — military, education, commerce, government — Christians were present and making great inroads. Constantine had learned from Galerius that persecution was counter-productive. Why did Constantine and Licinius do what they did? That question may never be answered with finality.
One of Constantine’s hand-picked intellectuals, Lactantius, wrote eloquently in defense of religious freedom – “Torture and piety are quite different things; truth cannot be joined to force or justice to cruelty.” No doubt Lactantius had the ear of Constantine and was one of his close advisors. We know he tutored Constantine’s son at Trier, Germany. Lactantius was raised in the traditional pagan Roman religions and also had served as an advisor to Diocletion. He converted to Christianity at that time, and because of his opposing views on Christian persecution, he was removed from Diocletion’s court. By the time Constantine raised him from obscurity, he was a respected Christian thinker, an old man who had run the course and could make a sound and sympathetic case for tolerance. His influence on Constantine’s worldview appears to be providential
In effect, Constantine became a patron of the Christian faith. He supported the Church financially, had an extraordinary number of basilicas built, granted privileges (e.g., exemption from certain taxes) to clergy, promoted Christians to high-ranking offices, returned property confiscated during the Great Persecution of Diocletian, and endowed the church with land and other wealth. In all her previous history the Christian Church had been denied official status: usually she was suppressed and persecuted. Now, under Constantine, not only is the Church officially recognized, but Christianity becomes the favored religion of the Empire. Having given the Church a favored place, Constantine assumed the right to guide all ecclesiastical affairs and when necessary to enforce a settlement to any controversy as well as Church policies and doctrines, simply, “as Emperor he called the shots.”
The Council of Nicea
The Council of Nicea was one of the most momentous events of human history. In a nutshell I liken it to a “World Series.” At Nicea, theologians came from all over the world to play for the title. Constantine called the game, but he was no theologian. He is best described as the “umpire.” He set the rules of the game, but the theologians were the players. After a seven-day series, there were winners and losers. In the case of Nicea the best team won, and the title has never been overturned. Now let’s get serious!
It was a council of Christian bishops convened in the Bithynian city of Nicaea(now Iznik, Bursa province, Turkey) by theRoman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325. He organized the Council and presided over it, but did not cast any official vote. One could call it the first ecumenical council held by the Christian church , and is best known for its formulation of the Nicene Creed, the earliest dogmatic statement of Christian orthodoxy.
The origins of Nicea were both political and theological. Constantine had a problem on his hands. He had decided to favor Christianity, but he didn’t really understand its theology, and soon found himself at the center of a smoldering 100-year old doctrinal dispute about Jesus Christ’s divinity and relationship to the Father. Complex unanswered questions about Jesus Christ as the Word — how he could be fully God and fully man, his preexistence — left the door wide open to misinterpretation and heresy.
Using the Arian controversy as pretext, Constantine saw it as a great opportunity to carry out a comprehensive agenda that in the end was made to order for his closest advisors. The Council of Nicea was held as much to hold the Roman empire together as much as it was to hold the Church together. So many Romans had become Christians under Constantine that a Church split could easily become a split in the empire. Constantine would have none of that. Constantine had emerged victorious in a series of civil wars against the emperor Maxentius and Licinius and was now the sole ruler of both west and east by 324AD. Then in 325 He called the Council of Nicea, which is known as the First Ecumenical Council. This refers to the fact that it called all Christian leaders to gather together for the first time. This was the first one to include all Christian leaders near and far.
However it was, whether it was his idea or that of his ecclesiastical advisors( Lactanius and Hosius) Constantine interjected himself into a widespread theological controversy over the nature or status of the Son/Logos and its relation to the nature of God. In 323 Hosius was the bearer of Constantine's letter to Bishop Alexander and Arius, in which he urged them to reconciliation. On the failure of the negotiations in Egypt, Constantine convened the First Council of Nicea, probably in agreement with the local bishop of Rome, and perhaps on the advice of Hosius. Hosius presided at the Council although it is unclear whether he was nominated by Constantine. We know Constantine was in complete charge of the whole affair, but the extent to which he delegated his authority was not made explicit. After all he was the emperor and could not be ignored. We know Hosius took up the busy work of drawing up its canons and the Nicene Creed. After the Council Hosius returned to his diocese in Spain.
