Part 22 (1/2)

3. The effect of the fall of Jerusalem was to draw a sharp line of _division between Jews and Christians_. Before, the two cla.s.ses 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 pa.s.sed 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 cla.s.ses 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 G.o.d, heavenly beings, the nature of Christ.

3. The _results_ of these controversies were both good and evil. 1.) _Good_ in that the clas.h.i.+ng 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 t.i.tus, 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 G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses, while _Christianity was exclusive_, opposing with all its might every other form of wors.h.i.+p.

2. _Idol-wors.h.i.+p_ 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 wors.h.i.+p. But here was a growing mult.i.tude 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 wors.h.i.+p, hence under suspicion; suspicion readily becoming enmity.

4. _The wors.h.i.+p 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 wors.h.i.+p is doubtless referred to in an enigmatic manner in such pa.s.sages as 2 Thess. 2. 3, 4. Rev. 13. 1, 4, 8, 18. This wors.h.i.+p 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.

Blackboard Outline

PART ONE

=En. Ag.= Ag. shad. Comp. Paul. Diff. Ch. 125 A. D. ”Sec. ra. m.”

I. =Fa. Jer.= 1.) Reb. A. D. 68-70. 2.) Siege pred. Chr. with.

Pel. 3.) Eff. div. Je. Chr.

II. =Jhn. Eph.= Last. Ap. 100 A. D.

III. =Ris. Her.= 1. Gre. min. 2. Eb. Gnos. 3. Res. 1.) G. 2.) Ev.

IV. =Sec. Imp. Per.= Dom. 95. Caus. 1. Heath. hosp. 2. Id. wor. int.

li. 3. Jud. per. rel. Chr. unlic. 4. Wor. Emp.

Review Questions

What is said of the period after the death of St.

Paul? Between what years is there very little history?

What companions of St. Paul were living at the time of his death? What became of these men? Wherein was the church of a later period different from that of the earlier time? What reason is a.s.signed for these changes? Name the four princ.i.p.al events in the period under consideration. When did the rebellion of the Jews against the Roman empire begin? What was the result of this rebellion? What became of the Christians in Jerusalem at the opening of the Jewish war? What was the after history of Jewish Christianity? What was the effect of the fall of Jerusalem on the relations between Christianity and Judaism? Who was the last of the twelve apostles on the earth? Where did he live? What was his character?

What is said as to his death? What divisions in the church arose at this period? Of what were these divisions the result? What country was the home of the heresies? Who were the Ebionites? Who were the Gnostics? What good result came from these controversies? What evil result followed them? What persecution arose during this period? At what time?