Chapter XVI: Part ONE

We come now to our last period, an _age of shadows_, of which we know very little, and wish that we knew more. The curtain of New Testament history falls while St. Paul is still a prisoner at Rome, five years before the supposed date of his death. From that time, A. D. 63, to about A. D. 125 there is very little history, and none in the New Testament; we are left to hints, traditions, and conjectures.

A question which we would like to answer is, What became of the _companions_ of St. Paul: such men as Timothy (Heb. 13. 23), Titus (2 Tim. 4. 10), Apollos (Titus 3. 13), Luke (2 Tim. 4. 11)? All of these were living and working at the close of Paul's life; but there is no report of their life and labors after that event.

Another perplexing fact is that when the curtain rises at about 125 A. D. it shows us a very _different church_ from that of St. Paul's day: a church completely organized, with bishops in almost absolute control; and sects quarreling over controversies apparently unknown when St. Paul wrote his letters.

While Peter and Paul were living the church had wise and statesmanlike leaders, who directed its energies. But when these great men died "second-rate men" were left in control and they were not equal to the demand of the new time; and the church drifted into disputes, which grew into divisions. Let us notice the few known =Events of this Period=.

I. =The Fall of Jerusalem=: epoch-making, not only to Jewish but also to Christian history.

1. The _rebellion of the Jews_ against the Roman power began in 68 A. D.; hopeless from the beginning--for how could one small state measure swords with the empire of the civilized world? The city of Jerusalem was taken and destroyed 70 A. D., and with it fell forever the Jewish state.

2. The _siege had been predicted_ in the gospels (Matt. 24. 15-18; Mark 13. 14), and was expected by the disciples of Christ. The _Christians_ in Jerusalem and Judea _withdrew_ to _Pella_ in the Jordan valley; but their numbers were not large, showing that Jewish Christianity must have declined since A. D. 58 (see Acts 21. 20), while Gentile Christianity had increased. After the destruction of Jerusalem Jewish Christianity remained for 200 years a feeble and declining sect, hated by their own people as traitors, and despised by Gentile Christians because they still observed the Jewish law.

3. The effect of the fall of Jerusalem was to draw a sharp line of _division between Jews and Christians_. Before, the two classes had been closely related, and confused in the popular mind. Thenceforth the two streams ran further and further apart, and have continued apart even to our own time. All Jewish rites ceased in the church, Christians could no longer be Jews; and after 125 A. D. Jews could no longer be Christians without renouncing Judaism. The church was now thoroughly a Gentile, non-Jewish church. Note in the gospel of John how "the Jews" are everywhere named as enemies of Christ (John 5. 16; 7. 1; 11. 8; 18. 36); and yet the author of this book was himself a Jew by birth and training; but at the time of writing he had ceased to be a Jew.

II. =St. John at Ephesus.= Ephesus, at the western end of Asia Minor, was now the leading city of Christianity. It is probable that the apostle John passed the last thirty years of his life in that city. He was revered as the _last of the apostles_; but he was not a statesman or man of affairs; rather a mystic and man of meditation. It is supposed that he died about 100 A. D. but the date is not certain.

III. =The Rise of the Heresies.= 1. This was the inevitable _result of the Greek mind_ working on the simple doctrines of the gospel. The Christian doctrine was Jewish; and the Jewish mind was not given to subtle intellectual questions. But when Christianity ceased to be Jewish and began to Gentile it was dominated by the Greek spirit of restless inquiry. Asia Minor was the home of wild, uncontrolled thinking. Sects almost without number appeared, wrangled, and divided over every article of the creed. The more mysterious the question, the more apart from practical life and from human interest, the more fascinating became the study.

2. Two great classes of sects embraced many minor groups.

1.) _The Ebionites._ Strict Jews, who sought to make Christianity a branch of Pharisaism, keeping the Jewish law. 2.) _The Gnostics._ People with peculiar views concerning the nature of God, heavenly beings, the nature of Christ.

3. The _results_ of these controversies were both good and evil. 1.) _Good_ in that the clashing of ideas aided in _fixing_ in permanent form the true _doctrines_ of the church. 2.) But far more _evil_; for the energies of the members were absorbed in debate and controversy; the spiritual life of the church greatly declined; the aim ceased to be devotion to Christ, but was now orthodoxy in belief. Christianity became a creed, instead of an inner spiritual life.

IV. =The Second Imperial Persecution=; under the emperor Domitian, son of Titus, about A. D. 95. This was far more widely extended than the former persecution under Nero; and it was followed by a long series of persecutions, wherein untold thousands of Christians were put to death. The inevitable conflict had come between Christianity and the Roman empire, and it lasted two hundred years; but at its close the cross was triumphant over the Roman eagles. It is not difficult to see the _causes_ of this _struggle_:

1. _Heathenism was hospitable_, welcoming new gods and goddesses, while _Christianity was exclusive_, opposing with all its might every other form of worship.

2. _Idol-worship_ and its services were _interwoven_ with all the _life of the people_; personal, family, social, political. Temples, statues, festivals were constantly in evidence; on all occasions there were rites of worship. But here was a growing multitude of people who stood aloof from these exercises. It was not strange that these people were regarded as enemies of society and of the state.

3. Certain forms of religion were allowed in the Roman empire, but all new forms were forbidden. _Judaism was a permitted_ religion. As long as Christianity was looked upon as a branch of Judaism, it was allowed. But after the fall of Jerusalem it stood alone, an unlicensed form of worship, hence under suspicion; suspicion readily becoming enmity.

4. _The worship of the emperor_ was the one most prevalent throughout the empire. A statue of the reigning emperor stood in every city, and it was a test of loyalty to offer libations of incense before it. This worship is doubtless referred to in an enigmatic manner in such passages as 2 Thess. 2. 3, 4. Rev. 13. 1, 4, 8, 18. This worship was refused by the Christians, who were for that reason regarded as disloyal.

From these causes persecution after persecution arose; hundreds of thousands perished; yet in spite of the persecution, the church grew rapidly.

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