An interesting piece of Church history arises when one "John of Persia" signed his name to the roster and wrote that he was head of all churches in Persia and India. This little aside tells us what was taking place in church leadership and organization at the time. We don’t know what his exact title was, but most likely he was a bishop who claimed leadership over a specific geographical area containing many churches. This concept we now recognize as the formation of a diocese. The term diocese was not in common use at that time, but this is an indication that this is what was occurring in church organization.
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THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH
Only 53 years after the death of Constantine the Roman Catholic Church(RCC) finds its permanent place in history. In the year 380AD the three co-ruling emperors of the Roman Empire together issued the Edict of Thessalonica:
"It is our desire that all the various nations which are subject to our Clemency and Moderation, should continue to profess that religion which was delivered to the Romans by the divineApostle Peter, as it has been preserved by faithful tradition, and which is now professed by the Pontiff Damasus and by Peter, Bishop of Alexandria, a man of holiness. According to the apostolic teaching, and the doctrine of theGospel, let us believe in the one deity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, in equal majesty and in a holy Trinity. We authorize the followers of this law to assume the title of Catholic Christians; but as for the others, since, in our judgment they are foolish madmen, we decree that they shall be branded with the ignominious name of heretics, and shall not presume to give to their conventicles the name of churches. They will suffer in the first place the chastisement of the divine condemnation and in the second the punishment of our authority which in accordance with the will of Heaven we shall decide to inflict”.
This edict made Christianity the state church of the Roman Empire.Emperor Theodosius declared the Nicene Trinitarian Christianity to be the only legitimate imperial religion and the only one entitled to call itself Catholic. Other Christians he described as "foolish madmen" .He also ended official state support for the traditional pagan religions and customs. The edict re-affirmed a single expression of the Apostolic Faith as legitimate in the Roman Empire. It ordered all subjects of the Roman Empire to profess the faith of the bishops of Rome and of Alexandria, making Nicene Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire. The edict was followed in 381 by the First Council of Constantinople, which affirmed the Nicene Symbolum and gave final form to the Nicene-Constantin opolitan Creed. In 383, the Emperor ordered the various non-Nicene sects (Arians, Anomoeans, Macedonians, and Novatians) to submit written creeds to him, which he prayerfully reviewed and then burned, save for that of the Novatians. The other sects lost the right to meet, ordain priests, or spread their beliefs. Theodosius forbade heretics to reside within Constantinople, and in 392 and 394 confiscated their places of worship.
The Christian persecution of pagan Roman religion under Theodosius I began in 381, after the first couple of years of his reign in the Eastern Roman Empire. In the 380s, Theodosius I reiterated Constantine's ban on former pagan customs of Roman religion, prohibited haruspicy on pain of death, pioneered the criminalization of magistrates who did not enforce laws against polytheism, broke up some pagan associations and approved attacks on pagan Roman temples.
Between 389–392 he promulgated the "Theodosian decrees" (instituting a major change in his religious policies), which removed non-Nicene Christians from church office and abolished the last remaining expressions of the pagan Roman religion by making its holidays into workdays, banned blood sacrifices, closed pagan Roman temples, confiscated temple endowments and disbanded the Vestal Virgins. The practices of taking auspices and witchcraft were punished. Theodosius refused to restore the Altar of Victory in the Senate House, as asked by pagan senators.
At the same time, Christian church leaders took advantage of the situation, and became increasingly influential, eroding the emperors' powers. For example, when Bishop Ambrose threatened to withhold the sacraments, Emperor Theodosius accepted the penance the Bishop assigned him. Emperor Theodosius made Christianity the official religion in 390 C.E.
