<rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"><channel><title>ennisevangelicalchurch</title><description>ennisevangelicalchurch</description><link>https://www.ennisevangelicalchurch.org/blog</link><item><title>1. The First Christians: Apologists, Confessors and Martyrs</title><description><![CDATA[The first instalment in our series on church history taken from lectures given at our monthly men's meetings. Listen below and read the accompanying notes.Early opposition from the Roman StateOpposition to the early Christian church began early and sporadically in the Roman Empire. In AD 49 Emperor Claudius expelled all Jews from the city of Rome because of agitation and unrest over the question of Chrestus (Seutonius Claudius 25.2, cf. Acts 18:2), i.e. the Christ. Violent opposition against the<img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/b06c7f_3de01f04e72d4fd5a03077098f969c77%7Emv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_288%2Ch_169/b06c7f_3de01f04e72d4fd5a03077098f969c77%7Emv2.jpg"/>]]></description><dc:creator>Shane Angland</dc:creator><link>https://www.ennisevangelicalchurch.org/single-post/1-The-First-Christians-Apologists-Confessors-and-Martyrs</link><guid>https://www.ennisevangelicalchurch.org/single-post/1-The-First-Christians-Apologists-Confessors-and-Martyrs</guid><pubDate>Mon, 28 Aug 2017 21:39:27 +0000</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><div>The first instalment in our series on church history taken from lectures given at our monthly men's meetings. Listen below and read the accompanying notes.</div><iframe src="//static.usrfiles.com/html/eb4a3b_d9b19f75fdbe2d54b0199d7af13ce097.html"/><img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/b06c7f_3de01f04e72d4fd5a03077098f969c77~mv2.jpg"/><div>Early opposition from the Roman State</div><div>Opposition to the early Christian church began early and sporadically in the Roman Empire. In AD 49 Emperor Claudius expelled all Jews from the city of Rome because of agitation and unrest over the question of Chrestus (Seutonius Claudius 25.2, cf. Acts 18:2), i.e. the Christ. Violent opposition against the leadership of the early church came to a head in AD 62 when Jesus’ brother James was martyred in Jerusalem at the hands of Jewish religious leaders (Eusebius, EH 2.23). Shortly after this in AD 64 Nero executed large numbers of Christians in Rome as scapegoats for the great fire that destroyed large sections of the city (Tacitus, Annals 15:44.2-5). Whereas Judaism at this time tended to view Christianity as a heretical sect, the Romans viewed it as a Superstitio, that is an illegal cult not recognized by the Roman state.</div><div>Early Leaders in the Church</div><div>The devastating Jewish war  of 66-73 led to a further breach between Christianity and Judaism because the Jewish Christians did not join in the war effort. In AD 70 Jesus’ cousin Symeon (son of Clopas, Joseph’s brother) was appointed leader of the Jerusalem church (Eusebius EH 3.11). </div><div>The continued involvement of the family of Jesus in the early church is attested in church history. According to the fourth century historian Eusebius, in AD 81 the Roman Emperor Domitian interrogated Zoker and James, the grandnephews of Jesus, the sons of Jude (Eusebius citing Hegesippus in EH 3.19-20). Domitian was amazed to see that they were poor farmers and no threat to the Empire: </div><div>“they showed their hands, exhibiting the hardness of their bodies and the callousness produced upon their hands by continuous toil as evidence of their own labour. And when they were asked concerning Christ and his kingdom, of what sort it was and where and when it was to appear, they answered that it was not a temporal nor an earthly kingdom, but a heavenly and angelic one, which would appear at the end of the world, when he should come in glory to judge the quick and the dead, and to give unto every one according to his works. Upon hearing this, Domitian did not pass judgment against them, but, despising them as of no account, he let them go…” (EH 3.19-20).</div><div>The Response of the Church to Opposition</div><div>In the face of growing opposition to Christianity in the Roman Empire, often intellectual and occasionally violent, the early Christians reflected on their role in society and how the church should be organised. Theologians sought to instruct the church, apologists sought to inform pagan Roman critics.</div><div>One of the earliest Christian writings outside of the New Testament is a work called the Didache. This short work is a manual on morals and Church practice. It focuses on the importance of Baptism and the Eucharist as well as warning against false teachers.</div><div>In the second century Christian works such as the Epistle to Diognetus (c. 150) describe Christians as living in the world but not of the world. Christians were aware that they were part of the Roman Empire, and yet distinct from it because of their beliefs. Salvation, in contrast to the religions of pagan Rome, was by faith in Christ and in His righteousness. </div><div>Justin Martyr (c. 100–c. 165), was born in Shechem in Samaria. He converted c.130 from paganism and taught at Ephesus and then Rome, where he wrote his ‘First Apology’ (c. 155), which was addressed to the Emperor Antoninus Pius and his adopted sons (Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus). Justin's aim was to offer a description of the primitive Christian Sunday service in order to refute pagan accusations of atheism and immorality. His description of the primitive church's Sunday worship service is amongst the earliest:</div><div>And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the one presiding verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things… And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succours the orphans and widows, and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds, and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in needs. (Justin, 1 Apol. 67)</div><img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/b06c7f_f2d5c84b6603453abc91b96cf750fe6e~mv2.jpg"/><div>Martyrdom</div><div>Martyrdom, when it came, was sporadic and usually reserved for the leaders in the early church. One such early martyr was a man called Polycarp (AD 69 –155). As a young man he had heard the Apostle John teach (see Holmes, AF, 733). Following his arrest he was offered the opportunity to deny Christ and save his own life. “Eighty-six years I have served him,&quot; Polycarp replied, &quot;and he never did me any wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?” For these words he was burnt at the stake. In dying Polycarp personified the meaning of the word martyr, which comes from the Greek μάρτυς, meaning witness. He has witnessed to Christ, even at the cost of his own life. The Roman Empire found such faith as ridiculous, but to the church, the martyrs were the great heroes of the faith. </div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Why Study the History of the Church?