The Second Century Church, part seven
Over 20 years ago, I was talking with a friend about the second century Church, and he asked me, "Why should we study what leaders of that period believed when we know more than they did (about the Bible and spiritual matters)?" I don't remember exactly how I answered him, but I know what my answer is now. First of all, I love the Church and I wanted to find out what happened to it immediately after all the apostles went to heaven. I asked myself, "What did the Christians of the first and second generations after the apostles believe, say, about the book of Revelation, which was written during their lifetime?" After a few months of studying the writings of the second century Church, I realized that there are things that the Church of today could learn from that Church.
The second century Church was a powerful and growing Church because of the power, love, and wisdom which she received from the Lord. In previous articles, we looked at descriptions written by second century Church leaders of the love and the power in the Church of their day. Now let's see some things about the wisdom of that Church.
A remarkable feature of the Church of the second century is that it had enough wisdom to preserve the type of unity that we Christians today earnestly pray to come into. Even though cults existed such as the Gnostics, who taught a totally different Jesus and who followed their own "Scriptures", different from ours, the true Church stayed in unity. There was enough unity and agreement for all believers in the same city to go to the same church, and for the churches throughout the world to be linked together in fellowship. Irenaeus, a disciple of Polycarp, left us a beautiful description of the unity of the Church of his day (circa A. D. 170): "But the path of those belonging to the Church around the world possesses the sure tradition from the apostles and shows that the faith of all is one and the same, since all receive the one and same God the Father and believe in the same dispensation regarding the incarnation of the Son of God, and are cognizant of the same gift of the Spirit, and keep the same commands and the same form of church government, and expect the same advent of the Lord, and await the same salvation of the complete man, that is, of the soul and body. . ."
Wouldn't it be amazing to be in a world in which all the churches who claimed to believe the Bible where in unity and believed the same things? It is hard for us to conceive of a world-wide Church with no denominations, but that is the way it was in the second century. Let's continue reading Irenaeus' description of the Church of his day: "And undoubtedly, the preaching of the Church is true and steadfast, in which one and the same way of salvation is shown throughout the whole world. For to her is entrusted the light of God, by means of which she saves all men . . . For the Church preaches the truth everywhere and she is the seven-branched candlestick which shines the light of Christ. (This quotation is found in Polycarp Disciple of the Apostle John and the Second Century Church, pages 105-106.) In our next article, we will continue this theme of the wisdom and unity in the Church of the second century.
The second century Church was a powerful and growing Church because of the power, love, and wisdom which she received from the Lord. In previous articles, we looked at descriptions written by second century Church leaders of the love and the power in the Church of their day. Now let's see some things about the wisdom of that Church.
A remarkable feature of the Church of the second century is that it had enough wisdom to preserve the type of unity that we Christians today earnestly pray to come into. Even though cults existed such as the Gnostics, who taught a totally different Jesus and who followed their own "Scriptures", different from ours, the true Church stayed in unity. There was enough unity and agreement for all believers in the same city to go to the same church, and for the churches throughout the world to be linked together in fellowship. Irenaeus, a disciple of Polycarp, left us a beautiful description of the unity of the Church of his day (circa A. D. 170): "But the path of those belonging to the Church around the world possesses the sure tradition from the apostles and shows that the faith of all is one and the same, since all receive the one and same God the Father and believe in the same dispensation regarding the incarnation of the Son of God, and are cognizant of the same gift of the Spirit, and keep the same commands and the same form of church government, and expect the same advent of the Lord, and await the same salvation of the complete man, that is, of the soul and body. . ."
Wouldn't it be amazing to be in a world in which all the churches who claimed to believe the Bible where in unity and believed the same things? It is hard for us to conceive of a world-wide Church with no denominations, but that is the way it was in the second century. Let's continue reading Irenaeus' description of the Church of his day: "And undoubtedly, the preaching of the Church is true and steadfast, in which one and the same way of salvation is shown throughout the whole world. For to her is entrusted the light of God, by means of which she saves all men . . . For the Church preaches the truth everywhere and she is the seven-branched candlestick which shines the light of Christ. (This quotation is found in Polycarp Disciple of the Apostle John and the Second Century Church, pages 105-106.) In our next article, we will continue this theme of the wisdom and unity in the Church of the second century.