The rise of the Roman Christian church and the fall of the Roman Empire are linked through various events. The Roman Christian church grew rapidly with Roman citizens who despised secular rule. Christian views clashed in every way with what was then the social standard for upper Roman and Greek society. Rome fell with the help of Christianity. The followers of Christianity did not like secular rule, and Rome was based on bureaucracy and the rule of the emperor. When the emperor gave a decree, the Roman people obeyed. Christians were slow to obey and they did not always listen. If the emperor’s rules conflicted with the ideals of Christianity and the will of god, the Christians would not follow the will of the emperor. This is caused for dissonance throughout the empire. Throughout the remaining years of the Roman Empire after the rise of Christianity the Romans continued in a slow decline. As the Roman Empire fell Christianity not only aided in the decline but reveled in it. The more the Empire declined the more poor, and middle class citizens of Rome embraced Christianity. This led to a rapid increase in both the amount of Christians and the resistance to government, and at the same time the Bishop of Rome became a prominent person.
Many prominent members of the Roman society fled the city and went east when they knew that the barbarians were coming. When Rome fell, there was no emperor left, but the bishop of Rome was not attacked by the barbarian tribes because they were partial to the Christians. As a result the bishop of Rome filled the vacuum of leadership, and replaced the emperor. He was not only the undisputed spiritual leader, but became the political leader as well. His authority went almost unchallenged. This set the final stage for the ensuing papal system. The Roman Catholic Church then became the ruling force in Europe after the fall of Rome.
As Imperial Rome declined in leadership, the world in general was in a mess and the Roman church had become decidedly worldly. It was at that time we find a strong urge to find some way to counter this state of affairs. A movement called monastic living was instituted with Anthony of Thebes of Egypt in A.D. 270. In the ensuing decades the movement flourished. Men became hermits who separated themselves from all worldly practices and congregated together in monasteries. Monasticism came about because of the worldliness that had entered the church. Men desired to live holy lives, but could not because the pull of the world was too strong both inside and outside of the church.
As misguided as these monastic orders were in light of Scripture, they became a formidable movement. Whatever spiritual strength there was in the Middle Ages (and there was very little), it was probably found in the monks. What books were left from the Roman and Greek cultures were preserved and recopied by the monks. Monasticism was also the force that emphasized the separation of clergy and laity.
The fall of the Roman Empire was not an “instant” collapse. The "invading" Germanic tribes tended to be Roman educated, former Roman generals, who took over the existing Roman power structure, and sought to maintain most of its institutions. Thus, the new kings of the west still claimed allegiance to the Eastern Emperor, left the senate in place, and maintained the basic structure of empire for a long time (for example, Boethius was a senator, a consul, and the magister officiorum, all Roman offices, decades after deposition of the final Roman Emperor). The final collapse of these structures came centuries after the "fall of the western empire" with the destruction wrought by the Muslim invasions of the seventh century and the accompanying end of the Mediterranean trading culture that had defined antiquity. It's also important to note that most of the Germanic tribes were, by this point, Christian, albeit primarily of the Arian variety (this set up a society where the ruling elite were largely Arians, while the mass of folks were Nicaean). So, the first answer is that the Church survived the collapse of Empire, because there's a large degree to which the structures of Empire didn't really collapse all that hard, at least not for a while. The bishops of the Church had become increasingly integrated into the social/civic structure of the later empire. As centralized power weakened, someone still had to fill the vacuum and run things, and that fell to the bishops, which of course just ensconced them deeper into the power structures of post-imperial Europe.
The Eastern Roman Empire was still kicking, still very powerful, and the Church of the east was still united to that of the west. Even if every individual in the west had been slaughtered by mindless pagan hordes, you still had an intact and very robust ecclesiastical structure in the East. In fact, the Greeks dominated the Church during this time period, for more than 200 years. The Pope was appointed by the Eastern Emperor( apostolic succession?). Believing that Christianity was true, there was a concerted effort to sustain the Church during times of need. It's a very simple explanation, but simple explanations are often true.
