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    • Church History Articles >
      • 8-1-16 The Second Century Church, part one
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      • 9-15-16 The Second Century Church, part four
      • 10-1-16 The Second Century Church part five
      • 10-15-16 The Second Century Church, part six
    • More Church History Articles >
      • 11-1-2016, The Second Century Church, part seven
      • 11-15-2016 The Second Century Church, part 8
      • 12-1-2016 The Second Century Church, part 9
      • 12-15-2016, The Second Century Church, part 10
      • 1-15-2017, The Second Century Church, part 11
  • Proverbs of Faith, Hope and Love
    • #1: The Love of God, from I John
    • #2: God's Love - Isaiah 58
    • #3: The Greatness of Jesus
    • #4: Our Sufficiency is in Christ
    • #5: The Importance of Our Words
    • #6: The Greatness of Jesus #2
    • #7 The Wisdom of God
    • #8 Faith and Prayer (from the teaching of Jesus)
    • #9 Faith and Prayer (from Romans)
    • #10 Faith and Prayer (from Hebrews)
    • # 11: God Gives us Hope
    • # 12: Mercy and Compassion
    • #13: The Lord is our Refuge
    • #14 Jesus is our Righteousness
    • #15 The Peace of God
    • #16 The Joy of the Lord
  • More Proverbs of Faith, Hope and Love
    • #17 Victory Over All the Power of the Evil One
    • #18: The Wisdom of God (from the teaching of Jesus)
    • #19 The Spirit of Truth
    • #20 The Love of God (from I Corinthians 13)
    • #21: The Love of God (from I Corinthians 13, part two)
    • #22: The Spirit of Truth, part two
    • #23: Victory Over All the Power of the Evil One, part 2
    • #24: The Whole Armor of God, part 1
    • #25: The Whole Armor of God, part 2
    • #26: Victory over all the power of the evil one, part 3
    • #27: Faith and Prayer, part 4
    • #28: Our God Gives us Hope, part two
    • #29: Victory over Fear
    • # 30 Freedom through Jesus Christ
  • Proverbs of Faith, Hope and Love, third group
    • #31: Seeking the Lord
  • Declarations of Faith
    • Declaration Proclaiming Forgiveness
    • Create Blessings!
  • Poems
    • #1 Poem Describing Heaven
    • Poem #2, A Great Battle at the End of Time
    • #3 Poem, the trials of Job
    • #4 Poem, God's Love from Romans
    • Poem #5: Receiving God's Rest
  • Miscellaneous Articles
    • # 1: "And the plague was stopped"
    • #2 "Let the Sun of Righteousness Arise!"
    • #3: The Pulling Down of Dagon
    • #4 The Pulling Down of Dagon, Part Two
    • #5: When a King and a Prophet Agreed in Prayer, part one
    • # 6: When a King and a Prophet agreed in prayer, part 2
    • #7: A Wall of Fire for our Nation

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.



© COPYRIGHT 2021 by Stephen Long. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • About
  • Books
    • Polycarp and the Second Century Church
    • The Life of Jesus Foretold
    • Proverbs of Faith, Hope and Love
    • 300 Things I Like About Who I am in Jesus
  • Reviews
    • Reviews of Polycarp and the 2nd century church
    • Reviews of The Life of Jesus Foretold
  • Devotionals & Articles
    • Life of Jesus Devotionals >
      • #1 Life of Jesus devotional
      • #2 Life of Jesus devotional
      • #3 Life of Jesus devotional
      • #4 Life of Jesus devotional
      • #5: Life of Jesus Devotional
      • #6 Life of Jesus devotional
      • #7: Life of Jesus Devotional
      • #8 Life of Jesus devotional
      • #9 LIfe of Jesus Devotional
      • #10 Life of Jesus devotional
      • # 11 Life of Jesus devotional
    • 2nd group - Life of Jesus Devotionals >
      • #12 Life of Jesus devotional
      • #13 Life of Jesus devotional
      • #14 Life of Jesus devotional
      • #15 Life of Jesus devotional
      • #16 Life of Jesus devotional
      • #17 Life of Jesus devotional
      • # 18 Life of Jesus Devotional
      • #19 Life of Jesus Devotional
    • 3rd group - Life of Jesus Devotionals >
      • #20 Life of Jesus Devotional
      • #21 Life of Jesus devotional
      • #22 Life of Jesus Devotional
      • #23 Life of Jesus Devotional
      • #24 Life of Jesus devotional
      • # 25 Life of Jesus Devotional
      • #26 Life of Jesus Devotional
    • Church History Articles >
      • 8-1-16 The Second Century Church, part one
      • 8-15-16 Second Century Church, part two
      • 9-1-16 The Second Century Church, part three
      • 9-15-16 The Second Century Church, part four
      • 10-1-16 The Second Century Church part five
      • 10-15-16 The Second Century Church, part six
    • More Church History Articles >
      • 11-1-2016, The Second Century Church, part seven
      • 11-15-2016 The Second Century Church, part 8
      • 12-1-2016 The Second Century Church, part 9
      • 12-15-2016, The Second Century Church, part 10
      • 1-15-2017, The Second Century Church, part 11
  • Proverbs of Faith, Hope and Love
    • #1: The Love of God, from I John
    • #2: God's Love - Isaiah 58
    • #3: The Greatness of Jesus
    • #4: Our Sufficiency is in Christ
    • #5: The Importance of Our Words
    • #6: The Greatness of Jesus #2
    • #7 The Wisdom of God
    • #8 Faith and Prayer (from the teaching of Jesus)
    • #9 Faith and Prayer (from Romans)
    • #10 Faith and Prayer (from Hebrews)
    • # 11: God Gives us Hope
    • # 12: Mercy and Compassion
    • #13: The Lord is our Refuge
    • #14 Jesus is our Righteousness
    • #15 The Peace of God
    • #16 The Joy of the Lord
  • More Proverbs of Faith, Hope and Love
    • #17 Victory Over All the Power of the Evil One
    • #18: The Wisdom of God (from the teaching of Jesus)
    • #19 The Spirit of Truth
    • #20 The Love of God (from I Corinthians 13)
    • #21: The Love of God (from I Corinthians 13, part two)
    • #22: The Spirit of Truth, part two
    • #23: Victory Over All the Power of the Evil One, part 2
    • #24: The Whole Armor of God, part 1
    • #25: The Whole Armor of God, part 2
    • #26: Victory over all the power of the evil one, part 3
    • #27: Faith and Prayer, part 4
    • #28: Our God Gives us Hope, part two
    • #29: Victory over Fear
    • # 30 Freedom through Jesus Christ
  • Proverbs of Faith, Hope and Love, third group
    • #31: Seeking the Lord
  • Declarations of Faith
    • Declaration Proclaiming Forgiveness
    • Create Blessings!
  • Poems
    • #1 Poem Describing Heaven
    • Poem #2, A Great Battle at the End of Time
    • #3 Poem, the trials of Job
    • #4 Poem, God's Love from Romans
    • Poem #5: Receiving God's Rest
  • Miscellaneous Articles
    • # 1: "And the plague was stopped"
    • #2 "Let the Sun of Righteousness Arise!"
    • #3: The Pulling Down of Dagon
    • #4 The Pulling Down of Dagon, Part Two
    • #5: When a King and a Prophet Agreed in Prayer, part one
    • # 6: When a King and a Prophet agreed in prayer, part 2
    • #7: A Wall of Fire for our Nation