</title><description><![CDATA[As Christians, all history is theological, because all Christian theology is historical. The Christian faith is built on the revelation of God in time and space, the self-disclosure of God to humanity through Jesus Christ. Christ is the centre of the Christian faith. A man who, as the ancient Creed of the church bears witness, for us and for our salvation, he came down from heaven, by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake he was<img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/b06c7f_9c51a8c4afdd4762862aaea1986b0e25%7Emv2.png/v1/fill/w_288%2Ch_360/b06c7f_9c51a8c4afdd4762862aaea1986b0e25%7Emv2.png"/>]]></description><dc:creator>Shane Angland</dc:creator><link>https://www.ennisevangelicalchurch.org/single-post/Intro-To-Our-Study-Of-Church-History</link><guid>https://www.ennisevangelicalchurch.org/single-post/Intro-To-Our-Study-Of-Church-History</guid><pubDate>Tue, 08 Aug 2017 21:24:52 +0000</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/b06c7f_9c51a8c4afdd4762862aaea1986b0e25~mv2.png"/><div>As Christians, all history is theological, because all Christian theology is historical. The Christian faith is built on the revelation of God in time and space, the self-disclosure of God to humanity through Jesus Christ. Christ is the centre of the Christian faith. A man who, as the ancient Creed of the church bears witness, for us and for our salvation, he came down from heaven, by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures.  The Christian Gospel is rooted in history, because through history in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself  (2 Co 5:19).</div><div>The church, to use the language of Scripture, is the body of Christ (Col 1:14). Therefore the history of the church is the history of God's unfolding redemptive plan for humanity. The great scholar of Irish ecclesiastical history James F Kenny (1884-1946) noted that studying church history was a theological as well as an academic exercise since,<div>the history of the church is actually the story of Jesus' continuing life on earth. </div>For that reason, to study church history is never merely an academic exercise for the Christian, it is always deeply theological. </div><div>Ennis Evangelical Church, as a non-denominational Christian Church, is but one tiny part of the great world wide story of the Christian Church. Church History plays an important part in understanding our faith no matter our denomination or tradition.  As the Bible reminds us, Christians should remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God; consider the outcome of their life, and imitate their faith (Hebrews 13:7). Throughout the history of the church there have been great examples of godly men and women who suffered for their faith in Christ and helped the church formulate and better understand its doctrine. Studying the development and progress of Christian doctrine helps us to better appreciate the insights of those Christians who have gone before us. True progress in Christian doctrine is not change. True progress, as Thomas Oden noted, is an advance in understanding of that which has been fully given in the deposit of faith. The faith, as Scripture teaches, that was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3).</div><div>The great church historian Jaroslav Pelikan (d. 2006) opened his monumental 5 volume study on the history of the development of Christian doctrine with the reminder that, <div>what the church of Jesus Christ believes, teaches, and confesses on the basis of the word of God: this is Christian doctrine. Doctrine is not the only, not even the primary, activity of the church. The church worships God and serves mankind, it works for the transformation of this world and awaits the consummation of its hope in the next. ‘Faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love’ – love, and not faith, and certainly not doctrine. The church is always more than a school…but the church cannot be less than a school. Its faith, hope, and love all express themselves in teaching and confession… The Christian church would not be the church as we know it without Christian doctrine</div>.” </div><div>As we study church history we should bear in mind that unlike the divinely inspired Scriptures, the theologians and fathers of the church were not infallible or inspired. They sometimes got things wrong, or changed their minds, and even on occasion thought false doctrine. All Christian doctrinal development must be viewed with a critical, though not unsympathetic eye. </div><div>Augustine - perhaps the greatest Christian theologian in the early church - cautioned, “We who preach and write books, write in a manner altogether different from the manner in which the canon of Scripture has been written. We write while we make progress. We learn something new every day...I urge your charity, on my behalf and in my own case, that you should not take any previous book or preaching of mine as Holy Scripture...I would be more angry with the one who praises me and takes what I have written for Gospel truth than the one who criticises me unfairly.”</div><img src="http://static.wixstatic.com/media/b06c7f_41883e416d754d15ae082f3cb8ca5424~mv2.jpg"/><div>Studying church history is not an uncritical exercise, we must always evaluate and judge the doctrine and practises of the church in light of what the Scripture teaches. True Christian doctrine, as Augustine noted, is gathered not by the opinion of private judgement, but by the witness of the Scriptures, not subject to the fluctuations of heretical rashness, but grounded on Apostolic truth.</div><div>The 18th century birth of modernity shaped the way many Christians viewed their faith, and greatly diminished the contribution and value of the ancient Christian church to modern theology. Individualism replaced community, the past was dismissed in favour of the present, and rationalism re-defined faith. In studying the past we can gain great insight and sometimes a refreshingly new perspective on old questions by listening to the voices of the past.</div><div>The history of the church is not without its dark chapters of corruption, heresy, persecution, and division. The story of the church is, as Pelikan remarked, also an expression of the broken state of Christian faith and witness, the most patent illustration of the truth of the apostolic admission in 1 Corinthians 13:12, 'Now we see in a mirror dimly...Now I know in part.'... Whether or not dogma is refined by history, it can be better understood through its history. </div><div>You can find our series on the history of the church in the blog posts that follow. </div></div>]]></content:encoded></item></channel></rss>