Finally, the church at Rome achieved absolute power when the emperor Valentinian III ordered the famous decree of June 6, 445, which recognized the primacy of the bishop of Rome based on the merits of Peter, the dignity of the city, and the Nicene Creed (in their interpolated form); ordained that any opposition to his rulings, which were to have the force of law, should be treated as treason; and provided for the forcible extradition by provincial governors of anyone who refused to answer a summons to Rome.
We now know that the western world would never be same and the Roman church would never be the same after the death of Constantine. It didn’t take long for the Roman church to accommodate itself to the taste of secular power. When the power of pagan Rome declined , the power of the local Roman church increased as it accumulated more power and influence. When the emperor Constantine blended paganism and Christianity Rome eventually became the religious capital of the world.
It took some time, but a revolutionary new course had been set. Christianity had finally prevailed. As the State religion it suddenly became a well funded organization.The local Roman church became the authorized faith of the Roman Empire by the end of the fourth century. It was not until the 4th and 5th centuries that papal primacy, helped by myths and legends, became permanent . This marked the beginning of the rise of the Bishops of Rome to the position of not just religious authority, but also of the power to be the ultimate ruler of the kingdoms within the Christian community (Christendom), which it has since retained.
By the end of the 5th century, the global Christian population was estimated at about 10 million, all under the leadership of Rome. As the political power of the Roman empire dwindled, the more the church became the stabilizing and unifying source for Roman society, outlasting the empire, and in a sense eventually replacing it. And with this new found power the Roman church, which in earlier times had known such prolonged oppression, did not shrink from becoming an oppressor on its own.
The Church hierarchy saw themselves as the one who had the power to be in contact with God on behalf of the people. The people themselves were unable to do that and needed the hierarchy to stay on the right path and by submitting themselves to the Church they would be guided to salvation. Those who strayed from the path were sinners on their way to eternal damnation, those who questioned the church were heretics and persecuted. Only through the Church and its hierarchy could people learn how to live a good life and be saved. The tricky path on earth had to be followed correctly and the regulations for this were carefully laid out in canons which were supervised and controlled by the Church. The sacrament of baptism could get a person free of the ‘original’ sin, the sacrament of confession made it possible to eliminate the sins the people encounter during the life on earth, but only after serious contrition did the sinner obtain absolution after penitence was done. Indulgences could assist them in this process they could be obtained through good works, going on pilgrimages, fighting in crusades, having holy masses dedicated to them after their death, donate money for cathedral building, altars in churches and towards the end of the Middle Ages one could actually buy indulgences .An indulgence was usually the substitution of one kind of act or deed for another.
The Reformation
A review of the history of the medieval church clearly reveals a number of separate factors that contributed to the advent of the Protestant Reformation The Reformation cannot be explained as simply an aspect of the dissolution of the Middle Ages; but it certainly cannot be understood apart from this. We can cite three movements that were contributory: 1. Renaissance humanism which represented an outlook upon life which was essentially different from that represented by the medieval church. Humanists, in fact , were for reform. 2. Mysticism. Mystics helped to undermine the church whose life they intended to restore. This was inevitable, for the emphasis upon the direct personal experience of God contradicted the notion that God was known and mediated exclusively through the church as the sacramental agent. 3. Nominalism, which was a new philosophy that had implications for understanding man, church, and society. Man now felt unique. These three factors represent religious and intellectual movements mostly unaware of their threat to the medieval unity and therefore also to the medieval church. Also, one can ponder what might have happened if the printing press had not been invented in time to carry Luther’s prophetic protest and provide a great outlet for his positive gospel message.
Of course, the key to reform came from Martin Luther. Initially, Luther wasn’t as much concerned about the corruption he observed first hand with the papacy and clergy as he was with anxiety over the state of his own soul. As a young priest he believed only the church had a remedy for sins confessed. If a man confessed his sins, he could be absolved and then he could carry out the prescribed penance. Only so could he become righteous. For Luther, this was not enough to satisfy his conscience. He could not put aside the question of certainty under God. The impossibility of finding assurance drove Luther even to wonder whether God was just at all. The connection of righteousness and deliverance challenged the conception that the former always meant the demanding , judicial, fearful justice of God. If that was so, it could hardly be associated with deliverance.
