Raju Ebenezer

History is not a long chain of unrelated events. It is rather a chain of related events- one depending on the other- determining the onward course of human life.
In other words history is the course of human life determined by successive epochs of time.

This is true about the Church history too.

There are four different landmark epochs setting four different significant phases of history of the Church. We begin with the event that changed the course of history!

Like a rushing wind.

It was impossible that Jesus should die!

The disciples were too sure that Jesus was the Christ. And they had pinned all their hopes in Him.

They had lived with Jesus and knew for themselves the man `who knew no sin'. They had walked with Him `who went about doing good'. They heard Him speak `the words of eternal life'. They had seen with their own eyes Jesus doing miracles which `only God could do'. They had seen with their own eyes His majestic transformation at the mount of transfiguration and had `beheld His glory as the only begotten from the Father'.

With one accord they would all say, “The word became flesh and dwelt among us”!
But to their rude shock they saw their great Lord to whom the `winds and the sea obey' being put to death! However before they came out of the daze of the tragedy, to their stunning surprise they saw Him risen up from the dead!!

The whole episode set the watershed of a new era.

The disciples were now to go and witness to all nations this Jesus and that He is `the Christ'- the one sent of God. They were to declare His resurrection and His Lordship in heaven and earth. They were to proclaim that in His name there is repentance and forgiveness of sin to all men. They were to teach those who believed in His name all that He commanded and make them disciples!

Who on earth could accomplish this task?

They were to go to the utmost of the earth- crossing land and seas. They were to go to unknown people of strange language and culture. They were to go to the learned and lead them to `the faith' proving the folly of their wisdom. They were to go to a hostile people of strange gods and religion and turn them to Christ!
It was too difficult a mission even for the wisest, the ablest and the mightiest to accomplish.

But the great irony is that this task was entrusted with the most ignorant, least able and the feeblest of men. To them this task was simply impossible!

Yet it happened! Land and seas were covered! Cultural and ethnic barriers bridged! The wise of the world brought to salvation by the foolishness of preaching! Scores of hostile people reconciled to God although at the cost of the lives of many martyrs!

The soldiers of the cross had marched into the entire known world within the first two hundred years! What was the secret?

The secret was nothing but the Pentecost! The Holy Spirit met all their lack- the lack of knowledge, the lack of ability, the lack of exposure and the lack of resources. Rather the Holy Spirit Himself became their very resource and adequacy!
This is the significance of Pentecost. And the day of Pentecost is the greatest day and the greatest event of the Church history!

Post Pentecost

And what followed was the proclamation and demonstration of the fact of resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ from very heaven itself. Apostles preached it. God witnessed to it by granting repentance to many, transforming the lives of many and doing great signs and wonders.

Apostles preached Jesus Christ. Their message was totally centered on the savior Jesus Christ - Christ crucified, risen and Lord in heaven. Their lives were a powerful proof of the genuineness of their testimony and witness. There was a simplicity and transparency about their lives. However they were faced with their first great test soon- defining their faith and position with regard to Judaism! The early church was comprised of believers out of the Jews. To them their new faith practically meant a renewed version of Judaism.

Nevertheless the new wine couldn't be contained in the old wineskin!
It was a great struggle for the early Church to wriggle out of the shackles of Judaism in to the liberty and life inherent in the gospel. It took at least a quarter of a century towards this difficult transition. Yet eventually she overcame!

Alongside came the second great test- the trial of severe opposition.

The Roman emperors beginning from Nero in AD 64 up to Diocletian in AD 303 unleashed fierce persecution against the Christians. They gathered up all the strength of imperial might to crush and exterminate Christianity. The greater they were oppressed the stronger they became. They thrived and multiplied in the furnace of tribulation! At last it was becoming evident that it was not the Church to give way but it was Rome to give way to the Church!

The kingdom had come with power. The kingdom was advancing with power. The gates of hell couldn't prevail it!

The threat of heresy

But there was a deeper problem far more dangerous than opposition and oppression- the growing threat of heresies.

The gospel had its primary outreach and harvest in the Greco- Roman soil which was so obsessed with a lot of philosophical speculation. And soon there was a great attempt to interpret Christianity in the context of the `contemporary thinking'. With the result `blended' versions of Christianity started evolving.

Paul's warning to Colossians against `appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self- abasement' 1 and John's warning in his epistle against `deceivers gone out into the world who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh' are to be seen in this backdrop.

Gnosticism with its fundamental precept of the `essential evil nature of everything tangible and material' was infiltrating Christian thinking with various forms of asceticism like `handle not, taste not or touch not' and in `neglect of the body'. Docetism a version of Gnosticism further carried it to the dangerous conclusion that body being so evil, Christ did not actually come in the flesh rather the incarnation of Christ was just an appearance - unreal!

Marcionism took a stride forward and held that this evil world was created by an inferior God - the God of the Old Testament or Jehovah. However the God whom Jesus represented was the good and superior God who really intended the deliverance of humanity. Thus they believed that the God of the Old and New were distinct and set aside the whole of the Old Testament!

Manichaeism was another religion culled out from the teachings of Christianity, Zoroastrianism and Buddhism which had a wide influence covering Spain in the west to China in the east. Arianism went to the extreme error of holding that Jesus Christ was a created being, the first and highest of all created being, neither God or man but the mediator between God and man. Thus it tampered with the very nature of Christ, His divinity, and thereby His saving efficacy.

The reaction

The Church had to deal now the growing menace of heresy on a war footing. And she turned her whole attention to the battlefront of fighting heresy.

She set to `define the truth' in clear terms. She gathered all her strength to `defend the truth'. She worked out strategies to `preserve of truth'.

She got totally occupied with it and expended her whole energy on it.

In the whole process the simple faith and devotion to Jesus Christ was at stake. The simplicity, spiritual reality and power of the gospel was ebbing away.

No doubt it was necessary to understand and formulate the truth. This practically meant comprehending spiritual truth with the natural mind and reducing it down to physical words.
The mind had predominance over the spirit. Truth became a series of scriptural propositions and `faith' became one's mental assent and allegiance to these propositions. Faith got intellectualized!

Thus `faith in Christ'- the personal and hearty acknowledgment of the person, reliance on His finished work of salvation, and submission to His Lordship and claim- was being substituted by a `belief' in the creed - articles of faith.

With the result a `formulated truth' was substituting `Christ the truth'. `Assent of the mind' was taking over `faith of the heart'. `Allegiance to doctrine' was replacing `devotion to Christ'.

More over in combating error and the devitalizing forces, the churches needed a common stand, front and forum. This slowly led to the development of an ecumenical and organized Christianity with a common confession of faith.

The result was that a `personal faith' and `personal experience' lost its implication giving way for an `institutional faith'- a common belief. A person was considered a Christian not on the basis of his faith in Christ but on the basis of his confession of the commonly accepted creed!

Further, it was necessary that the Church be protected from all pagan and heretical influences. The preservation of the truth then much depended on the leadership of the Church. Therefore the office of the local leadership assumed great significance. They were to act as the guardians of truth. Hence it would be safe and expedient that only `the authorized person' teach and administer baptism or Lord's table.

Slowly by the early second century the office of the Bishop was gaining a certain prominence that by the middle of the century a clerical order gained clear dominance.

The status attributed to Bishops and their exclusive right to administer Baptism and the Lord's table brought in an exaggerated importance to priests and priestly administered sacraments. Slowly sacraments were considered as means of salvation which later became known as Sacerdotalism- salvation through the sacraments.

Error is evil. However often the reaction to error becomes a greater evil! In the reaction of the Church in countering error it is a matter of serious consideration as to what did cost God's cause more- heresy itself or the reaction and attempt of the Church to rout out error!

The declension

The early movement slowly lost its fire, power and purity. In its zealous attempt to destroy error, truth itself became the casualty. It may be profitable to consider the principle areas where the early Church failed.

(1) Christ requires the total occupation of our heart. Every other heart occupation distracts us from Christ. Our subtlest danger is to be occupied with what is `Christian' than `Christ' Himself. Paul saw the Corinthians drifting to `another Christ, another Spirit and another gospel'. He told them the reason too- they were led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

The early brethren in their serious occupation to combat error got distracted from their devotion to Christ. As they were pondering over facts about Christ they were losing their heart for Christ. As they were establishing the truth about Christ, `Christ the truth' and the reality of Christ was slowly eluding them. Finally they got a creed- a statement of faith in the place of a risen Christ!

When anything else other than Christ, be it the worthiest cause or the noblest goal occupy our attention, we forfeit our devotion for Christ. As we stray away from Christ we stray away from faith.

(2) Spiritual truth can be preserved and represented only with spiritual life. Truth is to be lived. That is the primary defense and witness of truth.

When we live and proclaim the truth we are witnesses to it. When we proclaim the truth only as a matter of fact without living it, weare mere advocates of truth.

Truth which is not lived but only defended and proclaimed loses its content and credibility- it dies at the hands of its advocates. It lives with those who live it.
In the course of defending and preserving truth, the Church became an `advocate of truth' and ceased to be a witness of truth. God needs witnesses and not advocates of truth.

We renounce the truth when we don't live it.

(3) The Lord said to Peter, `flesh and blood has not revealed it to you but my Father'.

We can't know the truth unless God reveals it to us. The truth of God is to be seen, experienced and known in our spirit first. Understanding in our minds is to follow the perception of our spirit. But the moment we make `truth' primarily a matter of mind and reason its spiritual reality vanishes.

Spiritual truth is like a glow worm it lives and glows in its life environment. It dies and cease to glow in the captivity of a study lab.

In the process of comprehending, formulating and stating the content of `the faith', `faith' became a property of the mind than of the heart and spirit. Thus the Church slowly shifted from a `spiritual faith' to an `intellectual faith' losing the genuineness and power of faith.

An intellectual faith is a pseudo faith!

(4) Faith and the experience that follows is personal. The moment it ceases to be personal, it ceases to be faith. When faith is made institutional or collective it turns to be a `belief system' and there is nothing Christian about it even if Christ is the subject of the belief system.

Church is the assembly of the called out ones- those who have a personal encounter with Christ. A belief system attracts adherents and sympathizers. It substitutes spiritual regeneration with proselytisation- converting others into their beliefs, practices and culture.

The result is the appearance of a pseudo church- an earthly institution of proselytes in the place of the Church of the regenerated saints.

`Churchianity' is not Christianity'!

(5) Christ is the substance of faith. Apart from Christ no teaching, observance or practice has any value by itself. Further, participation in the institutions like baptism or the Lords table are outward expressions of the inward faith and have no inherent spiritual value.

Reliance to anything for grace and salvation other than Christ is a direct refusal of Christ and the salvation He has procured for us.

We may believe every right things and practice every good things. But Christ alone is the truth and the way. Anything has value only in Christ. Apart from Christ every thing is a dead work or ritual.

Paul says, `No one can lay any other foundation other than Christ'. In the gradual slide to sacraments as means of grace and salvation, the Church was moving out of its very foundation.

Where Christ is absent, grace and salvation is absent.

(6) Only a new wineskin can contain the new wine of God. The need is not alone the new wine but also the new wineskin for the movement of God in any generation.
Old wineskin- orthodoxy and tradition essentially follows every movement. Therefore to contain the new wine- resurrection life- the wineskin too should be kept renewed. The movement that followed the upper room experience slowly settled in to an institution. There arose a clerical order and the Church was getting organized. The ecclesiastical authority became the custodian of the truth- the authority to define and state truth.

And the glorious movement came to a grinding halt. It ceased to be `the lamp stand' of God!

God's truth, life and Spirit cannot be held in the captivity of orthodoxy and tradition.

The Organized Church was thus conditioned to enter a tragic phase of `apostasy'. Yet God has a remnant in every generation!

(To be continued).