The Early Church
The early church timelines from 30AD to 476AD.
This era began with the Pentecost and the missionary work of the apostles. The Gospel spread with the Gentiles as an audience. With the spread of the Good News, there was also a great spread of persecution through this time. The church faced persecution due largely to the refusal to worship the emperor of the time. Continual clash between the Christian beliefs and societal beliefs marked this time period with martyring and persecution. Martyr was a goal and honorary aspect of the faith. It was not until Constantine came into power that much of this changed.
This era began with the Pentecost and the missionary work of the apostles. The Gospel spread with the Gentiles as an audience. With the spread of the Good News, there was also a great spread of persecution through this time. The church faced persecution due largely to the refusal to worship the emperor of the time. Continual clash between the Christian beliefs and societal beliefs marked this time period with martyring and persecution. Martyr was a goal and honorary aspect of the faith. It was not until Constantine came into power that much of this changed.
Doctrinal Implications of the timeEvangelism to the Gentiles:
Prior to the apostles, the news of the Messiah had been exclusively for the Jews. They were God's chosen people. The Messiah would come from the Jews and restore God's promise to the Jewish people. Therefore, after Jesus' death and resurrection, it was different and even radical that the covenant between God and the Jews could be extended to the Gentiles (Gonzales V.1 33-35). Do Gentile converts have to obey the Law of Israel? During this time of the church, the Gospel was moving outside of Jews to people groups not of Israel. There was a spreading of Christianity to Gentiles and people groups in all surrounding areas. One of the questions after conversion was if these non-Jewish peoples need to follow the laws of Israel (Gonzales V.1 32-33). Persecution (martyr): During the Early Church, there was great persecution toward Jews and Christians. This persecution came a result of their belief in monotheism. God and God alone was Lord. Therefore, He and He alone received the praise and adoration. During this time, the emperor was seen as "god" on earth. The emperor was god incarnated. He was a representation of the gods on earth. Therefore, it was required that people worshiped, prayed to, and honored the emperor. This was where the early Christians felt conflict with the state, which led to their persecution. Unwilling to compromise, Christians would not offer worship or prayer to the emperor. Not only was this interpreted as a religious disobedience, but it was also seen as a political disobedience. As a result, Christians were believed to be unfaithful to the emperor in both the religious and political aspect. The emperors of the time targeted Christians heavily and many Christians became martyrs, giving up their life for their faith. As a result, persecution became a natural, if not requirement of the Christian faith. It was known and accepted that being a Christian entailed persecution. In fact, being a martyr was a high calling, often desired and seen in the highest esteem for Christians (Gonzales V.1 49-55, 97-103). Pagan Culture: During this time, there was also a rise in different thoughts. These areas of thoughts emerged from those that were both outside the church and those inside the church. Influences outside the church challenged the church to begin building a defense for its beliefs. This led to the beginning of apologetics. Additionally, thoughts such as Gnosticism and Marcion led to the building of orthodoxy, or true belief. These were norms that were universally agreed upon as truth. Forms of orthodoxy included creeds, the canonization of the Bible, and the apostolic succession. All of these things helped to prevent the contamination or alteration of the original, true faith. This was important to the church and to Christians as the Gospel was continuing to spread and the church was continuing to expand (Gonzales V.1 69-77). |
IMportant VoicesApostle Paul
Paul was the apostle who was focused on bringing the Gospel to the Gentiles. After an encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul was converted from his old self known as Saul. After this conversion, Paul went on to preach the Good News and establish churches a number of the first century churches. Paul also authored a majority of the works in the New Testament. Much of Paul's writings were letters to these new churches (Gonzales V.1 33-35).
Nero of Rome
Nero became the ruler of Rome in 54. He was known for his persecution of believers. Particularly, Nero was known for blaming the fires in Rome on the Christians. The time of Nero's reign was known as the Neronian persecution. It is suspected that both Peter and Paul were killed during his reign (Gonzalez V.1 46).
Peter
Alongside Paul, Peter was one of the influential voices for the early churches in the first century of Christianity. After the day of Pentecost, Peter went on to preach the Gospel and establish churches. Like Paul, Peter was a martyr for the faith. He was crucified for preaching Jesus. However, it is said that Peter requested to be crucified upside down for he did not believe himself worthy of being crucified in the same way that Jesus was.
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