It wasn’t until Luther understood the passage in Romans 1:17 which refers to the gospel as the disclosure of justice or righteousness of God. For Luther this verse became the basis for a new understanding. He had discovered that the gospel spoke about a righteous God who indicated his faithfulness, mercy, and love toward men who knew they were not righteous. Here was disclosed a God who, without rescinding his demand upon men was righteous also in another way. Without asking a sign of worth, he extended his mercy to those who trusted him rather than themselves and their activities. Now the accent shifted from him who was actually righteous to him “who through faith is righteous.” It is faith or trust springing from direct encounter with the redeeming presence. This was the logic of righteousness proclaimed in the Bible.
This was the central point of Luther’s faith at the time he posted the ninety-five theses in protest against the abuses surrounding the sale of indulgences. Here he did not reject indulgences outright. He rejected only the abuses. He did not believe the papacy had the power to remit guilt in respect to the least of venial sins, nor could indulgences be said to have any effect on purgatory. He claimed the Pope could only change or cancel those penalties imposed by his own authority or by canons of the church. Luther believed indulgences were valid only when confined to such human and organizational discipline and had no necessary relation to the final destiny of any individual believer.
Luther discovered early on that his ninety-five theses did not issue in the debate he first anticipated. Instead of being invited to discussion, he was ordered to recant. The rest is history.
For an assessment of the RCC, see Appendix II of this Treatise.
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“My Church”
Yes! If it wasn’t for Constantine the Roman Catholic Church would have no significant history. But it does have a long history, and the record is there for everyone to see. Having given the local Roman Church the world, what Constantine could not anticipate was the enormous impact his life and ideas would have on the remaining history of the world.
After Constantine died in 337AD, The church of Rome would rapidly come to dominate the entire western world. While a political and economic decline characterized Western Europe between 500 and 1000 C.E., the Catholic Church filled the ensuing vacuum and emerged as the most powerful institution the world had ever seen. The plan of Satan.
God Answers Satan
Once more God intervenes in history to answer Satan. Spiritual Power is arguably the most influential power of all. In the wrong hands, it even gives the power to make judgments even about the eternal fate of another person. With unlimited power the Catholic Church hierarchy lost its bearings resulting in all manner of apostasy.
In time it became obvious that enough was enough and a total reformation was required. Instead of a flood, God found another way. He called out the man Luther. The Reformation could be likened to “The Great Escape.” Out from under the thumb of the Roman Catholic hierarchy. But Satan is still the god of this world, ruling and reigning by means of Islam, Buddhism, and the New(Pagan) Age, and Catholicism.
The answer was a remnant gathering of believing Christians analogous to the pseudo-denominational "house churches" of the first century. The source of the Body of Christ. All believing in the Risen Jesus Christ as their LORD and savior in the only way they know how. Based solely on the written Word of God as found in Holy Scripture.
The “Church” is to be a “lighthouse” in the community, pointing people toward our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The “Church” is to promote the Gospel of Christ to complete the Body of Christ. So, what is the one and only gospel? Paul summarizes the gospel of grace in his letter to the Corinthians:
“Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time… (1 Cor 15:1-6)
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The Week of Tribulation is fast approaching. The Body of Christ which has been growing for 2000 years is almost ready to be taken to heaven. God’s remnant church down through the ages has been scorned, ridiculed hated and despised and hunted down and killed and almost all of this was done by “their own.” And now these very people will have one last chance to join with that Body and escape the final judgment that is coming upon the whole world. Some will, most will not.
God in His grace is willing to go to great lengths to save the some who will, this is the mark of His great love for the world. And so God is raising up this Body of Christ in small gatherings of Bible believers where His presence can be found in the midst of a great drought and famine which we are in and which is merely a pre-cursor to the final judgement. Will you join us and take your place with the few?
He’s waiting, and waiting, and waiting for His Bride, the Body of Christ to finally be consummated with Him in glory. And so He is the head over all things to the Body, which is His Church.
“MY CHURCH”
FOR THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY